Light of Christ

“ The sun gives light to every green leaf and every blade of grass, shining hour by hour and moment by moment. And is the sun nearer to the blade of grass than Christ is to man's soul? Verily, no; Christ is around us on every side; Christ is pressing on us to enter, and there is nothing in heaven, or earth, or hell, that can keep the light of Christ from shining into the heart that is empty and open. ”

“ Christ saith, “I am the light of the world, he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness.” He directs us only to himself. He is the morning star, and is generated and riseth in us, and shineth in the darkness of our nature. ”

“ Jesus Christ, the Light of the world—the Sun of Justice, who had risen in the East with healing in his beams—had gone down to the grave, had closed His earthly career, and the world henceforth, so long illuminated by the presence of the bright Sun of truth and grace, would have no longer any other light to shine upon it except the reflected light of the Catholic Church. ”

“ That is to say, there is no part of her darkened, but she is all throughout wrought into light and spirit, and is full of eyes all over, and has no such thing as a back part, but in every direction is face forward, with the unspeakable beauty of the glory of the light of Christ mounted and riding upon her. ”

“ For by gospel light we have the knowledge of the glory of God, which shines in the face of Jesus Christ, v. 6. And the light of this Sun of righteousness is more glorious than that light which God commanded to shine out of darkness. It is a pleasant thing for the eye to behold the sun in the firmament; but it is more pleasant and profitable when the gospel shines in the heart. Note, As light was the first-born of the first creation, so it is in the new creation: the illumination of the Spirit is his first work upon the soul. ”

“ Christ is the Light. In that 'Light shall we see light.' And just as it needs the sun to rise in order that my eye may behold the outer world, so it needs that I shall have Christ shining in my heaven to illuminate the whole universe, in order that I may see clearly. 'Believe and thou shalt see.' For only when we trust Him do the mightiest truths that affect humanity stand plain and clear before us. ”

“ Like the light of the sun, the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will cover the whole earth; it will speak from land to land and from kingdom to kingdom, until it deluges the whole earth with the brilliancy of its light and the glory of its power. ”

“ I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God.—When God shall put out Christendom's light in 1918, He will blind the minds of ecclesiasticism (heaven) (A. 318) , and deprive their pulpit stars of wisdom from the true apostolic stars, the Apostles. (D. 591) . He will darken the understanding of the Gospel (sun) of Jesus Christ (D. 590) with the cloud of the Time of Trouble; and the light (truth) of the Mosaic Law shall not shine forth in her. ”

“ The early church and apostles were a light because they believed, experienced and practised in life the whole Word. The Bible was written in their hearts as well as in the book. The Bible never changes. God never changes, the nature of faith and grace never changes, and true gospel light never changes. What created light in the first century of this Christian era will create light in any other century, and nothing but what was light in the primitive days of Christianity will be light at any other time. Whatever may be claimed to be light, if it is not the light of Christ, is a false light. ”

“ Christ was, according to Saint John, "the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world"; and "that Light was the life of men." "The Light shone in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." ”

“ It is not, as some representations would make it, a vague, nebulous light diffused through space as in a chaotic half-made universe, but all gathered in that great Light which rules the day—even in Him who said: ‘I am the Light of the world.’ In Christ the love of God is all centred and embodied, that it may be imparted to all sinful and hungry hearts, even as burning coals are gathered on a hearth that they may give warmth to all that are in the house. ”

“ Christ is the sun, the fountain, of the lights both of grace and glory; ministers, as stars, shine in both, with a light derived from him, and a diminutive light in comparison of him; yet to those that are earthen vessels it will be a glory infinitely transcending their deserts. They shall shine as the stars of different magnitudes, some in less, others in greater lustre; but, whereas the day is coming when the stars shall fall from heaven as leaves in autumn, these stars shall shine for ever and ever, shall never set, never be eclipsed. ”

“ The fruitfulness of the light is not put upon its right basis until we come to understand that the light is Christ Himself, who, dwelling in our hearts by faith, is made in us as well as 'unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and salvation, and redemption.' The beam that is reflected from the mirror is the very beam that falls on the mirror, and the fair things in life and conduct which Christian people bring forth are in very deed the outcome of the vital power of Jesus Christ which has entered into them. ”

“ First, let us listen to those which followed them, and then let us consider how far we dare explain them. 'The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. ”

“ To be like "God manifest in the flesh"—what is it but to realize a mental development and maturity far transcending all that the wisest ever attained to in this mortal state, perpetual union of our redeemed humanity with the Divinity, and a blissful process of assimilation going on forever? Christ is light without darkness; and to be like him implies a clearness of understanding and a certitude of truth free from all prejudice, distortion, and blinding error. ”

“ The one light which illuminates the dark recesses of one's own heart, and makes us feel how dark they are, and how full of creeping unclean things, is the light of the love of God that shines in Jesus Christ, the light that shines from the Cross of Calvary. ”

“ No darkness is too dense, no barrier too strong, for almighty grace to remove. Has the Sun of Righteousness arisen in our hearts? How may we know? Jesus tells us (John iii. 21) —"He that doeth truth cometh to the light." God is Light, and His Word is a light that makes all things manifest. It shows sin, how black it is. It reveals the hollowness of the world, the glory of Christ. It points out our dangers, our disease, our wants, and our foes; while it sets forth the remedy of all our ills, the great Refuge and Deliverer who can save unto the uttermost all who confide in Him. ”

“ I know that in it, the beautiful Christ-nature was portrayed; and I read with infinite longings to find Him the "unknown God;" and bright revealings come to me through this Book. I feel that it is Divine, and the light grows upon me; and sometimes like the Apostles, who awakened in the night, and saw Christ transfigured before them, I also saw a transfiguration. I lose sight of the mere material man, and I perceive an inner glory of being, a radiance of wisdom, and purity, and love, that clothe Him in a Divine light, and make His countenance brilliant with a spiritual glory. ”

“ We shall be 'light' if we are 'in the Lord.' It is by union with Jesus Christ that we partake of His illumination. A sunbeam has no more power to shine if it be severed from the sun than a man has to give light in this dark world if He be parted from Jesus Christ. ”

“ The Spirit and the Word mean the divine perfections that appeared in the Reality of Christ, and these perfections were with God; so the sun manifests all its glory in the mirror. For the Word does not signify the body of Christ, no, but the divine perfections manifested in Him. For Christ was like a clear mirror which was facing the Sun of Reality; and the perfections of the Sun of Reality—that is to say, its light and heat—were visible and apparent in this mirror. If we look into the mirror, we see the sun, and we say, “It is the sun.” ”

“ Or, in other words, as He says in the Bible, the moon has been "made to rule the night." So you see that even the moon does not shine by its own light.
Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. All the good there is in the world, all the righteousness, all that is holy and pure, come from Jesus Christ. The Church is also a source of purity, of holiness, of religion, and of Christianity. But the church does not shine of itself. It does not have these influences within itself. All its light is derived from the Sun of Righteousness. ”

“ Christ himself is the upper light, and we are the lower lights, and the cry to us is, Keep the lower lights burning; that is what we have to do. He will lead us safe to the sunlit shore of Canaan, where there is no more night. ”

“ All the divines of every school have always said that there is light enough in nature, if with true docility and love men would follow it. Christ came to shed more light on our path, not the only light; to lift up the lame man, not to create limbs for him or to be limbs for him. ”