LIGHT
[p. 309] LIGHT
My thought is to say a word about light. Inasmuch as it was the first element which God introduced to bring order out of chaos, its importance is evident; that is, its importance in the moral order of things; for facts and principles that appear in the material creation are illustrative, and indeed typical, of what we find in the order in which God brings to pass a moral system that is for His pleasure.
“God said, Let there be light”. Genesis 1:3. It was a command, and what God commands is absolutely necessary. This is evident here; and it is also evident in the New Testament where this passage is connected with the gospel: “God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts”, 2 Corinthians 4:6. God had, in Old Testament times, dwelt in thick darkness, but now has commanded light, and this is the light of His own glory in the face of Jesus Christ. This great light shines now upon the earth. It takes the form of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The effect of the light of God is to set things in the moral system in motion; received into the soul of man, it sets him in movement. God having introduced light in the Person of Christ, for “in him was life, and the life was the light of men”, John 1:4; the effect was to set the souls of men in motion.
Now the light being introduced, there is development, and this begins with the first day. Note that, as presented in Scripture, the day begins with the evening; not with the morning, as we regard it ordinarily; “the evening and the morning were the first day”. Genesis 1:5. This corresponds with the experience of the believer; light, coming into his soul, is regarded as good, but it exposes a horrible state there, and hence a period of darkness follows. It is not a darkness [p. 310] without hope, however, for the morning is looked for; but the “first day” cannot be counted in the progress of the soul until the morning is reached.
Scripture affords illustrations of this, as, for instance, Abraham and Jacob. God, in Genesis 15, gave Abraham much light as to his seed, and immediately he has to go through his evening. “When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him”, Genesis 15:12. Sunset is the end of the day in the experience of our souls; and the evening introduces a new chapter in our history, and this eventuates in another morning. For the Christian each morning is found in Christ risen. This goes on until we reach the seventh day, which has no evening. The smoking furnace and the burning lamp between the pieces of the sacrifices were the answer to the darkness through which Abraham passed.
And now as to Jacob. After obtaining the blessing from Isaac, he had his night on his way to Padan-aram he tarried in a place and “the sun was set”; but he had his morning in the light of heaven. Genesis 28. Thus Jacob counted “one day” in his spiritual history. Returning from the east, he has another day. He had the night of wrestling at Penuel, and “the sun rose upon him” Genesis 32:31.
Many other illustrations of this principle might be adduced from the Old Testament. And in the New Testament Saul of Tarsus is an excellent example. The principle has, indeed, an unvarying application where God’s work is concerned; for God’s work has in view the establishment of permanent order and blessing where darkness and disorder had prevailed. It is clear that if we are to reach the seventh day in the history of our souls, we must traverse the six previous days; and each day begins with the evening. The evening of each day, which follows upon the [p. 311] morning of the previous one, is analogous to the exercise we go through after fresh light is received, so that we should be rid practically, of the flesh which that light exposed. There can be no doubt that the marking of time in the material creation corresponds to the development, or growth, of the believer; there is the “evening and morning” experience until the seventh day is reached. This day is a continual morning. It is the millennial state of things; but as to the history of the Christian, it answers to that state which is marked by rest in Christ, in whom God rests; the flesh, which would intrude and disturb, being judged and abandoned. The Lord Jesus Christ went through a terrible night — the forsaking of God — to set the man after the flesh aside to God’s glory, and in His resurrection an eternal morning has been ushered in. The light of the morning reaches the believer through the gospel, but in order to reach it in his soul, so as to remain in it permanently, he has to go through certain stages — evenings and mornings.
Having dwelt upon the light, and the divine command that there should be the evening and morning, as forming the first day which followed, I wish now to speak of the light in the heavens, spoken of in verse 8. You will notice that in verse 4 it is said that God divided the light from the darkness; whereas in verse 18 the lights set in the heavens are said to do this. What is said of the fourth day has reference to Christ in heaven. Going out of the world through death, the Lord left it in total darkness; but in resurrection He has inaugurated a new order of things, and the light is in this. Having gone into heaven, He sent down the Holy Spirit, who formed a sphere in which the light was truly separate from the darkness. There had been light in connection with Judaism, but the death of Christ put an end to that. The Lord left that system in dense darkness, but He placed the light elsewhere.
[p. 312] As the great light in heaven, He separated the light from the darkness.
A state of things has grown up around us which is analogous to Judaism. It is most important, therefore, that we should see that there is a separating influence. The Lord is ever active in this respect, He separates the light from the darkness. What are your associations? Many are entangled in what is essentially darkness. If you give the Lord His place (He has been set in authority in heaven) in your soul, He will disentangle you. God hid His face from the house of Jacob; that meant total darkness there; but Christ bound up the testimony, and sealed the law among His disciples, Isaiah 8:16,17. God hides His face today from all that is of the character of Judaism, a religion suited to man in flesh, but the testimony is with the true followers of Jesus. The Lord has placed it there.