A Life Full of the Divine Attributes (4)


	A Life Full of the Divine Attributes (4) I. From The Old Testament, We See God Operates As Light In His Creation, in His Calling, And in His Administration God's creation, His calling of Abraham, and His giving of the Law at Mount Sinai all involved light, which is one of the definitions of who God is (1 John 1:4). When God operates, God comes in as light. And if you understand how God operates as light in these three matters - creation, calling, and administration - it is very likely you well grow properly, for the Old Testament pictures apply spiritually to our Christian life today. God as Light Creates For Us Whatever We Lack First of all, you must realize that God is the One who is still creating for you whatever you need, and this creation comes in light. If you are under God's shining, you will realize that God has created everything in your situation for you that you may grow. If you have such an understanding, you will be saved from murmuring and complaining, and will instead be full of appreciation for God's operation. God as Light Energizes Us to Respond to His Calling Secondly, as a called one, you must be one who has God's appearing. Stephen told us that God appeared to Abraham as the God of glory at the time He called him out of Chaldea to the land of promise. When glory comes, light comes, and thus we respond to God's calling. We need to continue on as God's called ones by following the God of glory. God as Light Brings Us Under His Administration Eventually, by means of light we must be brought into God's administration. In the Old Testament that expression of God's shining at Mount Sinai came out in a sobering and warning way, as God appeared with lightning and thunder. In that kind of atmosphere God unveiled what kind of God He is through His commandments. In His divine administration He is a God of holiness and righteousness. Under His shining, we realize that we cannot touch His administration in a light way. II. In The Gospels God Came As The Light Of Life (John 1, 8) A. God's economy is carried out through life, and this life is realized through light (John 1:4) When we come to the New Testament, we can see that there are two stages to the Lord's coming as light to us for God's operation. First of all, God came through incarnation, and in Him was light, and this light was now the light of men. In the incorporation of the God-man, Jesus Christ, God's economy (the Word) became flesh (John 1:1,14). This very economy of God is a matter of life, but this life must become light to men before it can become life to men, for in order for this life to come to man, it must be transmitted as light. In other words, if you do not receive the shining of this life, you cannot receive the life itself. Christ can be incarnated, Christ can be a man, Christ can be life, and Christ can be all things, but without light Christ is someone and something apart from us, in another sphere. Light is the very medium for God to work with man and for man to see God. Since the life has the light, God's economy can be carried out. All of our spiritual experiences in God's economy, our experiences for God's economy, and our experiences unto God's economy, eventually are in this light. Light is this crucial. B. God's light enlightens and causing a response that attracts some The Case in John 8 In John chapter 8, you have a woman who was caught in the midst of committing sin. The Pharisees brought this woman to the Lord Jesus and said, "Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. What then do you say?" Then Jesus operated as light, not by argument. Jesus could never have convicted them by arguing. The Pharisees, however, were convicted by Jesus and did not throw any stone. Eventually, one by one, they departed. Why was this? It was because the Lord was the light, and as the light He shined upon them. When the Lord was stooping there and began to write things on the ground, He was magnifying Himself as light. All the people standing by Him, even though they were hot and angry, were somewhat enlightened. They were not enlightened to see Christ yet, but at least they were enlightened to see who they were. They might have thought, "I have never committed this kind of sin, but this kind of sin is within me. It's just by God's mercy that I didn't perform it." Everyone realized, "Who am I? I am just a sinner. I need God's mercy." So eventually, due to this shining, everyone departed. After His enlightening, the Lord said, "I am the light of the world. Whosoever follows me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall receive the light of life." The previous verses were a matter of judgment. But here, the Lord spoke about the matter of following. In Light We are Attracted to Follow the Lord When light comes, there is an attraction. A person in light is a person who is pursuing. If a person is not pursuing, at least at this time, or in this day, he is short of light. When light comes, you pursue. A person in light is a pursuer. This is why the Lord says, "I am the light of the world. Whosoever follows Me…" When light comes, you will not only have a proper understanding of the spiritual things, but you will also follow the Lord. True True Experience of the Light Produces Change We often hear among us how good a meeting or conference was, but for some reason many of the saints throughout the years have remained the same after all these good meetings and conferences. Therefore, instead of saying how impressed we are, I hope from now on we can all say, "I am so changed!" A number among us come to the meetings for the social aspect of the church life. Because they are pursuing something in the church life besides the Lord, they remain the same year after year. A person in the light is attracted to the Lord and pursuing the Lord. If we are those who have been attracted by the Lord as light, when some shining of this light comes from a testimony, or while we are pray-reading, or in fellowship, it will cause us to have a change. If we are not able to receive the light that comes with the life, we will go on as we have, regardless how impressed we were or how much we "enjoyed" the messages. Apart from Light, Life's Operation is Confined When the life cannot be light, our relationship to God becomes confined, for our relationship to God is a matter of life. We received Jesus as our life, but the transmitting element of this life is light. The real, operative effectiveness of this life comes through its shining. So perhaps we should ask when others tell us how much they enjoyed a message, "Did it change you?" If we can say "I am deeply changed," instead of "I was deeply impressed," then we know light has come. Light produces the operation of life. Regardless how strongly life operates, if we are unable to receive its light, life becomes very limited in what it can do in us. May our daily Christian walk and church life be always under the effect of the light of life! B. Light regulates our operation in God's economy Twelve Hours in a Day for Our Labor Indicates there is Time Enough for Us to Labor in God's Eternal Economy The Lord said, "Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks in the day he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world." (John 11:9) and "…we must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is yet day" (John 9:4). Number twelve is the number of completion in God's economy in eternity. This is why the New Jerusalem has twelve gates, twelve layers of foundations, and many other dimensions of twelve. The Lord seemed to be saying that today, at this time, while we are living in time, we are also living in eternity. This is why He stressed that we have twelve hours in which to work today. In other words, you do have enough time work out something eternal of God's economy. Light is something associated with the day, so it is always sufficient for our labor today to accomplish something in God's eternal economy. We Feel There is Not Enough Time Because We Waste Our Time The reason we feel we do not have enough time is that we involve ourselves with too many unnecessary, foolish, or wasteful things. We tell the brothers, "I'm so busy that I don't have enough time to take care of what God has committed me with," when in fact we have wasted our time foolishly on things the Lord has not measured to us. When the light comes in, you always find that time enough has been given to you to carry out what God has appointed to you in His eternal economy. Light regulates your operation in God's economy. Therefore, if you do not labor while it is day, you are in trouble. And if you use the "daylight" God grants you for some other purpose, you also are in trouble. Learn to say, "Lord, today I do have twelve hours of light. And in all my days, I would use these twelve hours for the work You have appointed me, that is, to carry out God's economy, to build up the local churches, and to nourish and to cherish the saints in Your Body." The Lord has given us time enough to build up the New Jerusalem, but to do so you must treasure the light. When we live in light our whole being will be regulated and we will be able to operate properly. C. Light operates to produce God's testimony (Matt. 5:14-15) We Were Lit to Shine as a Part of God's Corporate Testimony, Not In Our Limited Individual Circumstances In the church age, the believers are also the light of the world, the city upon the hill that cannot be hidden (Matt.5:14-15). The Lord said that a man (the Lord Himself) does not place a lamp under a bushel. God has lit you to be on the lampstand. But your problem is that, when you are lit, you like to be put in a half-bushel. A half-bushel is a barely significant quantity of measure. But this is what most people are proud of. People say, "Praise the Lord, I'm a great light now!" "Where?" "In the company where I work." This is to be under a half-bushel. The light is supposed to be on the lampstand for a corporate testimony. No individual is to be independently shining as the light; every individual is to be a part of the Body of Christ as the light. This word indicates that even when the Lord was on the earth, He already had His corporate testimony in view. We magnify Christ not as individual lights placed in our individual situations, but as part of a corporate shining lampstand. The Lord is magnified by us corporately. This seems to be a difficult thing for us to grasp, since as soon as the Lord produces us as luminaries to be shining as part of His lampstand, we sprout legs and run off to shine under other circumstances. No matter how impressively we can shine as individuals in our neighborhoods or jobs, however, what the Lord is after is a corporate testimony. III. In Resurrection, Light Illuminates the Knowledge of the Glory of God In The Face Of Jesus Christ Second Corinthians 4:6 says, "Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." God's Shining in Our Hearts is For Us to Know the Face of Christ We are all are in darkness. Out of darkness, God said, "Light!" and light came to shine in our hearts. A veil was then removed, but after the veil was removed something happened. Outwardly, it is the knowledge of the glory of God that comes in, but when you touch this knowledge, you find out that it is reflecting the face of Jesus. What is our heart? It is our soul plus our conscience. Actually this is one operation; our spirit's intuition brings in fellowship, and fellowship brings in a good conscience, which in turn generates more opportunity for the operation of the spirit's intuition. You cannot say these three things are like an ear and an eye, for they are interrelated and form one entity. The Lord's work within always begins from the intuition. In this way God triggers something within you that prompts a desire for further fellowship with Him. Out of this fellowship, a good conscience is produced. This conscience then begins to influence and dominate your heart. For instance, if your mind is thinking of something, your conscience regulates you, telling you, "Don't think this! Don't even think in this way!" Thus your person lives according to a good conscience. A spiritual man is a man whose heart is regulated in this way. If a person is regulated by the Lord's operation through his intuition, fellowship, and conscience, then that person is a spiritual man. Now God wants to work to bring about something within us and, as we have seen, His working is by means of shining as light. He is the God who said, "Out of darkness light shall shine" (2 Cor. 4:6). This indicates that our hearts were utter darkness before the Lord came. This kind of darkness is not merely the kind you experience when it is cloudy outside! We were in total darkness. Then the Lord shone, and when that light shone, it shined in our hearts. Our conscience was made alive by that shining and began to lead our person. Then we had a heart that was somewhat spiritual. What was this shining producing in us? It made clear, manifested, illuminated, the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ. We are all were in darkness, but God said, "Light!" and light came to shine in our hearts. A veil was removed. But after the veil was removed something incomprehensible happened. The knowledge of the glory of God came to us reflected in the face of Christ I'm very burdened for this particular verse because it is related to your relationship with Christ. Your relationship with Christ must be something beyond sensation or feeling. You were in darkness, but eventually you were brought to the light for the illumination of the glory of God in the face of Christ. If today I were to ask you, "What does the Lord look like?" how could you respond if you never experienced the shining of this light? This very light shines in our heart, not only to remove all the darkness, but also to magnify the knowledge of the glory of God. This knowledge of the glory of God is focused on the person of Jesus, on the face of Jesus. You will then clearly know how He looks. Eventually God's desire is for us to have a relationship with Jesus; not a Jesus of sensation or doctrine, but the Jesus known through the shining of God's light in our hearts. We should experience Jesus to the extent that we are not only removed from darkness but also are brought into the knowledge of glory of God in the face of Jesus. Can we tell the Lord, "Lord, I love You. I desire to have such a life. Rather than pursuing so many other things I desire to live by a clear vision of Your face." May the Lord have mercy.