Because we have the Redeeming and Shining God as the unique light in the New Jerusalem, there is no need for natural or artificial light (see Rev. 22:5). This is true both for eternity and in the church life today.
As genuine believers in Christ we have the Triune God as the unique light in the mingled spirit inwardly and in His word outwardly, and we have no need of any man-made light or any natural light. God’s desire is to bring us fully into the Holy of Holies, the place where He Himself is the unique light.
We shouldn’t remain in the outer court (where we have the sunlight and the moonlight, the natural light) or even in the Holy Place (where we have the lampstand, a “man-made” light). We should enter into the Holy of Holies and remain in the Holy of Holies where God Himself is our light.
We shouldn’t trust in ourselves and try to “generate light” from ourselves, neither should we take others’ light as being the light for us; rather, we should personally come to the Lord Himself in our spirit and in His word to receive His light and be shined on by Him.
On the one hand we need no light except the Triune God as light within – He is the redeeming and shining One as the unique light, and we should live in His light. On the other hand, because we are still in the natural man, we need the light in the word of God – the entrance of His word gives us light (Psa. 119:130), and the Lord desires to shine on us as we are being awakened from our sleep (Eph. 5:14).
Since we have God Himself as light, we should not rely or try to obtain any natural light or artificial light – simply walk in the light of God through His Spirit within and His word without, and you will become one who enjoys a foretaste of the light in the New Jerusalem, the city of light!
The Light in the New Jerusalem is the Unique, Eternal, Divine Light, God Himself
In the holy city, New Jerusalem, there is only one light – God in Christ (the Lamb-lamp) shining throughout the city. The light of the New Jerusalem is the unique, eternal, divine light in which we all as God’s redeemed ones should live and move, both in the church life today and in the holy city for eternity (see Rev. 21:23, 25).
In the whole universe there are mainly three kinds of light:
- The natural light: the sun and the moon, created by God.
- The artificial light: the man-made light, the light man makes to have some sort of light.
- The real light, God Himself as light, the genuine light and the source of all light.
In the New Jerusalem, we have no need of sun or moon (natural light) or any man-made light, because God Himself is the light of the holy city. God shines in Christ as the Lamb-lamp and through the city as the diffuser to enlighten all the nations on the earth.
The three kinds of light can be likened to the three sections of the tabernacle and temple in the Old Testament. In the outer court there’s the natural light, the sun and the moon. In the holy place there’s the lampstand, a man-made and man-maintained light. But in the Holy of Holies there is no human light or natural light; this cubical space has only God Himself as light and as everything.
The New Jerusalem as the enlarged Holy of Holies has no need of man-made light or any natural light because it has God Himself as its light. In the New Jerusalem, God in Christ as the Spirit will be everything to us in His light!
The intrinsic essence of the New Jerusalem is God Himself shining in Christ as the light, and today we can enjoy and experience this by having God’s shining in our being so that He may also shine through us.
The intrinsic essence of a local church should be the real, genuine, and divine light; when people come in our midst they should sense an inexplicable bright shining light, and they should be cherished and enlightened by the light coming out of us as precious stones.
We all need to be under God’s shining and allow God in Christ as the Spirit to shine out of us. In such a light we can live and move to have a life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Don’t Generate Your Own Light: Live in God’s Light and Get into His Word!
As children of light, we the believers in Christ have God in Christ within us as our light, and we should not try to “generate our own light” but live in God’s light and get into His word to receive more light.
As seen in Isa. 50:10-11, God hates when we “light up our own fire” to have our own man-made light; the result of the light we can generate from ourselves doesn’t lead to good but rather damages us.
We are not here for introspection or human philosophy or good moral psychological principles to live by; we are here to wait on the shining God within us to enlighten us. We don’t need religious teachings or good human philosophy; we don’t need any kind of ethical and moral teachings to show us how to live – we have God as light within us, and He is the real, genuine, and divine light!
The only thing that will heal us, cure us, and save us is God’s light. According to the principle of the new creation, we have God in us as light, and we should never try to generate our own light (see 2 Cor. 5:17; 4:4, 6).
We have no need for anyone to tell us to love our parents or have a good behavior – we have the divine light in us shining in us and through us, and as we live in the divine light we shine God in our living.
However, there are some teachings and exhortations in the New Testament related to “children, obey your parents in the Lord”, “husbands, love your wives”, “wives, submit to your husbands”, “slaves, obey your masters”, etc.
This shows us that, on the one hand, God is the divine light shining within us, but because we still live in the natural man and in the world, we tend to not walk in the light but be sleeping and careless….so Paul tells us, Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you (Eph. 5:14).
Besides God as light within us we need to also read His word to receive and be strengthened in His light. The opening of God’s word gives us light (Psa. 119:13), and as we get into the word daily, we see light, we are filled with light, and we walk in the light.
We shouldn’t try to “make our own light” but rather exercise our spirit to read the word of God in a prayerful way, and God’s light will shine on us and in us. For the building up of the Body of Christ, we need to live under the shining of the radiant redeeming God as light through the word of God (see Eph. 4:16; 5:8).
Daily we need to read the Bible and pray-read the word of God, and God as light will shine on us and in us, and He will cause the divine life in us to grow. If we daily pray-read the word of God, we will be people filled with light and we will also bring God as light to others, causing them to go to the Lord and enjoy Him as light, grow in life, and have a breakthrough with the Lord.
Lord Jesus, You are our real, genuine, and divine light. In Your light we see light. Open up Your word to us as we read it in a prayerful way. Shine on us and shine in us, eliminating all the darkness. Keep us walking in the light as You are in the light. We refuse to generate our own light or walk in any natural light. We depend on Your shining light within and on Your living word without. Lord, we choose to exercise our spirit and live under Your shining radiant presence all day long today!
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 (pp. 4404-4406), 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.
- Further Reading: recommending ch. 4 in, The Application of the Interpretation of the New Jerusalem to the Seeking Believers.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Remove my covering, Lord, / That I may see Thy light, / And be deceived no more, / But all things see aright. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #426)
# May my mind be filled with His light, / May my spirit be shining so bright, / May His life bear much fruit, / May I be absolute, / To partake of the living Christ. (Song on Being Filled with Light)
# As rays of light from yonder sun, / The flow’rs of earth set free, / So life and light and love come forth / From Christ living in me. (Hymns #507)
# Thy Word is light, Thy Word is food; / Which doth enlighten and supply; / I long to read and feed much more, / For light and food to satisfy. (Hymns #813)
About aGodMan
"We shouldn’t trust in ourselves and try to “generate light” from ourselves, neither should we take others’ light as being the light for us; rather, we should personally come to the Lord Himself in our spirit and in His word to receive His light and be shined on by Him." This had so much meaning to me. The 'Light' shone on me and exposed how much I try to generate my own light and try to use the light of others. This is especially true regarding FB. While I love and NEED the speaking and fellowship from others (and in particular in my current situation) I cannot substitute natural or man-made light for The REAL light which is GOD HIMSELF shining in my Sspirit. PRAISE YOU LORD, YOU ARE THE REAL LIGHT OF LIGHTS!!!
How can we receive God’s light? There is only one condition for us to receive the light—the presence of an opening. There is no other condition. This is the only condition—we have to be open within. Nothing can stop light. The only way that light can be shut out is for a man to shut himself up. This is the first thing that we have to guard against. If a man has a predisposition about a certain thing and assumes that he is right, he is a closed person and cannot expect to receive God’s light. God’s light will only come to those who are empty, that is, to those who are open from within. Psalm 139:23 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart;/Try me, and know my anxious thoughts.”