THE SAVING POWER OF THE WORD.
WE read in the Scriptures of Truth, “The Lord is a sun.” Ps. 84:11. The sun gives light. Jesus said: “I am the Light of the World; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:9. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Ps. 119:105. “The commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” Prov. 5:23. “The entrance of Thy words giveth light.” Ps. 119:130. “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.” Rom. 1:20. “The heavens declare the glory of God. . . . Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Ps. 19:1–4; compare with Rom. 10:16–18. “Ye are the light of the world,” “the epistle of Christ,” “known and read of all men.” Matt. 5:14; 2 Cor. 3:3, 2. Read the above carefully. God is the great central, self-existent luminary, from which all other suns, stars, lamps, or torches are lighted. His light shone out in blessed fulness in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word; it shines in “the enmity” against sin implanted in every man from the beginning; it illuminates the darkness through all of His written Word; it shines through His creation-formed Word in the heavenly bodies, in the plants and flowers; it is manifest in regenerated men and women. In all these is the shining of the light of God in rays of truth, written in different forms. All are the revelations of Jesus Christ, through various media, dim in some, yet truly light, and bright and clear in others. Every ray of that light reaches back to the great central Sun. Every word of that truth roots in the throne of God. Therefore, he that receives one single ray of light through any medium as from God, the Creator and Redeemer, and permits that ray to guide him, finds in it salvation. He who takes one word of that truth as from God, let it come through what medium it will—let him read it in the lily pad on the slimy pool, in the beautiful star in the blue vault of heaven, in the written Word, or in the child of God—and permits that word to dominate his life, control his being, and mold his character, receives in that word salvation. That living word, that living ray of light, becomes a part of his life, connecting him with the throne of the Infinite. He may be a heathen, and worship idols; he may not know the word “Jesus;” but if he receives the ray of light with all his heart, he is in that very thing made a child of God. And by that word which connects him with God, the entrance of which illuminated his soul, he is led to greater truth and clearer light. O, the wondrous breadth and depth and length and height and power of God’s eternal, unchangeable truth! Who would not receive it and live?