Post Tenebras Lux
Post tenebras spero lucem—“After darkness I hope for light.” This was the motto of Switzerland’s city of Geneva. Providence had directed one of the most salient illustrations of the Reformation in this Swiss city and its motto. Like all of Europe, it was a city hoping for light in the midst of the dark ages. Only a corrupted claim of Christianity was officially represented by the established church of that day, but the people were left in darkness.

On May 21, 1536, the city of Geneva was finally awakened to the light—they had voted in the Reformation. The “Good News”—the Gospel or Evangelium—proclaimed in the Reformation had finally and officially been embraced. With the Reformation came the happy message of good news for weary and sad souls. The grace and love of God truly known in justification by faith alone always awakens love and joy in the heart of man. The Gospel was sweeping through the land and was acknowledged to be the very light that Geneva—indeed, the world—was hoping for. Immediately a new motto was born: Post tenebras lux—“After darkness light!” The city began minting their coins with this new motto indicating that their wishes for light after darkness had been fulfilled by the grace of God through the Reformation. The people declared that they had found what once they had hoped for—the light of Christ!

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