1 John 1:5 And this is the message which we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all, and in the New Jerusalem God Himself in Christ as the Lamb is the light of the holy city, illumining everyone in the city.
Such a great city in a cubic form, greater than any other metropolis in the world, needs a great deal of light. God Himself is the light of the city, and He is so approachable, communicable, and touchable in Christ as the Redeeming One.
If we would touch God Himself as light, we would be terminated – just as if we were to touch the light source, we would be burnt. But in Christ and through Christ God shines as the light, and we get to know all the riches of God’s being.
The first thing we enjoy in the New Jerusalem is God Himself as light, since nothing can be seen or enjoyed without light shining on them. The more the light shines, the more we see how rich God is and how wonderful is His divine nature! In the holy city there will be no more night – God Himself will be the “sun” that will never go down (see Rev. 22:5).
Today we can have a foretaste of the light in the New Jerusalem by coming to the Lord in the light, walking in the light, and being in the light. When we open to the Lord, His light shines on us and His blood is available to cleanse us from any sins exposed by the light.
As His light shines on us, the divine life grows in us. As we walk in the light, we have fellowship with God and with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin. We need to have the day-by-day experience of opening to the Lord, welcoming His light, and walking in the light, cooperating with the light by confessing our sins, allowing the light to shine on us, and being infused with God’s life.
This light is the light of life and it makes us children of light, even light itself in the world. By enjoying and experiencing God in the light today we have a foretaste of the New Jerusalem, and in that day we will have a full taste of being in the light!
God as the Light is in the Lamb as the Lamp
In the city of New Jerusalem we have a particular kind of light – not the sun, the moon, the stars, or any other natural kinds of light, and not any man-made lights (there’s no “street lights” on the street in the New Jerusalem). The light in the New Jerusalem is the redeeming and shining God, God Himself as light in the Lamb as the lamp (see Rev. 22:1, 5).
God shines in His glory to be the light of the city, and the lamp through which God shines is the Lamb, the Redeeming Christ (Rev. 21:23). God is the content, the light, and Christ is the container, the lamp, shining out God to all those in the city.
When Christ came, He came as the light of the world, and in Him was life – and this life is the light of men (John 1:4-5, 14). Without Christ being the Lamb, the Redeeming One, we can never contact God or come to Him, since we are sinful and in darkness.
We need redemption, and Christ came as the Lamb, opening a new and living way for us to touch God and enjoy Him in the light. Now we can come to God in the light and walk in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sins (1 John 1:7).
Whenever we contact God, His light shines on us and exposes our sins, and we confess – He forgives us and washes us with His blood. Today and for eternity Christ is the Lamb of God in whom God is the light to be experienced by us. God is in Christ and is one with Christ, and Christ expresses God and shines out God in a way that we can enjoy and partake of.
We cannot touch the light source, but we can enjoy the light being made warm and pleasant to us through the lamp, the light bulb. In the same way, God is light and He is glorious, but for Him to be enjoyed by us as the light He is in the Redeemer, Christ. In Christ and through Christ we can see God and enjoy Him.
God as the light is in the Lamb as the Lamp, and by His shining we can see, enjoy, and partake of all the wonderful aspects of Christ and all the riches of the divine nature. All the other items in the city – the river, the tree, the throne, the wall, the foundations, etc can be enjoyed through the shining of the light.
When God shines in us and when we walk in the light, we can enjoy what God is and what He has constituted in the saints. We should have no hindrance for the light to shine but rather deal with anything that would obstruct the light.
Experiencing Being in the Divine Light as a Foretaste of the Light in the New Jerusalem
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.
Today in our Christian life and church life we need to experience being in the divine light. We need to open our entire being to the Lord, live and walk in the light, and be in His light all the time (1 John 1:5, 7). Light is God Himself to be enjoyed by us in Christ as the Redeeming One day by day.
We don’t have to “ask God to give us light” necessarily; light is in us, in our spirit, and the more we open to the Lord, the more His light will shine on us, in us, and through us. When His light shines in us, we will see the dark things, the wrong and bad things, and we will confess.
Everything that the light exposes needs to be confessed, and then we will have fellowship with God and with one another in the light. The more we open to the light, the more God in Christ as light will shine, and the more we will be both exposed and infused with God!
Making a decision to do this or that doesn’t help, and making a promise to read the Bible every day may not change us; what changes us is the shining of the divine light in us. We should not obstruct or withhold light but let it shine in us.
What we need most of all today is God’s light shining in us, eliminating all the darkness and death, and making us crystal clear concerning the riches of His divine nature. We need to let the divine light have a free way in us. We need to let His light shine in us and penetrate in us, exposing and illuminating us so that life may be generated and we may have a genuine growth in life.
Nothing changes us by the divine light; the constant shining of God’s light on us changes us. As He shines on us, we can see His divine nature and enjoy the riches of His being. His light establishes and confirms us in our experience of the Triune God.
Today we need to let His light shine in us, be in the light, experience the divine light, and walk in the light to have a foretaste of the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem we will have an intensified experience of God’s light, and today we can “get used to the light” by having our entire being in the light and doing everything in God’s light.
The church life today should be filled with light with the saints walking in the light and shining out Christ! When we are full of light, we are full of God’s glory, and the church life becomes glorious as the testimony of Jesus!
Lord Jesus, we want to walk in the light as God is in the light so that we may have fellowship with one another. Lord, bring our whole being in the light. Our need is more light! We open to Your shining. We welcome Your warm, soothing, exposing, and infusing light. Enlighten us. Shine on us. Expose the darkness. Wash us with Your precious blood. Keep us in the light. Keep us walking in the light. May the church life be filled with light. Make the church a miniature of the New Jerusalem, the city full of light!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minor Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msg. 431), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 6 / msg 6, The Lamb as the Lamp with God as the Light.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Walk in the light, thy path shall be / Serene and clear and bright; / For God, by grace, shall dwell in thee, / And God Himself is Light. (Hymns #658)
# Christ is the way and Christ the light of life, / In Him we walk and by Him we are led; / Christ is the living water and the food; / Of Him we drink and we with Him are fed. (Hymns #863)
# Look! No need of lamp nor sun nor moon to keep it bright, for / Here there is no night! … / Now we have a home so bright that outshines the sun, / Where the brothers all unite and truly are one. (Hymns #1151)
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