This chapter had me thinking about a lot of the Biblical connections made to light. In Luke, especially, there is a great association between it and the revealing of all. Luke 12:2-3 states that “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.” Jesus said this in response to hypocrisy, which was the “leaven” of the Pharisees whose professions of holiness did not match the way they truly acted (Luke 12:1). In a broader sense, however, light is specifically used to represent the uncovering of unseen sin and falsehood done behind closed doors. It calls us to have integrity in all that we do, for any heinous deed will be revealed at some point. As well as this, it also is used to represent guidance – especially when God’s Word is called “a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path,” in which a person will be protected from the influence of darkness and will receive wisdom from God.
Shadows are depicted in the Bible in numerous manners, which usually regard how a shadow ‘covers’ another almost in a sense of authority. For one, the Bible speaks greatly of walking in God’s shadow – or under His protection and advisement – for in the “shadow of [His] wings” one can take refuge until the storms of destruction pass by (Psalms 57:1). On the opposite side of the spectrum, the “shadow of death” is used to represent when a person or area is under the influence of – or given to the vices of – the things that are of the enemy (Psalm 23:6 , Luke 1:79). Interestingly enough, the phrase “a shadow of the things to come,” is used to call what was occurring a metaphorical ‘copy’ of what will occur – in which the practices given to the Jews were meant to ‘foreshadow’ and symbolically represent what God would do in the future through Jesus (Colossians 2:16-17).
