God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:5, 7). How can we see God (who is light)? It is by being pure in heart (Matt. 5:8). If we are those who have a heart turned to the Lord and dealt with so that no veils would cover it and nothing would distract it, we will see the Lord and we will also see ourselves.
However, if we are in darkness and do not see the light, we should not try to manufacture light or take someone else’s light as our light, but we should seek the Lord, trust in His name, and be open to Him so that He may shine on us. Light comes only from God.
We have no right to “make light” or set up a fire to make light; we should rather seek the Lord, love Him, turn our heart to Him, and let Him shine on us. We are not the source of light, and we do not have light in and of ourselves; but if we are pure in heart, we will see God. Being pure in heart is like a diamond, something rare to find and difficult to discover.
Many believers are full of zeal and burning for the Lord and for His word, but not many have God’s light, His constant shining so that they would bring His presence wherever they go. May we be those who are pure in heart to see God and be filled with His light.
May we deal with any pride, arrogance, and any fleshly or soulish thing that veils us and hinders us from seeing God. May we be the Lord’s loving seekers who experience the word of God as a realm of the divine light.
Not Manufacturing Light but Relying on the Lord to Enlighten Us
Brother Watchman Nee has a few messages entitled, God’s light and self-analysis; Obsession and God’s light; Possession, Obsession, and God’s light. These are not messages on “psychology” but on how the light of God is different from any manufactured light or self-made light.
We should not manufacture light; rather, we should rely on the Lord to enlighten us (Isa. 50:10-11). Some may say that even though we can’t control the natural light, we can “make our own light” like electrical light, oil lamps, candles, and fire. However, in spiritual matters, we cannot and should not make our own light; if God doesn’t enlighten us, we should NOT seek light in ourselves but open to Him, trust in Him, and deal with our heart so that He may have mercy on us and give us His light.
We may fear God, obey His voice, and have His light; but suddenly, we may have a period of darkness; in times like these we shouldn’t trust in ourselves but trust in the Lord’s name, rely upon our God, and wait for the light of the Lord to shine. The only source of light in this universe is God Himself; if we try to make our own light by manufacturing it (like lighting a lamp, making a firebrand, etc), we will lie down in torment (see Isa. 50:10-11).
If we gird ourselves with self-made light, even though we may walk into the light of our own fire for a while, in the end we will lie down in torment, and the end is worse than the beginning. Only God is light; only God is the source of light; only in the light of God can we see light (Psa. 36:9); therefore, we should come to God for light, trust in His name, and wait on Him until He shines on us.
Christianity today is filled with “self-made light”, and the followers of many “spiritual giants” walk in the light that these ones have received – up until a point. We all need to personally come to the Lord and receive light from Him; for this, we need to humble ourselves, not trust in ourselves, and come to His word with an unveiled heart so that we may see God.
The only time we can know ourselves is when God’s light shines on us; the only way we can know God and His purpose is when we are under His light. If we are not under God’s light, we may not realize that we don’t sin; we may walk in the flesh or according to our natural man, but we don’t have any consciousness of it.
But when we are in the light, when God’s light shines on us, we see our true condition, we see God’s standard, and we repent, agree with the light, and allow the light to saturate us, guide us, and shine through us.
Lord Jesus, we trust in You and we rely on You to receive the divine light. We don’t want to manufacture our own light but rather trust in Your name, deal with our heart, and wait on You until You have mercy on us to shine on us. Lord Jesus, save us from girding ourselves with any self-made light, the result of which will be lying down in torment. Lord, have mercy on us and shine on us. Show us our real condition, and shine on us, in us, and through us. Lord, bring our whole being with our daily walk and living fully in Your divine light!
Being Pure in Heart under the Skylight to Receive Light from the Lord in this Age
The Bible doesn’t speak of God’s light merely in a generic way or merely in a personal way; rather, throughout the Bible we see that God shines through His speaking in a specific way in every age. In every age God shined with His light and there was a vision of that age with a ministry of that age; today in the last age God speaks and shines through the ministry of the age.
We see this in type in Gen. 6:16 in the ark (which typifies both Christ as our salvation from God’s judgement and the church as our salvation today); in the ark there was only one window which was on the third story toward the heavens. There were no windows on the side or on any other level of the ark; there was only ONE window toward the sky at the top story.
In God’s economy and in God’s church there is only ONE window, ONE revelation, and ONE vision; there is only one vision of the age. May we be those who see the ministry of the age and under the vision of the age to receive God’s light according to His revelation today.
In Paul’s age the Lord spoke through him and he had the vision of the age; Paul was strong, uncompromising and even jealous when he encouraged the believers to reject and not receive any teaching that is different than his (Gal. 1:6-9; Rom. 16:17; 1 Tim. 1:3). If one person in this universe is narrow it has to be God, who allows only ONE window into the church, ONE vision of the age; by His great and extreme mercy, the Lord has placed us right under this window.
What a skylight we see today in the church life in the Lord’s recovery! All we need to do is to be pure in heart in seeking God and we will see God, who is light (Matt. 5:8; 1 John 1:5). The Lord has spoken much through the ministry of the age, but do we see His light? Seeing is related to light; to see anything, we need light, and without light we can’t see anything. If we do not see God, then what do we see and what do we reflect? It’s all about seeing God and His heart’s desire through the ministry of the age according to the vision of the age.
Our desperate need daily is to enter and dwell in this realm of light; we daily need to humble ourselves before the Lord, have an attitude of humility, and not trust in ourselves but only in Him in coming to Him. We need to exercise our entire heart to seek the Lord and walk in the realm of the divine light. For us to know the truth, receive God’s dispensing, see God and receive His light, see the real situation, and walk a straight path through this dark age until the Lord returns, we need to have the right attitude and condition of our heart in coming to the Lord in His word and in the ministry of the age.
The light doesn’t come from the north, south, east, west, or from man; light comes from God, and it is through the one window – the one vision of the age. May we see the vision of the age, be under the skylight, and live and walk in the light as the Lord shines over us, in us, and through us. May we be those pure in heart who have the reward of seeing God today and living in His presence both today and for eternity.
Lord Jesus, we want to be those pure in heart who focus only on You. Lord, we want to see God according to the revelation of the age we are in. Shine on us. Keep us under the vision of the age to see what is in Your heart, what You are doing today, and what we should do to cooperate with You today. Lord, may we realize that in Your economy and in Your church there is only one source of light and from only one direction: God as light is shining from above through the vision of the age! Lord, may we have a pure heart to receive Your shining and live in the light today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and The Knowledge of Life, pp. 210-211 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 3 / msg 3, The Word of God Being a Realm of Light in the Experience of God’s Loving Seekers.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Shine Thou upon us, Lord, / True Light of men, today, / And through the written Word / Thy very self display; / That so from hearts which burn / With gazing on Thy face, / Thy little ones may learn / The wonders of Thy grace. (Hymns #902)
# But for me, I will wait on Jehovah; / I will look for the God of my strength; / In the darkness Jehovah will shine like a light; / Let my enemies no more rejoice. / For I fall, but then I will rise up; / Praise the Lord, Who’s the strength of my heart; / So for me, I will wait on the Lord Jesus Christ; / And in Christ I will rise up again. (Song on Waiting on the Lord)
# Bless’d are the pure in heart, / For they shall see our God; / The secret of the Lord is theirs, / Their heart is Christ’s abode…. / Lord, we Thy presence seek; / May ours this blessing be; / Give us a pure and lowly heart, / A temple meet for Thee. (Hymns #411)
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