To be the light of the world

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (Matthew 5:14)

And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. (Revelation 21:24)

Light is that by which we are enabled to perceive reality. If we walk into a room and it is dark we cannot tell whether the room is a library, a bedroom, or a prison cell. We cannot identify one thing in it. When there is light we understand the nature of the room.

So it is in the world. Flesh and blood cannot understand the use of the people and things of the "room" in which God has placed man. The earth is filled with destruction and chaos because willful men are not able to understand the proper operation of their environment. Darkness has covered the earth and great darkness the people.

Educators and scientists grope continually in the dark, hoping to find truth. Civilization itself is one long quest for truth. There only is one Light, one Truth, and that is Jesus Christ. We also become the light and the truth of the world when Christ has been formed in us and is dwelling in us.

It is not what we say about Jesus that is the light, it is Christ Himself who is the Light. It is the Life of Jesus that is the Light.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)

Men have studied theology for many centuries. But there is little light in theology. Light comes into the world only as the saints are willing to be crucified by the circumstances in which God places them. God works with His saints so the Life of Jesus, which is the Light of the world, may be revealed to men.

For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (II Corinthians 4:11)

The light we must have, if we would conduct ourselves properly as children of God in a world that God has made, is the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God. If Christ is being formed in us the true Light is in us.

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 4:6)

It is an amazing fact that people live in a world of relationships, things, and situations that have been created by God, and yet they reject God from their midst and attempt to understand how the world should operate. We can read every day in the newspaper how successful their efforts are.

It is the Life of Jesus that is the Light of men. When Jesus enters us He brings the understanding of God. He brings the knowledge of God. That knowledge, which one day will fill the earth through the saints, makes clear to us how relationships, situations, and things should work together in order to bring love, peace, and joy. Only God knows how to do that. Apart from God we are groping in the dark.

As Christ dwells in us we begin to work the works of righteousness. We exhibit moral purity, honesty, truthfulness, kindness, gentleness, faith, peace, joy, and all the other attitudes and traits that belong to God. When men see this light in us they glorify God. Men do not glorify God when we teach our religious beliefs (although there is a place for teaching), but when we reveal a godly character, when we worship God with our whole being. This is the light of the world.

At the time of Christ’s appearing from Heaven a light will enter the true Israel of God:

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (Isaiah 60:1)

The Divine Light will rise in the hour of the greatest spiritual darkness the world ever has known. For the darkness that clouds the minds of people is spiritual darkness—the same darkness with which the Lord God has bound the rebellious angels. The fallen angels no longer can behold the light and glory of Heaven. They are cursed forever with ignorance and futility. They know only hate, misery, unrest, impatience, harshness, unbelief, treachery, selfishness, strife, discord, and raging, burning lust. They love lying, rebellion, and murder. They, and the people who choose to follow their path, will reap death forever because they are unable to cease from sowing death.

It is this angelic punishment that is the darkness that fills the minds of people who still are bound by sin and self-centeredness.

In the Day of the Lord, the Life of Christ, which is the true Light of the world, will fill the Body of Christ. Then the nations of the earth will come to that light and be healed of their unbelief and fear.

And the Gentiles [nations] shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. (Isaiah 60:3,4)

The saved peoples of the earth will come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the revelation of the Glory of God that has entered the people of God. The saints will teach the nations the ways of the Lord and they will walk in His paths. "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3).

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16)

When the members of the Body of Christ are one in Christ in the Father, the world will believe God has sent Jesus as Christ and King of kings (John 17:21-23).

The return of Christ will be as the lightning that shines from horizon to horizon. This is because the Light of God will enter the Lord’s people, raising them from the dead and glorifying them in the eyes of earth’s peoples. The enemies of the saints will behold this manifestation but will be powerless to prevent it in any manner. God will set a table before us in the presence of our enemies.

Those who serve the Lord today, performing His righteous works, will be blessed of the Lord. Their light will help to save those around them. In the Day of Christ they will shine as the stars. Their light today is as a day star heralding the morning of the great Day. This is true of the way of the righteous.

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: (Isaiah 58:10)

The Christians who have chosen darkness rather than light, who are walking in sin and self-will, will be dealt with accordingly by the Lord. The salvation that is coming to each of us will be the consequence of what we have chosen to become and to do. Those who have sown light will reap light a hundredfold. Those who have sown darkness will reap darkness a hundredfold. There is no understanding more urgently needed in the Christian churches of today. Those who sow darkness will reap darkness, and those who sow light will reap light.

Each human being, including each Christian, will be judged after he or she dies. Each human being will receive the things he has practiced in his body (II Corinthians 5:10). Ignorance of this truth has produced the moral chaos that abounds in the Christian churches.

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