THE BODY FULL OF LIGHT
THE BODY FULL OF LIGHT
Two things went together in the wilderness for Israel, and they never are disunited now, though saints often think that they are. The two things were guidance and food - the cloud, and the manna; now the Lord Himself is both guidance and food to us, and we cannot have one without the other; hence, “When thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light” (Luke 11: 34). The [p. 187] subject of light is fully opened out in Luke 11. The Lord Himself is the light which God has lighted; the elements of the light are moral, and are set forth by Jonah and Solomon, who typify Christ in His sufferings and in His glory. This is the way in which He has been manifested; He is the light, who coming into the world is the light of every man. There is light nowhere else. The component parts of the light are presented on the one hand by Jonah, the suffering one, and on the other by Solomon, the glorious one. If you have an eye (divine nature), you take in the light. Nothing can take in light but an eye; the best ear that was ever possessed could not take in light. The eye is the only organ which can, and hence if your eye is simple - occupied with the light - the body is entirely coloured by it, and there is no part dark. You are not a witness of the light until you are conquered or controlled personally by it.
In the gospels I see how grace practically leads me; in the epistles I see my standing in Christ before God; hence in the latter I am assumed to be dead, in the former I am taught the process by which I realise my death. If I am really dead I have no part dark, but while there is a dark part, there is a hindrance to the full efficacy of the light in making me a witness of it. In Luke 12: 35 we get our proper attitude, loins girt and lights [candles] burning (our eyes are the candles of our bodies), and we ourselves like unto men who wait for their Lord. Then the body is luminous; the eye of the soul has fed on Christ in His sufferings and glory, and accordingly its course here is simply in keeping with His mind. If my soul is feeding on Christ, I am practically filling the place here which is pleasing to Him; and this is all the guidance I need; for it is the end of all guidance. He only is before me, I see nothing to interest me here, nothing to attract me but Himself, and what is of Him; and hence, every attitude and relation I fall into must be in keeping with [p. 188] the only light I have, and with reference to it. How He would like this move or that move becomes easily determined by me, if I see nothing or no one but Himself, and if what suits Him is thus the simple desire of my heart; and if so, that is, if one is thus simply occupied with Him, it is wonderful how easily and without effort one does this or that, and goes here or there according to His mind and pleasure. Naturally our own selves fill our eyes, and hence we go here and there and do this or that to please ourselves. If I were in a dark street where there were many dangers and many attractions, how anxious and troubled I should be until light had come in. And if the light pointed out distinctly the good of the one, and the evil of the other, I should have very little difficulty in choosing my way. He “that doeth evil hateth the light ... But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3: 20, 21). The reptile flees from the light, the guileless bird welcomes and enjoys it, springing into life and activity because of its presence. We must be exercised; Christ is light, all else is darkness. He suits the bird (which illustrates the new man in faith); all the rest, the darkness, is the element for the reptile! If your eye takes in Christ - the light - in this world it must be as Jonah and Solomon; that is, in suffering and glory.
May the Lord engage our hearts so simply with Himself that we may enter on no step or act but as it suits Him; His own eye leading us into it.