Mark 4:21, commentary and pictures

A lamp is brought to be set openly on its stand so that it gives light to everyone in the house, not to be concealed under a bushel or under a bed. The candle is Christ's doctrines, and the light is the sacred sanctifying truth entrusted to believers, including the binding claims of the law of God and especially the Sabbath truth. The house is the world, God's house, so all in it may hear and be benefited. Those who receive the light must not hide their faith from cowardice, convenience, or worldly interest, but openly confess Christ and let the truth shine through good works, kind words, and rebuke of sin. The church must not confine the message to itself or to one place, but lift it high and carry it to every nation, city, and class, going where help is needed rather than staying for comfort or gain.

Meaning of the Symbols

The candle is Christ's doctrines, which give light to the souls of all who accept them. That light is not to be hidden from the world but put where it will shine out to enlighten and bless everyone who sees it. Those who receive instruction from Christ must share it with others and hand it down to later generations, communicating biblical understanding and experience rather than keeping it for themselves. A person's actions will eventually reveal what has taken root in the heart, whether it has borne good fruit or been choked by thorns.

The light is sacred, sanctifying truth entrusted to believers, including present truth, the grace received, the evidences that God is with His people, and the instruction and warnings that correct error and preserve truth against deception. It is elevated, sanctifying warning truth and the convincing evidences of faith that carry power that God is with His people, and it must be set openly so the world can hear and receive light and be benefited rather than hidden. Lifting it up means urgently telling those dying around without ever hearing a sermon or published word, pointing them to the way by precept and example, and sharing it with people who need the Bread of Life so souls may be saved. The instruction and warnings given to correct error and preserve truth must be shared with the people especially because deceptive theories will continue to arise and be mistaken for truth. A lifetime is brief, yet it is the time given to work out personal salvation and to save others, and indifference to souls that keeps the light hidden pleases the enemy, because the light is only with believers a little while. Members are to share the grace they have received and help convert the worldly, ignorant, and sinful; otherwise they themselves need conversion.

The light includes the binding claims of the law of God, especially the fourth commandment and the Sabbath truth that is to warn and test the world. Those who understand the Sabbath truth are to present it simply to others and let it shine to everyone they meet, for withholding it neglects an important duty and leaves people without its light. The light also includes entrusted talents and abilities, which grow through useful service and are to be put to work to bless others. Gathering the divine rays of glory means receiving heavenly truth and letting it shine through useful service, and putting talents to work brings greater ability to serve. This includes helping poor families learn to use their energies, capabilities, time, tools, and resources wisely, avoid wasting time, and improve their homes and land.

The house where the light is to shine is the world, God's house, so all in it may hear, receive light, and be benefited. Light should be placed where it can illuminate the whole house, not hidden under a bushel or bed, and its work should be presented openly and on a scale that lets people receive the light. Hiding the light means letting narrow plans and limited ideas, small enough to embrace in the arms, shape methods of labor, dwarfing the work to avoid blame and exalting men instead of magnifying the work. The call is for broader views that appreciate the greatness of the work, giving it openly with proper dignity before the world instead of confining it to a small sphere.

To be set on a candlestick is to be presented openly and with dignity where it gives light to all; to be put under a bushel or under a bed is to conceal it by halfhearted service and cowardly hiding of faith to avoid being tried. The light is earnest, whole-souled, humble witness for God and His law, especially standing firm for the Sabbath when trials and inconveniences arise over Sunday labor and bowing to the idol sabbath. Ceasing to work on Sunday and compromising the Sabbath test to escape pressure and last-day delusions is hiding the light, and no church resolution must encourage it. Applied to missionary work, the light is hidden when workers stay where comfort or financial advantage favors them instead of going where people need help. They should take their light from under the bushel of financial interest and the bed of convenience and comfort, and place it where it can give light to all.

Truth to Be Displayed

The light is not to be concealed under a bushel or under a bed but brought into view and lifted high on a stand, so that it illuminates the darkness and gives light throughout the whole house to enlighten and bless everyone who sees it. Narrow efforts deprive people of the opportunity to receive it, for hiding the light means letting narrow plans and limited ideas shape methods of labor, dwarfing the work and exalting men instead of magnifying the work itself. Minds are therefore to be enlarged to appreciate the greatness of the work, so that the light shines openly to all through active work for the conversion of souls.

Those who receive instruction from Christ must share it with others and hand it down to later generations, communicating the light of biblical understanding and religious experience rather than keeping it for themselves, for their family, or for one place. The light of truth is to be represented to those who need the Bread of Life so that souls may be saved, which includes ministers writing to instruct and encourage God's people and make what they have learned useful to others. Keeping commercial interests from consuming mind and time belongs to this same duty, for eternal interests must not be made secondary to temporal ones.

Reproof, instruction, and warnings given to correct error and preserve truth are light that must be made visible and available to those whose cases they address, not kept private with one person or in one place where they could help many. This openness is especially necessary because deceptive theories will continue to arise and be mistaken for truth. In the same way a person's actions will eventually reveal what has taken root in the heart, whether it has borne good fruit or been choked by thorns.

The work is urgent because a lifetime is brief, yet it is the time given both to work out personal salvation and to save others, and the light is only with believers a little while. God's people have been made the repository of His law as light, even the sacred truths of present truth, and lifting it up means urgently telling those who are dying around them without ever hearing a sermon or a published word, and pointing them to the way by precept and example. Indifference to the souls of others that keeps the light hidden pleases the enemy, while letting it shine through life and witness rather than living only for the home life reaches others through the life of Christ within, and each soul thus saved is of greater worth than the world.

Every soul must take his light from under the bushel and let it shine forth and diffuse to many now in darkness, for Christ wants His light to shine upon all the world so they may become acquainted with Christ through His church. Hiding the light under a bushel brings corrupt practices, while sharing it makes His people the means of restoring the moral image of God in their fellow men, which happens through association with God's people and His work.

Lives That Shine Openly

Faith is not to be concealed but openly confessed, with each believer taking a clear stand as a light set where it gives light to everyone in the house. That witness is to be lived before the world, before angels, and before other people, giving all in the household the benefit of its light. God's truth is never to be put in the background out of cowardice or worldly policy.

Every person is accountable to God for his own course of action, and those who have light must not hide it under a bushel or a bed but let it shine forth through good works, for believers are the light of the world. That shining religion is humility, purity, meekness, forbearance, and Christian faithfulness and fidelity, giving a clear and trustworthy light. The light is received from Christ to be given to the world in clear, sharp rays, so believers are living epistles not of a human leader but of Jesus Christ. Every true Christian is Christlike, a doer of the Word walking as Christ walked, or else he is not a Christian.

God's people make their light known by faithful use of their abilities in active work for the conversion of souls, and when they do their lives shine clearly to those around them. That work is influence, care, prayer, and personal effort to lead people to the truth and to share the grace received with the worldly, ignorant, and sinful. Those who fail to do this themselves need conversion. The candle is to be brought out from under its covering and placed where it can shine, and followers must let the life of Christ within them reach others rather than living only for their home life. In the home its light shines through pleasant looks and kind, loving words, and each soul thus saved is of greater worth than the world.

Those who know the truth must reveal by teaching and example their loyalty to Christ and their recognition of God's law. Their lives are to expose and rebuke sin by standing for obedience and righteousness. This witness may disturb those who disobey God, yet steadfast faith and right conduct can help even those thought unlikely to accept the truth. The great light on the pathway is to be set high, with the Christian life lifted high above sensuality in thought and action and shining forth in clear, steady rays to illuminate the surrounding darkness. Unjust business transactions and indulgence of passion dim that light, and many lights burn low and go out for want of the oil of grace. Growing in grace requires purifying the soul by obeying the truth, and obedience to the truth includes obedience to physical law.

Worldly wealth and its worries can hide the light and keep souls from receiving it. Business can absorb mind and time until it becomes the grave of religion, hiding the light of those who once loved and feared God. Hiding the light under a bushel also means letting commercial interests consume the mind and time, and eternal interests must not be made secondary to temporal ones.

Broad Mission to World

The light given for the world in the present message is not to be hidden or confined to a small sphere by exclusiveness, but to be shared openly so it can counter error amid growing darkness, and every person established in the truth should be free to work in spreading it by using every entrusted ability so more may recognize the truth. To hide that light is to let narrow plans and limited ideas shape methods of labor, plans small enough to embrace in the arms, dwarfing and discouraging the work by trying to avoid blame and censure while exalting men instead of magnifying the work. The call is for broader views, for minds brought up to appreciate the greatness of the work, so the elevated, sanctifying warning truth is given openly with proper dignity before the world and set on a candlestick to give light to all that are in the house.

Like a lamp placed to light a house, the church must not keep the gospel confined to itself but make Christ's love and Bible truths visible, using all its abilities to support preaching to every nation and extending into new fields, cities, villages, and all parts of the world. The house is the world, God's house, which is to receive its illumination, and the light is the message for the present time, including the binding claims of the fourth commandment to warn and test the world. Putting the light on a stand means carrying that warning openly and in power beyond Battle Creek into nearby and other large cities and to all nations, tongues, and peoples. This includes Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Woodland and the large cities of the United States, and Oregon, Europe, Australia, the islands of the sea, presenting the verity and truth of the binding claims of the fourth commandment and the law of God that is to test and prove the world.

Giving light to all in the house means bringing the truth and the evidences of faith that carry convincing power that God is with His people before as many as can be reached, rather than hiding them so only church members hear. Meetings are to be placed close to cities and people so attendance is easy and the work presented with proper dignity, because it is for all who will hear that the world may hear and receive light and be benefited. Methods must make the light accessible to all classes, including people of higher social standing as well as the poor, since limiting outreach to the lower classes is like putting a lamp under a bed or a bushel instead of on a stand where it can light the whole house. Entrusted abilities and talents are not to be concealed or left unused but put to work to bless others, including helping poor families learn to use their energies, capabilities, time, tools, and resources wisely, avoid wasting time, avoid waste, and improve their homes and land.

Workers hide the light when they stay where financial advantage, comfort, or familiar churches favor them instead of going where people need help and truth is unknown or neglected. They are to take their light from under the bushel of financial interest and the bed of convenience and place it where it can give light to all, leaving places chosen for advantage or comfort to help people directly. Those given spiritual advantages are to arise and share that light willingly and self-denyingly, going where needed and working personally with their abilities and opportunities to win people for Christ. The light must be proclaimed as glad tidings to all people and must shine clearly to those in darkness, with those who know the truth representing it to others who need the Bread of Life so souls may be saved. The light of biblical understanding and religious experience received from God is to be made useful to others and not hidden for one's own benefit, including by ministers writing to instruct and encourage God's people.

Putting light under a bushel or under a bed means halfhearted service and cowardly hiding of faith to avoid being tried and tested, and no church resolution must encourage it. The light is earnest, whole-souled, humble witness for God and His law, especially standing firm for the Sabbath when trials and inconveniences arise over Sunday labor and bowing to the idol sabbath. Ceasing to work on Sunday and compromising the Sabbath test to escape pressure amid last-day delusions is hiding the light. In institutions the truth must likewise be made to shine out openly and not be hidden, narrowed, or concealed, but made central, prominent, and evident to patrons. The sanitarium is a missionary field where truth was to be prominent and central, the health and temperance institution at Battle Creek was to stand as a distinctive Seventh-day Adventist asylum unlike any other in the world, giving character to the cause with God honored in word and deed, His law magnified, and the true faith of the Bible ever made prominent before patrons as an asylum for believers to resort to when sick, and the Echo office was not to narrow its work by cutting off its outside commercial business because truth is to shine to everyone in the house. The light given on diet, the principles taught in the early days of the message, remains important and is to be brought out and made clear and visible rather than hidden.