Luke 2:32 tells us that Christ is light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of God’s people Israel.
It is not easy to understand the expression a light for revelation in verse 32. This refers to a kind of shining, a kind of enlightening, that brings revelation to us. Before we experienced this shining, we were in darkness, knowing nothing about the universe, human life, and God. In other words, we did not have any revelation. But after Christ came to us as a light for revelation, we knew where we came from and where we are going. We also knew the mystery and the meaning of human life. Many wonderful revelations have come to us, especially the revelation concerning the person and work of Christ.
We all have experienced and enjoyed Christ in this way. No matter where we were born, before we were saved, we were all in darkness and were without revelation. When Christ came to us, He came as the light for revelation to the Gentiles to enlighten us and to reveal to us so many secrets and mysteries of the universe. As the One who is a light for revelation to the Gentiles, Christ exercises Himself to bring us into His light and to reveal things to us concerning God, man, and the universe.
Christ is not only a light for revelation to the Gentiles but also the glory of God’s people Israel. In this verse the words glory and light are synonyms. To the Gentiles Christ is light mainly for revelation; to God’s people Israel Christ is light mainly for glory. The people of Israel have lost their glory because they have rejected Christ, the human Savior, who is to them the light as their glory. Due to their rejection of Christ, the Jews today do not have any glory. But when they receive Christ, He, the human Savior, will become their glory.
In 7:41 and 42 the Lord Jesus likens Himself to a moneylender. Simon, a Pharisee who had invited Him to his house, was troubled by the fact that He allowed a sinful woman to wet His feet with her tears, to wipe them with her hair, to kiss them affectionately, and to anoint them with ointment. Speaking to Simon, the Lord Jesus said, “A certain moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. But since they had nothing with which to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him more?” Simon considered only the woman, not himself, a sinner. However, the Savior’s parable indicated that He was the moneylender and that both Simon the Pharisee and the woman were sinners-debtors to Him-needing His forgiveness. Today we all are in debt to the Lord Jesus as the moneylender. We are His debtors, and He is our creditor.
In His parable the Lord said that since the two debtors had nothing with which to repay the moneylender, he graciously forgave them both. This indicates that sinners have nothing with which to repay their debt to God their Savior. Nevertheless, He forgives all His debtors graciously.
As the moneylender in this parable, Christ is the incarnation of the forgiving God; therefore, as the very God, He has the authority to forgive sins. The divine ability to forgive sins is expressed through the Savior’s human virtues, portraying Christ as the One with the highest standard of morality. As such a One, He is the moneylender who forgives His debtors.
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