THE PRESENCE OF DIVINE LIGHT IN THE SOUL
[p. 279] THE PRESENCE OF DIVINE LIGHT IN THE SOUL
I do not think we should be ignorant of the thoughts of men. We read in Ephesians, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil”. This shews that we ought not to be ignorant of his wiles. We need not go outside of the word of God for an antidote to all that is abroad in the world. All that is of man will break down, but whatever is founded on the divine truth of the word of God will not break down. The thought that the Old Testament is an historical book containing a good deal of information mixed with myths and fables is much more prevalent than many are aware of. It is not man’s thought that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God. If we are alive to these things we get the answer to them in the word of God. I do not want the young to seek an answer outside the word of God itself. In getting an answer from the word, I get the sense that I have to do with the living God. The early part of scripture connects itself largely with individuals. Abel is not a myth to me; Enoch is not a myth; the flood is not a fable, but a great dealing of God in judgment bound up in the history of a person (Noah) — these men are no myths, but are so presented to us in the inspired record that we know them.
If you read this chapter attentively, there is one great principle that binds all the individuals presented to us together, that is, faith — the presence of divine light in the soul. No man could possibly guess at the mind of God. It is only received as God makes it known. Faith in the soul shews that there is light from God. When man was sinless he did not want it; as fallen he does. Alas! man was content to be without it, but wherever God wrought in the soul, light from God was [p. 280] found to be a necessity, and whatever light there was in the past always had reference to the full light that has come to us now. The full testimony of God has come out in the gospel; there can be no further testimony now, all is complete. The gospel is that in which the pleasure of God is expressed — the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God. The death and resurrection of Christ are the great testimony of the gospel, and every other testimony is covered by this. In Christ’s death there is the revelation of God, and in His resurrection the setting forth of His pleasure. In the death of Christ the Jewish system came to an end; the veil of the temple was rent in twain. There was the complete removal in judgment of the man that had offended, and the way was opened for God to come out. If we receive the testimony of scripture we must accept that man is gone as before God, the blood is the witness; and further, God has been revealed. The secret is that it was the Son of God who died on the cross, and He was made sin, who knew no sin, that the man that offended might be removed. The practical result is that in resurrection God now has His pleasure. The reign of grace has been established in the Man of God’s pleasure. If these things were more firmly grasped in our souls, we should realise their momentous import. The great mass of christians do not understand the import of these things. By the grace of God I am entitled to be free of self, and to be in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. Christ guides me and maintains me in His will down here, and the Holy Spirit is my support. The Lord has nothing to say to the world, but He directs you into the will of God that you may be here for Him. We are not under law, but under grace, grace is enthroned, and we are invited to come boldly to a throne of grace, and we are established in the dominion of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ — the Man of God’s pleasure.
Now, I want to shew you how these men, Abel, Enoch and Noah, looked on to this. The flood is no [p. 281] myth. Noah is not a stranger to me, but a man of faith akin to myself; there is something in common between us, but I will take them up and present one single point in connection with each. In Abel we find that before actual death came in, God had anticipated it in his offering. It was by faith Abel offered, he had light from God. Before ever death fell on man God had anticipated it by sacrifice. It was so with Israel in Egypt; before death passed through the land, the blood of the passover lamb was shed. It is true the death of Abel came to pass by violence, still it was anticipated by sacrifice. Abel brought his offering, and “by it he being dead yet speaketh”. God thus foresaw the removal of the man that had offended, and Abel was accounted righteous.
We pass on to Enoch; scripture never repeats itself, and here we find another thing — life outside of this world, and in that sense he was typical of the church. There are three things: the reign of grace, life and power. The first is set forth in the epistle to the Romans, the second in Colossians, and the last in Ephesians. In Enoch we see how a man can be outside of this world with God, and the climax is that he does not see death at all. Enoch passes out of death into life. The first great lesson the people of God have to learn is the reign of grace, here we get light and direction from the Lord, and the support of the Spirit. We are delivered out of the authority of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. The Lord directs us individually into the will of God. He is not Lord to us collectively. Guidance from the Lord brings us into the church. The place of the church is out of the world in the heavenly order of things, so the rapture is the proper climax; the church does not pass through death at all, it is kept out of the hour of trial which is about to come upon the whole habitable world. Enoch was the type of this; in him the truth of eternal life comes out, and the climax is translation. The church [p. 282] has part in the rapture because of its connection with Christ.
We now pass on to Noah. The testimony he bore had the result of condemning the world. If we are occupied with that which is the escape from the judgment of the world, it will have the effect of condemning those who are still in it. The escape is in atonement, of which the ark was a type. The word atonement means a covering: the ark was pitched within and without (or covered). What the church is occupied with is the testimony of atonement as the only way of escape from the judgment of the world. We come under the shelter of the atonement, and the effect of the testimony is that we are against the world. The Holy Spirit is here to testify of the judgment of the world that is coming. The prince of this world is already judged, and we cannot be here in faithfulness to Christ without condemning the world. Suppose any one had said to Noah, What are you doing that for? and he had replied, Building an ark for a way of escape from the coming judgment — it would at once have condemned those around him; and if we are occupied with the present testimony, we cannot help condemning the world. The world has its own way; it does not want atonement — the way of escape. Noah was occupied with God’s way of escape from the waters of judgment. Before they come we see God’s provision.
These men of faith, who encompass us, all looked forward to the great testimony of the death and resurrection of Christ. We all of us need to be more occupied with these first principles. Christ raised from the dead by the glory of the Father was the full setting forth of God’s pleasure. May He give us to see how intimately we are bound up with these men of faith in scripture. I feel we are related to them.