What Jesus Has Done For Us (ft. Ravi Zacharias)Sample

Day Three: Jesus is the Holy Light that Liberates Us

God is holy. This difference is what makes the argument almost impossible for a skeptic to grasp. Holiness is not merely goodness. “Why did God not create us to choose only good?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The reality is that the opposite of evil, in degree, may be goodness. But the opposite of absolute evil, in kind, is absolute holiness. In the biblical context, the idea of holiness is the tremendous “otherness” of God Himself. God does not just reveal Himself as good; He reveals Himself as holy.

In the play Phantom of the Opera, there is a song called “The Music of the Night.” It is sung by the half-sinister figure of the Phantom, who woos the woman he loves. He soothes her with his voice and entices her into his world, telling her that the darkness of the night sharpens each sensation and heightens the imagination. He pleads with her to abandon her defenses and yield to the tug of the senses, even as night blankets the eyes of truth.

Then comes this line: “Turn your face away from the garish light of day,” because in the darkness, one can change the “oughts” of the conscience to the pleasure of one’s passions. The melody is haunting, the words are seductive, and the will is taunted. To such a way of thinking, light is garish because it exposes the wickedness that is shrouded by the darkness.

The holiness of God is like light in a dark world. Just as the coming of dawn exposes the thoughts or deeds of the night before and often leaves a sickening feeling of wrong, so holiness discloses what light itself is – the source of discovering and liberating what the lie has ensnared. (pp. 123-124)