“THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”
Peter S Barlow
I was thankful for the way attention was drawn in yesterday’s reading to this verse in chapter 9 of John’s gospel. What came out was helpful, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”. We touched on the Lord Jesus as no longer in the world, but in glory. I may have thought that means that the light is not here, but that is not the way the scripture reads, it was whilst the Lord was in the world, that He was the light of the world. It got me thinking a little as to what the light of the world is now.
In the reading, we got help to see that there would be light here through the Spirit’s operation in persons, in the assembly. It would be that outshining that the scripture in Corinthians draws attention to and which will be seen in that vessel, the holy city, coming down out of heaven, “having the glory of God”, Rev 21: 10. As thinking over the verse in John, beloved brethren, a remark of Mr Raven’s came to mind, when he was asked what he understood by the "glory". He said it is the moral effulgence of God that shines out in the gospel, FER vol 5 p143. I do not think it is helpful to reduce divine things to definitions, but what I do find with definitions is that you stop to consider what the speaker, or the person that communicates it, may be trying to bring out. That is where I found the help. You think of the moral effulgence of God outshining in the gospel: that is light.
I love that passage in Hebrews 1: 3, which speaks of the Son, “who being the effulgence of his glory”. The footnote, b, says that effulgence is, ‘That which fully presents the glory which is in something else’. What the gospel presents is the glory of God as expressed in it. My thought is that is what Christ was, what the Lord Jesus was when He was here; He was the effulgence of God. He was shining out and everything that was seen in that glorious Man was the perfect expression of what God is. That thought of the moral effulgence of God touched my heart as to the greatness of it, the depth of the gospel, the dignity of it. It speaks to us of what God is in His nature and in His attributes; that is what the gospel presents. I might only think that it is presenting salvation as relief. Beloved brethren, it is presenting the depths of God, because the gospel preached is to be spoken in the power of the blessed Holy Spirit. As we have elsewhere in scripture, “the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”, 1 Cor 2: 10.
I was affected by what was brought into the reading last week too, as to the Spirit hearing what is said and announcing it to us, John 16: 13. A lovely touch was suggested, that what the Spirit announces is not necessarily what we can give expression to. It may be beyond us, but we find that glorious power dwells in our hearts and forms something in us after the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what the gospel is, and it is wonderful, beyond measure. We are so privileged to hear it week by week, beloved brethren; that is just what affected me. We had the gospel mentioned in a number of prayers tonight and I felt encouraged from that.
We have here in Corinthians, “Because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. The gospel, as we find at the beginning of Romans, is “God’s glad tidings … concerning his Son … Jesus Christ our Lord”, v 1-4. I have missed out the parentheses to see the beautiful encapsulation of what the glad tidings are, what the gospel is, God’s glad tiding concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. What we see in the Lord Jesus in perfection when here was truly the outshining of all that God is. It is no less so, now, where He is in glory. The light that shone upon Saul was the outshining of what God’s attitude is in the gospel.
I find increasingly as I come across these beautiful scriptures, that they are things to be contemplated. That is what John did, he contemplated. I seek to leave some impression of the glorious greatness of what the glad tidings are, for the light that is still shining in this world now and it is available to all men. We have been brought into it, and we are very privileged, beloved brethren, that the gospel has found an answer in our hearts; how blest we are. It should be outshining in us; what should shine out is that we have something very precious in our hearts that cannot be touched, and it is of God Himself.
These are a few fragmented thoughts, but maybe they will give some encouragement to us as to the greatness into which we have been brought and the greatness of the glad tidings.
For the Lord’s name’s sake.
Sunbury
15th December 2025