LIGHT

^[p. 35] LIGHT

John 1:6 - 9; Luke 11:34 - 36; 2 Corinthians 4:6,7; Philippians 2:14 - 16

My exercise is to speak about light on this occasion. It is a very extensive subject, I need not say, but I desire to present it in connection with one or two features bearing on christians.

It will be remembered that Scripture says God is light, and that He dwells in light. The latter passage alludes to His infinite, eternal existence; for it is written that He dwells “in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see”. 1 Timothy 6:16. But when it is said that God is light, we have a reference to revelation — that He has come out. It was said in the Old Testament that He dwelt in thick darkness. 2 Chronicles 6:1 That, of course, is not His eternal existence, to which I have already referred. It is a reference to the dispensation in which He dwelt beneath curtains; for although the candlestick was in the holy place there was no light within the veil — no material light. So that the expression that He dwelt in thick darkness is relative, referring to the Old Testament times; and the statement that God is light, and that He is in the light, has reference to the present time. And it is with this, beloved friends, that we have to do immediately, for we are enjoined to walk in the light as God is in the light.

Now in Genesis 1, as you will all remember, God said, “Let there be light”, and it says, “There was light”. Genesis 1:3 Of course, the allusion is to physical light, but it may be taken up as a type of what we have at the present time, namely, that God is working in the light. All the work in Genesis 1 follows upon the command or word that there should be light and that there was light, and that that light obtained a definite name, ‘Day’, pointing to the period ^[p. 36] of the twelve hours in which work was done. As the Lord Jesus says, “Are there not twelve hours in the day?”: John 11:9. “I must work ... while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work”. John 9:4.

Now, having said so much, I want to come to chapter 1 of John’s gospel, and what I have in mind, beloved friends, is very practical, namely that we should see that the light that shines in our day is universal. I want to show by the Lord’s help that we are to be brought into accord with it, that we should be universal in our outlook and in our affections, for one’s outlook is one thing, but how much of it you can include in sympathetic interest is another. And the more we know of God, the more we shall include in sympathetic interest what He is interested in. So that you have John the baptist introduced, first as a witness, that all men should believe. The bearing of John’s witness was that all men should believe, which is an important thing to notice. And then it says, lest anyone should be misled as to John’s great ministry, “He was not that light”. Now I want to dwell on that. Indeed it was what was in my mind particularly, for so many of the people of God are misled. You may say, John the baptist would not mislead anybody! Surely not! Of all the witnesses of Christ he is the truest. I mean that up to his time there was not a greater, and the apostle John seems to make him a model for us. In this chapter you will find how faithfully, and, I may say, affectionately John the baptist pointed away from himself to Christ. And not only that but his testimony had such an effect upon his followers that they turned away from him and followed Jesus. And yet with all that, one may be misled by even such a witness; that is to say, by assuming that he was the light; that he represented what was shining. Now I believe there is a warning set down here in these words, “he was not that light”.

^[p. 37] The Lord himself said John was a burning and a shining light, but he was not the light.

And so the Holy Spirit calls attention to this lest anyone should be diverted even by such a great and true witness of Christ, for believers have been misled, beloved friends, by persons who were themselves true. And so we have in christendom so many denominations, each assuming to have the light. One says, “I am of Paul”. 1 Corinthians 1:12 Was Paul misleading anyone when he called attention to that? Not at all. The person who spoke thus was being misled through partisan preference. And so Paul says immediately, “Was Paul crucified for you?”. 1 Corinthians 1:13 if not, how then could he represent fully the light of God? And so John the baptist was not the light. There have been great preachers and great ministers. Take Luther, for instance, a great servant of God; as we may say, one in whom light arose out of the darkness. Out of medieval darkness and superstition and idolatry the light arose in an obscure man, and men became followers of that servant of God, and have continued to be up to the present time. What is the secret of that? They have misapprehended the person. They have lost sight of this great statement in the first chapter of John, that no servant, however true, can be the light. And so with many others whom I might mention, but it is needless. The word is “That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”. That is the true light. And, beloved brethren, we want to get that definitely and clearly into our souls, that the light in which we are is a light that shines universally, and it will never lead us to localism, nationalism, or metropolitanism. It will maintain us in thoughts in relation to God. It will maintain us in broadness of outlook and sympathy with God. And so you look up into the face of Jesus in which shines the light of God. That light shines in Asia, in Australia ^[p. 38] in Africa, in Europe and in America and in the islands of the sea. It is the same light, beloved friends. If it is shining into your hearts here in this island it is shining into other hearts in other islands thousands of miles away. It is the same light, and the effect of it is to make us universal in our outlook and in our affections, to make us like the Colossian believers, and the Ephesian believers, who had love for all saints.

One often thinks of the sun as one looks up into it. Adam looked at the same sun that I look at, and so did Enoch. It brings the idea near to you, that it is the one sun that has illumined this earth all these centuries, and so it is the one Christ that illumines the race. He sheds His light, it says, on every man. Now that does not mean that every man is enlightened, for the shining of the sun on men does not in itself prove that they are enlightened, for a blind man does not see it. And so I want to dwell for a moment on the passage in Luke so that we may see in passing how this glorious light that shines — and as the apostle John emphasises here, shines universally — how it comes into a man or woman or a child. I have no doubt that most of you here have received that light. What is to be noted is that shining upon is not shining in. Shining in involves an eye. And so the Lord says, “The lamp of the body is thine eye”. Luke 11:34 The eye takes in the light. The light that is shining for everyone who comes into the world is, alas! only shining into a few. I have no doubt, as I said, that most of you here have the light in you. If there be one who has not I would call attention to this passage, “When thine eye is simple”. The effect of the world in its present education, beloved friends, is to sophisticate men and women and children. The whole drift of education at the present time is to shut God out, and men no longer retain or acquire a simple eye. They are occupied ^[p. 39] in the pride of their hearts with the assumption that they know more than their predecessors. It is a time of investigation and wonderful discoveries, as they say, and men’s eyes are no longer simple. The Bible is no longer read as the Bible. The God of a few years back, is not the God of the present time. The idea of God is being eliminated through modern teaching, and men who were at one time simple are no longer so. Children were brought up to read the Bible as the Bible. Not so now. God would call us back to simplicity. We read of simplicity as to the Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). The apostle said that as the serpent beguiled Eve he feared that the saints at Corinth should be misled from simplicity as to the Christ. We need to be called back, beloved friends, to simplicity. The Bible is couched in language and figures that are simple. They relate to the phenomena around man, the environment in which he is situated, and they are presented to him in the simplest form, and in order to take in the light we have all to return to simplicity. So that it says, “When thine eye is simple, thy whole body also is light”.

Now having come to the idea of the body one dwells upon it for a moment, because it is that which every believer has. Whatever you may not have in the way of gift, in the way of ability, you certainly have a body, and that body is the Lord’s. Now what are you doing with it? How are you holding it? It is that, I may say, for which you are immediately responsible. Without it you can be of no value in the testimony. As one falls asleep through Jesus he ceases to be in the testimony for the moment. The body is the vehicle in which the testimony is presented. And so it is as I am in it that I am of value to God in the testimony, and hence the great importance of holding one’s body for the Lord so that it should be luminous. If the eye is not simple the ^[p. 40] body is dark, and the very light that you have had is darkness. A very solemn thing! But if the eye is simple, having no part dark, the whole body, beloved friends, is luminous. Think of the value of that! What one may be in one’s everyday life! One’s words, one’s movements, one’s work and ways, all are light. Light is emanating from the body; the whole body is light. You see thus what the body is. And so the apostle says to the Thessalonians, that everyone “should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour”. 1 Thessalonians 4:4 Now you see, you have got to do that, and I have to do that. I have got to possess the thing. It is not my own; I am a tenant of it. It belongs to God. It is under my command for the moment and I am to possess it in sanctification and in honour.

Now I go further, referring to the passage in 2 Corinthians, where you have Genesis 1 alluded to, and applying directly to the believer and his body. God commanded! It says, “It is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts”. Think of the greatness of that! In Genesis 1 God spoke that light should come, and it came, and He gave it a name. Now you see that great thought, affecting the universe, is brought down to the believer. The God who spoke that light should shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts. I would that you would look at this, to see the magnitude of our position in regard to our bodies. The God who spoke that light should shine, has shined in our hearts — that light was Himself. It is not the mere word, God shines in Himself. He shines in our hearts; for the shining forth — now the apostle is coming to what is definite — not light in general; but for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Now look at the magnitude of this, beloved friends. I want you to see the value of it to you as in your ^[p. 41] body; that it is not simply light in a general way, as I have said, but the knowledge in us of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. Now we are dealing with God Himself in His nature. He has found an outlet for His nature to shine in the death of Jesus, and in the Person of Jesus exalted to heaven, as One who makes that light, that love, that divine nature, effective in our hearts. That is the present ministry of Christ. At the present moment He who is said to be the Lord of glory is operating to bring in the love of God, the holy nature of God, and make it effective in our hearts in these bodies. In the first epistle we have “the Lord of glory” 1 Corinthians 2:8, but in the second epistle it is “the glory of the Lord”. 2 Corinthians 3:18 What is the glory of the Lord? The glory of the Lord is what He delights in, what is in entire accord with His heart, and that is, to bring in the love of God, to bring in the holy nature of God, and make it effective in our hearts. That is what He is doing. It is a wonderful ministry; it is going on day and night, and I do beg of you to just dwell upon it, the magnitude of it; He who spake that light should arise out of darkness has shined in our hearts, and what for? “For the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”.

In the third chapter we have the glory of the Lord. That is His ministry. It is not the glory of Christ, nor the glory of Jesus; it is the glory of the Lord. According to the third chapter, what is the Lord doing? Bringing in the love of God and making it effective in our hearts. And then in the next chapter it is the radiancy of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. The god of this world is blinding those who believe not, lest the radiancy of the glory of Christ should shine for them. You see how the enemy is studying for all this, and I do beg of you to look into it and see to it that he is not blinding your eyes, but that the light is shining into your heart,

^[p. 42] and is shining in that it may be shining out. It is light in a specific way. It is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, for the believer is now regarded as having the knowledge of it. One of the greatest things for us is to get the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus.

Now I want to show you from the next verse that the body is fragile. “We have this treasure”, it says, “in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us”. This may be a point you have not noticed. The fragility of the vessel leads to dependence on God. God might have sent down angels to shine for Christ here and maintain the testimony, but his thought is to take up fragile vessels, men and women, that live a few years. Young people starting out forget these things, and I speak to them for a moment. As you begin the path of faith you contemplate the maximum of human life. It is quite right. A young man or a young woman is encouraged to do so; as honouring father and mother is the first commandment with promise. What was that promise? “That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth”, Ephesians 6:3. Of course, the thought is not that you should live long on the earth for the satisfaction of the flesh; it is surely to shine for God in this world. But then, there is the sovereignty of God that must always be kept in view. The faithfulness of God would say, You obey your parents in the Lord and you are assured that your days shall be long in the earth. But then there is the sovereignty of God, and it may require that my days are just to be so many. Indeed, there are no accidents with God. One could not admit for a moment, beloved, of an accident with God. God is sovereign and everything fits in accurately with His purposes, and so I am kept. Whilst I rely on His faithfulness, in recognising His sovereignty and His sure government, I am kept ^[p. 43] moment by moment in dependence on God — that this vessel may not be broken. Looked upon from the physical standpoint, what are we? Grasshoppers. According to Isaiah, all the inhabitants of the earth are grasshoppers in the sight of God. Isaiah 40:22 You see how easily the vessel may be broken! What I aim at, beloved, is to encourage in you piety, the fear of God. How long I will have this vessel I cannot tell; I look to God day by day to preserve me. I am kept in daily dependence upon God, and the more value you are to God here the more your concern should be, that you are in daily dependence upon God. That, I believe, is one great feature of an earthen vessel. I look to God that it may be preserved for His will, and I possess it in sanctification and honour. I am kept out of the way of possible danger, but my physical sustenance and preservation in this world depend on God, and that leads to piety. I believe there is a great lack of piety, of bringing God into every circumstance of our life, and particularly as regards the body. Your body is valuable; it belongs to the Lord. The Holy Spirit is in it. This wonderful treasure which we have in these earthen vessels includes the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. The body is thus of great value, and so you look to God day by day and moment by moment that it should be preserved. As the Lord Himself says, “Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust”. Psalm 16:1 Wonderful language from the Lord Jesus!

Now in the scripture from Philippians I want to show you how all this exercise leads into the knowledge of our relationship with God, seen as children. Not now in the way of privilege, although of course, that is always present, but that we should appear as lights. This is an astronomical expression. Many of us naturally want to “appear” otherwise. The natural man has before him to appear in this world. It may ^[p. 44] be he is a well-educated man; or a man of means. Each one has his own sphere in which he would like to appear.

But what about the believers, those who are the children of God? What I have been speaking of involves development of the truth, that as God is light His children should shine as lights. Ephesians contemplates that I become a child of light; we are the children of light. I suppose Ephesians gives us the completest view of the subject, as it does of every subject it treats of. But Philippians is the counterpart of Ephesians, children of God, as lights. Is that your thought of it? As you go out tomorrow and walk down the street, you meet people that know you. What is the thought? That they will recognise you in your natural or acquired dignity? No. You want to appear in the street as one of the children of God, as a light. You are not dressed according to the latest fashion to appear as one of the children of God. The world is in darkness and you want to appear as a star in the night. It is delightful to look out on the stars in the darkness of night and see how gloriously they appear. They go round majestically and they appear as lights. The mariner sees them; he knows them. They appear as lights.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is about to appear. How shall He appear? I cannot go into that tonight, but it is a wonderful subject, how He appears. As He appears He will blot out that great darkening object, the antichrist. That is what He will do as He appears. He will be destroyed at the appearing of Christ and be consumed with the spirit of His mouth. That time has not come. The time of the appearing of the stars is present, so that we are enjoined here not to be murmurers nor disputers, but irreproachable, the children of God. How searching it is, beloved, as to whether there is in my person,

^[p. 45] about me, in my circumstances, in my family, anything that is reproachable! We are to be blameless and harmless, irreproachable, the children of God; we are to shine as lights. We are to appear as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. So that the believers viewed as the family or children of God are in keeping with the light in its universal character. For it is not simply that I shine locally; I shine in relation to the sun in the heavens. As the stars shine so the believer reflects Christ. As of the children of God he shines, he appears as a light.

Then it says, “Holding forth the word of life”. I believe God would lay that upon us. The word of life is the expression of it, holding it forth in testimony. God would honour us, dear brethren, in holding forth the word of life. It is no question of gift here. It is responsibility laid upon us to hold forth the word of life. As it says elsewhere, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”, Revelation 22:17. A wonderful testimony! The thing is there. Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.