LIGHT
[p. 386] LIGHT
I have in mind to speak of light. These two scriptures treat of this subject; there are many others that treat of it too; indeed, in some sense we might speak of the measure of the use of a subject in scripture as an index of its value or importance. Scripture speaks much of light; it is one of the first things that scripture speaks of, as if God were to say, I am entering on a new series of operations and what I am about to do must be done in the light. Later on He is more explicit in saying He is Himself in the light. “God is light; and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1: 5), and, “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (1 John 1: 7). So that we can see how God had this matter in His mind; and Paul says, “God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine ... has shone in our hearts”, 2 Corinthians 4: 6. The apostle brings the matter into his own heart and the hearts of the saints; God has shone in them, a very searching matter as to whether we are inwardly illuminated, and whether, as illuminated ourselves, luminous, our bodies full of light.
So I began with the Father of lights; that is what we have in our verse in James. “Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning”. Now we have come to the turn of the year, you know, when kings go forth to battle. And we need not remind the brethren that it is battle time, and if we are not going forth we are hardly with the kings. So being the turn of the year it is battle time, but then it is gift time; that is a matter of importance, at least in the minds of many, the time of expectancy, in that sense, and it is well to be in accord with what is going. God crowns the year with His goodness, and so it is well to be in line. There is a gradual diminution of food and other supplies, as if God were telling us that man’s devastations are to be [p. 387] felt; that these wars cost something. And so there is lack of needful things and probably this will increase, so that the minds are turned in that way by circumstances, which is right — not always right, but certainly circumstances do affect us and are intended to — our minds turn to the matter of supply, a very important matter too. We are told and we have learnt by experience that God is pleased to supply His creatures, but perhaps we do not remember enough, perhaps not at all, many of us, that this matter of physical supply is dependent upon the place Christ has, and God has made dispositions in the physical world; He is over all, in all, and through all. But He is in the physical world too, and sustains it. He gives to all liberally and upbraideth not (James 1:5 — A.V.): He is very little thought of but still it is so. God knows no variableness; if He undertakes a matter such as the supply of the human race, He is not turned aside from what He set out to do. He says at the beginning, “Henceforth, all the days of the earth, seed time and harvest” — notice, God has afforded the means of food in the harvest-seed time and harvest; they go together. God is saying that He is not niggardly in His arrangement or proposals. If He gives seed time, it is balanced with a harvest time, and even the seasons are balancing too — “cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night” — they are balanced. So that there is perfect balance in these matters. They seem to be just accidental matters, but God has brought them about and this time of the year He crowns the year with His goodness, and as things are beginning to be short, dear brethren, it is well to turn back and look about, rather, and see what is to be seen. It has often been said, ‘If you have any difficulty in scriptural matters, you will always find the key’. If it is a difficult matter if it cannot be unlocked; if you know how to look around, you will find the key. You will find that God leaves the keys, in that sense, so they will be found. But we are to look for them. God has no interest, I might say, in [p. 388] fools and disinterested people; people who do not have ears to hear what is happening and eyes to see. He looks for interested people. He will use them, too, and so to get things unlocked. If we are going about to find things that are needed we have to look. Sometimes men have skill for finding the water or anything else, finding water by certain instincts God gives them. God gives men instincts (I am speaking now of natural instincts) and He intends us to use them, these instincts.
I am speaking about food and about giving, but James says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning”. So that if things are short, the thing is to turn to the right place, the source of supply, and God is that; God is that in everything. He is “rich towards all that call upon him”, whatever the thing may be, so that I want to begin in that way, dear brethren, to impress all with the liberalness of the times. There is no stint with God; there is no stint at all, and therefore if there is a sense of need, it is the giving time, as I said; it is a giving time, and the word here is, “Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning”; the word is ‘come’; it comes; therefore it is a continuous matter. But God would say to us that we have something to do with it. He turns the rivers; He causes them to take certain courses. God has means of diverting or directing all other things, as is needful and as to this matter of giving; you will understand, although I am speaking in a certain hortatory way — I always like to bring that in, to exhort — but I am not on that tonight; I want to encourage the brethren with the things being given, and as we need, they are being given, because the word is “comes down”. God has got them but they are coming. “Every good gift and every perfect gift” — the brethren will just have to enquire as to the difference between a good gift and a perfect one, because we will never [p. 389] arrive at the truth unless we think and understand; “the Lord will give thee understanding”. But it is not only He gives us understanding; He opens our understanding. The Lord does that; He opens our understanding. To understand what? No question of being scientific men; God is not much interested in that, although of course we know well enough much is made of it. But God is not really interested in that; it is science, really, falsely so called. But God is ready to give understanding in all things and to cause us to understand the Scriptures. God is not concerned about everything we might be interested in; He is concerned from His own point of view, and He is concerned for us. He thinks for us; He calculates for us, and He wants us to be on that line, because it is the giving line, and He is without variableness or shadow of turning. And if there is any need with anybody then it is a question of getting into line with what is going on.
Now, as I was saying, He crowns the year with His goodness. That is a beautiful figure, but think what it means. Here we are in the midst of winter; this is New Year’s Day, and, of course, the children think of the giving time, by the grandparents or whoever wants to give, they are willing to receive; they are not much concerned with giving themselves, but it is a giving time with God and with parents and with all alike. It is a giving time and God says, If you make the seasons so that they fit in, then I am with you. So it is that we have these meetings at this time; God did not ordain these holidays but still He says, If they are there I am with you because they afford you opportunity to be where I want you to be and I am with you. God is the giving God. I want everybody to take that in; of course, it is a simple matter, and it has been said millions of times. “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable free gift”, 2 Corinthians 9: 15. But then I am speaking too, not only of that, but of the coming down; it is coming down. And you want to be in line with that. If you are in an arid part of the earth ([p. 390] there are many, where you hardly ever even get rain), you do not go there to look for rain; you go where it is. God intends us to be sensible; hence, if you want rain or if you have a crop or the like, the thing is to go where the rain is. And if you want to get things for your soul or your business or for your family, go where the things are given. Things are coming down; every good gift and every perfect gift is coming down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning. So that it is a question therefore of getting into line. Do not let anything interfere because if this matter is urgent then the thing is to go by the prescribed way to where the thing is being given. Hence when the gifts were given, for instance, it is said they had been given in a divine way. We do not get much of the idea of giving spiritual gifts in the Old Testament, not that they were not there, because prophets were given. But in the New Testament when the Lord Jesus became Man, this is the time to think of what is available. Heaven is going to be very liberal; it has got its Man, the Lord Jesus. When He was baptised, He looked up to heaven and saw the Spirit coming down. That is, the Lord was brought into that. Of course He was in it Himself, divinely, but He saw something; it was a coming down. The Spirit came down; the heavens were opened to Him, and the Spirit came down. Well, think of that! That was the giving time; the greatest suggestion is there, and then God is saying there that there is going to be an expansion of this, an enlargement of it. The Holy Spirit came down when John baptised the Lord Jesus; He saw the heavens opened to Him. I do not know that anyone else saw them, but He saw them; that is the point, and He saw the Spirit coming down as a dove, and it abode upon Him, and the Father’s voice was heard; God is not seen — not there, although the Father, Son and Spirit were there, as a matter of fact, but no one has seen God at any time, we are told. But God was here; He was heard, and the voice out of heaven says,
“[p. 391] This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matthew 3: 17. It is not all My delight; but My delight, because, as I have already said, there was to be an expansion of the giving. The giving was of the greatest possible gift; it was the gift of the Spirit, for it was the Spirit, as for the Son Himself. And He saw everything, and then there was the word, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”.
Well, that happened then; that was, you might say, the great beginning of giving, which was extended some three years later; the heavens did not open at the day of Pentecost; they did not open there. There was a mighty breathing, we are told, on that day; the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing, it was running its course. God selected that particular day to amplify the thought of giving and there was a mighty breathing, a powerful breathing; you say the word ‘wind’ is used there, but really it is breathing, meaning that it is the outcoming of God, His outcomings. And then His incomings, that He was going to come in Himself to be with His people. I want you, dear brethren, to let these things in because I am speaking of the greatest things; they have often been spoken of before but in the constant speaking you get more and more; this is a great matter of the mighty breathing of God at that time, and the sound was heard. And it says it filled all the house where they were sitting, just as we are here now — think of it. Suppose it happened now; it never happened before, but it happened that day in that city — a mighty breathing from heaven, a sound out of heaven. You say, It is all imaginary. It is not imaginary; I am speaking of realities. Think of the happening, and the sound filling the house, the sound out of heaven. Who can describe that sound? Nobody, except those who heard, but the sound was heard; it filled all the house where they were sitting, as if God said, Be restful. God is very, very generous, and He is very considerate too. How thoughtful He is, each of us can look back on our history and see the [p. 392] incidents in which the thoughtfulness of God has been displayed in our history. How thoughtful He is! And so they were sitting. You might say, Well, they should be in a reverential attitude. We should be reverential, but God is God, and He is love, and He is saying, Sit where you are. There is a time when you should bow down, of course, and worship; the proper word used for worship means it is toward God, a bowing down toward God. God is looking for that too, and He does not like it if you are sitting upright looking around the room when you should be worshipping God. He hates carelessness in His house. He looks for reverence in His house. But there is not a word about that at Pentecost; they were sitting; the house was filled and it was as if God said, Sit where you are; be still; it is a giving time, and a receiving time. It is a question of whether I am great enough to receive, to take care of, as it were, to consume what there is; what is given. And that was Pentecost.
Well, now, the point that I am stressing is that matter of the Father of lights, and this matter of giving, and this matter of receiving, so that the brethren may be impressed with the day we are in — the day of Christianity. Now, it says, is the day; now is the well accepted time; now is the giving time. God so loved, you see; that is the idea; John is taken up particularly to stress that, and it is for us now, this very night, in this city, to see the wonderful position God has created. The Lord has gone up to heaven, and the Holy Spirit come down from heaven, and then it is a matter of receptiveness, receiving the power for everything in our souls. So this question of the Father of lights; it has to be stressed, what He is, in that way; that in giving, He has lights, so that if necessary the light can be turned on even more fully. You can see better. God is like that. We have great lights, and a great light, and a greater light; we are in the dispensation of the greatest light, and God is meaning amongst other things that we [p. 393] might see the gifts He gives us, the wonderful gifts that are coming down. Because the word is active; the things are coming down; the Holy Spirit has come down; we can say that historically, He has been here all these years. But there are other things coming down, and I was already alluding to the idea of spiritual gifts — how great the time of that was — God selected it when the Lord Jesus had gone down to the lowest depths; “He that descended is the same who has also ascended up above all the heavens”, Ephesians 4: 10. He descended into the very heart of the earth; the bars of the earth closed upon him (Jonah 2: 6). But then the same One has gone up and He has gone beyond all the heavens and from thence is the giving. And beginning at the top, the greatest gift is the gift of apostleship; that gift has been here; I cannot say it is here now; I know it is not, but I am not sure there is not something very near it as regards the general position on earth. There are some apostles, some prophets. I have not a doubt but what there are prophets, and that gift has come from the uppermost point, the very top, as it were, to which the Lord Jesus has gone. So it comes to us, the greatest possible things come to us in that sense: “Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning”. As I said before, they are coming down, not apostles, but certainly prophets, certainly evangelists, certainly pastors and teachers, dear brethren. It is the receiving time, and God is looking for some kind of interest in what He is doing, that if there are gifts, if there are prophets, evangelists, they are not to be regarded as ordinary brethren. Do not misunderstand, dear brethren, but we are apt to be altogether too democratic in our minds. If God has given a gift from the top, through the Lord Jesus — He received gifts in Man, and He has given — He looks for some appreciation of them, some respect for them, some room being made for them.
[p. 394] Well now, I have to stop there and just say a few words more on the second scripture read. That is the question of sons of light, because what I have been saying is leading up to that time. I take home to myself what has been given, because as I said before, it is a continuous word, it is continuous gifts — gifts are coming, coming, coming, coming. Get into the line of them, and be sure to appreciate them, and have respect for them, make room for them. The assembly is in mind, and the greatest thought, you might say, next to divine Persons, is the assembly. And sons of light are the ones that will rightly value this matter of the assembly, persons who are illuminated themselves, so much so that they are regarded as sons of light, grown up as the word is, developed in the thought, fully developed in it. So you look for the assembly. They did not in the middle ages; the Roman Catholic church prospered in the darkness — that is where it prospers, where there is cold and darkness and damp. And so when Paul was on the ship, Acts 27, it says neither sun nor stars appeared for many days — not a word about the moon. It was as if nobody knew what the moon meant. There would be no use in talking in the middle ages about the assembly; it would not be understood. It awaited a certain given time, down the line, when God began to work again and the thought of the assembly became understandable. Now we must have three ideas of light. In the middle ages there were just two; they were the sun and the stars; they are alluded to, but in those many days there were neither sun nor stars, but there is no word about the moon, as if the people on the ship did not know about the moon. It was no subject of their knowledge, but the sun they understood: Christ in heaven, there was some light about that, and some light too in godly men, gifted men; they are the stars. Thank God for the Wesleys, so to speak, and the Whitfields, and hundreds of others down the line who are stars. He made the stars also; He does not make much of that although He [p. 395] counts them and gives names to them all. One star differs from another in glory, and we fully recognize that that is our brethren who have gone away, have been here and ministered the gospel, and perhaps we have been converted through them. They did not give us the assembly, but we now have it. I want you to think of that, in what I am saying, that the assembly is here, not in heaven yet; the greatest thought outside of divine Persons is the assembly, and that came about at Pentecost, that great breathing. And then the tongues sat upon each of them; they did not get up, as if God would respect the brethren; He would say, You are in my mind, you see. They were in His mind in that sense, not as creatures then, but as persons who sit down and collaborate; that is the idea at Pentecost. There is to be an assembly; the word assembly acquired a new meaning I might say, at that time — this great matter that God has effected by the coming in of the Spirit, and all the administrative powers and the works that marked the assembly and mark it still.
So, dear brethren, I want you young people to think of it, this great matter, as I called the third light, so to speak. The sun is Christ in heaven; the stars are the brethren, individual brothers, but the third great light is the assembly, the complement of Christ. He is head of His body, the assembly, “the fulness of him who fills all in all”. I want you to get that into your souls. I am speaking about this giving matter and that then you might, in getting these things into your souls, begin to shine. Every face here should begin to shine as we take in these things, and that is while we have the light. The Lord says, “While ye have the light” — the true light; there is only one; the light which sheds its light on every man. “While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may become sons of light”. John hardly ever uses the word son, except in relation to the Lord Jesus Himself, but he does here. He uses “sons”, and that means the brethren, and takes in all these things that [p. 396] are set out so voluminously in John. You get a fine cluster of stars, so to speak, so “that ye may become sons of light”. You may say, You are talking about the assembly, but we all know something about the cluster up in the heavens; well, there is light. It is a number of stars fixed so that they are luminous, sons of light. And so we get understanding from the heavens as to these matters, and God is telling us now that the time for light is now. I have been speaking about giving, but I have been speaking also about the time of light, about persons being luminous, not only being enlightened themselves, but as sons of light, enlightening others. The assembly is made to enlighten others, so in every matter we have to do with, whatever it be, whether the gospel or administration, or discipline or fellowship, the assembly is the thing; the great operational thought is the assembly, that God has that Himself; He has that available to Himself. He is working in it. Thus the building grows to a holy temple in the Lord. And so the assembly will be luminous as it comes down from God out of heaven. It is one of the things that is stressed about it. The light is most precious.
Well, I will just leave all these things, dear brethren, that we might go away with the thought of giving, and the thought of illumination and the thought of the Father, the unvariableness of the Father in His giving; how good He is! “Open thy mouth wide”, He says, “and I will fill it”. That is God! The cattle on a thousand hills are His, in a natural sense, but in a spiritual sense there is no limit at all, and the presence of the Spirit here is the proof that God has given to all men for He is a giving God, but He is unvariable in giving; He is on the giving line, and He wants us to be on that line, and on the line of receiving, to become wealthy and luminous. So God would send us away, as I said before and as I hope it will be, with some of these thoughts and with a sense of the giving of God — how bountiful He is, and [p. 397] how there is nothing to fear as we are dependent upon Him, even in physical things. “Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and ye shall find”, Matthew 7: 7. May God bless the word.