THE CHRISTIAN'S LAMP by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 31, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 44.

THE CHRISTIAN'S LAMP.

By G.

THE psalmist says, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Ps. 119:105. Peter says of believers that "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9. How could they find their way out of darkness, even when called? The same apostle points us to a guide that is "more sure" even than the sight of the eye or the hearing of the ear in their natural comprehension. After referring to the wonderful vision on the mount of transfiguration, and the wonderful words heard on that occasion, he says, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed; as unto a light that shineth in a dark place." 2 Peter 1:19.

That is just what light is for, to shine in a dark place. It is not needed anywhere else. So the Scriptures are given as a light in this dark world of sin, as a light to the darkened understanding of the sinful mind. It would be useless to call a man who is in the dark without giving him some means of finding the way out. How long does this light shine in a dark place?—"Until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." Then as long as God is calling sinners to come "out of darkness," the Word of God and the Spirit of prophecy must be kept shining into the "dark place" to enable them to find the way out. And it is only by the aid of these that the "peculiar people" are enabled to "show forth" for the benefit of others the practical workings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is why the adversary of Christ, the enemy of all righteousness, is so anxious to put out the light of God's Word. It is to this end that he would lead men to discredit some portions, to eliminate other parts, or to mutilate its history and confuse its teachings in a way to pervert and destroy the whole. It is for this purpose that even earnest, well-meaning men are led to declare against the perpetuity of the law of God and the continuance of the Spirit of prophecy in the church. "But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom 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. . . . For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4:3-6.

Paul's caution to the church at Ephesus is timely for the church to-day: "Let no man deceive you with vain words. . . . For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light; . . . and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Eph. 5:6-11. How reprove them? "The commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life." Prov. 6:23. Note also a final contrast displayed in the light of the Christian's lamp: "The path of the just [on which the lamp of God's Word shines] is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." But "the way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble." Chapter 4:18, 19. "The light of the righteous rejoiceth; but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out." Chapter 13:9. In the Word of God "light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Ps. 97:11.