The Light of His Life
By Arthur J Licursi
Jesus said, John 9:5b …I am the light of the world. But, how is it that Jesus is called “the light of the world”?
It is because Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, is the expression of God, and in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells; and of whom Scripture says “for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). Jesus did say to Phillip “if you have seen me you have seen the Father.” Paul wrote this of Christ. Hebrews 1:3Who being the brightness (apaugasma, shining) of his glory, and the express image of his person…
We also may see the connection between Jesus as the expression of God when we consider the physical created world as Paul says. Rom 1:20 the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Does not the Sun, which is fiery, give us the light without which no life can exist? John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me (walks with me) shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Jesus, as the expression of God, is “the light that is life.”
God is fire, and Jesus Christ is that same fire, but in a life-giving form. Jesus, as the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2), is both the light of the world, as the living expression of God; the life-giving Seed. Jesus Christ’s life-giving capacity is due to His being “the life” (Zoë, eternal spirit life). 1 John 5:11-12 that Jesus is “life” (Zoë, spirit life) given to man to be man’s life. “…this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
Man was originally created as darkness, as the full opposite to God (The Light). Man as darkness is the perfect polar opposite of God, who is the light; thus man is the perfect mate or receptor for light. Man was created as a proper perfect receptacle for God’s “light and life,” which is Christ Jesus Himself. John tells us Jesus Himself is the true light. John 1:9 …the true Light, which lighteth (enlightens and shines upon) every man that cometh into the world. John also tells us receiving Jesus Christ, who is the light of life, makes us the sons of God. So this light has a capacity to bring children of God to birth. John 1:12 But as many as received him (Christ, the light), to them gave he power to become the sons of God… This light that is Christ is the life-giving light. When received, it makes the recipient to become a child of God, born of God’s spiritual loins. We then not only are partakers of His actual life, but also partakers of His nature (2Peter 1:4). This is what being born-again is all about.
God’s Heart’s Desire:
God as fire burns with desire to be a giver of life. God Himself is a lover of others, a giver of His life, which is the real, eternal, kind of life. He burns with this desire. God’s life is a burning fire, which is transmitted as light to be received, then kindling His life in man. Christ, shining the light of the fire of God, not only comes as “the light,” but also it comes with His Life. I say this because of the little word “of” that is seen in John 8:12 “he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Louw & Nida Greek Lexicon transliterates “of” in this verse, from the Greek, as “ek,” meaning, “the substance of which something consists or out of which it is made – of, consisting of”. So the light of Jesus Christ is not “sent from Christ,” as though it were something separate from Christ; rather Jesus Christ’s light is the substance that is part and parcel of Christ’s life. Christ’s life is the substance of His light. When we receive Christ’s light, we are receiving nothing less than the literal life of Jesus Christ. Today, when we live in the light and walk in the light, we live and walk in and by the life of the resurrected Christ Himself as our life (Gal 2:20).
The darkness of man must have God’s intervention in order to become light and have real life. Darkness can’t otherwise be altered; it cannot be transmuted to light by anything, or by itself. Abram of old was a heathen Gentile who once walked in darkness; that is until God shined upon him, intervening in Abram’s life, speaking to Abram, eventually transforming him into Abraham, through whose lineage the light of life would come into the world, and become available “to as many as received him (Jesus)”.
God’s life comes to us, first as God’s light Psalm 36:9 with thee is the fountain (source) of life: in thy light shall we see light. God is life, but He comes to us 1st as a measure or degree of light shining upon our life. Our new life in Christ 1st sprang out of having received an initial measure of His light. Consider the physical created life – if there were no light, there would be no life for plants, animals, etc. E.g., A seed with light, but without water will survive preserved. A seed with water 1st, but without light, will rot and die. Similarly, God’s light is the 1st and primary basis for kindling His life in man.
It’s By God shining into our heart that we 1st saw with spiritual eyes and believed! 2 Cor. 4:6 For 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.
Our faith is not ours; it is the spontaneous result of His light-life giving us revelation. Seeing is in fact believing - spiritually. Now Christ is the substance of which our faith consists. Note the 2nd half of Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God … Again here “of” Louw & Nida Gk. “ek,” “the substance of which something consists or out of which it is made - ‘of, consisting of,”) Thus, the faith we live by daily is actually Christ’s faith working in us. That faith comes from having some light, having “seen,” having had revelation that is by Christ’s Spirit working within us.
Now consider the re-creation (Genesis 1:2) that is recounted after Gen 1:1. It is a record of God’s light … Giving birth to life. In Gen 1:2-3 we see that there was darkness upon the earth that was under the flood waters of a judgment.
Genesis 1:2-5 ...the earth was without form (desolation), and void (ruin); and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved (brooded as a hen about to hatch life) upon the face of the waters. …
The First Day God brought a kind of light upon the earth, without the sun, moon or stars. We will note by the recreation account that the degree of life … is according to the degree of light.
…3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
This first light resulted in the lower life forms - unconscious life – as plant life)
Genesis 1:11-12 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
This first day light symbolizes the initial stage of God’s intervention in the darkness of our lives; our receiving light to kindle new life – for our new birth. We likely were without consciousness of what really happened.
The Fourth Day Lights: These lights, the Sun and Moon, resulted in kindling the higher conscious life - animal life on the 5th day and human life on the 6th day.
Genesis 1:14-18 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
So, the fourth day lights brought greater light, resulting in greater and higher life forms, including man.
The Need for Something More than Light Upon Man
In the previous Genesis account man had only light “upon” him - not “in” him. So God also had given man “The Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden,” intending that man may partake and have God’s life within him. We know man did not choose to eat of the tree of life. This is because the man “thought” he had life. He was ignorant of the fact that he did not have real life – God’s life.
Since God’ life comes to man first as light, then; but The Tree of “Life,” with its “seeded fruit” speaks of … God’s Light … in the form of “Life” … made available to be taken into man.
Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
We know from Scripture that God’s Vine Tree is Jesus Christ and He is the tree of life. John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches…Seeing that Christ Himself is the vine tree of life, we now can see from the Genesis account that man was intended to take the seeded fruit of that tree into his self. We who are the regenerated children of God have been born of God’s seed (Greek, sperma) as seen in Gal 3:16 and 1Peter 1:23. Having received the seed of the tree of life we then have the very life of the tree. Christ is the seed of God the Father and we are thereby God’s birthed children – born of His spiritual loins.
Yet also we’ve seen that He is light. John 8:12 …, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Light is needed in order for us to see spiritual things. Being born of His light (Christ), we now have greater light to see. John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom (realm) of God.
Light comes by the Word of God, which is Jesus Christ (John 1:1). It’s “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” shining to illumine man, that is the living word – that light speaks words to us. The word is NOT the Bible in itself. The Bible’s words must become anointed, illumined by the Spirit to be light and life in us. Psalm 119:105 Thy word (Heb dabar, the spoken word) is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:130 … thy words (spoken) giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. Jesus Christ’s words spoken into our spirit are “spirit and life” to us. John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak (<<<) unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
For the Christian in the dispensation of the grace of God, with Christ indwelling them, we are to regard Christ’s speaking within, over our self-preferences. This is to “receive” Christ in us as light. To hear (obey) Him is to co-operate with Him, that He may be expressed.
Isaiah 66:5 Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble (Gk. chared, have high and fearful regard) at his word (speaking); Let the Lord be glorified (have His way to be expressed through you): but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. Personally walking in union with Him results in our enjoying His light & life.
Light for the Christian is by the inner, sixth, sense we have by His indwelling life. It is the sense of His life. Christ’s life as light is within us to be followed, personally, individually, as our final arbiter in all our doings. None can say we do not know what He wants or is speaking in us. Jesus said – “He that is of God heareth God.” (John 8:34) John tells the Jews what is available to them after they receive Christ. 1 John 2:20 … ye have an unction (anointing) from the Holy One (Christ), and ye know all things. 1 John 2:27a But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth,
Where exactly do we have His light of life? It is precisely within our spirit. Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, (NASB) 2 Tim. 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.
This indwelling is possible because …2 Cor. 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 1 Cor. 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 1 John 4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
We need light of life in our soul to give life and transform our soul. So, Paul prayed the following. Ephes. 1:17-That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you (individually) the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge (Gk. ginosko, experiential knowing) of him: 18The eyes (seeing) of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Consciousness & Conscience, (“conscience” is Gk sundenesis, co-perception)
We gain a new, added, consciousness by Christ’s Spirit in us as the light of life; it is gained as that new sixth sense. The light of His life regulates our living, if we will yield to that sense that constrains us from within. Maintaining the conscience to abide in the light keeps the consciousness of the sixth sense vibrant (not dulled). It also keeps us transparent. We will have no opaqueness to block further radium of His light. This then permits us to receive the light of revelation. Thus, this permits God to gain ground in our soul, so He may then shine the light of life out of us, to a dark and dying world. Have you been around people who are closed to God - sensing darkness, deadness? Don’t you find that those who are open to light are transparent and emanate His light? We have all at times been with people that we know are in darkness. Our sense that we have by Christ in us detects the darkness, deadness and the opaqueness.
The coming of God’s light rests with the mercy of God. We cannot demand light. It’s comes to us in God’s time
Paul was saved at the time God chose. It could not have been otherwise. Acts 9:3-4 … he (Paul) came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
We desire His light and should not manufacture pseudo light, by our vain imagination. Isaiah 50:11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. Our own self-wits are not light and they are subject to deception.
Neither can we speak of another person’s light (revelation), and expect it be light to others. His shining light must personally touch us, individually. This often means waiting upon God. But if we must wait, then should we be entirely indifferent and suspend our living? No! The way to be enlightened is to recognize and receive (obey) the light (Christ within) that we ALREADY have in our spirit.
2 Cor. 4:6 For God, who commanded (past tense) the light to shine out of darkness, hath (past tense) shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We are growing if we obey His inward speaking. Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. We have Christ as light shining within us to illumine us. None of us can say we don’t hear God within. John 8:47He that is of God heareth God's words…
Initially, the regenerated, born-again, child of God is still in darkness in his soul. Initially only His spirit of life in our spirit is light. That is until the cross, our death and new life in Him, is seen by us to have freed us from our old independent self, and enabling us to receive His light into our soul-self. This radium of the light shining in us has the power to cure and transform our soul, as radiation might cure cancer. His light not only exposes us but it also has the curative power to renew our soul as it is exposed by the Spirit of life, which is the light of life.
Born-again, we still have a free will and often try to live separated from obeying the light of Christ within us, so we must be turned to the inner light. We must agree to be open to receive the shining light. We deal with our lives, according to the sense of the His inner shining. 1John 1:7 if we walk in the light, as he is in the light… and the blood (life) of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth (removes us from) us from all sin (and guilt). If we refuse the light we will remain as children – never growing up to be sons of God. Only the ones who receive the light and obey the inward light will grow to be grown up children of God – as sons who not only bear His image, but express His light of life.
But how much are we to deal with? Do we soul search ourselves? No! We should only deal with our conscience under His light, and then only until we have come to peace – don’t go digging for stuff. Romans 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, (NASB) We just look at what He shows us and it will never condemn us. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus… If we go to the past at all it should only be as He leads us, otherwise you will not find Him there with you; He is the I AM and not the “I was.” Basically, we are to live in the present presence of the Lord. We often fear opening ourselves, being exposed to the Lord. But then we are like a roll of paper. Fearing exposure, we keep God from shining upon us. The darkness we have known is a deception and there is nothing to fear. We must have His light of life.
Example of the deception of darkness: In a darkened room we can’t see ourselves, but we can see others outside to judge them, while we ourselves remain in darkness. Yet, when we are in the lighted room we see can ourselves, we can’t see others outside. We must be turned to the Lord and His light in order to become unveiled 2 Cor. 3:16 … when it (the heart) shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Turning away from our self to Him is a denying of self. We need to turn to let go & trust Him, thereby in turning we deny ourselves.
The Lord as light uses the circumstances of life to show us that we can’t make it in our soul-self so we ultimately, out of recognized need, turn to Him in our spirit. We then find the overcoming life. John 16:33 …in me ye might have peace (rest). In the world ye shall have tribulation (pressure): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. The Father’s work is to turn us, to let go and trust Him, so the veil and darkness can be taken. Philip. 2:13 …it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
We should not dispute the light, but turn to embrace the sense of His light in us. We should have no concern for deception as genuine light is matched by a peace within, which is Christ Himself (Jn 14:27). Nobody can simulate His peace within us. Thus, we may accept, submit to and deal in our life according to the light we’ve received. E.g. If the Word within us may of a situation and our contemplated response, say drop it, let it go – then let it go. To be led by the Spirit is to obey the Him, and this is to be grown up as a son of God. It is only when we (in soul) are turned to behold Him, that our soul may become lighted by Him, having then the potential to be transformed. Being transformed by His life, we then may express the glory of His life (not ours). 2 Cor. 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding (seeing) as in a glass (mirror) the glory of the Lord, are changed (Gk. metamorphoo) into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. We all will spend time in a dark place, as in a cocoon, that we might become transformed as a caterpillar is to a butterfly, by the life within. For the Christian, Christ lights and transforms us by His life from within our spirit. It is by His indwelling life that an elemental metamorphosis can take place – that Christ element within has the power to wholly change us, spirit, soul and body (1Thes 5:23).
We need to continuously trust and live in the light to gain and enjoy more light. Psalm 36:9b … in thy light shall we see light. John 12:36 While ye have light, believe in the light (pisteuo, trust in, rely upon and cling to the light), that ye may be the children of light (offspring which grow by the light).
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