Light is in itself invisible, but it illuminates everything. What we see around us in the physical world is not the light, but matter lighted up by it. The very canopy of heaven (that is, the air) is made visible by the light shining upon and through it, and if we could be transported into empty space, traversed as it is by the light, we should not see the light itself, although it would shine upon and manifest ourselves or any substance that might come in its way.
The Word of God uses this as a beautiful illustration, or, rather, image. “God is light” is the message that we have received of Him, “and in Him is no darkness at all.” “God is light”: It is His nature, and He was eternally light before ever there was a universe to be illuminated (just as He was eternally love before ever there was a creature to be loved). “Light,” to quote the words of another, “is perfect purity, invisible in itself, and manifesting everything as it is before God.” It is likewise said that God dwells in light that no man can “approach unto,” and this is light inaccessible in itself.
Light Came Into the World
But the light came into the world, into the midst of the darkness, when the Son of God appeared upon earth in the form of a servant, as man. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1:1818No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18)). And nothing is more interesting, though at the same time nothing more humiliating, than what is recorded in John’s gospel of the presence of the light in this world of moral darkness and the effect of that presence upon men. Nothing could escape manifestation, and though eyes to see were wanting, though the general blindness of man perceived nothing, yet the light shone and showed so clearly the state of man that no one was able to pass before it without intercepting its rays. Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, proud blasphemers, or Israelites indeed in whom there was no guile, no matter what the character might be, all was lighted up and manifested before God. “The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:55And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:5)). The blessed Lord left a world of dark, blind souls, insisting that they could see and that they loved darkness rather than light.
The true light was that which, coming into the world, shines upon every man. This has nothing to do with the conversion of men, but refers to our subject; that is, the outward lighting up of men. Do not talk of “inner light,” or any such thing, but rather contemplate with wonder the presence of the Son of God upon earth, in the midst of the prevailing darkness, and see everything illuminated by that presence, though the darkness comprehended not the light. What a field for study are the eighth and ninth chapters of John, and indeed the whole book!
Light in the Lord
We have noticed briefly the effect of the presence of the light in this world when Jesus was here. But it is said, as to the present time, in Ephesians 5, that we believers are light. “Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord” (vs. 8); we might compare this wonderful passage with 1 John 2:88Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. (1 John 2:8), where we are said to possess the divine life in virtue of our union with Christ. “True in Him and in you” (this could not have been said before His death and resurrection): “the darkness is passing away [not passed] and the true light now shineth.” In Ephesians 5 the truth is most clearly stated; we were darkness, but now are light in the Lord. How wonderful, and at the same time how blessed, that the divine life in us should be so presented! The exhortation to walk as children of the light is founded upon this, for the fruit of the light (not “ Spirit,” as in our KJV translation) consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth, proving that which is acceptable to the Lord. The essential difference between the darkness and the light is here clearly presented and practical separation from the unfruitful works of darkness insisted upon. In verse 13 we find again the true character of light stated, as we have noticed in other passages: “That which manifests everything is light,” and, notwithstanding all the feebleness of the present testimony, it has often been noticed that the true characters of people come out when they take their place with those who are endeavoring (with all their failure) to walk as children of the light. How many, if the bare truth were known, have retired because the light exposed their motives — such as selfishness and ambition — till then concealed in a world of darkness! Ye are light in the Lord, says the Word; and the fruit of the light is in all goodness, righteousness and truth. Righteousness and truth have never been popular, any more than the light itself. May we enter more fully into the fact of possessing the divine nature in the midst of a dark world, judging in ourselves all that is not practically consistent with it. We might compare 2 Corinthians 4:66For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6) with this interesting passage, praying the Lord to give us to understand these great truths.
Thus, during the present period of grace, the saints are the light of the world, and they make manifest by their walk the sad moral state of things around them.
The Darkness Is Passing
So much has been said of the future, that one hesitates to proceed; but it may be noticed that the darkness is now passing away, that the true light shines already; and when our blessed Lord shall be revealed in glory, the perfect day will have come. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, and we are called children of the day, as well as children of light; for we belong to Christ, and that glory shall be ours. During the reign of Christ, the light will be displayed in a far different manner to that which we have been noticing. It is a solemn but blessed thought, that we, the redeemed heavenly saints, shall see the Lamb as the luminary of the interior of the holy Jerusalem, and be in the very presence of uncreated light (there is no need of sun or moon) undazzled, seeing Him as He is. Blessed are they who understand our present position in the light as God is in the light; but what will it be then? It has been pointed out that the light will be shed in a modified form upon the millennial earth and nations. They shall walk in the light of the holy city, where all the glories of redeemed creation, the precious stones, shall separate and modify the rays that no creature not glorified could bear for a moment, so that the earth itself shall be illuminated by that most glorious though subdued light.
Our subject is the light, and we have very briefly noticed its display under different circumstances. May we be found walking in a path of true separation from all that is of the darkness and ever remember that we are (now) light in the Lord.
E. L. Bevir (adapted)