Light Breaks Through the Darkness at CreationBible World
1:4John 1:4
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
In Him is life, and that life is the light of humanity. That life is not derived or borrowed but original, unending and belonging to God alone, existing before the worlds were made. He is the eternal divine Word who was with God and was God, by whom all things were made, and who became flesh full of grace and truth. He is the only light ever given to fallen men, lighting every person who comes into the world, yet shining in darkness that does not comprehend or receive Him. That life is received only as a free gift by believing in Him and being born of God, and those in whom His life dwells become themselves the light of the world.
Christ the Eternal Word
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men, for He is the eternal Word who was with God and was God from the beginning and by whom all things were made. The life is in Christ Himself as Creator, with the lives of men in His hands, and He is presented as divine, the source of life whose life gives light to humanity. His life shines as light in darkness that does not understand it, and the true light enlightens everyone coming into the world. Though Creator, He did not exalt Himself or exercise tyrannical power, and accepting Him is no condescension or stooping down but raises men to a high position, whereas men take great power and lordly titles to themselves because they do not see Him or believe in Him. To truly believe this is to leave blind selfishness and perverted ideas, to repent and be converted so that He joins His divine power to humanity and gives strength to live out the principles of God's law, for true faith in Him cannot be overcome.
The same Word became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth. The Son of God came from the heavenly courts to represent God in human form, being made man and dwelling among people, and He came to earth as the Light of the world. He is the Word who was with God and was God in the beginning, the image of the Father and Maker of all things, the only begotten of the Father. He is truly made known not by human art but by this scriptural account, and those who receive Him and believe on His name are born of God and become sons of God and receive of His fullness grace for grace.
When man fell and Adam yielded to temptation, He announced His purpose to become man's substitute and surety, delighting to do God's will with God's law in His heart. He is the Child born and Son given with the government upon His shoulder, called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace of Isaiah 9:6. He is the Angel of the covenant ascending from the east in Revelation 7:2, coming from the sunrising, the Dayspring from on high, the Light of the world, who purchased the world by giving Himself for its ransom. In divine and human united He is superior to the hosts of angels, and as Restorer and Redeemer He cries to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, commanding them to hold in check the four winds and to hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till the servants of God, His chosen few who keep all the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, are sealed in their foreheads. He appeared as Instructor, the Son of God Himself, at the appointed time when the fullness of time was come, when the whole agency of evil opposed God and the world before His first coming seemed wholly given into the enemy's control with all heaven interested in His coming, to give the world evidence of the love of God by dying for the fallen race, gathering the penalty resting on the sinful race into His own pure, sinless soul and offering Himself as a sacrifice. Thereby He revealed both the love of God and the immutability of God's law which could not be changed by jot or tittle to meet man in his fallen condition, and a ransom was found as substitute and surety upon whom the iniquities of all were laid so that sinners are not left without hope to die in transgression but those who receive Him as Saviour are freely granted pardon and become members of the royal family.
As the image of the Father He cannot be truly represented by human art, and the truth about Him is set forth in John's written account rather than in pictures made by human hands. Neither God nor heaven nor Christ can be truly pictured by human skill. Though in human form He spoke with the authority of true greatness by commission from the Excellent Glory, demanding submissive attention, and God calls the world to listen to Him and receive every word He speaks as law and life.
Life Possessed by Christ
In him is life, and that life is the light of humanity. The Word holds life in himself as source and illumination, giving spiritual light to the darkness of the world. His words reveal divinity with authority and majesty, leading to belief in him as the Son of God. To truly believe is to leave blind selfishness and perverted ideas, to repent and be converted, so that divine power is joined to humanity with strength to live out the principles of God's law, for true faith cannot be overcome.
The life in him is not physical life but immortality, original, unborrowed, underived, unending life that belongs to God alone. He has this life because he is the Word who was with God and was God, and it existed before the worlds were made. No one can take his life from him; he lays it down of himself.
He is the fountain of life and the tree of life. The tree of life in Eden whose fruit sustained life was a type of him as the one great source of immortality. Through sin man shut himself off from access to that tree, but in Christ life and immortality are brought to light. Obedience to him gives life, gladdens the soul, and revives it with life-giving, vivifying power. His life and death make redemption possible, pledge life, open the treasures of wisdom, and reveal God's character more fully than the holy ones of Eden knew. The life he imparts opens the human heart to heaven and restores the desire and capacity to know God that sin destroyed.
Physical human life is received from him like a streamlet from a fountain and remains dependent on the Giver. It is given and temporary, soon quenched, not eternal, and man has no control over it. It is not in man by nature and cannot be earned, and as Giver he takes it again. Those whose life is hidden with Christ in God will appear with him in glory when he appears, and while on earth they are to devote every God-given ability to sanctified service.
He is man's life and desires to give each person a life that measures with the life of God. That life that measures with God's life is found in walking with Christ, and as people unite with God and work with Christ for the salvation of others, heaven's light shines into mind and soul. This is the science of eternal life. He gives this life by his death, because he pleased not himself but endured the cross and despised the shame, poured out his soul unto death, and took the guilt of sin upon his divine soul, becoming sin for the whole world in sympathy and compassion. When taunted on the cross to save himself and come down, he refused to save himself so that he could save others, and all who believe in him come into possession of his life and become sons of God.
In spiritual things life and light are inseparable and come together as one gift from him alone. All light and life come from him, and all spiritual light is also spiritual life, so men are wholly dependent on him. He as the Sun of Righteousness gives both, and without God's light and knowledge people have no spiritual life but walk blindly in darkness. Life in Christ brings light to people, while choosing Satan's side and sharing the spirit of those under his rule leads toward spiritual darkness and defection.
Light Given to Humanity
He is the only light ever given to fallen humanity, the only light that can shine through the darkness of a world lying in sin and the only source of light and life to sinful men. Humanity has no light in itself, and apart from Him people are like an unkindled taper and like the moon with its face turned away from the sun, with not one ray to shed into the darkness. When turned toward the Sun of Righteousness and brought into touch with Him, the whole soul becomes aglow with the brightness of the divine presence.
His life lights every person coming into the world, and through Him every soul receives some ray of divine light. That gift includes intellectual and spiritual power, perception of right, desire for goodness, and the opening of the heart to heaven by restoring the desire and capacity to know God that sin destroyed. Every true insight and flash of understanding reflects Him as the source of wisdom and knowledge, and the life He imparts strengthens and restores the faculties of the soul paralyzed by sin, the darkened mind and the perverted will, to open the riches of the universe and give power to discern them and make them one's own. Yet human nature remains bent toward evil and cannot resist that force unaided, so Christ alone provides the help needed to withstand it and reach the good a person recognizes as worthy.
The light shines in darkness and the darkness does not comprehend or receive it. Though people refuse to see the light shining in darkness, their refusal does not extinguish it, for He came as the world's light to dispel moral darkness and save people. The world made by Him did not know Him and He came to His own and His own did not receive Him. Those who rejected Him did so because He did not fit their opinions and exposed their need for repentance and conversion, and that rejection by religious leaders and professed believers is repeated again and again before He comes in the clouds.
Spiritual darkness covering the earth is separation from God. All sin is darkness and sin is death, while righteousness is life. Sin cannot be changed into righteousness, but it can be taken away and replaced by His righteousness, which brings life and healing to those who come to Him and walk in Him, in whom all fullness dwells.
His light is not at all mingled with darkness and is clearer, brighter, and far more penetrating than any other light. Its light exposes sin and reaches people in spiritual darkness, and when the full light of His life shines into them through the gospel they can be converted. His spotless, holy character exposed the hidden depravity of human hearts, and His purity and fearless rebuke of sin stirred hatred in those who cherished sin and hypocrisy.
Salvation Through His Life
He laid down His own life in death to redeem all who receive Him, having taken human nature and overcome every temptation as man's substitute and surety, bearing transgression and the penalty of sin so that redemption is freed through faith. The tree of life in Eden whose fruit sustained life was a type of Him as the source of immortality, and when sin shut humanity off from it, life and immortality were brought to light through Him, with obedience to Him giving life and reviving the soul. His life and death make redemption possible and pledge life, opening the treasures of wisdom and revealing God's character more fully than even the holy ones of Eden knew, while the life He imparts opens the human heart to heaven and restores the desire and capacity to know God that sin destroyed. As Substitute and Surety He suffered sin's penalty so that sinners might be enlightened and made alive to God, for spiritual light and life come together from Him as one gift and those who reject His light remain dead in sin.
He imparted His own life to the sick, the afflicted, and those possessed by demons, turning away none who came for healing power even when they had brought disease upon themselves, so that virtue entered them in a healthful current and they were convinced of sin and healed of spiritual sickness as well as bodily infirmity, making Him the most successful physician the world has ever known. He came as healer to mend the wounds sin made in the human family, giving His life to redeem and save every sinner, and His healing power brings spiritual health into the soul. He puts signal honor upon man by being friend to every human being, even publicans and sinners, mingling with all classes and sowing truth in marketplace and synagogue and beside all waters, relieving every kind of physical and spiritual suffering because His one desire is that all have spiritual and physical soundness, giving Himself wholly to the work of soul-saving. He came as a mighty physician and great medical missionary to consecrate the polluted soul-temple, illuminate the heart, and form Christ within as the hope of glory, sending a glow of spiritual health into the soul at the cost of redeeming human beings from the pit of degradation. When He healed the man with dropsy on the Sabbath, the act gave evidence that He possessed life in Himself and had power to relieve human suffering.
Fallen humanity apart from God cannot be uplifted, having chosen Satan and moving toward eternal ruin, toward death in which is no hope of life and night to which comes no morning, corrupted, possessed and debased beyond human recovery. A new element of life and power must be imparted by the Maker Himself, for man has no good by nature to develop and cannot change his own evil heart, and the new life from above that changes sinners from sin to holiness must come from Him alone as the only name by which men must be saved. At the crisis when Satan seemed about to triumph, with unfallen worlds watching whether God would destroy the earth, God instead sent His Son to save it, pouring upon the world a flood of healing grace to provide recovery, uplift humanity, and finish the plan of salvation. The life He imparts undoes what sin did in destroying desire and capacity to know God, opening heaven to people and the human heart to heaven, with power to strengthen and restore faculties of the soul paralyzed by sin, the darkened mind and perverted will, to open the riches of the universe and give power to discern them and make them one's own.
This life is not in man by nature and cannot be earned or controlled, for physical life is received and taken again by the Life-giver, while no one can take Christ's life from Him but He lays it down of Himself; it can be possessed only through Christ as a free gift by believing in Him as personal Saviour and knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, the open fountain of life for the world. Those who receive Him and believe on His name are born of God and become sons of God, receiving of His fullness grace for grace, though the world He made did not know Him and His own did not receive Him while His life shone as light in darkness that did not comprehend it. That light is seen in believers who trust in Jesus, receive the merits of Christ and His righteousness, and have their sins taken away, with righteousness from above shining in hearts and characters and making them His representatives in the world. To truly believe is to leave blind selfishness and perverted ideas, to repent and be converted so that He joins His divine power to humanity and gives strength to live out the principles of God's law, for true faith cannot be overcome. Those who receive Him by faith walk in His light and receive Him as their sanctification and righteousness, looking to Him rather than trusting human beings or their own way, while unbelief quenches that life.
He gives light and life to all, and each person is judged according to the light received, with the One who gives this light also standing as Advocate and Judge who seeks to rescue people from sin. His sacrifice is humanity's only hope of release from sin's bondage and of being brought into connection with heaven, and rejecting Him means rejection by Him. Those who turned away from Him rejected the salvation He offered, choosing perishable food and earthly power over the life that endures forever, and their rejection brought Him deep sorrow. Receiving Him is looking and living, but refusing to receive Him and turning away to give the strength of body, mind, and soul to earthly things brings guilt no one can estimate, crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting Him to open shame.
Revelation in Word and Nature
As Maker of all things, Christ's life is in Him and that life is the light of men given through the works of creation. The things His own hand made are His lesson book, and He used the most common things in the natural world familiar to His hearers to proclaim spiritual truth, seeing in them far more than finite eyes and senses can comprehend. The glory of God is reflected in His works, creation which He pronounced good beholds God with open face, and the Word of God together with the things of nature teach the light. Physical creation testifies to Him as Creator and source of life and reveals God's character, love, power and glory, yet nature itself is not God and must not be worshipped in the Creator's place. He is the life and light of every living thing and of all that He has made, so that the sun rising in the heavens represents Him and all brightness and beauty adorning earth and lighting heaven speak of God, and the created world rightly used teaches the culture of the soul and His sustaining presence to students.
Before sin God's light illuminated Adam and Eve in Eden as a clear and beautiful light surrounding everything they approached, leaving nothing to obscure their perception of God's character and works and enabling them to discern Him in nature. By yielding to the tempter they lost the garments of holiness and that light departed, so they could no longer read nature rightly. Man of himself cannot rightly understand nature's teaching but without divine wisdom exalts nature and its laws above God, and mere human science contradicts God's word. Those who gain personal experiential knowledge of God and His word receive the light of the life of Christ, and in the light shining from the cross nature is again illuminated so its teaching can be rightly interpreted, which prepares them to study natural science.
God's life which gives life to the world is in His Word, and Christ's Word heals, casts out demons, stills the sea and raises the dead as a source of power remaining with His followers when His visible presence is withdrawn. The whole Bible manifests Christ and reveals Him as the believer's source of spiritual power, and His followers are to live by every word of God. As food sustains physical life, receiving and taking God's Word into one's own life and making it part of actions and character sustains spiritual life, nourishes and shapes character, gives strength from God, strengthens the soul, perfects spiritual experience and brings lasting joy. Christ the Word of life came in human form to live out God's law and bring the gospel of salvation, and receiving and practicing His words is feeding on Him unto eternal life.
The living oracles must lie at the very foundation of all true education with a distinction kept between the sacred and the common, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and studying them gives knowledge of God the Creator and Jesus Christ which ennobles the intellect and expands the mind. Life is in Christ the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God and by whom all things were made, and His life shines unchanging as humanity's light from the Father of lights, yet shines in darkness which does not comprehend or understand it. Where darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people the light is not discerned, and just as mists and fogs encompass minds there comes ignorance and misconception of God. Language may change and study books may offer supposed improvements, but the Word remains, and placing human wisdom and changing books at the head as essential hides the light and brings accountability to God. Feeling wise above a Thus saith the Lord hides it, as worldly churches wise in their own conceits cannot read a Thus saith the Lord for the seventh-day Sabbath, following those near Eden who by mental and moral capability worked out human inventions, worshiped the things their hands had made supposing they improved God's plans, and in this worshiped and extolled themselves. The full meaning of this saving education can be received only through new birth and the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
His life reveals what God expects His children to be, giving the knowledge of God and the example of holy obedience and sympathy with people in suffering. As Redeemer He fully comprehended all the necessities of man and formulated the mighty plans by which fallen man is uplifted from the degradation of sin, joining the divine power by which He upholds the world with humility that would stoop to relieve a crippled bird. He represented the Father in every circumstance however trivial, embodying the truths He taught, and His unity with God is shown in doing nothing independently of the Father and always doing what pleases Him. He came to be the light and life of the world by bringing back the character of God to man and retracing the divine image on the human soul, calling the attention of the world through His whole life to God and His holy requirements so that men may be filled with the Spirit of God, moved by love, and reveal the divine attributes in life and character. That life as light and life was one of continual self-denial and self-sacrifice, valuing every human being and unwilling that one soul should perish, with a great heart of love embracing the whole world to provide complete salvation to all who believe, and clothed in humanity He remains both man's Head and Elder Brother and the Son of God as Mediator between God and humanity.
Followers Sharing His Light
In him is life, and that life is the light of men, and disciples can become bearers of that light only by receiving that life from him. Humanity has no light in itself, but apart from Christ is like an unkindled taper and like the moon with its face turned away from the sun, with not one ray to shed into the darkness. When turned toward the Sun of Righteousness and brought into touch with Christ, the whole soul becomes aglow with the brightness of the divine presence. His life dwelling in the soul and his love revealed in the character makes believers the light of the world, for the righteousness that comes from above shines in their hearts and characters and takes away their sins as they trust in Jesus and receive his merits. Those who receive him by faith walk in his light and receive him as their sanctification and righteousness, looking to him rather than trusting human beings or their own way.
No church shines of itself, for all its light emanates from Christ, who himself is the life that is the light of men and of churches. He walks amid the seven golden candlesticks, himself puts oil into the burning lamps, supplies oil to the burning lamps, and kindles and lights the flame. The church on earth receives divine illumination and glory from the throne of God and must diffuse and spread it to those in darkness. The same divine lighting continues through eternal ages in the higher, grander, perfect heavenly church, where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the light. A church that walks in sparks of its own kindling instead of deriving light and power from Christ the great central light and Sun of Righteousness falls under woe.
Receiving his grace means letting it flow out to others, and as it flows out more grace flows in to be given back to God in willing offerings. The grace and life in the soul flows out in willing offerings and good works, and God's people are to be aroused to let this light shine before men that they may see their good works and glorify the Father, living as an animated people because they behold him who is invisible to the world. That light is to be revealed to the world in clear, distinct rays by those who claim to be Christians through having an abiding Christ, carrying out his principles, representing him by compassionate tenderness for each other, and showing unity and love for one another, thereby showing the glory Christ gave his people and showing that God truly sent his Son. Absorbing and diffusing the light makes one's own light burn brighter, while receiving light without giving it as God requires turns one into a receptacle and holder of darkness. His light brings glory to God's commandment-keeping people, and the light that gives them brightness is darkness to unbelievers.
His life in people gives spiritual light and knowledge of heavenly things, opens the treasures of wisdom, and turns minds from earthly concerns. Receiving this truth restores God's moral image in humanity, forms character after the divine model, enables moral growth and a deeper religious experience, and fits those trained by him as the greatest Teacher for holy service by receiving his Spirit. Christ's life and death make redemption possible, pledge life, reveal God's character more fully than the holy ones of Eden knew, and reopen the treasures of wisdom. The life he imparts opens the human heart to heaven and opens heaven to people by undoing what sin did in destroying desire and capacity to know God, strengthening and restoring the faculties of the soul paralyzed by sin, the darkened mind and the perverted will, to open the riches of the universe and give power to discern them and make them one's own. So prepared, people are made ready for life with the heavenly family, seeing light in his light as the Spirit of life touches their hearts and leads them toward peace and happiness.
Those who claim to belong to God are therefore called to receive and value this light rather than remain among those who fail to understand it, though the light shines in darkness that does not grasp or comprehend it. It is never safe to make the world's faith or the world's practice the rule for belief and conduct, for though the world was made by him the world did not know him and his own did not receive him, so the world does not know his followers either. Unbelief can quench that life, while faith in Christ working through love and purifying the soul keeps people close to him. Dishonesty, injustice, and tolerance of wrongdoing obstruct the light God intends to shine through his institutions to others, for Christ is present in them as watcher and healer. A new life comes in this age to take possession of every laborer from Jesus as source of all life, giving power in the Spirit to present in gospel simplicity the divine principles he set forth in word and life, so the solemn warning and present truth can be proclaimed without outward display in the most difficult fields and most sinful cities where the light has not yet dawned.
In Him is life, and that life is the light of humanity. That life is not derived or borrowed but original, unending and belonging to God alone, existing before the worlds were made. He is the eternal divine Word who was with God and was God, by whom all things were made, and who became flesh full of grace and truth. He is the only light ever given to fallen men, lighting every person who comes into the world, yet shining in darkness that does not comprehend or receive Him. That life is received only as a free gift by believing in Him and being born of God, and those in whom His life dwells become themselves the light of the world.
Christ the Eternal Word
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men, for He is the eternal Word who was with God and was God from the beginning and by whom all things were made. The life is in Christ Himself as Creator, with the lives of men in His hands, and He is presented as divine, the source of life whose life gives light to humanity. His life shines as light in darkness that does not understand it, and the true light enlightens everyone coming into the world. Though Creator, He did not exalt Himself or exercise tyrannical power, and accepting Him is no condescension or stooping down but raises men to a high position, whereas men take great power and lordly titles to themselves because they do not see Him or believe in Him. To truly believe this is to leave blind selfishness and perverted ideas, to repent and be converted so that He joins His divine power to humanity and gives strength to live out the principles of God's law, for true faith in Him cannot be overcome.
The same Word became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth. The Son of God came from the heavenly courts to represent God in human form, being made man and dwelling among people, and He came to earth as the Light of the world. He is the Word who was with God and was God in the beginning, the image of the Father and Maker of all things, the only begotten of the Father. He is truly made known not by human art but by this scriptural account, and those who receive Him and believe on His name are born of God and become sons of God and receive of His fullness grace for grace.
When man fell and Adam yielded to temptation, He announced His purpose to become man's substitute and surety, delighting to do God's will with God's law in His heart. He is the Child born and Son given with the government upon His shoulder, called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace of Isaiah 9:6. He is the Angel of the covenant ascending from the east in Revelation 7:2, coming from the sunrising, the Dayspring from on high, the Light of the world, who purchased the world by giving Himself for its ransom. In divine and human united He is superior to the hosts of angels, and as Restorer and Redeemer He cries to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, commanding them to hold in check the four winds and to hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till the servants of God, His chosen few who keep all the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, are sealed in their foreheads. He appeared as Instructor, the Son of God Himself, at the appointed time when the fullness of time was come, when the whole agency of evil opposed God and the world before His first coming seemed wholly given into the enemy's control with all heaven interested in His coming, to give the world evidence of the love of God by dying for the fallen race, gathering the penalty resting on the sinful race into His own pure, sinless soul and offering Himself as a sacrifice. Thereby He revealed both the love of God and the immutability of God's law which could not be changed by jot or tittle to meet man in his fallen condition, and a ransom was found as substitute and surety upon whom the iniquities of all were laid so that sinners are not left without hope to die in transgression but those who receive Him as Saviour are freely granted pardon and become members of the royal family.
As the image of the Father He cannot be truly represented by human art, and the truth about Him is set forth in John's written account rather than in pictures made by human hands. Neither God nor heaven nor Christ can be truly pictured by human skill. Though in human form He spoke with the authority of true greatness by commission from the Excellent Glory, demanding submissive attention, and God calls the world to listen to Him and receive every word He speaks as law and life.
Life Possessed by Christ
In him is life, and that life is the light of humanity. The Word holds life in himself as source and illumination, giving spiritual light to the darkness of the world. His words reveal divinity with authority and majesty, leading to belief in him as the Son of God. To truly believe is to leave blind selfishness and perverted ideas, to repent and be converted, so that divine power is joined to humanity with strength to live out the principles of God's law, for true faith cannot be overcome.
The life in him is not physical life but immortality, original, unborrowed, underived, unending life that belongs to God alone. He has this life because he is the Word who was with God and was God, and it existed before the worlds were made. No one can take his life from him; he lays it down of himself.
He is the fountain of life and the tree of life. The tree of life in Eden whose fruit sustained life was a type of him as the one great source of immortality. Through sin man shut himself off from access to that tree, but in Christ life and immortality are brought to light. Obedience to him gives life, gladdens the soul, and revives it with life-giving, vivifying power. His life and death make redemption possible, pledge life, open the treasures of wisdom, and reveal God's character more fully than the holy ones of Eden knew. The life he imparts opens the human heart to heaven and restores the desire and capacity to know God that sin destroyed.
Physical human life is received from him like a streamlet from a fountain and remains dependent on the Giver. It is given and temporary, soon quenched, not eternal, and man has no control over it. It is not in man by nature and cannot be earned, and as Giver he takes it again. Those whose life is hidden with Christ in God will appear with him in glory when he appears, and while on earth they are to devote every God-given ability to sanctified service.
He is man's life and desires to give each person a life that measures with the life of God. That life that measures with God's life is found in walking with Christ, and as people unite with God and work with Christ for the salvation of others, heaven's light shines into mind and soul. This is the science of eternal life. He gives this life by his death, because he pleased not himself but endured the cross and despised the shame, poured out his soul unto death, and took the guilt of sin upon his divine soul, becoming sin for the whole world in sympathy and compassion. When taunted on the cross to save himself and come down, he refused to save himself so that he could save others, and all who believe in him come into possession of his life and become sons of God.
In spiritual things life and light are inseparable and come together as one gift from him alone. All light and life come from him, and all spiritual light is also spiritual life, so men are wholly dependent on him. He as the Sun of Righteousness gives both, and without God's light and knowledge people have no spiritual life but walk blindly in darkness. Life in Christ brings light to people, while choosing Satan's side and sharing the spirit of those under his rule leads toward spiritual darkness and defection.
Light Given to Humanity
He is the only light ever given to fallen humanity, the only light that can shine through the darkness of a world lying in sin and the only source of light and life to sinful men. Humanity has no light in itself, and apart from Him people are like an unkindled taper and like the moon with its face turned away from the sun, with not one ray to shed into the darkness. When turned toward the Sun of Righteousness and brought into touch with Him, the whole soul becomes aglow with the brightness of the divine presence.
His life lights every person coming into the world, and through Him every soul receives some ray of divine light. That gift includes intellectual and spiritual power, perception of right, desire for goodness, and the opening of the heart to heaven by restoring the desire and capacity to know God that sin destroyed. Every true insight and flash of understanding reflects Him as the source of wisdom and knowledge, and the life He imparts strengthens and restores the faculties of the soul paralyzed by sin, the darkened mind and the perverted will, to open the riches of the universe and give power to discern them and make them one's own. Yet human nature remains bent toward evil and cannot resist that force unaided, so Christ alone provides the help needed to withstand it and reach the good a person recognizes as worthy.
The light shines in darkness and the darkness does not comprehend or receive it. Though people refuse to see the light shining in darkness, their refusal does not extinguish it, for He came as the world's light to dispel moral darkness and save people. The world made by Him did not know Him and He came to His own and His own did not receive Him. Those who rejected Him did so because He did not fit their opinions and exposed their need for repentance and conversion, and that rejection by religious leaders and professed believers is repeated again and again before He comes in the clouds.
Spiritual darkness covering the earth is separation from God. All sin is darkness and sin is death, while righteousness is life. Sin cannot be changed into righteousness, but it can be taken away and replaced by His righteousness, which brings life and healing to those who come to Him and walk in Him, in whom all fullness dwells.
His light is not at all mingled with darkness and is clearer, brighter, and far more penetrating than any other light. Its light exposes sin and reaches people in spiritual darkness, and when the full light of His life shines into them through the gospel they can be converted. His spotless, holy character exposed the hidden depravity of human hearts, and His purity and fearless rebuke of sin stirred hatred in those who cherished sin and hypocrisy.
Salvation Through His Life
He laid down His own life in death to redeem all who receive Him, having taken human nature and overcome every temptation as man's substitute and surety, bearing transgression and the penalty of sin so that redemption is freed through faith. The tree of life in Eden whose fruit sustained life was a type of Him as the source of immortality, and when sin shut humanity off from it, life and immortality were brought to light through Him, with obedience to Him giving life and reviving the soul. His life and death make redemption possible and pledge life, opening the treasures of wisdom and revealing God's character more fully than even the holy ones of Eden knew, while the life He imparts opens the human heart to heaven and restores the desire and capacity to know God that sin destroyed. As Substitute and Surety He suffered sin's penalty so that sinners might be enlightened and made alive to God, for spiritual light and life come together from Him as one gift and those who reject His light remain dead in sin.
He imparted His own life to the sick, the afflicted, and those possessed by demons, turning away none who came for healing power even when they had brought disease upon themselves, so that virtue entered them in a healthful current and they were convinced of sin and healed of spiritual sickness as well as bodily infirmity, making Him the most successful physician the world has ever known. He came as healer to mend the wounds sin made in the human family, giving His life to redeem and save every sinner, and His healing power brings spiritual health into the soul. He puts signal honor upon man by being friend to every human being, even publicans and sinners, mingling with all classes and sowing truth in marketplace and synagogue and beside all waters, relieving every kind of physical and spiritual suffering because His one desire is that all have spiritual and physical soundness, giving Himself wholly to the work of soul-saving. He came as a mighty physician and great medical missionary to consecrate the polluted soul-temple, illuminate the heart, and form Christ within as the hope of glory, sending a glow of spiritual health into the soul at the cost of redeeming human beings from the pit of degradation. When He healed the man with dropsy on the Sabbath, the act gave evidence that He possessed life in Himself and had power to relieve human suffering.
Fallen humanity apart from God cannot be uplifted, having chosen Satan and moving toward eternal ruin, toward death in which is no hope of life and night to which comes no morning, corrupted, possessed and debased beyond human recovery. A new element of life and power must be imparted by the Maker Himself, for man has no good by nature to develop and cannot change his own evil heart, and the new life from above that changes sinners from sin to holiness must come from Him alone as the only name by which men must be saved. At the crisis when Satan seemed about to triumph, with unfallen worlds watching whether God would destroy the earth, God instead sent His Son to save it, pouring upon the world a flood of healing grace to provide recovery, uplift humanity, and finish the plan of salvation. The life He imparts undoes what sin did in destroying desire and capacity to know God, opening heaven to people and the human heart to heaven, with power to strengthen and restore faculties of the soul paralyzed by sin, the darkened mind and perverted will, to open the riches of the universe and give power to discern them and make them one's own.
This life is not in man by nature and cannot be earned or controlled, for physical life is received and taken again by the Life-giver, while no one can take Christ's life from Him but He lays it down of Himself; it can be possessed only through Christ as a free gift by believing in Him as personal Saviour and knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, the open fountain of life for the world. Those who receive Him and believe on His name are born of God and become sons of God, receiving of His fullness grace for grace, though the world He made did not know Him and His own did not receive Him while His life shone as light in darkness that did not comprehend it. That light is seen in believers who trust in Jesus, receive the merits of Christ and His righteousness, and have their sins taken away, with righteousness from above shining in hearts and characters and making them His representatives in the world. To truly believe is to leave blind selfishness and perverted ideas, to repent and be converted so that He joins His divine power to humanity and gives strength to live out the principles of God's law, for true faith cannot be overcome. Those who receive Him by faith walk in His light and receive Him as their sanctification and righteousness, looking to Him rather than trusting human beings or their own way, while unbelief quenches that life.
He gives light and life to all, and each person is judged according to the light received, with the One who gives this light also standing as Advocate and Judge who seeks to rescue people from sin. His sacrifice is humanity's only hope of release from sin's bondage and of being brought into connection with heaven, and rejecting Him means rejection by Him. Those who turned away from Him rejected the salvation He offered, choosing perishable food and earthly power over the life that endures forever, and their rejection brought Him deep sorrow. Receiving Him is looking and living, but refusing to receive Him and turning away to give the strength of body, mind, and soul to earthly things brings guilt no one can estimate, crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting Him to open shame.
Revelation in Word and Nature
As Maker of all things, Christ's life is in Him and that life is the light of men given through the works of creation. The things His own hand made are His lesson book, and He used the most common things in the natural world familiar to His hearers to proclaim spiritual truth, seeing in them far more than finite eyes and senses can comprehend. The glory of God is reflected in His works, creation which He pronounced good beholds God with open face, and the Word of God together with the things of nature teach the light. Physical creation testifies to Him as Creator and source of life and reveals God's character, love, power and glory, yet nature itself is not God and must not be worshipped in the Creator's place. He is the life and light of every living thing and of all that He has made, so that the sun rising in the heavens represents Him and all brightness and beauty adorning earth and lighting heaven speak of God, and the created world rightly used teaches the culture of the soul and His sustaining presence to students.
Before sin God's light illuminated Adam and Eve in Eden as a clear and beautiful light surrounding everything they approached, leaving nothing to obscure their perception of God's character and works and enabling them to discern Him in nature. By yielding to the tempter they lost the garments of holiness and that light departed, so they could no longer read nature rightly. Man of himself cannot rightly understand nature's teaching but without divine wisdom exalts nature and its laws above God, and mere human science contradicts God's word. Those who gain personal experiential knowledge of God and His word receive the light of the life of Christ, and in the light shining from the cross nature is again illuminated so its teaching can be rightly interpreted, which prepares them to study natural science.
God's life which gives life to the world is in His Word, and Christ's Word heals, casts out demons, stills the sea and raises the dead as a source of power remaining with His followers when His visible presence is withdrawn. The whole Bible manifests Christ and reveals Him as the believer's source of spiritual power, and His followers are to live by every word of God. As food sustains physical life, receiving and taking God's Word into one's own life and making it part of actions and character sustains spiritual life, nourishes and shapes character, gives strength from God, strengthens the soul, perfects spiritual experience and brings lasting joy. Christ the Word of life came in human form to live out God's law and bring the gospel of salvation, and receiving and practicing His words is feeding on Him unto eternal life.
The living oracles must lie at the very foundation of all true education with a distinction kept between the sacred and the common, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and studying them gives knowledge of God the Creator and Jesus Christ which ennobles the intellect and expands the mind. Life is in Christ the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God and by whom all things were made, and His life shines unchanging as humanity's light from the Father of lights, yet shines in darkness which does not comprehend or understand it. Where darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people the light is not discerned, and just as mists and fogs encompass minds there comes ignorance and misconception of God. Language may change and study books may offer supposed improvements, but the Word remains, and placing human wisdom and changing books at the head as essential hides the light and brings accountability to God. Feeling wise above a Thus saith the Lord hides it, as worldly churches wise in their own conceits cannot read a Thus saith the Lord for the seventh-day Sabbath, following those near Eden who by mental and moral capability worked out human inventions, worshiped the things their hands had made supposing they improved God's plans, and in this worshiped and extolled themselves. The full meaning of this saving education can be received only through new birth and the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
His life reveals what God expects His children to be, giving the knowledge of God and the example of holy obedience and sympathy with people in suffering. As Redeemer He fully comprehended all the necessities of man and formulated the mighty plans by which fallen man is uplifted from the degradation of sin, joining the divine power by which He upholds the world with humility that would stoop to relieve a crippled bird. He represented the Father in every circumstance however trivial, embodying the truths He taught, and His unity with God is shown in doing nothing independently of the Father and always doing what pleases Him. He came to be the light and life of the world by bringing back the character of God to man and retracing the divine image on the human soul, calling the attention of the world through His whole life to God and His holy requirements so that men may be filled with the Spirit of God, moved by love, and reveal the divine attributes in life and character. That life as light and life was one of continual self-denial and self-sacrifice, valuing every human being and unwilling that one soul should perish, with a great heart of love embracing the whole world to provide complete salvation to all who believe, and clothed in humanity He remains both man's Head and Elder Brother and the Son of God as Mediator between God and humanity.
Followers Sharing His Light
In him is life, and that life is the light of men, and disciples can become bearers of that light only by receiving that life from him. Humanity has no light in itself, but apart from Christ is like an unkindled taper and like the moon with its face turned away from the sun, with not one ray to shed into the darkness. When turned toward the Sun of Righteousness and brought into touch with Christ, the whole soul becomes aglow with the brightness of the divine presence. His life dwelling in the soul and his love revealed in the character makes believers the light of the world, for the righteousness that comes from above shines in their hearts and characters and takes away their sins as they trust in Jesus and receive his merits. Those who receive him by faith walk in his light and receive him as their sanctification and righteousness, looking to him rather than trusting human beings or their own way.
No church shines of itself, for all its light emanates from Christ, who himself is the life that is the light of men and of churches. He walks amid the seven golden candlesticks, himself puts oil into the burning lamps, supplies oil to the burning lamps, and kindles and lights the flame. The church on earth receives divine illumination and glory from the throne of God and must diffuse and spread it to those in darkness. The same divine lighting continues through eternal ages in the higher, grander, perfect heavenly church, where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the light. A church that walks in sparks of its own kindling instead of deriving light and power from Christ the great central light and Sun of Righteousness falls under woe.
Receiving his grace means letting it flow out to others, and as it flows out more grace flows in to be given back to God in willing offerings. The grace and life in the soul flows out in willing offerings and good works, and God's people are to be aroused to let this light shine before men that they may see their good works and glorify the Father, living as an animated people because they behold him who is invisible to the world. That light is to be revealed to the world in clear, distinct rays by those who claim to be Christians through having an abiding Christ, carrying out his principles, representing him by compassionate tenderness for each other, and showing unity and love for one another, thereby showing the glory Christ gave his people and showing that God truly sent his Son. Absorbing and diffusing the light makes one's own light burn brighter, while receiving light without giving it as God requires turns one into a receptacle and holder of darkness. His light brings glory to God's commandment-keeping people, and the light that gives them brightness is darkness to unbelievers.
His life in people gives spiritual light and knowledge of heavenly things, opens the treasures of wisdom, and turns minds from earthly concerns. Receiving this truth restores God's moral image in humanity, forms character after the divine model, enables moral growth and a deeper religious experience, and fits those trained by him as the greatest Teacher for holy service by receiving his Spirit. Christ's life and death make redemption possible, pledge life, reveal God's character more fully than the holy ones of Eden knew, and reopen the treasures of wisdom. The life he imparts opens the human heart to heaven and opens heaven to people by undoing what sin did in destroying desire and capacity to know God, strengthening and restoring the faculties of the soul paralyzed by sin, the darkened mind and the perverted will, to open the riches of the universe and give power to discern them and make them one's own. So prepared, people are made ready for life with the heavenly family, seeing light in his light as the Spirit of life touches their hearts and leads them toward peace and happiness.
Those who claim to belong to God are therefore called to receive and value this light rather than remain among those who fail to understand it, though the light shines in darkness that does not grasp or comprehend it. It is never safe to make the world's faith or the world's practice the rule for belief and conduct, for though the world was made by him the world did not know him and his own did not receive him, so the world does not know his followers either. Unbelief can quench that life, while faith in Christ working through love and purifying the soul keeps people close to him. Dishonesty, injustice, and tolerance of wrongdoing obstruct the light God intends to shine through his institutions to others, for Christ is present in them as watcher and healer. A new life comes in this age to take possession of every laborer from Jesus as source of all life, giving power in the Spirit to present in gospel simplicity the divine principles he set forth in word and life, so the solemn warning and present truth can be proclaimed without outward display in the most difficult fields and most sinful cities where the light has not yet dawned.