Message Six

The Great Light

Scripture Reading: Isa. 9:1-5; 42:6; 49:6; 50:10-11; 2:5

1. The light in Genesis 1:3 is a type of Christ as the real light—John 1:4-5, 9:
   1. Christ is the true light of the universe; He is the rising sun from on high, the bright morning star, and the Sun of righteousness—Luke 1:78; Rev. 22:16b; Mal. 4:2.
   2. The physical light in Genesis 1:3 is a type of Christ as the spiritual light for the new creation—2 Cor. 4:6; 5:17:
      1. Light is necessary for generating life; according to a great principle in the Bible, light is for life, and where light is, there is life—John 8:12; 1:9, 12.
      2. In Genesis light is for the old creation, but in the Gospel of John light is for the new creation; the old creation was brought into existence through physical light, whereas the new creation is brought into being through Christ as spiritual light—vv. 4-5, 9, 12; 8:12; 12:36; 2 Cor. 4:6.
2. The divine light is the nature of God’s expression, it shines in the divine life, and it is the source of the divine truth—1 John 1:5-6; John 1:4; 8:12:
   1. Light is God’s shining, God’s expression; when God is expressed, the nature of that expression is light—1 John 1:5.
   2. The divine light shines in the divine life, for light and life go together—John 1:4; 8:12; Psa. 36:9.
   3. The divine light is the source of the divine truth; when the divine light shines upon us, it becomes the truth, which is the divine reality—John 1:5, 9; 8:12, 32; 18:37.
   4. The divine light, which shines in the divine life and issues in the divine truth, is embodied in the Lord Jesus, God incarnate—1:1, 4, 14; 8:12; 9:5; 14:6.
3. Christ is the great light for shining in darkness and for release from bondage—Isa. 9:1-5:
   1. As the great light, Christ is the true light, the light of life—John 1:9, 4; 8:12:
      1. Christ is the unique light; apart from Him there is no light—12:46.
      2. In order to have true light, we must have Christ in an experiential way—Micah 7:8; John 8:12.
      3. We can see light only in the light of Christ; if we want light, we must receive Christ and touch Christ—Psa. 36:9b.
   2. As the great light, Christ shines upon the people walking in darkness and upon those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death—Isa. 9:2; John 1:5; Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13:
      1. Christ is the light to be the salvation of God—Isa. 49:6.
      2. Christ saves us by shining on us; His shining upon us as the great light is our salvation—Acts 9:3; 22:6; 26:13.
      3. The inner shining of Christ is His saving us from the darkness of death—Isa. 9:2; Matt. 1:21, 23; 4:16; 2 Cor. 4:6.
   3. Christ’s shining as the great light upon God’s people releases them from bondage in darkness, breaks the yoke that has been upon them, and destroys their enemies and destroys their armor—Isa. 9:3-5; 10:26-27.
   4. The prophecy in Isaiah 9:2 was fulfilled in Matthew 4:16:
      1. When Christ came to Galilee, the people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those sitting in the region and shadow of death, light sprang up.
      2. Christ’s ministry did not begin with earthly power but with heavenly light:
         1. This light is Christ Himself as the light of life, shining in the shadow of death—John 12:46; 8:12.
         2. Christ is the great light with the power to attract people and capture them—Matt. 4:17-22.
      3. In particular, the Lord’s teaching was the shining of a great light; every word that issued from His mouth was an enlightening word, and the people in darkness were enlightened by His teaching—Mark 1:21-22.
   5. We can see the Christian life in Isaiah 9:1-5 with the enjoyment of Christ as the great light; through His shining, He saves us and breaks the yoke of our burden, the staff on our shoulder, and the rod of our oppressor.
   6. Christ was called by Jehovah to be a light for the nations—42:6:
      1. Christ is the true light that shines over the world and enlightens every man to enliven man for regeneration; He is the light for God’s people to receive God as life—John 1:4, 9, 12-13; 1 John 1:5; 5:11-12.
      2. Christ is the divine, marvelous light to open the eyes of the blind and to deliver God’s chosen people out of the darkness of death, the death-realm, the authority of Satan, into God’s life-realm of light—Isa. 42:7; Acts 26:18; Col. 1:12-13.
      3. Although Isaiah 49:6 refers to Christ, whom God made a light to the Gentiles so that His salvation might reach to the ends of the earth, the apostle Paul, who was one with Christ in carrying out God’s salvation in Christ, applied this prophetic word to himself in his ministry of gospel preaching—Acts 13:47.
      4. God has called us out of darkness—the expression and sphere of Satan in death—into His marvelous light—the expression and sphere of God in life—1 Pet. 2:9.
4. We were once darkness, but we are now light in the Lord, and we should walk as children of light—Eph. 5:8-9:
   1. As God is light, so we, the children of God, are children of light—1 John 1:5; Eph. 5:8; John 12:36.
   2. We are not only children of light; we are light itself because we are one with God in the Lord—Eph. 5:8; Matt. 5:14; 1 John 1:5.
   3. The fruit of the light in goodness, righteousness, and truth is related to the Triune God:
      1. God the Father as goodness is the nature of the fruit of the light; therefore, goodness in Ephesians 5:9 refers to God the Father—Matt. 19:17.
      2. Righteousness refers to God the Son, for Christ came to accomplish God’s purpose according to God’s righteous procedure—Rom. 5:17-18, 21.
      3. Truth, the expression of the fruit in the light, refers to God the Spirit, for He is the Spirit of reality—John 14:17; 16:13.
5. He who fears Jehovah and hears the voice of His Servant should trust in Jehovah so that he may have light while walking in darkness—Isa. 50:10-11; Psa. 139:7-12, 23-24:
   1. Those who make light for themselves and walk in their self-made light instead of God’s light will suffer torment—Isa. 50:11.
   2. This should be a warning to us so that we may walk in the light given by God, not in the light we make for ourselves—1 John 1:5.
   3. “Come and let us walk in the light of Jehovah”—Isa. 2:5.
6. As the shining light, the believers in Christ, the kingdom people, are like a city situated upon a mountain, a city that cannot be hidden—Matt. 5:14:
   1. This light is not an individual believer; it is a corporate city built up as one entity to shine over the people surrounding it—16:18:
      1. The city is the light; if there is no city, there is no light—Rev. 21:23-24.
      2. If we are divided, we are finished with the shining; in order to be a shining city, we must keep the oneness and remain one entity, a corporate Body—Eph. 4:1-6; 5:8-9.
      3. If we would become this city of light, we need to be built up as the Body of Christ—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:16:
         1. To be built up with fellow believers is the Lord’s supreme and highest requirement of His faithful seekers according to the divine oneness of the Divine Trinity—John 17.
         2. Being built up with fellow partakers of the divine life is the highest virtue of one who pursues after Christ according to God’s eternal economy—Eph. 2:21-22; Phil. 3:7-12.
   2. Ultimately, this city of light will consummate in the holy city, the New Jerusalem, and “the nations will walk by its light”—Rev. 21:10-11, 23-24.