THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE, I AM
GOING TO LET IT SHINE,
AND NOT
HIDE
THE CANDLE UNDER A
BUSHEL
The Light is Jesus the Son of
God
Charles e
Whisnant, Pastor-Teacher/Apprentice
Matthew 5:14-17; Mark 4:21-26:
Luke 8:16-19;
Selected Verses
John
1:4-9 In
Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend
it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the
Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was
not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man
coming into the world.
John
3:19-21
And
this is the (verdict) condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and
men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does
not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his
deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
· This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people
loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. All those who do
evil hate the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds
will be exposed. But those who live by the truth come into the light, so that it
may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of
God
John
12:46 I
am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide
in darkness.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
· Whose minds
the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
· The god of
this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light
of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2
Corinthians 4:6
6For
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.
So
we have in those handful of verses uses of each of the three biblical metaphors
for light applied directly to Jesus.
·
Jesus’
light is virtuous or good.
·
Jesus’
light gives vitality or life.
·
Jesus’
light is the source of vision or knowledge.
But
Jesus and the New Testament writers who follow him don’t stop there. The
God-light which is Jesus is also to be the light within God’s
people.
In
fact, this idea of God’s people bearing the light of virtue and vitality and
vision has biblical past history in the Old Testament. Perhaps you remember what
happened when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai?
Exodus
34:29-30
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony,
he didn't know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking
with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his radiant face, and held
back, afraid to get close to him...and he passed on the commands, everything
that God had told him on Mount Sinai.
In
Isaiah, God plainly communicates His intention that His light would illuminate
Israel so that their light would brighten, so to speak, the whole
world.
Isaiah
60: 1-3
Arise,
shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See,
darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD
rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.\
Matthew
5:14-16 Jesus picks up on this prophetic vision and
announces to those listening to His teaching (read below)
Paul’s
epistles regularly draw on the metaphor of light, placing it right at the center
of the Christian message.
Colossians
1:12-13
Giving thanks
unto the Father, which hath made us qualified to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light: 13Who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
· In this
passage, Paul brings together this light metaphor with Jesus’ most consistent
gospel language, that of the kingdom of God, which Paul can call the Kingdom of
light and the Kingdom of the Son. The light metaphor is so closely linked to the
core of Christian teaching that I’d go so far as to say that if you really
understand it, you really understand the
gospel.
· Ephesians 5:8-13 8For ye were sometimes darkness,
but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and
righteousness and truth;) 10Proving what is
acceptable unto the Lord. 11And have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12For it is a shame even to speak of those things which
are done of them in secret. 13But all things that
are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest
is light.
This
is one of my favorite passages using this figure of speech. Paul describes
salvation as the transformation from darkness to light. He doesn’t say “you were
in the darkness” but “you were darkness and now you are light.”
Then
he calls for Christians to live as Children of the light – which he describes as
living virtuously (light as goodness.) The fruit of the light is synonymous
here with the fruit of the spirit. And then—and this is my favorite part—he
turns the metaphor from light as virtue to light as vision, when he talks about
how light makes everything visible, namely the action and character of people.
He adds a final thought – everything that is illuminated becomes a light. In
other words, anyone who is in the light of God, becomes a light to
others.
1 John 1:7 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
·
To John, walking in the light has direct implications for our relations with other people. It is not just having our sins forgiven but being made holy, being “purified of all sin.” We don’t just have the light shine on us once, we walk in the light. Walking in the light is holy living and the hallmark of holy living is love. So it is no surprise when a couple of verses later he writes:
To John, walking in the light has direct implications for our relations with other people. It is not just having our sins forgiven but being made holy, being “purified of all sin.” We don’t just have the light shine on us once, we walk in the light. Walking in the light is holy living and the hallmark of holy living is love. So it is no surprise when a couple of verses later he writes:
1
John 2:9-10 9He that
saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10He that loveth his brother abideth in the light,
and there is none occasion of stumbling in
him.
·
The
idea that God’s people are intended not just to be receivers of light but
sources of light for the world.
·
I
want us to pause for just a moment and think about what all this means for us.
·
Sometimes
Christianity is understood to be little more than an arrangement whereby if we
believe the right doctrine, we get to go to heaven when we die. But we must
compare this idea to what we have just read.
The Christian life, is the life lived in the light of God.
The Christian life, is the life lived in the light of God.
·
Followers
of Moses and Jesus and Paul are those who live in the kingdom of light, who heed
the command to live as children of the light. They are those who walk in the
light to let their light shine before others. These are the straightforward
biblical commands:
Walk
in the light.
Live
as children of the light.
Let
your light shine before others
