The Silence Before the Storm

The following is a quote taken from Ravi Zacharias as he was speaking on the topic of ethics and the need for both truth and standards for morals in our society. His message was entitled “Unplugging Truth in a Morally Suicidal Culture.” And his thoughts here are simply profound and prove to show how consistent and all-encompassing the Christian worldview really is.

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“We are often accused as Christians by bringing ideas, bringing doctrines, bringing dogmas. But you go back across the centuries and you see how this was handled by believers. In fact, I take you back to the Biblical writers themselves. Listen, because this is profound here:

The pursuit of the Hebrews was idealized and symbolized by light:

‘The Lord is my light and my salvation’

‘The people that sat in darkness have seen a great light. This is the light that lighteth every man that comes into the world.’

The pursuit of the Greeks was symbolized by knowledge. That’s why the Biblical writers say:

‘These things are written so that you might know that you have eternal life.’

So Hebrew ideal was light, the Greek ideal was knowledge. For the Hebrews it was light, for the Greeks it was knowledge, but for the Romans it was glory.

‘The glory of the city of Rome.’

‘The glory of the city that wasn’t built in a day’

And here we have it, the Apostle Paul – a Hebrew by birth, a citizen of Rome, living in a Greek city – had to give to [the Corinthian believers] the ideal of his ethic. And he says this:

‘For God, who said, “The Light shall shine out of darkness,” has caused His light to shine in our hearts to give to us the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in face of Christ Jesus our Lord.’

For the Apostle Paul, the ultimate ethic was not an abstraction, not symbolized merely by light, not merely by knowledge, not merely by glory; but in the very face of our Lord.”

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Wow.

How beautiful is the face of the God we serve! And how moving and liberating it is to know that we are His image-bearers. Therefore, let us seek to live lives that adequately represent the One who shines in the light, who possesses all knowledge, and deserves all of the glory.