The light of the world

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5 v 14)

This is part of a passage I've heard hundreds of times and so I tend not to think too deeply about it most of the time. Today, however, I was struck by "a city on a hill cannot be hidden". In context, I've always concentrated on the exhortation to let our light shine so that people will see Christ in us. While the passage is certainly about that, it's also an encouragement that God cannot be silenced; and that the Light of the world will always shine through, no matter how weak and sinful we are and no matter how dark the world seems to us. It feels often like the world keeps chipping away at God, and Christians are constantly having to give ground; and in that circumstance it's easy to think that eventually there'll be nothing left. Not true! God cannot be silenced; his people will never disappear from the earth; and the light of truth - the light that is Jesus - will continue to shine in the darkness.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
(Isaiah 9 v 2)