THE TRUE LIGHT
[p. 223] THE TRUE LIGHT
John 1: 4 - 9; John 8: 12; 1 John 2: 8
I have been thinking of light, dear brethren, in view of this meeting, particularly of the ‘true light’ which is said to lighten every man, showing that however much is said of light in the Scriptures, and however important it is as viewed by itself, yet in the divine mind men were in view in it. God, I need not say, always worked in the light in whatever He did, so that it is said in Genesis 1, before He began, “God said, Let there be light. And there was light”. The operations that followed were in it, and as they proceeded, they were seen in relation to one another. As day after day developed, the divine thoughts became clearer, and were obviously coordinated, always in the light. But when we come to John’s gospel, we have the divine mind as to light, that it had man in view, man as such; “every man”, not simply man as a race but every member of it. Whatever his nationality or antecedent, every man was in the divine mind in regard of the light. So that everything from the very outset was done in the light. God never operated in the dark. Hence we find that in the laying of the foundations of the earth, those present knew what was being done. Although God does not always give an account of His matters, yet in the laying of the foundations intelligent beings knew what was being done. He has not been pleased to give an account of many of the things that are visible to us, physical phenomena. That is within His prerogative; He is not obliged to give an account of these things, but at the same time all has been done in the light, and those present are cognisant and interested, so that we are told, “the morning stars sang together”, Job 38:7. They sang [p. 224] together, a beautiful tribute to unity even then. We may be assured that whatever is alluded to, they were engaged with the same thing; they sang together. They sang with the spirit, as I may say, and they sang with the understanding. They knew something of what God was doing, and then it adds, “all the sons of God”. These allude surely to mature beings, persons of intelligence. They were all interested, and so interested that they “shouted for joy”. They saw what God was about. The book of Proverbs opens up to us further that wisdom was there. The morning stars and the sons of God say nothing about men. Wisdom does. Wisdom carries the thought forward and speaks anticipatively, anticipating the actual realisation of the divine thought in that He says, “my delights were with the sons of men”, Proverbs 8: 31. You see, beloved brethren, what a note of intelligent jubilance runs through. In wisdom you have Christ personified; He was not simply occupied with the general scheme of God, infinite as it was, but particularly with the habitable parts of God’s earth. He speaks anticipatively, seeing what was in the divine mind and knowing it, knowing more than the morning stars and the sons of God. He spoke of the habitable parts of God’s earth; His delights were with the sons of men.
Now, therefore, you can see, dear brethren, how John’s gospel fits in with all that. Although as stated here, “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made”, John 1: 3. What is in view immediately is men, and hence the statement, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men”. In the expression ‘true light’, it is not meant that the light previously referred to was not true light. Physical light, of course, is true to a point, the sun and whatever other light there may be in the physical system, but God had reserved the thought of the true light for men. It was something [p. 225] that should become a substantive, not merely an abstract, thought. It was to be something here within men’s range, something that men could touch. And so it says, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men”. But so as to prepare our minds for the thought, we have to dismiss all earlier conceptions of light for the moment, for hitherto light dispelled darkness, so that darkness was driven by it into its own area, and a name given to it. The light was called Day. It ruled and dominated. They had not existed together. Here, however, we are prepared for the new thought in that we are told that the light, the true light, “appears in darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not”, and that, moreover, witness has been borne to it. No one needs to call attention to the sun as it shines in the heavens. It is there; nothing is hid from its heat. Its light comes to all the earth, and as it rises, the darkness is driven out of the way. In fact it negatives the darkness, so that in its presence darkness ceases. The new thing has to be apprehended, and therefore we are told that the light shines in darkness and the darkness apprehended it not, and that attention has to be called to it. So that we are told immediately, “There was a man sent from God”. That is not merely historical; it is moral. It is a man that was with God, and was sent as being ‘with Him’. He came, we are told, for a witness of the light. He was not it, the Spirit tells us, although the Lord later pays a beautiful tribute to John. He says, “He was a burning and a shining light”, John 5: 35. It was more local; he burned and he shone. You can see as those Pharisees came to him to be baptised, how he burned; as he called them a generation of vipers he would wither them up. But the light was there: he was a burning and a shining light and they rejoiced for a season in it. But it was local and national. The Holy Spirit here says, “He was not the light”. That is to say, he [p. 226] was national and partial, designed of God to be so, for it was a question of saving Israel, and that all should believe on Christ. But he was not the true light, and then the Holy Spirit tells us what that was. “The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man”; that is Christ. He is indiscriminate; He is impartial; He shines on all.
Now the Holy Spirit goes on to tell us how the witness was borne. John says, “He it is of whom I said, A man comes after me who takes a place before me, because he was before me”. Again he says, “In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know ... the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose”. You see the beautiful witness, the kind of witness to this Light. He was in their midst. May it not be, beloved, that there is that of God in our midst standing whom we know not? We are always tested. It is a constant test among the people of God — that which is of God in our midst. Here He is not acting. He is not preaching. He is not working. He is standing, and yet He is the great Creator of the universe, “whom ye do not know”. You see what is of God amongst us, possibly inactive because of ourselves, becomes a test. John says, ‘I did not know Him, but I was on the look-out for Him’. You see the thing is to be on the look-out for what is of God, for God is never inactive, as the Lord says later, “My Father worketh hitherto”, John 5: 17. Then John goes on, “he who sent me to baptise with water, he said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit”. That is what God said to him. You say, No wonder John knew. But that is not all that is said about John. It is said that John saw Him coming to him. It was when John saw the Lord moving, not standing, that he discerned Him. It was not the Lord’s preaching, it was not the Lord’s miracles, it was His moving.
[p. 227] When John saw Him coming to him, he says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. John has got the thing. Before the Spirit comes on the Lord, John has eyes to see. That is what John’s gospel would lay upon us, the importance of being able to see the light, whatever it be, as it shines. The life shines; it radiates as light, but you have the substance first. The life is there. It is not a question of sermons or even miracles, it is the substance, the wonderful thing that has come into manhood. I am not now speaking of His deity, as is so emphasised in this chapter, but the life. The life was there, you see, that which was intended to be light, the light of men, and as it moved, it radiated. The thing was there, and as the Lord moved towards John it was radiating. He saw it. Multitudes were there doubtless; a most extraordinary day among the Jews was that day. The light of life was radiating in the simple movement of Christ to John. Thousands were moving to John, some of them vipers. They were doing what the Lord was doing physically, but how different! Why should He come to John? He had never sinned. That holy life, delightful under God’s eye, was perfect. Why should He come to John? You see, John had spiritual discernment. He had eyes to see. God alone can give that, and if you have not got eyes to see this light, I would advise you to turn to God. It is shining, the true light now shines. Here, it is, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”, but the first epistle of John says, “the true light already shines”. But He is coming to John, and although many from all parts are there, only John discerned in that movement the Taker-away of the sin of the world. Never a light shone like that light, the light of the taking away of the sin of the world. It was the true light; it was the light that was needed. It is the light that every soul of man needs if he is to be with God. He has [p. 228] got to get that light, the light of the taking away of the sin of the world. John was baptising. He was administering figuratively, death. So Jesus comes to him, and John names Him. There is not a word said as to him having a communication about that. The word to him was, “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit”. But John discerned Him before that. The light was radiating, as I have said, the light of the taking away of the sin of the world, and the baptist was affected by it.
I wonder if that light has shone into every one of our hearts. It is the foundation. We are not in the true light apart from it. We must begin with the fact that sin is taken away by Christ. This gospel will have the spiritual thing in us, and so in discerning Jesus the baptist names Him the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. John says, “I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God”. Now there is another point, and I stress it, because without it you are not prepared for the new commandment, because the new commandment is the true light that is shining now. The next day John was standing and two of his disciples, and the Lord is seen walking. We are not told where He was going, but it was consequent obviously on the previous movement. He is walking, for as He removes the sin of the world, He is free to walk. He is walking so as to be called attention to. Well, you say, I can see that. Yes, but can you? Look at these two men standing by John — one of them Andrew. They had been under John’s ministry. Surely they would see now. But do they see? They do not see. John says, “Behold the Lamb of God”. He calls attention to Him. That is the principle of it: attention has to be called to things. You say, ‘Why did I not see that before?’ Well, why did you not? It may be you have been cavilling about it. It may be you have been saying, ‘I have been going on these lines all my life and am content’. But here is something you have never seen. Why have you not seen it? Attention is now called to it. Then they saw it and were moved by it. Now that movement in them I take the liberty of calling life, for light in itself is not the power of movement. Life is that. The principle is that as the true light shines into your soul, it becomes life there. It becomes, as I may call it, a substantive, so that it radiates from you. The true light shines from you. The Lord emphasises the fact that life was there, for He turns and sees them following, for that is the direction of the movement. It is what may be called astronomical; all is governed by one great principle. There is no room for lawlessness in this light. It is true to itself. So they move towards Him, they follow Him. As long as you cavil and quarrel with a thing, you are in darkness in regard to it, whatever the thing may be. If the thing is there to be seen, move in relation to it and your movement will be light to others. So Andrew, one of the two that abode with the Lord that day, goes after his brother. That is the way it works. The present time is the time, dear brethren, in which the brethren need to be brought together. Andrew found Simon and brought him to Jesus. Then the Lord looks on him and gives him a name; not indeed that the name could be applied yet; He says, Thou shalt be called Cephas. It was potential. Peter would be a stone. The Lord knew that when He looked upon him. It is all a question therefore of what you are to be, this light shining into your soul. It becomes life in your soul, and the light that shines from that is the true light. “The true light already shines”, 1 John 2: 8.
Well now, beloved, I want to show just here that material for the assembly, which Peter represents, is the ability to take in new things which the Lord may [p. 230] call attention to. We are told in this passage what ‘Cephas’ means. We are also told what the word ‘Rabbi’ means, that is to say, the interpretation of the words is given. When this is so, you may depend that the Holy Spirit calls special attention to these words. The two disciples called Him Rabbi, meaning that they had known discipleship before. But now they had transferred to another Master, they were willing to leave John for Christ on account of His superiority. And so it is that Peter comes in as assembly material following. They go out and bring others in. Andrew finds Simon and brings him, then he is given a name which means ‘Stone’, a spiritual thought. In the corresponding passage in Matthew the Lord said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. That is the believer, I apprehend, as seen in Romans, the responsible man blessed, which goes on. But here, he is not blessed. That is not the side presented in John. It is simply ‘Cephas’, which corresponds with the other part of Matthew, “I also, I say unto thee that thou art Peter”. That is a spiritual thing, and I connect it with Acts 19. In that chapter Paul, having passed through the upper quarters came to Ephesus. Apollos was at Corinth holding, as I may say, the responsible line there, for the Corinthian epistle refers to us down here as we are, in flesh and blood, whereas the Ephesian epistle is more the spiritual thing. And what qualifies for that? Paul asks, “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?” Acts 19: 2. You see it is a question of the Holy Spirit when you come to the assembly. They say, “We did not even hear if the Holy Spirit was come”. And they relate what they had believed. They were walking up to the light they had, which is a very fine thing, but then the question is, What are you going to do with further light? Are you able to take in new thoughts from God? The apostle goes on to speak to them of Jesus and the glad tidings [p. 231] of their salvation. He refers to it later in writing to them, that they had believed the “glad tidings of your salvation” and they had been sealed with the Spirit; that is to say, they had embraced the thing. You must have noticed that Paul made full allowance for the ministry of John. He fully credits it. Blessed ministry, but it was not the true light. What you want is the full, the true light. If not, you will not be ready for further thoughts from God, you will miss them. Many are missing it, they are unprepared to receive fresh things from God. Some say, ‘There is nothing new now; there has been no new light these many years’. Think of people saying that, as if God had stopped working, as if the Holy Spirit were quiescent, and as if the temple of God ceased to exist. It reminds one of what the scoffers say, “since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning”, 2 Peter 3: 4. No light is there, beloved, no light is shining there. But thank God there is light shining, the true light is now shining. The Holy Spirit is down here operating in the saints. There is life in the saints, and the light is shining, the true light, in them. It is, “the true light already shines” and “the darkness is passing”. It is now; that is the idea. And so these Ephesian believers gladly commit themselves and Paul lays his hands on them, a spiritual element. Then they receive the Spirit, twelve men at one time. They were prepared; assembly material is marked by readiness to receive whatever is of God. They gladly received the ministry of Paul; they receive the Spirit. The great structure at Ephesus is a habitation of God in the Spirit.
Now all this fits in with chapter 8 and the epistle. It is a question of following the Lord. He is moving and He says, “he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. You say, ‘Such-and-such an one has light’. You refer to his [p. 232] ministry, but that is not the idea. I am not leaving that out, because ministry would be in life. John’s ministry was living, full of Christ. He said, “Behold the Lamb of God”. But what the Lord says here is not that. It is not His ministry, it is a question of life. “In him was life”. That is the idea, so that He says, “he that follows me ... shall have the light of life”. That is, light of that kind, light coming out from the substance. That is the kind of thing, “the light of life ...”.
I want to say further, beloved brethren, that the presence of the Spirit here, and all that preceded in this gospel, is necessarily in view, the food in chapter 6, and the coming down of the Spirit as from a glorified Christ in chapter 7. These are in view if there is to be the light of life. It is what is here, the constitution built up on the living bread that came down from heaven, the flesh and blood of Christ. Then the reception of the Spirit is from a glorified Christ. That is what I understand to be the application of the passage at the present time. You are following the Lord, you move out of the world. You are following the Lord and you have the light of life, a living state of things. One has often pictured pioneers in, say, the western continent, the New World. They were concerned about the light of life in a material way. They avoided the deserts, and sought out the rivers as they went west. It was a question of life, for man cannot live otherwise. Life in that sense is vegetable life, of all moment surely to these pioneers. So it is now. What lines am I pursuing? I do not go into the desert to live. I may be there in the government of God, to bring me down to nothing. My affections, my needs lead me to where the people of God are. How may I find them? The people of God are where the light is, and where the Spirit is, and wherever the Spirit is there is life. The Spirit is life, we are told, and you see the fruits of it among the saints. Oh,
[p. 233] you say, you are occupying us with the saints. Well, I am following the Lord, and with Him you find that He is thinking of the habitable parts of the earth. He is occupied with men. “He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation”, Psalm 107: 7. You are to find it, the habitable parts. There are men and women living together in a spiritual sense. That is what I understand by the light of life. Wherever this is true, God operates in it and souls are being drawn in that relation. It is a question of whether I am living, as the Lord said, “Altogether that which I also say to you”, and again, “out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”. Where God is working, that will be observed. It is not merely that we have the Bible rightly interpreted and understand its principles, but we want life.
Well, now I want in closing to show that all this is involved in the new commandment in John’s epistle. The epistle deals with life, with something very tangible. It was what his hands had handled, what he had seen and heard. It was no abstract thing that John was treating of. It was a substantive, what was seen in a living Person. If He went and dwelt at Capernaum, what a thing it would be to live next door to Him! If you sat down at table with Him, the light was shining. Now John is dealing with that. He says, I do not write unto you a new commandment but an old one. No spiritual ministry will discard what has been. The old surely was as much of God as the new, whatever ministry had been received earlier, it could not possibly be displaced by the new. John the baptist’s ministry was of God. The Lord challenges the Jews as to it. It was of God, but it was not the true light. And so no ministry that is of God, however ancient, can be discarded. It has its own value; it stands. But then it may not be everything. “I write no new commandment to you, but an old”, he says, so as to emphasise that the old stood. What was the old? The word which they had heard from the beginning, no doubt the ministry of Christ, the word they had had, that is how it should read. The word was what was from the beginning, but it was what they had already heard. It is the ministry of Christ, the gospel presented to the twelve. It is the objective side, what is presented in the gospel, and that stood. I am not going to detract from that. That is not to be displaced at all. Do not be afraid of anything that God has presented to you, it stands. No new commandment will displace it. It will enhance it.
Then in the next verse he says, “Again, I write a new commandment to you”. Why a new one? That is the whole point. The new commandment, it says, “is true in him and in you”. Are you afraid of being occupied with that? If you have got this verse you have got the true light. The new commandment is what is true in Him and in you, in Christ and in us. And then he says, ‘because’. That word ‘because’ is confirmatory; what he is going to say proves it. Because the true light now shines. It was shining. It was obvious therefore that the new commandment, true in Christ, had expelled the darkness by becoming true in the saints, by the Spirit. Marvellous fact. Is that going to come to an end? Not at all. That is going on. What is become true in us has come into this world, and has come to stay. The true light is shining and the darkness is passing. This verse is simple christianity, and anyone who does not accustom himself to the new commandment, to the principle of the new commandment, must miss it. It is what God brings in. It is true that everything is out, since the departure of the apostles, but the Holy Spirit retains everything here; there is never anything old with Him. So that the word in the addresses to the assemblies is not ‘He that hath [p. 235] an ear let him hear what the Lord says to the churches’, no; for what He says is written down for each, but, “let him hear what the Spirit says”. We are not told what the Spirit says. It has the character of something new, in the sense of something fresh. We must all face it; we must be sure that we are not quarrelling with it, because if we quarrel with that, we shall be in the dark as to it, and that will affect us generally. It is the readiness to receive what God gives in the way of something fresh — that we are characteristically assembly material, and thus the true light now shines through us. May the Lord bless His word.