"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
- 2 Cor. 3:18
Peter addresses the church by calling us "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that we should show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2:9). What a remarkable statement! This word "called" is a very interesting word. In the Greek, it is the word KALEO, which means a loud, commanding voice that summons us by a new identity. In other words, if you were in a crowd of people and you suddenly heard this booming voice hollering out your name, it would immediately draw your attention. Well, God has summoned us with a very loud and commanding voice and he is calling us to walk in "his" light. And what is most appealing to what he asks is that we are no longer to be called children of darkness. We are now "called" children of light! (Eph. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:5). That means we have a new identity!
Here is the whole idea behind this expression of light. It has now made us and positioned us to become a people of significance. That explains the power behind the darkness of this world. You have to understand that darkness is actually a place, even a condition that holds the power of obscurity. It is where we fell when sin entered into the world. We were reduced from a place of enlightenment into a life of depravity. While we were in the dark our lives were controlled by the forces behind that darkness. That is why we were contained. It is why we became spiritually immobile. The enemy used darkness to reduce our ability to function like God intended for us to function. It restricted our visibility. It made us inapt. We become vulnerable to deception, ambiguity and irrelevance. Most importantly, it made the unseen things of God seemed insignificant and the plan of God unreachable.
Oh, but thank God for the Holy Spirit! Thank God for the light of the glorious gospel shining into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! (2 Cor. 4:5, 6). This is why the scriptures encourage us to "walk in the light even as he is in the light!" (1 John 1:7). The more we answer the call to become children of light the greater light we will see. What that translates into is that in this light dwells the opportunity for us to walk on a path that leads to greater influence and greater significance.
One of the things that has been such a life-changing revelation to me is the fact that everything we have in Christ is built into the life of God. That is the resource to our enablement. It is the center of our enlightenment. What we know about life determines our liberty, our mobility, and our capability. Paul goes as far as to say that we are to "reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:17). The word reign is BASILEUO, which means we are to possess kingly attributes while holding unlimited influence!
See, the plan of God is for each of us to walk in the light so that we can bring the influence of heaven to a deprived and darkened world. The more intense our drive is to walk in the light the greater influence we will have in exposing the darkness that holds men in captivity. Our calling is to influence the culture of our day. It is not to remain an obscure people held by the bondage of our own human weaknesses and frailty. We are the people of God called by his name! We are to live in the light of this life so that we can be changed from glory to glory. That means as we change we are able to bring the influence of change to those around us. It is in the power of change that we are able to usher in a new culture, the culture of the kingdom. When we make it our aim to live beyond the veil we will bear the light of heaven. We will discover the treasure house to all the power that is contained within this life. That is why the enemy is so desperately seeking to hide from us the truth of the gospel. He knows if we live beyond the veil we will recover all that was lost in the fall, and reclaim a life of virtue and dominion!*
