Man’s Illumination and Responsibility
By William Covert
The poet King of Israel, writing of man’s illumination, said, “The Lord is my light.” Ps. 27:1. At another time he wrote, “In Thy light shall we see light.” Ps. 36:9. Again his pen traced the following: “He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.” Ps. 37:6. Yet again he announced, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Ps. 119:105. In telling how the lamp of man can be set aflame, the psalmist explains his hope, “Thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” Ps. 18:28. And Job, speaking of the days of his illumination, said, “His candle shined upon my head, and . . . by His light I walked through darkness.” Job 29:3. To Job that lighted lamp on his head made the path bright about his feet, and the atmosphere warm where he walked. It drove the fear from his soul, and filled his heart with courage for the work which Heaven had given him to do. But this lamp is only for him who walks with God. It will cease to shine for the man who turns away from the Lord, and his candle shall be put out. Prov. 24:20. For him who abides in the sunlit way it will increase in its shining, for it is written that “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Prov. 4:18. And the candle lighted by the Lord not only shines for the man who walks in the true way, but “light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” Ps. 97:11. The righteous may be reaping light and gladness while they labor. Writing to God’s people, the apostle says, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” 1 Thess. 5:5. Their illumination is both for themselves and for others. There should be no darkness where they go. So Jesus, speaking to His people of their influence, said, “Ye are the light of the world.” And then to impress them concerning the responsibility that had been placed upon them, he added, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 5:14, 16. Jesus knew and exemplified in His own life that man is a social being, and therefore owes duties to his fellow creatures as well as to himself. When right personal living is well learned, man is in the true path of life, ready to impart his illumination to others. In giving this light, he is placing his talents at a high rate of interest, and thus is perpetually adding to his real worth. When God gives man a beautiful truth, He intends that truth should be put to the exchangers, and not hid under a bushel or buried in a silent grave. It is given to him in trust, and he should pass it on for many to use. Understand that giving it away deprives him of it no more than the ruby is deprived of the light when it sends forth its rays, but that the oftener he sends it out, the more truly does he possess it. And the more he uses it, the brighter it shines, for all the light that radiates from him is in strong rays reflected back again. Jesus, being the sun of Righteousness, is the “true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:9. When this light comes to a people, they are to arise and shine, as said the prophet: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory [or character] shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isa. 60:1-3. When the church of Christ reaches this point in its experience, it will go forth to complete its true mission in giving light to the world. Then every man shall be tested. John in his vision saw the same views that Isaiah saw, and more; for he beheld God’s people doing their last work on earth before the coming of the Lord. Then the earth was lighted with the glory of their work. And yet the light that God’s people carried to the world was rejected by all, except a small number. After the light was refused by the masses, they went deeper into sin than they had gone before. When they had done this a fearful announcement followed, saying: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Rev. 18:2-5. O, what a dark, wicked world this will be when God’s light is called out of it,—not a church, not a mission, not a missionary, none to pray, nobody to teach the erring, no tender-hearted to comfort the afflicted, no balm to soothe the suffering, no kind words to quell the rising sorrow! The world will then be left as it was left when Noah went into the ark, and as Sodom was left when the angels hastened Lot out of the city. God would have spared Sodom if the angels could have found ten righteous persons in it, or had there been those who could be led to repentance. God did not make the world that it might be used for wicked purposes; and if men will insist on spending their lives in wickedness, they must be destroyed. God can not be consistent with His own righteousness and allow wickedness to walk abroad unchecked. If the light is rejected by men, the source of light will most surely be withdrawn from the reach of men. At any time or place when none but wicked men are left, then they must meet their doom. It is because of the few righteous people who are here that the world of the ungodly is spared. And when the time comes that no more sinners can be led to repentance, the righteous will be called out, and destruction will be visited upon the doomed inhabitants who are left. The unconverted will then have resisted all the entreaties of God’s merciful light, as Pharaoh resisted when importuned by Moses, and as the people of Sodom resisted when the angels of heaven entreated them and hastened righteous Lot from their midst. Jesus, in drawing a parallel between that time and ours, said: “The same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” Luke 17:29, 30.