LIGHT
[p. 347] LIGHT
It appears to me that in Scripture there are two distinct senses in which light is spoken of, namely, as exposing, and revealing. I think we have been accustomed to connect with light too exclusively the former idea. In natural light we have an analogy; by the bright rays of the great light appointed by God to rule the day, not only is everything which comes within their action exposed, but the heat and vivifying power which emanate from the source of light accompany and cannot be separated from the rays. They are felt and appreciated by everything not utterly insensible and devoid of feeling. Thus it was when Christ was here. He was the light of the world, and those who came within the rays of this light found themselves exposed; but there was with, and characterising those rays, a warmth and power which attracted hearts that felt the weariness engendered by the sin and coldness of the world; and the Lord could say, “He that followeth me shall not continue in darkness, but shall have the light of life”.
Men welcome increased light in science and natural things, which really means increased knowledge. How much more does the christian heart welcome the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Now in the passage before us we have a striking illustration of the application of light in two aspects, that is, as exposing and revealing, the first a necessity of righteousness, the second, so to say, a necessity of love.
In the answer to the scribes and Pharisees, the Lord, using the word of the prophet Isaiah, exposes the true character of all human religious service without the [p. 348] true knowledge of God, and subsequently to the disciples He shows the true dark character of the human heart, the source of all that morally defiles a man.
Man is, since the fall, departed in heart from God, but he cannot in conscience totally ignore God, of whose existence there are too many evidences, and whose word is too well vouched to be easily set aside. Hence he renders to God outward service, honouring Him with his lips while his heart is far from Him. There is the total absence of real affection toward God, the heart not having learnt that God has loved him. What should we think in the family circle of children who, while maintaining outward propriety of demeanour in their intercourse with their parents, made it manifest by the lack of warmth and reality that their hearts were devoid of affection? And is God to be worse served than parents? Does man owe less to Him? Hence it is not difficult to apprehend the completeness of the Lord’s exposure of the worthlessness of human service of God. And it is in principle as true in Christianity as in Judaism.
Nor is the exposure of the human heart less severe. What application could temptation by evil have to a heart that was not already in touch with the evil? Satan undoubtedly acts on the heart of man, but only to call into activity principles of evil already dwelling there. Such is the desperate state of things existing in man which was exposed by the light that came into the world.
But if all had ended here the case would have been sad indeed. The exposure would have been complete enough, but the poor exposed heart left without hope, without being made acquainted with good.
But in the case of the Canaanitish woman, we have another side of the picture, and the revelation of what is the true basis and starting point of all relationship of man with God.
[p. 349] When God created man, man could not be said to be a dog; nor could he have been acquainted with the moral goodness of God, for he knew neither good nor evil. He knew God as a beneficent Creator, and One who cared for his well-being; but I do not think he knew God spiritually; but, so to speak, through the medium of created things, and of all that had been established and ordered in relation to himself on earth. The first man is out of earth, earthy. But with the fall all was changed. Man had acquired the knowledge of good and evil, but was withal alienated in heart from God. Hence the necessity of which the Lord speaks in John 3 of a man being born again, in order that a spiritual craving may be created in his soul, which nothing but the apprehension of God spiritually can satisfy.
But then it is that he is content to accept the place of a dog, of one who, as regards God, has been without shame or sensibility, and thus left without claim on God, save on His compassion. Such is the place the soul has to take in truth; but only to find that divine goodness and power have come within reach of the appropriation of the most degraded here, with the full knowledge of their degradation, the great divine end being that the love of God might be revealed to the heart of man. This is light, or rather love revealed as light, good for the feeblest heart. The Son of man must be lifted up to bear the whole weight of the judgment that rested on man by reason of sin, that God might be revealed as love to the poor human heart, and the believer be enabled by the Spirit to respond to that love which has been manifested to him in the gift of the only-begotten Son of God. The love of God is shed abroad in the believer’s heart by the Holy Spirit given him, and now by the Spirit cries, Abba, Father. Not only has he reached blessing but liberty.
Truly no one need be afraid of light, for grace [p. 350] gives now as heavenly light what soon will be our part. The more that light is admitted, though we are searched by it, the more we become acquainted with the unfathomable depths of divine goodness and love, and the more capable we are to be here intelligently for the will of God, the whole body full of light.