He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
Jesus spoke these words to the Jewish leaders after healing the impotent man at Bethesda when they accused Him of breaking the Sabbath, reminding them of John as the burning and shining light in whom they had been willing for a season to rejoice. John was a divinely sent prophet to prepare the way for Jesus by testifying that He is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world and the Son of God, bearing true witness so hearers might be saved, yet he was not himself the true Light but drew all his light from Christ. The leaders had for a time accepted him as a prophet and delighted in his light, but their joy was brief and they rejected him when his teaching exposed their conduct and called them to change, so that in rejecting Jesus they contradicted the testimony they had once welcomed. The same image belongs to every person converted to God, who is to kindle his light from God and let a life linked with Jesus Christ burn and shine to dispel moral darkness and carry truth to those who have not heard it. That burning, shining light is God's truth from His Word, including His law and Christ's righteousness and the third angel's last message of mercy and warning, which must go forth widely and without delay because the end of all things is at hand.
Verse Setting and Study
These words belong to Christ's discourse after healing the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, when the Jews accused Him of breaking the Sabbath. They were spoken to the Jewish leaders, reading the secrets of their hearts in reminding them of John. For a time those leaders had accepted John as a prophet of God and rejoiced in the message he brought as a burning and shining light. His mission was solely to prepare the way for Jesus by testifying that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God.
Jesus cited John's witness not to sustain His own claims but to convince His persecutors of their blindness and inconsistency in defiantly opposing the One John had testified of. They were not in ignorance about John's evidence, for they had sent to John and had received back his account of the baptism of Jesus and the wonderful manifestations of God at that time. The verse stands in the fifth and sixth chapters of John, which contain instruction that is the mystery of godliness. That instruction is to be studied, made a part of life, and brought into daily experience, and such study gives the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril.
John as Witnessing Light
John was a burning and a shining light, a bright and fervent and clear and compelling witness to the truth who bore witness to Christ. He was a divinely sent prophet whose mission was solely to prepare the way for Jesus, testifying that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, and the Son of God. His inspired work was that of a lesser light preparing for the greater light, challenging trust in Jewish traditions, bringing sin to remembrance, and leading people to repentance so they could receive Christ.
He was not himself the true Light, and all the light he had came from Christ, the Word made flesh; when some took him for the Light he refused glory that did not belong to him. His testimony was true and was spoken so that hearers might be saved. His witness pointed to Christ but did not replace the greater witness of Jesus' works and the Father's testimony.
Jesus referred to John's witness not to establish His own claims, but to expose the blindness and inconsistency of His persecutors and urge them toward salvation. The leaders were not in ignorance about John's evidence, for they had sent to John and received back his account of the baptism of Jesus and the wonderful manifestations of God at that time.
Hearers Brief Joyful Response
The Jewish leaders and teachers accepted John for a time as a prophet of God sent to bear witness to the truth and prepare the way for Jesus. They were willing for a season to rejoice and delight in his message and in the light he gave. His preaching moved them and gave them light, pointing to Christ yet not replacing the greater witness of Jesus' works and the Father's testimony.
Their joy was brief, lasting only until his teaching called them to change and exposed the inconsistencies in their conduct, and then they rejected him. That earlier conviction under John's preaching made their later refusal serious, for in rejecting Jesus they rejected the one John had identified as the Christ, the Redeemer of the world and the Son of God. Their rejection of Jesus therefore contradicted the testimony they had welcomed and exposed their blindness and inconsistency, since they were not in ignorance about John's evidence.
Receiving light for a time is not enough, for those given great light must keep their lamps burning rather than fall asleep through neglect.
Christ the True Light
Christ alone is the true Light, the Word made flesh and the source of light and life for sinners. John was a bright and faithful witness, but he was not that true Light himself, for all the light he bore came from Christ. The people were willing for a time to rejoice in the light John carried, and Christ declared John's witness true and given so that hearers might be saved.
John was a burning and shining light in his own time, giving light through his witness to Christ. Luther and Calvin and other reformers were likewise burning and shining lights in their time, yet they did not see the whole counsel of God and did not reach complete knowledge. Their followers should not stop where those reformers stopped, but should remain willing to receive further light and truth from Scripture. Had those reformers lived later they would have welcomed further light from Scripture as readily as the truth they first received.
Prophetic history brings successive periods of advanced light toward a complete whole. Those who receive the truth are to shine and diffuse that light as a burning, shining lamp that is to be spread. The light God gives through Scripture and prophetic revelation is to be made clear and put into practice. That light grows brighter as people live by it.
Believers as Burning Lights
What was said of John belongs to every person converted to God, who is called to dispel moral darkness and bring light and knowledge to the world. Every church member is to shine so that light can be seen amid moral darkness, witnessing to God and helping carry truth to those who have not heard it. Those who have received the truth are to shine as lights by kindling their light from God and carrying the message to others. The knowledge of the truth is a burning and shining light when it is linked with Jesus Christ, and those who bear it are to let their lives show their close relation to Christ.
God's followers, governed by divine grace, are to shine as lights in the world through steadfast faithfulness, making their faith known and displaying God's glory, as Daniel and his companions did. Devoted Christians whose sanctified lives represent Christ and glorify God can encourage others and accomplish good even when comparatively obscure. Light and truth, when practiced, drive out darkness.
The true believer looking for the soon appearing of Jesus regards earthly things and all worldly honor as emptiness, lives above the world as a pilgrim and stranger with citizenship above and steps advancing heavenward, and gathers the righteousness of Christ into the soul so as to be a fervent and radiant light in moral darkness. Such a life is seen in vigorous faith, lively hope, fervent love, consecrated zeal for God, and decided distinction from the world. God's witnesses in every age burn and shine by bearing aloft the banner of truth and carrying its light into moral darkness everywhere, and those who gather and live by the light given remain loyal to God.
Now is the time for all to be burning and shining lights by keeping the lamp supplied with the oil of grace, trimmed and burning, so that light gleams out today, yet many fail to do this. This urgency is heightened because the work is accumulating, the time for doing it is diminishing, souls are deciding for evil or good, and the warfare is constantly increasing. Believers become such lights through daily experience with Christ as personal Saviour, their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, with tapers kindled from the divine altar, letting the saving knowledge of God's power go forth. A church alive and filled with the Holy Spirit reveals its concern for people in darkness.
Christians, especially those who have long known the truth and hold positions of trust, need the Holy Spirit for this work. Being a burning and shining light comes when people are willing to be taught of God, wrestle with God in prayer, receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, walk humbly with God, and humble their souls before Him, with God then walking with them and showing them His salvation. God makes a teacher of truth a burning lamp by giving him great light with the Scriptures opened before him to feast upon, and the lamp burns to bring souls under the Spirit's moving by imparting what is received, pressing toward still greater light, dying to self, being renewed in the divine image, beholding Christ until changed into the same image, and more fully revealing grace in character.
Its light becomes more free and clear only as he humbles himself under God's hand, lets the truth he holds sanctify him in soul, body, and spirit, keeps an abiding Christ seen at all times and places, delights in the law inwardly, and walks and works in love in conformity to God's law. Burning is a warm heart glowing with the spirit of Christ, with enduring patience, love, sincere faith, and yearning for those ready to perish, submitting to discipline and training and toiling with painstaking effort with divine agencies to draw souls; shining is that inward grace burning outward in successful soul-winning work. Each believer's light should be seen not only in public teaching but in words, family life, conduct, and attitude toward the world, communicating truth with humility and a character reshaped for the Holy Spirit's work rather than responding to blindness with sharpness or criticism.
Occasional good purposes, a nearly extinct spark of grace, a name to live, and self-pleasing semblance of piety are not enough, for one may be spiritually dead and weary in well-doing while neither burning nor shining. Some workers neither burn nor shine yet are content in a cold and indifferent condition, and those who know the truth but neglect their duty will be held accountable by the Lord. Using all the powers God gives while He spares life, believers are to let the gospel's light shine forth in clear, bright rays like a burning lamp so sinners may be saved.
Truth Going Forth Everywhere
The burning and shining light is God's truth itself, light from His Word that must go forth, be proclaimed, carried to others and made known, calling people to receive it and opening the way for them to receive its message. That going forth is to be wide, through proclamation of God's law and Christ's righteousness, including the third angel's message, the last message of mercy and warning to the world, which must go forth as a burning lamp. God's revealed will must therefore stand out distinctly as a clear, burning lamp, and His people are to help make His truth known to the world. The Bible alone is to be presented as the light of the world, and in that character the truth is to go forth in the cities as a burning lamp.
The truth is a burning light meant to go forth and shine in new places and new territories as the work advances, with the Lord's message as a burning lamp sent into new territories. Those who know the truth are to let its light go out to different places rather than concentrating the work in one place, spreading workers among different departments and locations so the light can reach a world needing salvation, and making the truth visible through active work including training students and sending them to nearby towns to share it. Satan invents every device in his power to prevent that light from shining and spreading, so those who bear it must not consent to let him succeed or let his plans for hindering the work succeed. The light must go forth without delay because the end of all things is at hand, in urgent advance into new territories on missionary soil with a great work still to be done and no time to lose, and God's people are to be aroused to arise and shine because the King's business requires haste.
Those who bear the message to the world are to seek the Holy Spirit abundantly so they can carry that light and work successfully for people near and far, and believers are to prepare themselves to work so the truth may go forth like a lamp that burns. To be a burning lamp is to live in connection with God so that truth goes forth as mercy and light and compassion to the people. Like John, whose ministry as a burning, shining light brought people temporary joy in its light, the message must now go forth as a lamp that burns. The advent message of truth in Greater New York and in other large cities of America is to go forth as a burning lamp with the power of God, with God raising up laborers and His angels going before them. Though the large cities are fast reaching a condition like the world before the Flood and are as Sodom for wickedness, many honest souls in them will feel the conviction of the Spirit as they listen to its startling truths, and New York is ready to be worked by those who have gained experience, in His fear and with means used in it.
Those who know the truth are to go out as burning lamps, as persons shining by bearing truth, proclaiming the warning of Christ's soon coming in the cities. There its light has diminished after hearers rejoiced in John's light for a time, and workers must kindle it anew and proclaim it widely. God's people are to make it shine in the cities and towns of the East, including Portland, Brunswick, and Bangor, and like a burning lamp it is to shine from Nashville into the surrounding regions. Centers established for the work of truth are to send its light outward.
Truth and righteousness are to go forth from sanitariums like a burning lamp to reach many people, as from John's witness bringing truth that people rejoiced in for a time. Sanitariums in living connection with God are to send truth into the world and carry mercy, light, and compassion to suffering people, until men and women realize that this is the religion of Christ reaching suffering humanity. Publishing houses are to serve the same purpose as John as a burning, shining light by sending truth into the world as a lamp and warning people of dangers that threaten them. Publications are to give a clear, living witness to truth, send warnings throughout the world, prepare people to see Christ in holiness, and teach truth in plain language widely distributed. Converted workers and publishing houses let the light of truth shine through their character and work, bearing witness to truth and righteousness, and in this way a person can shine as a light for a time.
The message meant to go forth from the Minneapolis meeting was to shine as a clear light in the image of the burning lamp, but blindness and hardness of heart hindered its advance and delayed its work.
Jesus spoke these words to the Jewish leaders after healing the impotent man at Bethesda when they accused Him of breaking the Sabbath, reminding them of John as the burning and shining light in whom they had been willing for a season to rejoice. John was a divinely sent prophet to prepare the way for Jesus by testifying that He is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world and the Son of God, bearing true witness so hearers might be saved, yet he was not himself the true Light but drew all his light from Christ. The leaders had for a time accepted him as a prophet and delighted in his light, but their joy was brief and they rejected him when his teaching exposed their conduct and called them to change, so that in rejecting Jesus they contradicted the testimony they had once welcomed. The same image belongs to every person converted to God, who is to kindle his light from God and let a life linked with Jesus Christ burn and shine to dispel moral darkness and carry truth to those who have not heard it. That burning, shining light is God's truth from His Word, including His law and Christ's righteousness and the third angel's last message of mercy and warning, which must go forth widely and without delay because the end of all things is at hand.
Verse Setting and Study
These words belong to Christ's discourse after healing the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, when the Jews accused Him of breaking the Sabbath. They were spoken to the Jewish leaders, reading the secrets of their hearts in reminding them of John. For a time those leaders had accepted John as a prophet of God and rejoiced in the message he brought as a burning and shining light. His mission was solely to prepare the way for Jesus by testifying that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God.
Jesus cited John's witness not to sustain His own claims but to convince His persecutors of their blindness and inconsistency in defiantly opposing the One John had testified of. They were not in ignorance about John's evidence, for they had sent to John and had received back his account of the baptism of Jesus and the wonderful manifestations of God at that time. The verse stands in the fifth and sixth chapters of John, which contain instruction that is the mystery of godliness. That instruction is to be studied, made a part of life, and brought into daily experience, and such study gives the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril.
John as Witnessing Light
John was a burning and a shining light, a bright and fervent and clear and compelling witness to the truth who bore witness to Christ. He was a divinely sent prophet whose mission was solely to prepare the way for Jesus, testifying that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, and the Son of God. His inspired work was that of a lesser light preparing for the greater light, challenging trust in Jewish traditions, bringing sin to remembrance, and leading people to repentance so they could receive Christ.
He was not himself the true Light, and all the light he had came from Christ, the Word made flesh; when some took him for the Light he refused glory that did not belong to him. His testimony was true and was spoken so that hearers might be saved. His witness pointed to Christ but did not replace the greater witness of Jesus' works and the Father's testimony.
Jesus referred to John's witness not to establish His own claims, but to expose the blindness and inconsistency of His persecutors and urge them toward salvation. The leaders were not in ignorance about John's evidence, for they had sent to John and received back his account of the baptism of Jesus and the wonderful manifestations of God at that time.
Hearers Brief Joyful Response
The Jewish leaders and teachers accepted John for a time as a prophet of God sent to bear witness to the truth and prepare the way for Jesus. They were willing for a season to rejoice and delight in his message and in the light he gave. His preaching moved them and gave them light, pointing to Christ yet not replacing the greater witness of Jesus' works and the Father's testimony.
Their joy was brief, lasting only until his teaching called them to change and exposed the inconsistencies in their conduct, and then they rejected him. That earlier conviction under John's preaching made their later refusal serious, for in rejecting Jesus they rejected the one John had identified as the Christ, the Redeemer of the world and the Son of God. Their rejection of Jesus therefore contradicted the testimony they had welcomed and exposed their blindness and inconsistency, since they were not in ignorance about John's evidence.
Receiving light for a time is not enough, for those given great light must keep their lamps burning rather than fall asleep through neglect.
Christ the True Light
Christ alone is the true Light, the Word made flesh and the source of light and life for sinners. John was a bright and faithful witness, but he was not that true Light himself, for all the light he bore came from Christ. The people were willing for a time to rejoice in the light John carried, and Christ declared John's witness true and given so that hearers might be saved.
John was a burning and shining light in his own time, giving light through his witness to Christ. Luther and Calvin and other reformers were likewise burning and shining lights in their time, yet they did not see the whole counsel of God and did not reach complete knowledge. Their followers should not stop where those reformers stopped, but should remain willing to receive further light and truth from Scripture. Had those reformers lived later they would have welcomed further light from Scripture as readily as the truth they first received.
Prophetic history brings successive periods of advanced light toward a complete whole. Those who receive the truth are to shine and diffuse that light as a burning, shining lamp that is to be spread. The light God gives through Scripture and prophetic revelation is to be made clear and put into practice. That light grows brighter as people live by it.
Believers as Burning Lights
What was said of John belongs to every person converted to God, who is called to dispel moral darkness and bring light and knowledge to the world. Every church member is to shine so that light can be seen amid moral darkness, witnessing to God and helping carry truth to those who have not heard it. Those who have received the truth are to shine as lights by kindling their light from God and carrying the message to others. The knowledge of the truth is a burning and shining light when it is linked with Jesus Christ, and those who bear it are to let their lives show their close relation to Christ.
God's followers, governed by divine grace, are to shine as lights in the world through steadfast faithfulness, making their faith known and displaying God's glory, as Daniel and his companions did. Devoted Christians whose sanctified lives represent Christ and glorify God can encourage others and accomplish good even when comparatively obscure. Light and truth, when practiced, drive out darkness.
The true believer looking for the soon appearing of Jesus regards earthly things and all worldly honor as emptiness, lives above the world as a pilgrim and stranger with citizenship above and steps advancing heavenward, and gathers the righteousness of Christ into the soul so as to be a fervent and radiant light in moral darkness. Such a life is seen in vigorous faith, lively hope, fervent love, consecrated zeal for God, and decided distinction from the world. God's witnesses in every age burn and shine by bearing aloft the banner of truth and carrying its light into moral darkness everywhere, and those who gather and live by the light given remain loyal to God.
Now is the time for all to be burning and shining lights by keeping the lamp supplied with the oil of grace, trimmed and burning, so that light gleams out today, yet many fail to do this. This urgency is heightened because the work is accumulating, the time for doing it is diminishing, souls are deciding for evil or good, and the warfare is constantly increasing. Believers become such lights through daily experience with Christ as personal Saviour, their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, with tapers kindled from the divine altar, letting the saving knowledge of God's power go forth. A church alive and filled with the Holy Spirit reveals its concern for people in darkness.
Christians, especially those who have long known the truth and hold positions of trust, need the Holy Spirit for this work. Being a burning and shining light comes when people are willing to be taught of God, wrestle with God in prayer, receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, walk humbly with God, and humble their souls before Him, with God then walking with them and showing them His salvation. God makes a teacher of truth a burning lamp by giving him great light with the Scriptures opened before him to feast upon, and the lamp burns to bring souls under the Spirit's moving by imparting what is received, pressing toward still greater light, dying to self, being renewed in the divine image, beholding Christ until changed into the same image, and more fully revealing grace in character.
Its light becomes more free and clear only as he humbles himself under God's hand, lets the truth he holds sanctify him in soul, body, and spirit, keeps an abiding Christ seen at all times and places, delights in the law inwardly, and walks and works in love in conformity to God's law. Burning is a warm heart glowing with the spirit of Christ, with enduring patience, love, sincere faith, and yearning for those ready to perish, submitting to discipline and training and toiling with painstaking effort with divine agencies to draw souls; shining is that inward grace burning outward in successful soul-winning work. Each believer's light should be seen not only in public teaching but in words, family life, conduct, and attitude toward the world, communicating truth with humility and a character reshaped for the Holy Spirit's work rather than responding to blindness with sharpness or criticism.
Occasional good purposes, a nearly extinct spark of grace, a name to live, and self-pleasing semblance of piety are not enough, for one may be spiritually dead and weary in well-doing while neither burning nor shining. Some workers neither burn nor shine yet are content in a cold and indifferent condition, and those who know the truth but neglect their duty will be held accountable by the Lord. Using all the powers God gives while He spares life, believers are to let the gospel's light shine forth in clear, bright rays like a burning lamp so sinners may be saved.
Truth Going Forth Everywhere
The burning and shining light is God's truth itself, light from His Word that must go forth, be proclaimed, carried to others and made known, calling people to receive it and opening the way for them to receive its message. That going forth is to be wide, through proclamation of God's law and Christ's righteousness, including the third angel's message, the last message of mercy and warning to the world, which must go forth as a burning lamp. God's revealed will must therefore stand out distinctly as a clear, burning lamp, and His people are to help make His truth known to the world. The Bible alone is to be presented as the light of the world, and in that character the truth is to go forth in the cities as a burning lamp.
The truth is a burning light meant to go forth and shine in new places and new territories as the work advances, with the Lord's message as a burning lamp sent into new territories. Those who know the truth are to let its light go out to different places rather than concentrating the work in one place, spreading workers among different departments and locations so the light can reach a world needing salvation, and making the truth visible through active work including training students and sending them to nearby towns to share it. Satan invents every device in his power to prevent that light from shining and spreading, so those who bear it must not consent to let him succeed or let his plans for hindering the work succeed. The light must go forth without delay because the end of all things is at hand, in urgent advance into new territories on missionary soil with a great work still to be done and no time to lose, and God's people are to be aroused to arise and shine because the King's business requires haste.
Those who bear the message to the world are to seek the Holy Spirit abundantly so they can carry that light and work successfully for people near and far, and believers are to prepare themselves to work so the truth may go forth like a lamp that burns. To be a burning lamp is to live in connection with God so that truth goes forth as mercy and light and compassion to the people. Like John, whose ministry as a burning, shining light brought people temporary joy in its light, the message must now go forth as a lamp that burns. The advent message of truth in Greater New York and in other large cities of America is to go forth as a burning lamp with the power of God, with God raising up laborers and His angels going before them. Though the large cities are fast reaching a condition like the world before the Flood and are as Sodom for wickedness, many honest souls in them will feel the conviction of the Spirit as they listen to its startling truths, and New York is ready to be worked by those who have gained experience, in His fear and with means used in it.
Those who know the truth are to go out as burning lamps, as persons shining by bearing truth, proclaiming the warning of Christ's soon coming in the cities. There its light has diminished after hearers rejoiced in John's light for a time, and workers must kindle it anew and proclaim it widely. God's people are to make it shine in the cities and towns of the East, including Portland, Brunswick, and Bangor, and like a burning lamp it is to shine from Nashville into the surrounding regions. Centers established for the work of truth are to send its light outward.
Truth and righteousness are to go forth from sanitariums like a burning lamp to reach many people, as from John's witness bringing truth that people rejoiced in for a time. Sanitariums in living connection with God are to send truth into the world and carry mercy, light, and compassion to suffering people, until men and women realize that this is the religion of Christ reaching suffering humanity. Publishing houses are to serve the same purpose as John as a burning, shining light by sending truth into the world as a lamp and warning people of dangers that threaten them. Publications are to give a clear, living witness to truth, send warnings throughout the world, prepare people to see Christ in holiness, and teach truth in plain language widely distributed. Converted workers and publishing houses let the light of truth shine through their character and work, bearing witness to truth and righteousness, and in this way a person can shine as a light for a time.
The message meant to go forth from the Minneapolis meeting was to shine as a clear light in the image of the burning lamp, but blindness and hardness of heart hindered its advance and delayed its work.