Light

 he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

I will make you as a light for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Isaiah 49:6

As the Lord speaks through Isaiah, his audience shifts from Israel as a whole to his servant, who we will discover is a suffering servant. But this servant has a great calling: to be a light not just to his own people of Israel, but to the whole world.

God doesn't want to simply bless one people upon the face of the earth, he wants to bless all peoples of the earth. His means of doing it is through his servant. His servant's first job is to bring back the people of Israel to God, and through them to reach the world.

So who is this suffering servant? Isaiah himself served God, and suffered for it. But his message was primarily for the Gentiles. Now Jesus said at one point that he only came for the lost sheep of Israel, but he went on to say that he had other sheep not of that sheepfold that he must call as well.

Jesus also claimed to be the light of the world. His light has indeed gone out almost all around the globe, where the lights of other religious teachers have been snuffed out by death. Jesus defeated death and is alive today. Salvation is found in no other, because there's no other name by which we must be saved.

"Lord God, thank you for sending your Son to serve us. Thank you that he gave his life as a ransom for many. Thank you for the light he shines in the darkness of this world. Help me to let my little light shine for you! In Jesus' name, amen"