A strange statement indeed... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

Woe to those who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.
Isaiah 5:20.

A strange statement indeed! How could anyone possibly make darkness light and vice-versa? Here it is, of course, meant in a metaphorical sense. In the Bible light stands for what is good, i.e. that which God has communicated about Himself and His will. Darkness, on the other hand, signifies that any knowledge of God and His standards has been lost or arbitrarily altered.

In the prophet Isaiah's day seducers were distorting God's sayings, thus barring the way for those who were ready to seek after God. The prophet's forecast of judgment applies to them.

In Christendom, too, there are people turning darkness to light, and light to darkness to hinder the way of access to God. They reject essential biblical facts and doctrine, obscuring the light that God has given us. They replace them with their own sinister doctrines that diverge from biblical faith.

Let us remember that Jesus Christ, the central figure in the Bible, is "the light of the world". He said; "He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" and "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No-one comes to the Father except by me" (John 8:12; 14:6).

The correct preaching of biblical truth can always be recognised by the fact that Christ is honoured thereby. Whoever lives in divine light will joyfully confess Christ as his Lord and testify that He is the Son of God: the Son of God from eternity and as a Man on earth, and in His resurrection (cf. Hebrews 1:2.8; Luke 1:35; Romans 1:4).

Today's reading: Jeremiah 38:14-28 · Romans 8:31-39