Let There Be Light
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory: the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth."—John 1:14
'THE only begotten of the Father': his glory was his Godlikeness. And note the connection of thought: "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the Sons of God" (v.12).
'Power to become the Sons of God'! That is the power we seek. What a marvelous thought that there is such a power available to the weak mortal sons of men: power to become Sons of God; power to be 'filled with His Glory'; power, like Jesus, to be 'full of Grace and Truth'—FULL: no room for anything else. No room for worldliness, or self-pleasing, or bitterness, or unkindness, or any kind of pettiness: just Grace and Truth.
Just conceive of the divine beauty of a society of individuals who are all full of Grace and Truth—wholly united in single-hearted mutual love of God and of one another. How dull and empty do the things of the world seem when placed beside the glory of this power to become the eternal, grace-filled Sons of God! Let this be clear: no one can be a Son or Daughter of God who just lives and spends his time in his own interests and concerns and pleasures, like the rest of the world.
Jesus said: "I am the Light of the world" (Jn. 8:12).
To his disciples he said: "Ye are the light of the world" (Matt. 5:14).
By this saying, he absorbs us into himself, as parts of this divine, golden Lampstand of which he is the central stem and reservoir. The oil of the Lampstand is the pure Spirit-Word (Psa. 119:105)—
"Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet, and a Light unto my path."
Our minds turn to Zechariah's Lampstand and Olive-tree vision. But the oil gives no light until it is kindled by the zealous flame of love. The kindling of the flame comes from God—
"We love, because He first loved us" (1 Jn. 4:19).
The Law, or Word, of God is the great record and manifestation of this love, from the moment that God said: "Let there be light," to the time that the True Light said, at the close of his last message—
"I am the bright and Morning Star…Behold, I come quickly" (Rev. 22:16,12).
John says: "Life is light" (Jn. 1:4); and "He that loveth abideth in Light" (1 Jn. 2:10). The whole purpose is comprehended in that first fiat of divine omnipotence: "Let there be LIGHT" (Gen. 1:3). Let there be Life. Let there be Love. Let living Beauty and Grace spring forth from the silent, slumbering Darkness.
The Light is not cold and abstract, but warm and personal, because it is Life and Love. Let us keep the personal aspect ever before our minds, for therein lies the power: the glorious 'Power to become the Sons of God.'
We have doubtless all been deeply impressed, as we do our Daily Readings year by year, with the Glory and Beauty of God's Word as extolled in Psa. 119. Its theme is summed up in v. 97—
"O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day."
Not just law as an impersonal thing—ordinances and regulations—but living Law: the Living Word. Let us accent the personal aspect: "O how love I THY law!" It has often been pointed out that every verse of this Psalm contains some synonym for the Word: statute, judgment, precept, commandment, etc. But have we noticed that it is always prefaced by 'Thy': Thy statutes, Thy judgments, etc.?
We love the Law because it is God's Law: because it leads us to Him, reveals Him to us, draws us to Him, binds us to Him—teaches us how to dwell in peace within the circle of His love and holiness. It is in this personal relationship created by the loving acceptance of the Law that all its power lies. The Truth is an intensely personal affair. God is personal, Jesus is personal, the brethren are personal (1 Jn. 3:14)—
"We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.”
See therefore the vital importance of personal fraternal Love!—intense, expanding, radiating Love. It marks the difference between Life and Death: "None of us liveth to himself" (Rom. 14:7). That is, not if we really are Christ's. Love of the brethren must be a major aspect of our lives—second only to the love of God: for on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
And loving the brethren is not just a passive, benevolent frame of mind. It must be an active, living force: seeking their welfare, desiring their company, drawing close to them in oneness of mind and heart and purpose—lovingly seeing in them (though perhaps in present feeble measure, as they too may only see it in us) an earnest spiritual striving toward perfection: the potential glorious Sons of God!
The whole purpose of God is intensely personal: to surround Himself with an intimate family, a holy multitude of children, all knit inseparably together in the closest bonds of spiritual love: bound together by the knowledge that all in love have totally given their lives for each other, after the command and example of the great Elder Brother—
"Hereby perceive we love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 Jn.3:16).
Are we just technically 'in the Truth,' or are we really a part of this strange and glorious enterprise going on in the earth today: the true, select, eternal nobility of all the earth's generations? To lay down our lives for the brethren, as John says we must, does not just mean to be prepared to die for them (though that is necessarily included). But much more it means to wholly live for them, as Jesus did: to yield the whole life to the service of Christ and his Body, as the Bride yields her life to the Bridegroom.
"O how love I Thy law!…"
The inspiring beauty of this 119th Psalm of tribute to the glories and life-giving power of the Word of God lies largely in the fact that herein we have a portrayal of the mind of Christ in his hours of meditation and prayer. Here again is the personal, living aspect. He alone has lived and thought these thoughts in their deepest and fullest measure. And to the extent that we follow him into the inner chambers of this marvelous palace of splendor and beauty and light, to that extent—and to that alone—do we enter into his love.
"...it is my meditation ALL THE DAY."
Can we conceive any less of Jesus? No, we cannot. Only 'all the day' fulfills the picture. Love is all or nothing: never satiated, never surfeited.
119:98—"Thou through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me."
Natural wisdom and intelligence depend upon brain capacity and education. But how happy we should be that the wisdom of the Spirit is on a completely different plane, and depends on love, and character, and the way the heart is turned to the Light of the Word of God!—
"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; for so it seemed good in Thy sight" (Matt. 11:25-26).
We are impressed—and appalled—by the prodigious mental capacities and ingenuities of the men of the world who have so painstakingly developed such diabolical instruments of misery and desolation as rockets and jets and guided missiles and laser beams and hydrogen bombs. But the humblest saint in Christ has infinitely more true wisdom and knowledge than the wisest of the world, for—
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom [nothing is wisdom short of that], and knowledge of the Holy is understanding… This is Life Eternal, to know Thee the Only True God" (Prov. 9:20; Jn. 17:3).
All the rest is just perishing, animal, foolish cleverness—but these have found the power to become Sons of God! How pitifully insignificant is the puny power of the hydrogen bomb compared to that. An immortalized saint could effortlessly extinguish man's biggest bomb.
119:99—"I have more understanding than all my teachers ..."
'I am the Light of the world,' said Jesus. He had instruction and guidance for all the world. Was it of his own natural wisdom or philosophy? His own mental powers? Had he himself conceived the wondrous thoughts and gracious words that he spoke?—
"Never man spake like this man...He hath done all things well" (Jn. 7:46; Mk. 7:37).
"...for Thy testimonies are my meditation all the day" (vs. 99,97).
That was his secret of wisdom, and it must be ours. By nature, we are but animal creatures, but the testimonies of God are spirit and divine life. Meditation upon them must be our joy, our hobby, our relaxation, our solace and refuge from the battle and the storm. How much this verse reveals to us of Jesus, and of the inner power that maintained the glorious radiance of the Light of the Word made flesh!
"I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts" (100).
Here we go a step further and deeper. We find this vital divine principle woven throughout Scripture. We shall often be struck with it, if we are watching for it: the principle that spiritual understanding depends on the degree of endeavor to walk in holiness before God—
"The secret of God is with the righteous" (Prov. 3:32).
David says: "The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His Way" (Psa. 25:9).
Daniel's 'man clothed in linen' said: "None of the wicked shall understand."
And Jesus himself gives the same divine rule—"If any man will do God's will, he shall know of the doctrine" (Jn. 7:17).
We may be troubled and concerned by conditions in Christadelphia: by the great problem of fellowship—where and when to draw the line, and to make a stand for the standards of the Truth. Here's the answer—
"THE MEEK WILL HE GUIDE...THE MEEK WILL HE TEACH."
There is no other answer. Who are we, of ourselves, that we could be able to judge rightly, and others be astray? "The meek will He guide." If He guide us, we cannot go wrong. If He guide us not, we cannot go right. And He will guide a certain few, on a consistent, stated basis—
"Ye shall find Me, when ye shall seek for Me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13).
The seeking must be in the Word, and in prayer. All guidance is in the Word. The Word is the Light and Lamp: the Word prayerfully studied and meticulously obeyed (as we have seen). Prayer is useless if we are not willing and anxious to do our most and our best to totally serve and obey. "The meek will He guide"—and outside of that circle of divine guidance, what hope have we of finding our way?
The knowledge and absorption of the Light of the Word is a progressive attainment of faith working and building upon faith: faith upon faith, and love upon love (2 Cor. 3:18)—
"We all, with unveiled face, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being changed into the same image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord."
And Paul goes on to say, as he joyfully develops this beautiful theme—
"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 Cor. 4:6).
We see how he goes right back to the first word of divine command, as God dissipated the heavy primeval Darkness with the marvel of Light: 'Let there be Light.' And here, at last, in the fullness of times, in the face of Jesus Christ, is the ultimate fruition of the Word of Promise—
"The Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Not, of course, the ultimate fruition in breadth, for truly—
"All the earth shall be filled with the Knowledge of the Glory of God" (Hab. 2:14).
—but the ultimate in height: the apex of the perfected manifestation in the face of Jesus Christ—the Perfect Man, the Image of God.
Paul is particularly comparing the unveiled and eternal Glory in the face of Christ with the veiled and fading glory of the face of Moses, on which the Israelites feared to look. But there is more in this reference to the face of Jesus than that. The contrast is deep. Israel feared because they did not have love. Love and Fear are opposites.
Herein is bound up all the inspiring and transforming personal attraction of Divine Love—the face of Jesus Christ—through which shone all the spiritual characteristics of the Beauty of Holiness. And herein lies the secret of the power he gives men to become Sons of God, which is: the maintaining before the eye of faith of the vision of the Glory of the face of Christ—seeing him looking with love upon us; exchanging glances of inexpressible understanding and affection with him.
Here is the power that overcomes the world. In Peter's dark hour, when in confused panic he denied his Master, Jesus turned and looked upon him (Lk. 22:61). The glance was enough to re-awaken all his fear-forgotten love and loyalty, and he 'went out and wept bitterly.' And we hear no more of fear or betrayal from Peter, but, immediately after Jesus' ascension, a fearless standing up to the authorities, and thereafter a faithful, lifelong service, even unto suffering and death.
But Paul immediately adds, in this marvelous message of Glory—
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us" (2 Cor. 4:7).
The issue must be clear. The utter earthiness of the vessel must be fully recognized before the divine transforming Love can be poured into it to fill it with the radiant Glory of the Light of the Word. It must be clear that the Glory is of God alone. There must be no self-glorifying confusion of the vessel with the Glory that fills it.
Furthermore, the vessel must first be empty—empty of self—cleared of all other contents, and waiting in patient readiness for the time of the good pleasure of God to fill it with the Spirit-Word-Oil and use it as a Lamp of Glory. Of Jesus we are told that he 'emptied' and 'humbled' himself, so that he might be a fit vessel for God's use as the Light of the Word: "He made himself of no reputation ('ekenosen': emptied himself)…and humbled himself" (Phil. 2:7-8).
This is illustrated by the next verse of the Psalm (v.101)—
"I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep Thy Word."
What is the 'evil way'? How broad is the definition, and how much does it include? The Scriptures teach us that there are but two ways: the Way of Life and the Way of Death—and that the Way of Life is very narrow, and that all outside it is the Way of Death. Have we not often pondered upon Christ's words concerning the sheep and the goats at the Judgment Seat: the so sharp line of distinction between eager welcome and violent rejection—"Come, ye blessed…Depart, ye cursed!" (Matt 25).
The lesson is that it is all or nothing, black or white: there are no grays. It is impossible to be just partly in Christ: "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." There is no halfway. In the very nature of things, there could not be. The issues are too vast. It is no light thing to aspire to be Sons of God to all eternity. We must be prepared to make tremendous adjustments in our lives from the animal world around. We tread on holy ground.
We are either completely Christ's brethren, in total heart and soul, or we are not his brethren at all. If we are, our love for, and devotion to, him will dominate our lives and shape our every act, because that is the very nature and power of true and genuine Love.
If we find that love for him does not grasp and possess and motivate us in this manner, increasingly filling us with the intense yearning toward the treasures of the Word of God that this Psalm portrays, filling us with divine contentment and peace, lifting us up above the little passing concerns and interests of this brief, vain life, and enabling us to discern and put aside the natural evil motions of the flesh—If this has not happened and is not happening, then we are not being 'made perfect in love,' we have not made contact with the divine power, we are not sufficiently exposing ourselves to the—
"Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
We are shivering in the darkness and the cold, deceived by a lifeless form of godliness, rather than walking in the glory of the living sunshine of his love.
"I have refrained my feet from EVERY evil way…"
"In my flesh dwelleth no good thing...Now the works of the flesh are these—…Love not the things of world: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (Rom. 7:18; Gal. 5:19; 1 Jo 2:15).
What are the 'things of the world' that make up the great, godless Way of Death—the 'evil way'? We know. We do not have to be told, if we are honest with our selves. We know the tests—
Is it redeeming the time?
Is it a victory for the Spirit?
Does it make me more holy?
Can I do it 'as unto the Lord'?
Is it a part of the 'living sacrifice' that the father delights to see in His children who are seeking His face?
Does it help to fill my mind and interests with the eternal things of God?
What am I serving with my free time and interest: the flesh or the Spirit?
We know the final wages of each. 'Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,' because it is outside the holy circle of the transforming and sanctifying Spirit-power. The 'Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' will give us a clear answer, if we will let it. The Psalmist continues: 119:104—
"Through Thy precepts I get UNDERSTANDING: THEREFORE I hate every false way."
There is the answer. Meditation on the Law brings understanding—and understanding brings hatred of everything of the world and of the flesh. The man who sees the danger and undesirability of something, and hates it, does not need to be persuaded to leave it alone—if he has any intelligence at all.
Our hate for the false way will be in proportion to our love for the true. Jesus says he is the True Way, and that anything outside of him is false, for he personifies the Father's perfect Will and Word. If our life is sufficiently filled with a zealous affection for Christ, we shall have no desire for the things of the world in which he has no place, and which take our time and attention from him. That is why there is the clear cut black-and-white division at the Judgment Seat—
"Come, ye blessed...Depart, ye cursed!” Your love for me either filled and overflowed every aspect of your life, and crowded out all worldly things—or else you had no true love at all: for that is what the True Love will inevitably do to you.
Jesus, as the Light of the Word, has much to say about Light and Darkness. Light is the living reality. Darkness is nothing of itself, but simply the absence or lack of Light, though Darkness appears real and substantial (and fearful) where there is no Light to make its non-existent unreality manifest. This is in perfect harmony with the facts which Light and Darkness are scripturally used to symbolize. Jesus said—
"The Light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of Light. But when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of Darkness." (Lk. 11:34)
He is emphasizing the vital importance of the singleness of the eye: no split or double vision, no mixture of interests, for what our eye is on is what we are interested in. The body, we note again from this passage, is either full of Light, or full of Darkness. No half-way. The Divine Light of the Word will not mix or dwell with Darkness. Hereby we know that if part of the Darkness continues to linger in us—part interest in worldly things—then the light we think we have is not the True transforming Light. We are relying on a look-alike makeshift that falls short of the full, life-consuming love of Christ. He continues (v. 35)—
"Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness."
It is clear from this solemn warning that it is quite possible to think we have light when we are actually in darkness. He says indeed—
"If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matt. 6:23)
How then are we to know and be sure of the True Light? In the next verse Jesus tells us (Lk. 11:36)—
"If thy whole body therefore be full of Light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of Light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light."
This wording is a little obscure. At first glance, it appears to be simply a self-evident repetition: "If your body is full of light, it will be full of light." But as we ponder upon it (as we must on all Scripture), and compare other versions, the meaning becomes clear, and we see it as the test of the True Light. We believe what he is saying is this—
"If you have the True Light, it will fill you completely. There will be no dark parts. Everything in your life will shine brightly and consistently with the Divine Light, like the shining of a lamp."
A lamp is all bright and radiating light: not an incongruous, inconsistent mixture of Light and Darkness. This seems then to be the key thought: if it is the True Light that you have, it will triumphantly drive out all Darkness: all worldly interests and works of the flesh. For the True Light is not just cold intellectual illumination, but living divine love and power. Once the True Light takes hold of you, you will never be content until all the ways of Darkness are rooted out, and the light increasingly burning brighter and brighter—
"The path of the just is as the Shining Light, that shineth more and more unto the Perfect Day" (Prov. 4:18).
119:103—"How sweet are Thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth."
That is the frame of mind the True Light will bring. How far this is from the drudgery of enforced duty! In the goodness of God, goodness itself is beautiful, and evil is ugly. But the natural mind requires spiritual education to discern the beauty, and reject the natural ugliness—for both are spiritually discerned. Filth and ugliness and corruption and perversion appeal to the ignorant and depraved natural mind of man. This is the present downward course of society.
Does this spiritual ecstasy in the sweetness of the Light of the Word, as expressed here by the Psalmist, seem far beyond the attainment of our drab, earthy, mortal natures? The Psalmist himself felt the need to pray:
"Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and revive me in Thy way" (vs. 36-37).
Here is the glorious struggle and perfect victory of Christ—
"In ALL points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15).
Paul said: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24)
But he also said: "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content... I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." (Phi. 4:11-13).
And: "We are more than conquerors through him that loved us…Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom. 8:37, 35)
It is essential that we experience weakness and depression, in order to learn and value the Source of all comfort and power. Thus (v. 73)—
"Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding."
We are God's workmanship. But as we first find ourselves, He has not finished His work. He has much more to do in those He will eventually glorify for His eternal use. But He desires us to recognize His handiwork so far, and to urge Him to complete the process. Not that He of Himself needs urging, but He delights in those alone who earnestly desire and seek the operation of His hand. The Psalmist pleads (vs. 125-133)—
"Give me understanding...Order my steps in Thy Word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me."
It is the cry of a faithful man, conscious of weakness, and seeking strength. The operation of God upon the faithful (Phil. 2:13)—
"Working in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure."
—is not a passive, effortless transformation from without, but rather a striving and struggling through the night like the striving of Jacob with the angel, agonizing for the Divine blessing and the New Divine Name. It is God's will and wisdom that it should be that way. But still there is—beyond, and above, and around all the dark struggle—the aspect to which the Psalmist testifies in v. 165—
"Great peace have they which love Thy Law, and nothing shall offend them."
This is the great beauty and mystery of the Way of Life: peace in the midst of conflict, rest in the midst of strife. The Light of the Word said, on the eve of his last, and greatest, and most terrible ordeal—
"Peace I leave with you: my Peace I give unto you...In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world...Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (Jn. 14:27; 16:33).
The tribulation of the world is the striving in the night. It is all the striving: inward and outward. But, in the strange and glorious working of the Spirit, it cannot detract from the Peace. It only intensifies the Peace. Peace is the Master's great parting gift: Peace that triumphs over everything in the world. Paul shows the inter-relationship of the Peace, and the tribulation, and the inworking Spirit-Word-Power—
"We have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...We rejoice in hope of the Glory of God. And not only so, but we rejoice in tribulation also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience approvedness, and approvedness Hope. And Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit" (Rom, 5:1-5).
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of Grace and Truth...That was the True Light...and to as many as receive him, to them he gives power to become the SONS OF GOD."—Jn. 1:9-14
G.V.Growcott
