Eventually our shining will give glory to the Father. “Thus let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in the heavens” (Matt. 5:16). The title “your Father” indicates that the Lord Jesus is speaking to those who are regenerated children of God (John 1:12; Gal. 4:6). The good works here are the behavior of the kingdom people through which others may see God and be brought to Him.
Our shining will glorify the Father because it expresses what God is. To glorify God the Father is to give Him the glory. Glory is God expressed. When the kingdom people express God in their behavior and good works, men see God and give glory to God. God hidden is God Himself. But when God is expressed, that is the glory of God. If as the kingdom people we have such a shining light, God will be expressed in this shining, and all those around us will see the glory, God expressed. When others see God in our shining, that is the glory of God.
In Matthew 5:14a the Lord Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” Then in 14b He goes on to say, “A city situated upon a mountain cannot be hidden.” As the shining light, the kingdom people are like a city situated upon a mountain.
Some may wonder why the Lord Jesus uses a city on a mountain as an illustration of the believers as the shining light. If we are in the building of the church in a practical way, we shall realize that only by being built together can we be a city situated on a mountain. This city becomes a shining light. The saints in the churches are now grouping together in their neighborhoods. If this practice becomes prevailing and the saints in these groups are built together, every group will be a part of the shining city situated on a mountaintop.
The light in 5:14 is not an individual person; it is a builded city. This indicates that the kingdom people need the building. If the saints in the church in your locality are not built up, but are scattered, divided, and separated, there is no city there. And as long as there is no city, there is no light, because the city is the light; the light is not an individual believer. The light is a corporate city built up as one entity to shine over the people surrounding it. In order to shine upon others outwardly, we need to be built up as a city on the mountaintop. Every local church in the Lord’s recovery must be a builded city.
In the book of Revelation the churches are golden lampstands (Rev. 1:20). The principle of the city and the lampstand is the same: neither is individual; both are corporate. The lampstand, like the city, is not an individual believer but the church. If we are outside the church, we are not a part of the lampstand. In order to be a part of the lampstand, we must be built into the local church. The local church, which is the lampstand, is likened by the Lord to a builded city set on the top of a mountain. If we are built up in our locality, we shall be on the mountaintop. But if we are scattered, separated, and divided, we shall be in a low valley. In every locality there must be one lampstand, one city situated on a mountain. For this, we need to keep the oneness and remain one entity, a corporate Body. Then we shall be able to shine. But if we are divided, we are finished with the shining. When we have truly been built together, we shall be the city on a mountaintop shining upon those around us.
The city situated on a mountaintop is elevated above all the surroundings.
The Lord Jesus says that the believers as a city situated upon a mountaintop cannot be hidden. It is impossible for such a light to be hidden.
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