“The Blessings” Series
Part 9
What does Jesus mean when he says we are “a city set on a hill”? He means we are a city or a new community within our city. But we are also a city that in our distinctiveness as God’s people will challenge our city. And at the same we are always a city for our city, “making our homes there, planting our gardens there, seeking the welfare of our city” (Jeremiah 29:4-9).
All the beatitudes or blessings lead us here. This is who we are. We are as light to be distinct from darkness, yet also to penetrate the dark. We are as salt to preserve what is pure, yet also to restrain what is evil.
However, we are only these things because Jesus as the Light of the World was swallowed up by darkness on the cross. He went into the dark of complete and total absence and separation of God from man because of our sin. He went there once and for all, and he overcame the darkness once and for all. Now shines a light out of the darkness, our salvation has come, and we are new creations: His city set on a hill.