Playing with Plato

Let's talk about the Cave where the prisoners are bound,
Deep in the dark where no truth can be found.
Chained at the neck and the legs from their youth,
Staring at a wall, kept far from the truth.
Puppets cast shadows by a flickering fire
A world of illusion, all fueled by desire.
It's a counterfeit world of deceptive design,
Where sin is the shadow that's clouding the mind.

It's the Light vs. the Dark, the cave vs. the Sun,
The battle for vision has already begun.
The cave is the sin where humanity dwells,
The shadows are lies that the world tries to tell.
But the Sun is the Lord, the source of the day,
Calling the prisoners to come out and play.
From lies to the truth, from the night to the dawn,
The chains of the dungeon are finally gone.

Now one man is freed, unchained from his seat,
By the hand of the Lord he finds his own feet.
Led to the opening, light floods his eyes
Blinded by glory, he lifts to the skies.
He sees real trees, not the shadows they cast;
The darkness is broken, the light's come at last.
Just like Isaiah said it would be:
The prisoners brought from the dark, set free.
The LORD takes your hand as a covenant light,
Opening blind eyes, restoring the sight.

He runs back to the shadows, full of joy, full of grace,
To tell all his brothers about this new place.
But they laugh and they mock, they say he's insane
They'd rather keep darkness than break from the chain.
The dark feels safe and the light is too strange;
They're scared of the truth, they're scared of the change.
Same as in John, where the signs were all shown,
But their hearts stayed as cold and as hard as a stone.
They craved human praise more than glory above.

So they stay in the cave, in the dark that they love.

But if our Gospel is veiled, kept down in the shade,
It's veiled to the perishing, lost and afraid.
The god of this world has blinded their mind,
Keeping unbelievers in the dark, walking blind.
They can't see the light of the Gospel's true grace,
Or the glory of Christ in His radiant face.
For Christ is the Image of God, the true Sun,
Lifting the veil when the victory's won.

Paul says to Timothy: I know that dark
I lived in the Cave, I was missing the mark.
The chief of sinners, bound up in a chain,
I chased after shadows, I dealt out the pain.
I thought I had vision, I thought I was wise,
But the god of this world had blinded my eyes.
Then God showed me mercy, His grace was so vast
He pulled me from shackles and darkness at last.
A covenant light for the nations to see:
If He rescued a prisoner like me, He'll set you free.

So don't be the prisoner who clings to the wall,
Believing the shadows and waiting to fall.
The Good that you're chasing has always been Him
The Author of reason, the Light that won't dim.
It's time to walk out of the sin-bound domain,
Trust in the Wisdom that breaks every chain.
Move into the light, let the Son clear the view
The Cave is the old world; He's making things new.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee.