HOLDING TO LIGHT
HOLDING TO LIGHT
In this world of darkness the light has shined; an entirely new thing. A Person, the Son of the Father, was “made flesh, and dwelt among us”. He is the Light. Everything of Him ranges on His side, and everything of darkness ranges on the side of the world. There is now a complete distinction. There is no communion between light and darkness. As the eye is single, as Christ Himself is the one object before the heart, the body is light. There is a receiving of light from Him which places one apart, and outside, and in contradistinction to every one and to everything here. His light must have this effect. The more light any one has, the more must this be the effect. Every addition to one’s light will necessarily increase this effect. Light not only opposes darkness, but according to its power supplants it; there is no other way to overcome darkness but by light. “Let your light so shine before men” is our true power of testimony. If there is light, there must be a space created by it for itself, “as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light”. “Light is sown for the righteous”, and “in thy light ... we see light”. The man of light assumes nothing. He is not aware of his moral influence; he has been controlled by the light himself, and it sheds its influence around him, without his seeking it or attempting it. The genuine effect of all truth is declared in the light which it imparts. “The fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth”.
Light, then, cannot be too much valued; and as there is faithfulness to it, there must be a space for it. It cannot be hid. It is not to be put “under a bushel”, nor “under a bed”: that is, it is not to be hid either designedly, or suddenly, but to be in such a position “that they [p. 211] which come in may see the light”. It is hypocrisy to try to hide it. It is the greatest favour to be given any light. I consider when the Lord sheds any fresh light into my soul, and opens out His word more clearly on any point, that I have received the greatest favour that He can confer; while on the other hand, I find that each additional ray of it places me, without even knowing why, more distinctly outside, and entirely apart from the order of things here. “Whatsoever doth make manifest is light”. And I am not only set free, and in a new path for myself, but as I am faithful to my light, I am a real help to my fellow christians, shining “as lights in the world”. Thus there are two things connected with light. The first — the greatness of the Lord’s favour in imparting it to me. Our true sphere now is the light. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another”. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”. It is there I am “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord”. What can be more blessed than the sensible impartation of His light, which His own word by the Spirit makes intelligible to me? When I understand the Lord of glory in His own sphere, and I am in any degree transformed into the glory, I read things here in that light; and the Scriptures open out to me as setting forth the counsel and purpose of God to head up all things in this blessed One, my Saviour.
The second thing is, that it is only in the measure that I am faithful to this light, that I can be any real help to His own, in leading them on. I must avoid the “bushel” and the “bed” in order that I may duly set forth, for the benefit of the saints, the grace the Lord hath shown me; even though it exposes me, as it surely will, to the opposition of the darkness all around. My comfort is, that the effectual way to overcome darkness is by the persistent maintenance of the light. Like Noah in his day; God had shown him great favour in giving him light, and in faith he adhered to it. He “prepared an ark to the [p. 212] saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world”, who would not accept the light. Noah had no encouragement from his fellow men; yet he made no secret of his light. Day by day for many a year he persisted in setting forth what he had been led to see. He was singular to a degree, without any popular acceptance; and yet, though approved of by none, he boldly declared it. He was the light in the world at the time. The greater the faithfulness to the light at any time, the less human eminence is obtained. There is no beauty in the light in man’s eyes. The holders of it must expect no countenance from man. “Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth”.
Thus was it with Joseph in his day. He had the light; man did not value it, but he held on; and after many a year of suffering, he could say, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive”, Genesis 50: 20. He had the light; it was from God. It gave him no position among men; but as he was true to it, God made him to prosper; and a great service was rendered by him to the people of God in an hour of the last extremity. It is not in the day of prosperity that the effect of the light is so manifest. It is when there is, as it were, no more hope, that the man of light holding on to it, in faith in God, is used by Him to help His people; even as it was in Gideon’s day, when the sudden burst of light from three hundred broken pitchers, secured a great deliverance for Israel.
The more I believe that the light is from God, and the more faithfully I adhere to it, though it throws me, as one unknown and peculiar, into a narrow path, separate from my fellows, the more service shall I render in the end to those who had turned away from me. Hence, as I have said, it is continually in the time of the greatest feebleness and hopelessness, that the man of light comes to the rescue. Who could read the history of [p. 213] Moses, and not see how he, as the man of light, was again and again the saviour of the people, when they were on the very verge of ruin! When they had turned to idolatry, and had Aaron for their supporter, who marked out the way of deliverance but Moses? Fresh from the presence and glory of God, he knew the right thing to do: he took the tabernacle of the congregation, and pitched it very far outside the camp. The thousands of Israel might have disapproved, and certainly they did not understand the act. Moses acted alone; he acted for God; and service was rendered to all Israel. The man of light must look for no countenance from man; but as he has faith in God, he is borne on and eventually the light cannot be hid. It is ever the sovereign pleasure of the blessed God, that the light which He has given should not be hid; however it may be refused, and however the holders of it may be tried and disregarded; yet in the end, it must come abroad.
The great thing to be dreaded is the Esau spirit; the readiness in a moment of pressure to say, What good is it to me? When the light is in any degree surrendered, that soul can make no more progress for the Lord. There may be the adoption of many an imposing service, or an affecting course of life; but, assuredly, when the light that has been given has been in any way lost, there is no additional light given to that person. While on the other hand, if I am faithful to the light God has given me, though all men may turn away from me, yet the day will come, when the Lord will be glorified, and His own will be helped on and encouraged, in the face of the enemy; and there shall be a great recovery, a “light ... out of darkness”.
Samuel in his day, in a very peculiar way, in simple dependence on God, from the days of his childhood to the end, held on to the light which he had received. In 1 Samuel 7 we learn how fully he counted on God, and how he was used to help God’s people, in their very low estate, in that dark day. Samuel has as much confidence in God in Israel’s darkest day, as Joshua had in their brightest day. Samuel’s stone, Ebenezer, is a more glorious tribute to God than Joshua’s.
Thus the man of light, however ignored or disregarded, eventually comes forth as a bright morning to a long dark night. And though, like Samuel, he may have to retreat to Ramah, because of the disobedience of King Saul, the day will come when David will seek him at Ramah. The light may long be refused and slighted, but if there is faithfulness to it, it will eventually be acknowledged as of God.
Look at Daniel in Babylon; or at Ezra and Nehemiah, with the returned captives; the one great thing that marks them is their simple, undeviating adherence to the light given them. Expose them, as it might, to unheard-of trials and opposition of every kind, yet in the end God made it to prosper. Glory was brought to Himself, and success and gain to His people.
In the pathway of our blessed Lord, the One who could say, “walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you” (John 12: 35), who could describe that wonderful track of unfailing light? And though baffled, and hindered by man on every hand; misunderstood, and misconstrued by every one; relentlessly opposed, and in the end crucified; yet He could declare to His disciples that the time would come when “that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops”. The light given of God may indeed be refracted, because of the dense medium here, but it cannot be destroyed; and if there is simple faithfulness to it, the blessed God will assuredly grant it space, for His own glory, and the service of His people.
Paul, as we see, held on to the light, even more vigorously, when there were surrenders of it almost enough to discourage him. All in Asia, where he had laboured chiefly, had turned away from him. Was there any good then in persisting in a light which had proved to be so ineffectual? Yes; certainly. The light was of [p. 215] God; and hence he urges on Timothy, “Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned”; as he says, “Thou hast ... known my doctrine”, and “from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures”. No one, I am persuaded, can interpret the Old Testament Scriptures unless he knows Paul’s doctrine.
And what marks the closing hour? “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. Who could portray the beautiful radiance of heavenly light which will be displayed by the church in the aggregate on the earth, as the true Rebekah moves on to the meeting of the Bridegroom? It is not only her beauty that distinguishes her (”forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty”); but as Rebekah cast a veil over herself when she saw Isaac, so shall the bride cast into oblivion every trace of herself; “One Lord, and his name one”, evermore for her heart. To this great and glorious finish will the Lord use the light which He has recovered to the church, as there is simple faithfulness in maintaining it. “But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him”.
The Lord give us grace to answer to His word, — “hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown”.