THE BODY FULL OF LIGHT - LUMINOUS

THE BODY FULL OF LIGHT — LUMINOUS

It is a subject full of interest, how one walking through this evil world can in person be full of light, or luminous. Everyone with any religious sense feels it is incumbent on him to draw a line of distinction between himself and the irreligion around; and hence it is that as there is conscience or a sense of what is due to God, so is there real separation. The fact that there must be some line of separation will not be denied by any except a thorough worldling. If one owns God at all, there must be separation from the habits and ways of those who refuse and ^[p. 134] turn away from all religion. But it is just here that the snare is. Many are contented with a separation which satisfies their own conscience, because they are led by natural religion, and not by the light which has been manifested, even our Lord Jesus Christ.

In a day like this, it is of great importance that we should clearly understand what really constitutes a body full of light, or luminous; what is the course of conduct here which will be proof positive that we have a single eye, and that we have clearly imbibed the light which has been lighted on the earth.

In Luke 11, the Lord sets before us the truth that He is the Light, a greater than Jonas, and a greater than Solomon. The gentiles, the Ninevites, had repented at the preaching of Jonas, and the queen of Sheba had come from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; but “a greater than Solomon is here”. The full light had come, and it was not set under a bushel or under a bed; but all who come in should see the light. The light had come. “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light”. Here it is plainly stated that if the eye be single — that is, if there be but the one object, and no mixed motive — the effect will be that the whole body will be luminous; the body will be refulgently expressive of the light. Christ is the light. According as Christ simply and exclusively engages the heart, so is the body, the whole being, luminous with the manner and mind of Christ. Blessed consummation! If the eye, that which takes in the light, be not simple, then the body is not luminous; and hence we have to take heed that the light which is in us be not darkness. The more and the greater the revelation of truth, the more grievous and painful was the departure or perversion of it by those who adopted it without a single eye, and put their own carnal interpretation on it. The truth ever was to glorify God, to express God; but while it distinctly ^[p. 135] secured the benefit of man, it did so by revealing God; and as there was a single eye at any time, this revelation was accepted, and it imparted the true light for the time to the one thus faithful. But when it was accepted without a single eye, the very light became darkness, that is, the adoption of it in a carnal way was only increased darkness, even darkness greater than if there had been no light. The darkness of the Jews was greater than that of the gentiles. They had received the revelation of God, but having no single eye for it, the light became darkness.

It is a matter of grave moment that if light be not accepted as it is — and for this there must be a single eye — then the very light becomes darkness, Every communication and manifestation of God to man, when not accepted by an eye referring it to God distinctly, was perverted by the mind of man, and became darkness. Eve, in calling her firstborn Cain, perverted light into darkness; a darkness that would not have occurred had she not been favoured with a revelation which would have given her light if she had had a single eye, that is, a mind simply occupied with God in the matter. This is the clue to the great mistakes and confusion into which many men, well read in the Scriptures, fall. They have not a single eye for the truth; they accept it in a natural way, not as light from God, which it is, and which therefore nothing but a single eye can take in. The simplest truth, if not taken in with a single eye, respecting God only in it, is darkness. The commandment to love one another, if accepted apart from God and holiness, is gross darkness. The unity of all christians, if accepted without regard to the holiness of God’s house, is again grievous darkness. And hence, when there is an evil eye — that is, admitting self as an object, having a mixed motive — then there cannot be a body full of light. It was even so with Noah, Abraham, and Moses. The light and truth of God, when appropriated and applied naturally, only led them into darkness,

^[p. 136] and in the very opposite line to the truth. Noah is placed in rule over everything, but he fails to rule himself, and falls into self-indulgence. Abraham, when his eye was not simply occupied with God, would have Ishmael for his heir; and Moses, while using the power and name of God at Meribah, introduces himself and dishonours God. The more fully communicated the mind of God is, and hence the more fitted to instruct and guide us through this dark world, the greater darkness it becomes to us if used according to the natural mind or the evil eye, as man would interpret it for himself. Hence, now that the perfect light has been set up, if there is not a single eye to take it in, the knowledge of it will only be darkness indeed. The candle of the body is the eye, that which takes in the light. If the eye be not single, light has been misunderstood and unappropriated.

The full light has now come; and if the candle of the body be simple, the body will be luminous, expressive of Christ Himself in this evil world. The effort to make the will of God subservient to man’s glory has been the great and continued snare. Nothing so tests what is in a man as to demand of him to submit himself to the mind of God. The utter inability of Saul to rule for God was exposed by entrusting to him the solemn task of extirpating the Amalekites. If he had a single eye, one occupied only with the communication and mind of God, if he had understood the mind of God in that solemn charge, how could he have spared Agag the king? But he lacked the single eye, and that which would have been a light to him only enveloped him in thick darkness, and led to his forfeiture of the throne of Israel. Thus with the Pharisees in the Lord’s time; their great desire and effort was to express in their walk the perfection which the law enjoined; but it proved to be darkness indeed to them, because they thought only of what man would approve and not of what would please God. It is here ^[p. 137] that the want of light is always betrayed. We see man consenting to the truth and yet unable to comprehend it. He adopts it as contributive to his own consequence or elevation; that is, there is another object in it besides God. It is taken in with an evil eye. Hence, the people who accept the truth of God without a single eye are always the greatest opponents of the light, painful as the fact is. The amount of the good done to man must not deceive us. Saul might plead that they had destroyed all that was vile and refuse; the Pharisees might boast of their good conduct, and that the house was swept and garnished; but God was left out. Man was primarily considered, and hence Saul’s act, with all its apparent denunciation of what was vile and refuse, was as the sin of witchcraft; and all the sweeping and garnishing of the Pharisees would end in seven devils entering in, and the last state being worse than the first. We see in John 18 and 19 that the Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God, are more opposed to Christ, the Son of God, than the gentiles.

The greater the light, the more will man be distanced from the will of God if he takes in the revelation with an evil eye, that is, with reference to himself, and not with reference to God, and thus the light is darkness. And if the light be owned, and at the same time be used with reference to man, the end will be that, while there may be much consideration for the poor and great display of interest for them, there will be the greatest opposition to the truth as manifested by Christ. No amount of good works, or of putting away of the vile and refuse, should beguile the faithful into the delusion that these things constitute the body full of light. Though such may and do obtain credit and acknowledgment among men, as if they were the highest and best, and though they themselves be filled with the idea that they are the most exemplary people on the earth, they will yet always be found in the greatest darkness and to be the most bitter opponents of the truth ^[p. 138] of God. There are no people in the present day so opposed to the truth of Christ being all in all as those most exemplary for charitable works and good deeds; and the only way to account for this is, that they cannot admit the full truth and at the same time pursue the great aim and the end of their works, namely, benefiting man and improving society. The more the name of Christ is connected with them — alas! it is even so — the more do they hinder the truth; and hence, that which is in itself light, when taken in with an evil eye — an eye for man and not simply for God — is gross darkness.

And here every christian needs to be on his guard, because there is a tendency to direct our attention to the outside appearance, and thus the true character of the light has not been appreciated. Nay, it will be found that the more fully we are in the light, while we shall be the more perfect in every detail of life, still we shall not be occupied with our own appearance — for that is not a single eye — but with Christ.

The single eye feeds on Christ; and the personal expression of the effect here will be not fearing them that kill the body. Fearlessly occupied with the confession of Christ, we shall have no anxiety about what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, neither shall we be of a doubtful mind — giving away present things, but providing a treasure in the heavens that faileth not. “Your loins ... girded about and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants”, etc. Such is the body full of light! How beautiful, how striking the splendour of this light, when exhibited in the saints in this evil world! Now if the body be not thus full of light, there is some part dark. There is not the clear shining or blaze, as when a candle or lamp gives light. Hence the word, “and your lights burning”. The ^[p. 139] lights are not burning, nor is there the true character of the light and the testimony maintained, unless there are these brilliant outgoings from us. Fearlessness as to those who kill the body — confession as to Christ our object — ourselves overlooked even to death — so secure in God’s care for us that we are as quiet and restful about the things most necessary for our existence, such as food and raiment, as the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. Present things we give away. The treasure in heaven holds our heart in its own region. We wait, as in duty bound, but also with joyful expectation, for our Master’s knock, that we may open to Him immediately. This, I repeat, is a body full of light.

I dread the efforts I see to get a good character from the world, as if that were the end proposed for the saint on the earth. The end and aim for the saint as to the earth is to be a body full of light, intolerable to the world, but well-pleasing to God. Nay, the more one attains to be an object of reputation among men, the more one is sinking into darkness and failing to be a body full of light in the midst of this adulterous and sinful generation — an epistle of Christ — a portrait of Himself!