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STAND & COMFORT Newsletter Light Without Darkness Falling stars are nothing but pieces of dust loosened by the vaporizing of ice. As the icy comet travels near the sun, the ice vaporizes and thousands of pieces of debris the size of a piece of dust or a speck of sand are released and fall into the earth's atmosphere. This causes them to ignite and results in what we call a meteor shower, or a display of falling stars. The Leonids meteor shower is an example of this phenomena. I thought of this while thinking of this verse: Exo 33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. A mortal man entering God's presence and taking one look at His face would instantly fall and die in flames just as the dust from a comet does when it gets near the sun. In my Bible program, these comments accompanied that verse from Exodus: "Thou canst not (KJV): . . . In such inconceivable splendour is the Divine Majesty revealed to the inhabitants of the celestial world, where he is said to 'dwell in the light which no man can approach unto.' (1 Ti 6:16.) By the 'face of God,' therefore, we are to understand that light inaccessible before which angels may stand, but which would be so insufferable to mortal eyes, that no man could see it and live." Perhaps we can draw a somewhat better picture of what the light of the glory in God's face is like by using the above comment about mortal eyes seeing Him. I've had occasion to be examined by an eye doctor. During the exam, he would take an extremely strong, focused light and shine it into one of my eyes for a time to examine the inward parts of the eye. The exam went on for about 15 minutes and that light was so strong I had to muster up some control not to try to look away from it. It actually hurt sometimes in its own way, but not a hurt that damages the eye. But the KJV note above says the angels stand in the light of God's glory while a mortal man would die in His presence. This ought to make us ponder the ramifications of the fall. What is the glory of God like? Is it like one would be totally enveloped by that strong light the ophthalmologist shined in my eye? Every defect in the eye that that light shines on is exposed to the ophthalmologist. On one occasion when I was experiencing "shooting stars" in my eye, it took him a while to find the cause, but the problem could not hide from that light. It reminded me of the verse, Heb 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Why? Because God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. Any darkness is immediately exposed. John wrote, 1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. I thought about what it would be like to live in that ophthalmologist's light. If his light would be impossible to live in in this natural world, how can we even think of a mortal man standing in the presence of God without suffering irreparable damage and most likely destruction? God is light, and infinitely more so than the eye doctor's light. Notice that the verse from 1 John says "God IS light." God doesn't HAVE light, He IS light. There is no darkness in Him at all, in all aspects of His being. I like what Clarke says in his commentary: "[God is light] The source of wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and happiness; and in him is no darkness at all-no ignorance, no imperfection, no sinfulness, no misery. And from him wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and happiness are received by every believing soul. This is the grand message of the Gospel, the great principle on which the happiness of man depends. LIGHT implies every essential excellence, especially wisdom, holiness, and happiness. DARKNESS implies all imperfection, and principally ignorance, sinfulness, and misery. LIGHT is the purest, the most subtile, the most useful, and the most diffusive of all God's creatures; it is, therefore, a very proper emblem of the purity, perfection, and goodness of the Divine nature. God is to human soul, what the light is to the world; without the latter all would be dismal and uncomfortable, and terror and death would universally prevail: and without an indwelling God what is religion? Without his all-penetrating and diffusive light, what is the soul of man? Religion would be an empty science, a dead letter, a system unauthoritated and uninfluencing, and the soul a trackless wilderness, a howling waste, full of evil, of terror and dismay, and ever racked with realizing anticipations of future, successive, permanent, substantial, and endless misery. No wonder the apostle lays this down as a first and grand principle, stating it to be the essential message which he had received from Christ to deliver to the world." Concerning Christ, the JFB commentary states, "God is light--What light is in the natural world, that God, the source of even material light, is in the spiritual, the fountain of wisdom, purity, beauty, joy, and glory. As all material life and growth depends on light, so all spiritual life and growth depends on GOD. As God here, so Christ, in #1Jo 2:8|, is called 'the true light.' I watched a movie a few weeks ago titled, "Amadas." It was based on a true story that took place about 25 years before the Civil War broke out, and some speculate that this event was one of the catalysts that eventually led to the outbreak of this war. In the movie, the slaves kept seeing Christians coming and praying at their prison and didn't understand who they were or what they were doing. Eventually, one of the Christian leaders gave the slaves' spokesman, himself a captive slave, a Bible. He could not understand the language to read it, but near the end of the movie, he showed a series of pictures of Jesus in the Bible to another slave and applied it to their own situation -- unfair arrest and the thought that they expected to be killed in the end, suffering an unjust death. At one point, the slave pointed to a picture of Jesus with the typical nimbus (halo) around the head and remarked on how the sun followed him. Whether or not you agree with the use of the nimbus in Christian art, the point in this scene was this: When the Son of God became flesh, His pre-existant glory was veiled, and when His work here was accomplished, He prayed: John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. The result of this prayer was that a Man was now glorified and able to enter into God's presence and behold His face: Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. What was the joy that was set before Him? For the first time in time and eternity a Man entered God's presence and the fulfillment of God's purpose for man began: Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Tinothy says of Jesus: 1 Tim 6:14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Jesus changed man's ability to stand in the presence of God because He established His righteousness as a free gift. He changed the situation in the spiritual realm. In the anology of the comet, where once some of the ice vaporized as it got near the sun, now it wouldn't. Where once the dust particles fell off the comet to fall to earth burning up in fiery flames, now they didn't. If that were to happen, you can bet that scientists would take notice. But only through the preaching of the gospel can men take notice that something has changed in the heavenlies through the death, resurrection, ascension and glorification of Jesus Christ. David prophesied this future event: Psa 140:13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence. Not only did Jesus open the way to God, but He has since been bringing many sons to the Father, preparing them for glory by His word and the indwelling Holy Spirit: Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. When the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, it was a visitation of glory accompanied by the likeness of fire: Exo 24:17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. So shall the second coming of Christ be when He comes to be glorified in His saints: 2 Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, We shall stand in God's presence because of Jesus, and we won't be harmed: Phil 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Because these things are true and will come about, Paul says to do the following: Phil 4:1 Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. We are to stand fast in the joy that is set before us: 1 Cor 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then FACE TO FACE: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; FOR WE SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS. ============== This newsletter will be sent out whenever I think there is something the body of Christ needs to consider, to build it up, to give it encouragement or comfort in hard times. To sign up for this newsletter, email Ed at edju@velocity.net
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