God Is Light: September 2022
Table of Contents
God Is Light
Man is a sinner utterly unfit for heaven, but it is immense comfort that grace and truth have come together. God’s two essential names are Love and Light. If we had not love with light, it would have condemned us, but we have perfect light in presence of perfect love. Our comfort is that light does come and reveal everything. Being in God’s very nature, we cannot separate the two things, light and love. Light penetrates, but there is an attractive power along with it. There is never real working in man’s soul without attractive power. The Christian stands “accepted in the beloved,” but the light of God comes in on all his ways. Take the prodigal: The light shines in and shows that he is a lost sinner, but there is attractive power too. “I will arise and go to my father.” Take Peter, falling at Jesus” knees, and saying at the same time, "Depart from me." Wherever the blessed God reveals Himself to our souls, nothing is left in the dark. If you have an idea of God’s love without the conscience being reached, it may pass away as the morning dew. It is a blessed thing that we are brought to God and that everything is fully out in the light. The blessed Lord bore our sin; there was full light and full love at the cross.
J. N. Darby (adapted)
Light
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 1:18). 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 1:5). 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 2:8, 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 4:6 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)
Light and Darkness - How Serious Is This Issue?
In the Word of God, light is used to represent good and darkness is used to represent evil. Dealing with evil spirits is not according to the Word of God and is therefore wrong. They are actually demons, evil beings, and they belong to darkness. But the question may be asked, “How serious is it really for the Christian to be involved with things that are wrong and of darkness?” In order to answer this question, we will look at how Scripture views light and darkness and the relationship between them.
God Is Light
First of all, we find out that God’s very nature is light from 1 John 1:5 where it says, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” From this verse we see that there is an absolute separation of these two things and a complete absence of darkness (or evil) in the nature of God. This character of His nature is so important that His first act of creation, on the first day, was to say, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). What God did next is not only remarkable, but it is also vital for all believers to pay careful attention to it. It says in Genesis 1:4, “God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” This was His very first act with respect to this creation—He introduced light and then immediately separated the light from the darkness! Satan and man have been trying to mix and confuse the two ever since, but they are forever separated by God. Notice what the Lord says about those who mix light and darkness in Isaiah 5:20: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Here we have the same connection: good = light; darkness = evil. And the Lord says, “Woe unto them” that mix these things.
Moral Light
Just as physical light was introduced into the world at the creation, moral light was introduced into the world when the Lord Jesus was born on this earth. It says of Him in John 1:1-9 that he was “the light of men.” As the light, we learn that “the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” The Lord Jesus was the perfect example and witness of all that was right and good in this world, but the world system was left unchanged by that shining light. And the world, being in darkness and headed up by its prince, Satan, refused the light and determined to extinguish it. In the purposes of God, He allowed them to have their way, and so the Lord Jesus was delivered into their hands. He said the following words in Luke 22:53: “When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against Me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” And so, at the cross of Calvary, they raised their wicked hands against the Lord Jesus Christ and did their very worst to Him. We also learn that, in three hours of darkness, God punished Him for our sins there. Now, we are told that because He was delivered into that darkness, God has now “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13).
The Power of Darkness
But what is this power of darkness from which we have been delivered? We have already seen it as the world system that is headed up by its leader, Satan, and is opposed to Christ. Of Satan, it says in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” So we see that Satan is active in the world, blinding the minds to keep men in darkness and shut out the light of the gospel. And men are quite willing that it should be so, for it says in John 3:19, “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Men go on willingly in this darkness, enjoying their evil deeds, and are quite indifferent to the fact that they are bound under the power of Satan. When we are saved, we find out the reality of that from which we have been delivered. It says in Acts 26:18 that we have been turned “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” In Ephesians 5:8 we are told, “Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” And, just as our Lord was the light of the world, now He says, “Ye are the light of the world,” and, “Let your light so shine before men” (Matt. 5:14-16).
Gospel Light
As we saw in 2 Corinthians 4:4, it was the shining of the glorious gospel of Christ that brought in that light. Just as God said, “Let there be light,” at the creation of the world, so He begins the new birth with the light of the gospel. The continuing source of our light is also the Word of God, for it says in Psalm 119:130, “The entrance of Thy words giveth light.”
Letting our lights shine includes the fact that we are to have nothing whatsoever to do with the darkness. Just as physical light completely dispels and chases away the darkness wherever it shines, so the moral light that Christians are called to shine around them dispels the moral darkness. In Ephesians 5:11 we are told, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
The Relationship
Now, let us look at what the Scriptures have further to say regarding the believer and his relationship with light and darkness. Perhaps the strongest denunciation of the mixture of these two things is stated in 2 Corinthians. The whole passage is given below:
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 6:14-18; 7:1).
Again, we see the connection drawn between righteousness, light and Christ. By contrast, the connection is also drawn between unrighteousness, darkness and Belial (Satan). These things are set in opposition to each other in the strongest terms: “What fellowship... what communion... what agreement?” There is none whatsoever! And so it says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.” Do we get the idea about how very important this is?
The Promise
What is the promise immediately following? He says, “I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” Do you have a living, daily relationship with God as your Father — One who cares for you and is involved in every circumstance of your life? If you are involved with evil spirits, the occult, or any of the works of darkness, you cannot enjoy this relationship with Him. God is the Father of all who believe (John 1:12), but it is impossible to enjoy this relationship with Him unless we are separate from the darkness, for His nature is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
Notice too that He is referred to as the “Lord Almighty.” Many go on with the works of darkness out of fear, but our Father who longs to walk with us in such a living, near relationship is the “Almighty.” There is no need for fear, and faith rises above it to trust Him.
T. Ruga
Light and Love
We are told in the Scriptures that God is both light and love, but the former is sadly overlooked by the majority in these truth-rejecting days, the latter being gladly accepted in a nominal way by most. But if the assertion of the Word of God that He is love is so important that it must appeal to every human heart, how equally important must be the declaration of the Scriptures that, “God is light.”
That He is light can never be contradicted, for He has declared Himself in this very world as being of purer eyes than to behold evil, and unable to look upon iniquity. Do you ask, When and how? Then, take your Bible, and read the touching, yet awe-inspiring account of the work of the cross. Never did God so declare His utter abhorrence of sin, as when His blessed, sinless Son sacrificed Himself under its burden upon that cruel cross. Made sin by a righteous, holy, sin-hating God, the stern hand of His righteous justice in all its spotlessness and purity swept down upon His devoted head, that expiation might be made for sin. If sin, that horrible thing so opposed to the nature of a holy God, was found upon the sinless person of the Christ of God, it must be made the subject of judgment.
Thou Art Holy
Who among the sons and daughters of men shall attempt to fathom the depths of humiliation that such a sacrifice meant for the meek and gentle Lamb of God? Hushed be every voice as that awful hour is contemplated. And what are the words that you hear from the lips of that blessed suffering Man Himself? “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Psa. 22:3). Never for one moment did He, who was one with the Father, forget the impossibility of sin being able to stand in the presence of God. It must be judged; and because God is light, it was judged and punished in the adorable person of His own Son. All the pent-up wrath of the righteous indignation of a sin-hating God burst upon Him who stood in the sinner’s place and spent itself in sweeping over His thorn-decked brow. What a moment that was for this world! And what a moment it was for my Lord! Well might the darkness close around Him, and shroud Him from the gaze of the heartless multitude that surrounded that cross.
Dare we entertain for one moment the hope that we can ever enter the presence of God with our sins upon us? Then may such a false hope be shattered, for fulfilled it never can be. If there was no escape for Him who, though made sin, was nevertheless sinless, how then shall you escape if that great salvation is neglected which He has secured for you by the sacrifice of Himself upon the cross? That cross stands out as an eternal testimony to the fact that He who is light can never wink at sin.
Free Entrance
All adoration and praise, then, be to Him who has sustained the intensity of the glorious light of the presence of God when sin was dealt with in His blessed person, whereby sin has been righteously put away to God’s eternal glory, and the deep need of the sinner met, who is now freely invited to come, cleansed by the blood of Christ, into the immediate presence of God without a qualm of conscience or an unholy fear lurking in the heart.
Since the Lord when here in this world was God manifest in flesh, He could say, “I am the light of the world.” And is not this the secret reason why the dark, sin-stained heart of man took offense at Him, in spite of all the tenderness and grace shown to His guilty creatures? They remained unsatisfied and ill at ease till they had extinguished the light, by putting to a shameful death Him who spoke as never man spoke.
God Is Love
But “God is love,” and the very scene that demonstrated to earth and heaven that He was light declared also the immensity of the love that filled His heart to the throngs of erring humanity that reveled in their guilty rebellion against Him, and that rolled sin under their tongues with the utmost enjoyment.
God loved such, because He is love. “For God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). But it must be noted that He could never act in mercy at the expense of His righteousness. His love could never be made known to a sinful and corrupt world till it had been faithfully declared that “God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). God has faithfully said to the sinner, “I hate your sins, but I love you. I have punished my Son in your stead, for sin cannot go unpunished. Own Him by faith as your substitute, and I must, in consistency with my own righteousness, bless and save you; yes, it is my delight to do so.”
What a Savior-God
What a Savior-God! Well may we exclaim, “What hath God wrought?” But that blessed Man who, by His death, revealed all that God is, though rejected by the world, and received back into glory, will yet come again as the Son of Man, with all judgment committed into His hands, still further to press home the solemn truth, that sin in all its darkness can never enter the light of the presence of God. While His coming will be without sin unto salvation for those who are looking for Him, yet it will be the occasion for judgment upon the unrepentant sinner, who has dared to spurn God’s rich and gracious provision for his salvation, and who has slighted the compassion and love that prompted God’s ever-blessed Son to offer Himself for the purgation of sin. It will be as great an act of righteousness on the part of God to consign the rejectors of His great salvation to the eternal flames of hell, as it will be to save the repentant sinner through the atoning work of Christ, and have him with Christ forever to the praise of the glory of His grace.
My longing desire is that not a single soul who may read this be among those who, when found not written in the book of life, are cast into the lake of fire. Whoever you may be, you may by faith embrace God’s great salvation, knowing Jesus as your Savior, and Him as your God, who is both light and love.
W. G.
God Is Light
The two expressions which we have in 1 John — “God is light” and “God is love”—are parent truths. Following the divine revelation from beginning to end, they are the two lines by which the texture of the divine counsels has been woven. All is light and love, for all is serving the display of God Himself — perfect in purity and perfect in goodness. I would now trace the expressions of the truth, “GOD IS LIGHT,” as they show themselves in the divine revelations.
At the beginning we get the strongest expression of the holiness and righteousness of God: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Here the Lord attaches to the first committing of evil nothing less than complete separation from Himself, for He is the living God. What a strong assertion, at the very outset, of the purity of God, of the great truth that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5)!
Thus does God at once display Himself, and everything afterward is but a brightening of this. We see also that “love” will have its way, but “light” will not give way. In all revealed counsels, in all places and dispensations, it asserts its equal place.
The Claims of Light – The Desires of Love
When sin enters, we see this: “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel” is now said by the Lord God to the serpent about the woman’s seed. All the claims of “light” shall be honored, and all the desires of “love” shall be gratified. Such is the interpretation of this first promise of God after sin had entered. Man shall be redeemed, the serpent’s head shall be bruised, because “God is love,” but the penalty of sin shall be endured, or the heel of the woman’s seed shall be bruised, because “God is light.”
And because “God is light,” from henceforth we see Him a stranger in the place which sin and death have entered. Man’s habitation has become defiled, but He visits the earth for the blessing and guidance of His people, because He is “love.” God could not rest on a soiled footstool, and so we find, when He is about to assume Canaan for His dwelling-place, that the sword of Joshua rids it of its old corrupters. Cities are made a curse to the Lord. The fruit of cattle, fields and trees are purified by various ordinances. All, after its manner, is thus cleansed, before the Lord can dwell there.
Holiness to the Lord
So, when all is settled in the land, “holiness to the Lord” is read everywhere. He is Himself withdrawn into that place which is called “the holiest of all,” and the way into that sanctuary is marked by testimonies to the unmitigated holiness of the Lord. All tells of “love” in providing a way at all — but the character of the way equally tells us of “light.” The least stain must be removed; the touch of a grave, or even a bone, though by accident, sent the worshipers to the purifying water before they could approach the Lord (Num. 19). “Love” provided this water, but “light” required that it be used. And so, the place, the ordinances that furnished it, the worshiper who used it — all still told that “God is light.”
The Witness of the Law
I would now observe that the law, which was established at the same time, bore the like testimony. For if man will approach God by the law, he must still learn that “God is light”; therefore, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10). If man will stand before Him in himself, as on Mount Sinai, and not at the door of the sanctuary, he must bring with him that “light” of holiness which alone is worthy of the divine presence. Nothing less could answer the requisition of Him who is “light.”
This is the strong witness of the law to that great truth we are following through the Scriptures. The voice of the words from the top of Sinai and the voice of the sanctuary at the foot of it equally, though differently, uttered this truth: “God is light.”
Later, Israel’s captivity becomes the witness in its day. The people had not continued in the “all things” of the law. The dispersion of the tribes tells us that “God is light,” as the exile of Adam from Eden had told it before. Iniquity and transgressions must estrange from God. If Israel walked in the darkness of corrupted nature, they must walk outside the presence of God.
Such was the testimony of all the prophets against a disobedient people. And such, again, the witness of John the Baptist, in due time; all is harmony. He summons them to repent and never to count on taking the place of “children unto Abraham,” that is, of the people of God. But we now reach the testimony of another witness (the most affecting of all) — the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ
All He did was a reflection of God; all, too, was “light” and “love.” They were mingling their beams and forming that perfect element in which He lived and moved on this earth. Here dwelt “the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” and all that emanated was either “light” or “love.” He consented to be bruised in His own heel, because of righteousness, because “God is light,” but He undertook to bruise the enemy’s head, because of grace, because “God is love.” This was declared in His death more particularly, but generally, too, in all His previous life. All told of “light” and of “love,” or reflected “righteousness and peace,” “mercy and truth.” But how gloriously the cross of Christ publishes the truth that “God is light” and that “God is love”! To understand the cross is to understand that it does bear this witness to us as sinners. But in His teaching, the Lord bore the same testimony. If we look at His life or His ministry, we may say that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”
The Witness of the Holy Spirit
When our Lord’s witness to “light” and “love” was over, the Holy Spirit held up exactly the same, though in a different form. His teachings by the apostles in their epistles unfold new mysteries, but all assert these truths. The thought of “the doctrine of Christ” admitting any darkness or evil was a stranger to the mind of the Spirit. “Know ye not,” says Paul, “that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? ... that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4). So, also, he interprets the grace that brings salvation as that which teaches the denial of ungodliness and worldly lusts, and the living soberly, righteously and godly in this present world (Titus 2). Though now it is grace and salvation, and not law that is published, it is with equal sureness a witness that “God is light.”
I would only add that the epistle from which we take the words “God is light” and “God is love” weaves those two truths together. All the thoughts of the Holy Spirit seem to pass and repass between them. Consequently, it is there written, “Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother” (1 John 3:10). And why so? Because “God is light” and “God is love,” therefore he who does not righteousness cannot be of Him who is “light,” neither can he who loves not his brother be of Him who is “love.”
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Such, then, is the teaching of the Holy Spirit. But as the Son, not only by His teaching, but in His life and person, bore witness to this truth, so does the Holy Spirit in the same twofold way. His teaching through the apostles does this, and so does His indwelling in the saints. The saints are His temples now. But He dwells in those temples as a “Holy Spirit,” grieved by any practical contradiction of the truth that “God is light” (Eph. 4:30).
How perfect all this is! The Son and the Holy Spirit, each in the day of His manifestation, maintain the same blessed testimony, both by deed and word. And we have only to add that the glory, by and by, will tell the same most precious and excellent truth — that “God is light” and that “God is love”—striking that note with such a hand as shall cause it to vibrate forever. The rest itself of all who have trusted in Jesus will tell that “God is love”; the entrance into that rest and the element that surrounds it, that “God is light.” The earth, which will be the footstool in the age of the glory, must be purged of its corrupters before the glory can return and dwell there. And when it is thus purged, it will be kept clean. “I will early destroy all the wicked of the land,” says the Lord of the earth in the days of its glory, “that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord” (Psa. 101:8). And so as to the upper house — heavenly glory—nothing can approach that can in any way defile. “They shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations unto it” (Rev. 21:26 JND). Beyond the sphere which the glory fills must recede all that is unclean, all that is the contradiction of “light,” for the darkness will then be outer darkness.
Thus, indeed, from the garden of Eden up to the glory, we get the constant witness, in all the ways of His hand and in all the revelations of His mind, that “GOD IS LIGHT, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
E. Dennett (adapted)
The Need of Holiness
In Genesis 3 we see that it was by the fall that man got a conscience, and the first effect of the acting of that conscience was to make him seek to cover the nakedness of which his disobedience had given him the knowledge, and then, as soon as he heard the voice of God, to seek to hide himself from His presence. This was the necessary consequence of the knowledge of evil, mingled with the feeling that he had committed this evil, and that consequently he was unfit to appear before a God who could in this circumstance only be a judge who must condemn the sinner.
Conscience and Intelligence
Conscience tells us of our state and makes us feel it, but human intelligence, blinded by Satan, seeks to excuse the evil and to account for everything by setting God entirely aside. In principle this is the repetition of what our first parents did — it is seeking to cover oneself and hide from God. All these efforts result in weakening the thought of holiness in the soul. Man, when he is led only by his reason, is irrational and gets further and further from the truth. He is in darkness, but being also blind, he cannot discern between light and darkness. Therefore it is written, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts” (Psa. 10:4). And in this respect, the philosopher is no better than others (Rom. 2:1-11). If the foundation of his reasoning is false, how can the building which he rears upon it abide? Hence the truth of this oft-repeated statement: “There is no morality apart from revelation.” Let those who deny God tell us, if they can, what the moral principles are which they pretend to possess, apart from that which God has revealed to us in the Scriptures.
Morality
But the Word of God does not simply offer us a moral code, that is to say, a system of principles of action so framed that men may be able to live together in peace and that society should be upheld and kept together. It also shows that the only source of true happiness for man is in that very presence from which he flees and which he ever tries to avoid. God has not desired to be only the Judge of the sinner. In His grace He comes to seek man; however, He does it on the principle of righteousness. He reveals Himself as a just God and a Savior. By drawing to Himself, in grace and in peace, His fallen creature, whom sin had set at a distance, God manifests His glory even there where the enemy has triumphed. But God cannot thus bring a sinful creature into His blessed presence without giving him the perception and the consciousness of divine holiness. God cannot change His character nor lower the standard of His holiness in order to bring man into relationship with Himself. Morality may suffice between man and man, but there must be holiness for relationship with God. Scripture insists on this.
Grace and Faithfulness
But this great lesson of holiness supposes another lesson, without which it could not be learned by a sinner at a distance from God. We refer to the revelation of the grace and faithfulness of God. I must know God as a Savior-God before my soul can be in a condition to understand what His holiness requires. Therefore, the first lines of Scripture declare His infinite goodness, thus preparing the way for the equally important revelation of His holiness. God is love and God is light. The cross of Christ is the explanation of these two great truths and is also their highest expression, while at the same time they reach on in unison to the resurrection of Christ (particularly as regards holiness), for He was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from [among] the dead” (Rom. 1:4).
God’s Faithful Goodness
In connection with what we have said, we see that the first book of the Bible, Genesis, displays different phases of the faithful goodness of God, His purposes of grace towards man, but ever, of course, on the ground of holiness, yet so presented as to attract the heart of him who does not know God and to produce confidence in one whom sin has rendered distrustful of God. The two following books, on the contrary, are especially occupied with holiness. Exodus lays the groundwork, and Leviticus with a few chapters in Numbers develops the details in connection with the national and priestly order of the children of Israel.
With one exception, and that is in reference to the institution of the Sabbath (Gen. 2:3), the word “holiness” or to “hallow” does not occur in Genesis. In truth this book does not treat of redemption or of the habitation of God among men. God comes forth to seek man; He calls him and keeps him in faithful grace; He justifies him and accomplishes all His purposes towards him; He produces faith in his soul and nourishes it and tests it, and thereby makes His servants to walk in communion with Him. Such are some of the precious truths as to the ways of God which are to be found in this first book and which are characteristic of it, but it is nowhere intimated in this book that God’s thought is to come down and dwell among men.
The first 22 verses of Hebrews 11 give a review of the teachings of this book as regards faith. In Genesis there are two great divisions. The first closes with chapter 11 and develops the great principles of the government of God; the second, which begins with the history of Abraham, speaks of God’s call and His sovereign grace towards His elected ones. Holy men of God were maintained in communion with Him, their faith was fed by the communications He made to them, and they, confessing that they were “strangers and pilgrims” on the earth, sought a “better country,” a “heavenly city,” so that God was not ashamed of being called “their God” (Heb. 11:16). Even in the first part of the book we find one of these, Enoch, who received witness during his lifetime that he walked with God, and he was not found, for God had translated him.
Redemption and a Sanctuary
Exodus enters upon the great subject of redemption. God will have a people for Himself that He may dwell among them; consequently, this nation must be holy, for God is holy. (See Exodus 19:46; 29:43-46). Hence the state in which God’s grace formed this people is given in detail, as well as their moral condition and the attitude of their heart toward God. Their deliverance from Egypt and the power of Pharaoh occupies a large portion of the book, and this prepares the way morally for the establishment of the sanctuary in which God deigned to dwell in their midst. (See chapter 15:17 and 25:8.)
God’s Absolute Holiness
Moses was the chosen vessel raised and prepared by God for the deliverance of His people Israel. To him God revealed the only ground on which He could bring man into relationship with Himself — that of absolute holiness. He showed it to him before He sent him to the Israelites. The flame of fire out of the midst of the bush in the wilderness was the suited figure for enabling Moses to grasp the great lesson God had to teach him and to cause the words which were said to him to sink deep into his soul: “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5). The God who was here revealing Himself to Moses was the same who had led the fathers in His perfect grace and could therefore say to him, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” so that his affections might be drawn to God by the remembrance of His goodness to the patriarchs. Thus was Moses prepared for the reception of all the teaching expressed in the burning bush. We also see through the whole of his subsequent history how deeply this lesson was engraved on his heart and how it formed the basis of all his relations with God. (Compare Exodus 33; Deuteronomy 4:24; 9:3). God said to him, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people ... and I am come down to deliver them.” This involved the near relationship of the people with God, a relationship which could only exist on the ground of holiness. God is love and God is light.
W. J. Lowe
"I Hate the Nasty Sun!"
“I hate the nasty sun; it shows up all the dirt,” said a grumbling servant maid to another, unconsciously giving the best commentary possible on more than one passage of God’s Word, for not many would own so frankly their dislike of what reveals their own neglect of duty; yet at the bottom of every heart that has not been laid bare in the light of God’s presence, there lies the dread of discovery, and the consequent hatred of that which would show things as they really are. In dull, dark weather the girl knew her half-swept rooms, neglected corners and undusted shelves might escape detection, but once the sun came in — then her carelessness became obvious to all. “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:19-20).
Why?
Why did men cast out and murder the Christ of God? Because He came a light into the world, and their deeds were evil. The object of the sunshine is not to show up remiss servant girls, though that may be its consequence; it shines as the source of light and heat to the world. “God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world” — that was not the object of Christ’s coming—“but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). “The Father sent the Son the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). God’s beloved Son is the effulgence of His glory; if He comes at all, He is of necessity the light — the true light that coming into the world, lights every man.
But men loved their sin and hated the light, and as far as they could, they put it out on Calvary. They extinguished the light that exposed them and hanged the Lord of glory on a cross! “There was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened” (Luke 23:44-45). Little as men thought it, yet the light was shining brightest then. It was showing up all the enormity of man’s guilt, all the weight of his sin; everything was exposed in the presence of God, and “sin” eternally condemned. The light detected all; the light judged all. And from the lips of the Holy Sufferer burst the cry, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head, and delivered up His spirit.
The Light Shone Again
Then the light shone again. “As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” the light that man thought was extinguished by blood on Calvary rose again, and now the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. And the believer in Jesus knows that all he is and all he has done has been already exposed and judged; the brighter the light, the brighter the testimony to the precious blood and the perfect work that puts all away.
“He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:21). If you have already come to Him, His desire for you is that which His servant Paul prayed for the Philippians — “that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Phil. 1:10). Some say that the meaning of the word here translated “sincere” is “judged by the sunlight.” If you have known all your sins exposed by the light in order that they may be all forgiven, it will be your delight to bring everything to the test of that light, to put away all contrary to it, judging yourself and your ways by the sunlight until the “Sun of righteousness shall arise.”
Gospel Gleanings, Vol. 11
Children of Light
Believers are exhorted to be “followers of God, as dear children” (Eph. 5:1). God has revealed Himself as love and as light. In former verses God is seen as love, and hence we are told to “walk in love.” Here God is seen as light, and hence we are told to “walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).
The universal principle is, that believers are to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called” (Eph. 4:1). Since believers are saints (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2), they are urged to a saintly walk because they are saints through God’s calling. These believers had once walked in the lusts of the flesh, but now having the life of Christ, they were to show forth this life in their walk. How unfit for those thus sanctified to be walking in uncleanness! Nor is it merely in deed, but in word, that believers are to act “as becometh saints.” The lightness of heart which in the old man thus expressed itself, might now in the new man find a suitable expression in the “giving of thanks.”
But another motive is added. “For this we know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph. 5:5). If we are to have part “in the kingdom of Christ and of God,” we must be morally suited to it in character. As seen in Christ we are already made “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12), but here the question is not so much one of standing as of conduct.
Failure Does not Alter the Principle
No doubt there is often grievous failure, but this does not alter the principle. What distinguishes a well-governed state is order and obedience to law. What distinguishes the kingdom of God is holiness and purity of walk. In a well-governed state, there may be instances of disorder and disobedience to law; among members of the kingdom of God, there may be instances of unholiness and impurity of walk. But in both cases this is a departure from the normal order. Thus license and immorality are condemned equally by the grace and by the government of God, and the believer is appealed to, both as a saint and as a member of the kingdom of Christ and of God, to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called.
Man’s vain philosophy might indeed seek to pervert the doctrine of grace into a sanction of immorality, but the vanity of the teaching which would sanction such practices is seen at once by the fact that these are the very practices for which God’s judgment comes upon the children of disobedience (Eph. 5:6). They had been in this condition themselves, but God had called them out of it. How could He possibly endure that they should walk in the very acts from which they were thus delivered? “For,” he argues, “ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).
The Light of Life
Christ has come to reveal God as light, as in all other ways. Hence He speaks of Himself as “the light of the world,” and declares that “he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Scripture knows no such thought as a man who is in the light walking in darkness. It gives abundant instances of the failure of believers, and shows how the flesh, where allowed to work, is just as bad in the converted as in the unconverted person. But for all this the human thought that a believer can continue to walk and delight in sin is utterly opposed to the teaching of God’s word: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7). The two broad classes are therefore the believer, who walks in the light and has fellowship with God; and the unbeliever, who walks in darkness and has no fellowship. The Ephesian converts had once belonged to the former class, but were now in the latter. As children of the light they were to show what was acceptable to God, and to bring forth the fruit of light.
Where Light is, Darkness Disappears
Where light is, darkness disappears. Hence, where the rays of God’s light are allowed to search the heart there is real and deep judgment of evil, as well as practical separation from it. So the apostle says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them (Eph. 5:11). The believer not only walks in the light, but by so doing becomes himself a source of light. So our Lord says, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin” (John 15:22). Darkness does not discover itself, but is discovered by the light. Mere philosophy, however deep, cannot show things according to God’s thoughts. Life and light must go together. Only the quickened soul can discern in Christ the light of the world, and see all things in the form and color in which this light reveals them.
Our Walk
The whole of the preceding exhortations are thus briefly summarized — “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17). Folly and wisdom in Scripture are not merely intellectual qualities, but have always a moral character. The believer as a child of light has “the mind of Christ”; he has the Holy Spirit to teach him the deep things of God. But the flesh is constantly present to lust against the Spirit, and it needs constant watchfulness to walk as wise men and not as fools. This is all the more necessary because the times are evil, so that every opportunity needs to be seized.
A particular example is then given which illustrates the principles thus laid down — “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). The world’s joy expresses itself in a carnal manner; it is mere natural excitement, such as that caused by wine. The believer’s is to be in contrast with this. It is not the exhilaration ministered by mere natural causes, but the deeper delight ministered by the Spirit of God.
There is another word added which seems somewhat strange — “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Eph. 5:21).The mirth excited by wine is quarrelsome and self-assertive; not so the gladness of heart shed abroad by the Spirit. The deep sense of grace which calls forth praise and thanksgiving to God humbles instead of exalting. The fuller the heart is of praise to God the lower it will be in its own esteem, and hence the submission one to another; not indeed out of simple kindness, but in the deep sense of the fear of God, which never ceases to fill the heart occupied with His goodness and love.
T. B. Baines
Divine Love Removes What Divine Light Exposes
First Peter 4:8, “charity shall cover the multitude of sins,” is given to us to show what characterizes divine love and to show us how we are to act towards our fellow believers. Actually, the words are largely quoted from the Old Testament, from Proverbs 10:12: “Hatred stirreth up strifes; but love covereth all transgressions” (JND). God was the same morally in the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament days; He wants those who belong to Him to show forth His love in covering the transgressions of others. Of course, the love of God, while it certainly existed just as much in the Old Testament as in the New, was not revealed in the same way. The full character of God did not come out until the Lord Jesus, as a man, came into this world to reveal fully the character of God.
Another has described the action of divine love very well, in covering sins that need not be harbored in the soul or broadcast to others:
“If the assembly is at variance, if there is little love, if fellowship among Christians is restricted and difficult, all such evils and wrongs exist before God. But if there is love, which neither commits nor resents any wrongs, but pardons such things, finding in those very sins occasion for its own exercise, the eye of God then rests upon the love rather than the evil; the multitude of sins is covered.
“Where there are sins, love occupies itself about them, the offender is brought back, is restored by the love of the assembly, and the sins are removed from the eye of God; they are covered.”
J. N. Darby
Life in Christ
When God brings souls into blessing through the work of Christ, they have a new life in Him — a life that cannot sin. But we also have our old sinful self too — the flesh, which never improves. When saints are thus brought together in the church, and they walk in love and grace, in communion with the Lord, all goes well. They have found a higher calling — that which raises them above individual idiosyncrasies, bents of mind, habits, social standing, and other things that might spoil their happy communion together. They have found an object that transcends all that is in this world — Christ, and all that He is. Christian fellowship is indeed a wonderful thing. But the potential for irritation and roots of bitterness is always there. If these things are allowed to fester in our hearts, they can cause bad feelings and strife which, perhaps more than anything else, spoil the peace of the local assembly. Often the things that bring all this on are rather small, yet the irritation becomes such that it may erupt into open resentment.
Divine Love
It is here that divine love ought to be demonstrated, which covers those transgressions and does not react to them in the wrong way. The flesh in you and me cannot answer the flesh in another. Rather, the love and grace that brought us to Christ ought to take over and cover the sin in my brother. If necessary, we may act on Matthew 18:15-17, going to our brother (or sister!) personally and seeking to remove the difficulty. But often we do not need even to go this far; if it is a personal slight or perhaps some inadvertent snub or rebuff that has occurred, we can forget it.
God’s Character as Light
Yes, there are times when light is called for and when, in faithfulness to the Lord, we must remember that “God is light.” It is most important to understand that the exercise of divine love in covering “the multitude of sins” is not at all contrary to God’s character as light. It is not honoring to the Lord, in the name of love, to “sweep under the rug” that which is a serious dishonor to the One who is in the midst of the assembly. True love desires the blessing of the one who has sinned, and this may mean addressing the issue in the light of God’s Word. But if this can be done privately, how much better it is than to broadcast it publicly, or worse still, to speak about it behind the back of the one who has sinned. Sadly, we all know how often this happens. Instead of forgetting the matter, or perhaps going directly to the one who has offended us, we tend to gossip about the problem to others. In doing this, as well as spreading the evil, we are apt to tell a “one-sided story,” emphasizing the wrong done to us, and perhaps forgetting that we may have contributed to the problem.
An older brother, long since with the Lord, used to remind us, “If someone says something unkind about you, do not look at the one who said it. Ask the Lord why He allowed it.” This was good advice, for if the Lord allows something that hurts us, we must remember that it was carefully weighed in His sanctuary before it was allowed in our life. Let us seek to learn what He has for us in it all before addressing the wrong of the other who said it.
Release From Debt
In the Mosaic law, there was to be a release from debt every seven years, and a poor man who had borrowed from a wealthier man was freed from the debt he might have owed. What would be the result of this? A reward from the Lord: “For this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto” (Deut. 15:10). The question for an Israelite was this: Was he wealthy enough and with enough faith in the Lord’s goodness to forgive his poor brother? In New Testament terms, Are you and I wealthy enough spiritually to forgive one another and to rise above petty wrongs? Sadly, there are often many poor Christians who seem unable to do this, yet if we do so, the Lord’s promise is that we will be greatly blessed in our Christian life.
The enjoyment of the love of God in our own souls, coupled with the realization of how much we have been forgiven, will give us the needed grace to overlook many things that might otherwise irritate and trouble us. What peace it gives to be able to do this, not only for our own sakes, but for the Lord, whose eye then rests on the love, instead of on the sin.
However, let us not forget the proper balance in divine things. “God is light,” and while love covers, light exposes. Solomon reminds us that “open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Prov. 27:5-6). What is due to the Lord, in faithfulness to Him, must never be passed over. But let us be careful that we do not attach the Lord’s glory to that which may be merely wounded pride on our part.
W. J. Prost
To Convict and Attach
“God is light” to convict and show us what we are; God is “love” to attach us to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ.
Things New and Old Vol. 25
The Infidelity of our Day
God is not all light, and not all love, but both light and love. Were He all light, there would be no hope for sinful man; were He all love, there would not be hatred in Him of sin.
The infidelity of our day, which prevails among professing Christians, attacks God’s very nature, for it practically denies that He is light. It refuses the scripture truth, “In Him is no darkness at all,” and asserts that though a man lives a bad life and dies in his sins, yet he may hope for mercy in God in the future, because of God’s love. Since God is love, says the gospel of the false hope, we may all hope to be saved, simply because God is love.
The wrong against the nature of God which prevailed in former days, among both pagans and the Roman Catholic church, practically denied that God is love. It pictured Him as an angry Being, whose severity had to be overcome by the tenderness of the heart of His Son. In Roman Catholic teachings this wrong is intensified, for God is portrayed as being moved towards men not only by the tenderness of the Son of Man, but also by that of a woman — the Virgin Mary!
The truth is, God is both light and love. He will in no way pass by sin or allow sin in His presence, but in love He has made a way consistent with His holiness for men not only to abide in His presence, but for their being there to His glory — “holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:4).
Faithful Words for Young and Old, Vol. 18 (adapted)
John Begins with "God is Light"
In 1 John 1:5 John begins his message. Where does he start? With this great fact that “God is light” and not, as we might have expected, with the fact that God is love. All the emphasis would no doubt have been on His love had the manifestation been made in regions of unsullied purity and light. As however the manifestation has been made in this world, so filthy with sin and full of darkness, the first emphasis must be laid on light.
As to light — who can define it? Men have formulated theories to account for the light of creation, but they cannot really explain it. Who then shall explain the untreated light? We know that light is necessary if life is to exist in any but its lowest forms. We know that it is healthful, that it illuminates and exposes all things, and that if it enters darkness flees. In God there is no darkness at all, for darkness stands for that which is removed from the action of light, that which is hidden and sinful.
Not only is God Himself light but, as verse 7 tells us, He is “in the light.” Once God had said “that He would dwell in the thick darkness” (2 Chron. 6:1); and the fact that Solomon built Him a house did not alter it, for His presence was still found in the Holy of Holies, where all was dark. This was altered by the coming of the Lord Jesus, for God stepped into the light in Him. The God, who is light, is now in the light.
F. B. Hole
Where Are You?
“Where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9). Man must come out from his hiding-place; as the leaves of the tree could not satisfy the conscience, so now the tree cannot hide man from God. And how many trees there are that men are hiding behind today, busily engaged in plucking and sewing the leaves together; but they cannot stand “the light.” Prayers, almsgiving, attention to every religious and secular duty, a spotless reputation, holding the highest place in the estimation of others, a member of this or that church. These and many others, men are hiding behind, and in restless activity seeking to stifle the conscience which condemns, and says, “not fit for God.” It is God that asks, “Where art thou?” And He furnishes the answer, both for the sinner and the believer. The former is in his sins, that awful, lifeless condition, “in the flesh,” and thus unable in anything to please God. In the far country — where the famine is — without Christ, without hope, without God in the world, unclean; unjust, an outlaw, an enemy; the sword of judgment hanging over his head.
But believer, “Where art thou?” And God’s Word again furnishes the reply. What mind, however great, could have given birth to such a thought? It would have been blasphemy to have expressed it, but God has spoken, and shall we not hear? Not in the first man where all is ruin, but in the second Man where there is nothing but blessing. In Christ Jesus, where there is no condemnation. He, blessed be His name, bore it all on that tree, and now it can never touch the one in Christ. “Accepted in the beloved,” not merely in Christ, though that is true — but “in the beloved” the One so dear to the heart of God. In the Father’s house, seated at His table, having on the best robe, which is surely none other than Christ.
Things New and Old, Vol. 28
The Perfect Prism
God is light, and the church is the perfect prism, in which the light of God brings out in detail all the beauties of His glory.
Christian Friend, Vol. 9
The Shining Savior's Face
GOD in mercy sent His Son
To a world by sin undone;
Jesus Christ was crucified—
‘Twas for sinners Jesus died.
Oh! the glory of the grace,
Shining in the Savior’s face,
Telling sinners from above,
“God is light” and “God is love.”
Sin and death no more shall reign;
Jesus died and lives again;
In the glory’s highest height
See Him God’s supreme delight.
All who in His name believe,
Everlasting life receive;
Lord of all is Jesus now;
Every knee to Him must bow.
Christ the Lord will come again;
He who suffered once will reign;
Every tongue at last shall own,
“Worthy is the Lamb” alone.
H. K. Burlingham
The Light of the World Is Jesus
The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Like sunshine at noonday, His glory shone in;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Come to the light, ‘tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, but now I can see:
The Light of the world is Jesus!
No darkness have we who in Jesus abide;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
We walk in the light when we follow our Guide!
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Ye dwellers in darkness with sin-blinded eyes,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Go, wash at His bidding, and light will arise;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
No need of the sunlight in Heaven we’re told;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
The Lamb is the Light in the city of gold,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Philip P. Bliss