BRIGHTNESS

G. C. McKay

Luke 24: 1–8; 2 Samuel 23: 1–5; 2 Peter 1: 16–19; Revelation 22: 16, 17

I would seek grace, dear brethren, to speak a little about brightness. It is easy to become despondent and gloomy. Some of us may have more of a tendency to that than others, but I would like to speak about the brightness that marks Christianity, and above all marks Christ Himself, and marks believers in the Lord Jesus. There is a very full provision in the Scriptures for every matter, everything that arises in our lives and experiences, and there is certainly very full provision to keep us bright and to keep our faces shining, to help us to rise above whatever it might be that would cast us down and cause despondency. Luke’s gospel is marked by a certain positive help in this way. He is positive even as to Jerusalem. Luke approaches Jerusalem as safeguarding in his mind all the divine thoughts connected with it.

He does not treat it exactly as other gospel writers do, as completely setting it aside. He looks for what is positive and he brings in what is bright.

As a companion of Paul I think he must have been a very helpful associate. Paul knew what it was to be cast down, “cast down, but not destroyed”, 2 Corinthians 4: 9. He records in 2 Corinthians how much he went through, and he even refers to despair coming into his experience, at one time despairing even of living (2 Corinthians 1: 8). Luke as a companion of Paul would be a person marked by a certain brightness of spirit, a certain positive encouraging way of speaking and of looking at things. He begins his gospel with the great dawning of mercy on man in the incoming of the Lord Jesus. There is the reference in Luke 1 by Zacharias to “the bowels of mercy of our God; wherein the dayspring from on high has visited us, to shine upon them who were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1: 78, 79). The light I suppose was for the Jews, for Zacharias would be speaking as a Jew, and “the dayspring from on high” had visited them. If we go to Matthew we find that the light was also for the Gentiles, for the light that sprang up in darkness was in the area of Galilee, as the prophet had foretold, “the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali—the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations—the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light”, Isaiah 9: 1, 2. Thus the Lord Jesus came in as shining.

There was a dawn for the human race in the incoming of the Lord Jesus. He is depicted in these scriptures typically as shining, as coming in as the dawn, and this has a bearing on us as to whether we understand what it is for Christ to shine upon us. That comes into Ephesians, that we might be asleep, we might be in lethargy, we might be morally lacking life, but we are to wake up and rise from the dead. Paul says, “and the Christ shall shine upon thee”, Ephesians 5: 14. That is what I have in mind, that there might be some sense of divine shining. We had it in the reading, the blessing that was placed on the children of Israel by Aaron and his sons, the shining of the face of God, and that shining as we know is in the face of Jesus at the present time. The whole matter of shining began in the incoming of Christ, this dayspring from on high that visited the people that were in darkness, God’s mercy entering into it, “the bowels of mercy of our God”.

Then as Luke proceeds in his account he describes the angelic celebration of the incoming of Christ, and how as the angels were giving that testimony the glory of the Lord shone around them. There is a shining at that point and it shone around the shepherds. You find that also on the mount, a bright cloud, and the disciples entered into it, so that we can come into an area of shining, where divine glory is, where despondency and gloom can be dispelled. We have a divine

provision in grace to meet every situation, to lift our hearts and lead them towards Christ where He is, and to Christ as He is going to come in glory. What a shining there is going to be at that time! And so Luke pursues this positive line, and where we read in chapter 24 we have these women who had entered the tomb and had not found the body of the Lord Jesus.

Faithful women, lovers of Christ, they were in perplexity and thought they were facing death.

They entered into the tomb and as they were there Luke records that suddenly there was help for them. Even in the face of death, for they assumed that Christ was still dead, at the tomb, even in that setting, there is a shining. There could be, of course, because the Lord Jesus was raised. Really the shining for us now depends on that. Not only do we have His incoming, and the perfection of His life, as Mr Darby says,

‘Thy path of true perfection

Was light on all around’. (Hymn 189)

—not only that, but we are now in the light of a risen Christ. How much shining therefore should mark us! It marks Christianity, brightness, not darkness nor despair nor gloom. And so, “two men suddenly stood by them in shining raiment”. There they were, two angels I suppose, but they are not described as angels, but as “two men”, and their garments were shining. If you look into what the word ‘shining’ is there, and the footnote gives a clue to it, it means the shining of lightning, like a flash of lightning. That is the thought in it, it is the extreme brightness of the raiment of these two men. And there is a lesson in that for us.

The Lord Jesus is raised and the testimony is going to continue in divine power, and it is going to go on brightly. If we are following the path of the just we will know what that is,

“the path of the righteous is as the shining light, going on and brightening until the day be fully come”, Proverbs 4: 18. Think of that—going on. We had that in the reading, we must go on. If we are to increase in brightness we have to go on. If we go back we become dejected like the two on

the way to Emmaus; the Lord Jesus asked them why they were downcast. But if we go on, as Paul, in the path of the just, then there is a brightening and it is going to end in the day being fully come, in that blessed day that we are looking forward to, the day of Christ. How precious to think of it! Well, here are these women and they are immediately helped, impressed by this. There are powerful bright witnesses there to the resurrection of Christ, and that things are going to proceed in divine power, and that they are going to contain this element of shining. It should be so with us. So they give the women instruction, “He is not here, but is risen”. What a rebuke, “Why seek ye the living one among the dead?”, and then, “remember how he spoke to you”. So they bring in the words of Jesus, what He had taught them in Galilee, how having been crucified He would rise the third day, and they remembered His words.

When we get downcast sometimes one of the reasons is that our memories are not very good, we are not remembering the words of the Lord Jesus. We can serve one another very often by reminding one another of things, and certainly this is very beautiful that they remembered what the Lord Jesus had said, and confirmation came into their souls. What the angels were saying was what the Lord Jesus had told them already; and they remembered His words and returned from the sepulchre, and light came in. There was no more perplexity then. We do not need to be in perplexity and clouds and darkness. Things can be made perfectly clear in our souls, clear before our view, clear in our lives. I know difficulties arise, we know that only too well, and clouds too and fog and lack of discernment, but it does not need to be so.

The thought is that the Lord Jesus would act in such a way as to bring us into the shining, so that there might be clarity with us and no perplexity, the words of the Lord Jesus brought back to our memory, and the present divine testimony assuring our souls. We need assurance.

As we go along, one of the great features in our meetings is that divine assurance comes into the soul. As you listen to the ministry, and hear one and another speaking, the scriptures begin to speak themselves to us, and assurance comes into the soul.

Now in 2 Samuel 23, David the king speaks about Christ. It is very fine to think that David was given such last words as these. David, who had been through so much adversity but had been raised up on high and anointed, the one who was the sweet psalmist of Israel, went out speaking of Christ. He finished brightly in his last words bearing testimony to a King greater than him, the Lord Jesus, “The ruler among men”. He speaks prophetically, oracularly. “David the son of Jesse saith”—“saith” is an oracular word, indicating a word from God directly. He says that God spoke to him and said, “The ruler among men shall be just, Ruling in the fear of God”. This will all be fulfilled no doubt in its fulness when the Lord Jesus, the just Ruler, does appear. There is not that now in the world. In God’s mercy, in government there are rulers who restrain evil, and no doubt God uses them, but this is going to be the Ruler who is just, “Ruling in the fear of God”. It is a terrible thing that nowadays we are in a world where the fear of God is not known, nor does it seem to actuate some of those that are given responsible positions. But in the future it is going to be like this. It is future in one sense (though I do not want to leave it that way), the incoming of the Lord Jesus. He is going to shine in this world. When He comes in and establishes His rule here and becomes the Ruler among men, “he shall be as the light of the morning, like the rising of the sun”. The rising of the sun suggests not only the brightness, but the power that is going to be in the reign of Christ. He is going to be the Ruler. He is our Ruler now, He is our Lord, and He has power, and He would shine upon us. Then “he shall be as the light of the morning, like the rising of the sun, A morning without clouds”. How blessed that is going to be.

Now, the believer does not need to wait until the

millennium for this. Christ can shine on you now in this way. If you lift your eyes from the difficulties, whatever it might be that might preoccupy you, your own history or failure, or whatever it might be, you can lift your eyes; and you can be sure of this, Christ is shining. He would shine on you. Get a view of Christ. If you get a view of Him in your exercises you will find that His face is shining, He will shine on you. He brings in authority, He is the Lord, He is the Ruler, He is like the rising of the sun. He will bring authority into your soul, but as you are subject to Him, you will have some sense of His grace in what He can be for you, and the fact that He can dispel the darkness. He does it in the glad tidings. The darkness in our souls was dispelled because Christ came in there, for darkness has to go when the Lord Jesus comes in. It cannot stay before Him. All the power of the enemy could not stay before the Lord Jesus. He cast out demons,

Disease, and death, and demon,

All fled before Thy word,

As darkness, the dominion

Of day’s returning lord!’ (Hymn 189)

He is going to dispel the darkness in this dark, corrupt world. The secrets of men, what are they? Even what we know is awful. The Lord Jesus is going to come in and He is going to dispel the darkness, and assert His rule, and He is going to shine upon His own too. There are going to be those who look for Him, that love His appearing, and He is going to shine upon them; but that can happen now. You can discover a morning without clouds. Do you have clouds in your soul? Is there something cloudy in your soul, something not clear, something indefinite, some doubt? What you need is for the Lord Jesus to shine upon you. You want this rising of the sun, you want this morning without clouds. He is a blessed risen Man. He has dealt with death itself, He has annulled him that had the might of death, so that even death for the believer is not what it is for the unregenerate man. Indeed death is yours, says Paul. He is the Victor, the Conqueror, the One that is out of death, and everything is established immutably in the Lord Jesus out of death. The certainty of things lies in Christ risen from the dead; the fulfilment of things for God; the certainty of things for your soul and mine. He is the One who has gone into death for us.

His whole work involved that not only did He die for us but He was buried and He was raised again. It says, “has been raised for our justification”, Romans 4: 25. You say, Was it not enough that He died? Scripture says, He was “delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification”. So everything is settled, no one can point a finger. How can they? All is established in the risen Christ who has borne our sins, and exhausted God’s judgment. God’s satisfaction in Him and in His work is attested in a risen Christ, and now everything is settled.

That is where certainty is. The Lord Jesus as risen would shine upon your soul. “When from the sunshine, after rain, The green grass springeth from the earth”. I suppose most of us would know at times what aridity of soul is. You feel the lack of life, a lack of what is springing up. Well, this is the answer to it. The Lord Jesus would bring in what is necessary.

There is the rain, but it is from the sunshine after the rain that the green grass springs up. You find the springing up of something in your soul, life by the Spirit springing up in your soul, and it does so as you are in the shining of Christ. We need the sun, and we need the rain too.

Then David says that God had made with him “an everlasting covenant, Ordered in every way and sure”. It is just what I am saying, You see a risen Christ, you understand everything is established on a solid basis eternally, and you can come into certainty in your soul. Well, David has to be humble. He speaks about his house not being so; he has to admit to his own failings. We have to do that too, but then he has certainty in Christ, speaking prophetically about the Lord Jesus. So has that day dawned on you? Has the light of the morning shone in your soul?

Are the clouds still there, or is everything bright and clear, the face of Jesus shining on you so that there is certainty in your soul and there is life springing up towards God?

Now Peter is an apostle who is very much taken up with glory. If you read his epistles you will be struck with that. He is taken up with two things as far as I can see, with sufferings and with glory. He was writing to suffering believers, those Jews of the dispersion who were clearly suffering, “put to grief by various trials”, 1 Peter 1: 6. He is writing to a dispersed people suffering, even suffering under the government of God, persons that might be liable to depression, persons persecuted in a way that we have not known. Peter was writing to such persons and he mingles what he says with glory. Right through he brings in the glory. The reason he brings in the glory is that it is in his own soul. We spoke of Luke and his disposition, the beloved physician, how bright he would be, now here is Peter, a great authoritative apostle, and he would bring the glory before you. He speaks about believers loving the Lord Jesus without seeing Him, and he says that although they are suffering they “exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory”, 1 Peter 1: 8. He says the kind of joy that believers can have is a joy that is “filled with the glory”, and he speaks several times about “the revelation of Jesus Christ”. And so whatever the circumstances are, governmentally even, or in times of suffering, there is an answer to it.

Peter had the answer in his own soul. The answer is that there is glory that is going through, it is even seen at the present time. He brings in the person reproached in the name of Christ, and the Spirit of glory resting on him (1 Peter 4: 14), as if there is a little shining already even in the time of reproach and suffering, some glimpse, some shaft of glory in a saint reproached in the name of Christ. As you confess the name of the Lord Jesus you come into reproach. Then think there is a touch of glory coming in, “the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God”. Already there is a touch of glory, whether men can appreciate it or not, the Spirit of glory is there. It goes with the sufferings. The apostle says that the prophets spoke of “the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these”, 1 Peter 1: 11. Yet even at the present time there can be glory in testimony, and certainly there is to be glory in the souls of the saints.

So in the second epistle, where we read, Peter is getting ready to go, just as David was in 2 Samuel 23, so he says, “after my departure”. He is going to leave something with the saints, and it is quite clear that what he wants to leave with them is what he saw on the mount, he wants to leave the glory in their souls, so that they might be assured and have some sense of

“the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. As we have often remarked, he does not speak now of his own failure on the mount. It is not that he had not judged that, I am sure, or that he was afraid to mention it, but he was too filled with the glory to think of anything else; so he brings forward the glory that he saw, “For he received from God the Father honour and glory”. This is not a cleverly imagined fable, this is an eye-witness account. He might have added, there were three of us there and we saw His glory and we heard the voice. We can read in Matthew too about that bright cloud that they entered into, the bright cloud that shone around Christ, a cloud of glory, and then this voice was uttered by the excellent glory. “The excellent glory” alludes to God Himself, the Father, and then there are divine affections entering into it. Think of that, glory and love united, the excellent glory saying, “This is my beloved Son”. Glory and love can go together. They did when Christ was raised, for the Father raised Him by His glory, and you can be sure that that was not only by His power. It was by His mighty power in which He “wrought in the Christ in raising him from among the dead” (Ephesians 1: 20), but all the Father’s affections were towards Christ as He took Him out of the grave. It must be so, “raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father” (Romans 6: 4), glory and love were there.

And so we have this “prophetic word made surer”. Peter wants to reassure the saints, he wants to make things sure for them. They had the prophetic word and it was a lamp, very useful too in an obscure place. The prophets were shining a certain light, but it was just a lamp; we have more than a lamp now, we have the shining of Christ Himself. What the prophets were told we have now in reality, the shining that is in the face of the Lord Jesus, the glory has come in. Then it says, “until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your hearts”. He puts the dawn before the morning star. In looking forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus we speak often of the rapture, and that is right, the assembly’s peculiar portion, but we must include the appearing. The coming of the Lord Jesus involves both these things, and those that love Him love both thoughts.

So there is the day dawning, which would suggest that already in the hearts of the saints they can see a glimpse of the day of the Lord’s vindication in glory, and then they have the Morning Star, that is Christ Himself. It is a peculiar appellation, the morning star, referring to what comes before the full light of day, Christ already in the heart of the assembly. I had often thought that the only person really that speaks about the rapture is Paul, although in John 14 too the Lord Jesus speaks of coming and receiving us to Himself, but I came across a remark by an honoured servant, that when “the morning star” is alluded to there is a hint of the rapture in it. Christ is so near, He is coming, He presents Himself in Revelation that way, He is just coming. So this is all in view of confirming the saints: the prophetic word, then the testimony of the eye-witnesses on the mount, and then in this sense that in the hearts of the saints the day can dawn and the Morning Star can arise.

Now in Revelation 22 we have this precious passage, often spoken about, a direct appeal from the Lord Jesus to our hearts. He presents Himself—how touching! He says, “I Jesus have sent mine angel”. Well that suggests a certain

distance which the book of Revelation involves, things being sent through an angel, but He says “I Jesus”. He brings Himself near. Then He says what He is, “I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”. He presents Himself. Think of that, the Lord Jesus presenting Himself to our hearts. He is doing it, not some other witness or servant testifying to His glory or commending Him. It is the Lord Jesus commending Himself to our affections,

“I am the root and offspring of David”. He is coming in in power and glory. He is the true David, the root of David and the offspring of David, great David’s greater Son. He is the One who Himself is the source of all that ever shone in David. His deity being involved; then He is the offspring of David, for everything that was promised to David will be assured in Christ, He will take it all up. Every promise, every divine thought secured in Christ.

Then He says, “the bright and morning star”. You see it is a direct appeal. The Lord Jesus is saying this to our hearts. He is saying, That is what I am. Think of it, it is a direct appeal to our hearts. It is not simply the record that He is coming, or Peter’s valuable testimony as to it, but it is the Lord Jesus presenting Himself to our hearts, saying, I am the “bright and morning star”. We cannot be gloomy, or submerged in despair if we have “the bright and morning star” before us. This word ‘bright’ is added. The promise to the overcomer in Thyatira includes that he will be given “the morning star”, Revelation 2: 28. That is very beautiful too.

In the darkest day of the church, when the candlestick has been taken away and the church is giving up faithfulness to Christ, the Morning Star is given to the overcomer, but here the Lord Jesus presents Himself as bright. May He be bright in our souls, and that will clear away the difficulties, it will help us and lift us up above everything else.

Now another thing about this scripture, in addition to the personal presentation of Himself is that there is an answer to it. We get in other scriptures that persons love His appearing,

looking forward to it. Paul was looking for the crown of righteousness that the righteous Judge would give him in that day (2 Timothy 4: 8). In this scripture someone answers, there is an answer—“the Spirit and the bride say, Come”, one divine Person here indwelling the assembly, and the assembly herself. There is an answer, they say “Come”. So there is a presentation that is answered to. What brightness it would bring into our souls if we had some sense of the Lord Jesus as “the bright and morning star”. He presents Himself, I believe, to the assembly. It is not for the world, it is not for the day of the millennium, it is at the present time that He is “the bright and morning star”. Then there is a kind of expansion of affection—“let him that hears say, Come”. If I say, Well, this sounds very wonderful but I am not in it, the Spirit would say, Come then; if you are hearing this, why do you not join in? “Let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come”. There is plenty to satisfy your soul here; “he that will, let him take the water of life freely”.

Well these I believe are encouraging things. There is a scripture in Zechariah where Jehovah answered the angel, “good words, comforting words”, Zechariah 1: 13. That enters into our experience, “good words, comforting words”. We need them at the present time. The Lord is allowing so much to roll in upon us, such sorrows and such a variety of them, and all these illnesses—what can you say? We can say this, His intense love for the assembly lies behind it. It must be that what He does, His love lies behind it, and He is seeking to bring about in our hearts an answer to His love. I am sure He is seeking to bring us to this point where with the Spirit we will say, Come. At the end of the book too in verse 20, He repeats it. He that testifies these things adds something, He says, “Yea, I come quickly”. There will be no delay.

And again there is an answer, “Amen; come, Lord Jesus”. May there be an answer in our hearts, for His name’s sake.

Address at Kirkcaldy
21 June 2008