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The Glorious Light of God’s Lampstands – Week 51 / December 16th
“Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with
Me. And having turned I saw seven golden-
lampstands, and in the midst of the seven
lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed
with a garment down to the feet and girded
about the chest with a golden band.”
“The mystery of the seven stars which you saw
in My right hand, and the seven golden lamp-
stands: The seven stars are the angels of the
seven churches and the seven lampstands
which you saw are the seven churches.”
Revelation 1:12-13; 20
In the first chapter of Revelation Jesus is discerned or seen by John in the light of the seven lampstands. These seven single standing lampstands we are told are the Seven Churches of Asia. The more brightly they burn so the more clearly Jesus is seen. The message is therefore inescapable; Jesus is seen in the world by the light of His people! The question then must be, “How great is this light?”
The nature of this light
Naturally then, this light is not just any light; no, it is the light of holiness or godly living. In the following chapters of Revelation Jesus addresses this very issue when He turns His attention to the spiritual state of His body on earth. Sadly only two of the seven churches of Asia that He scrutinizes escape His rebuke. That is, the church at Smyrna and the church at Philadelphia. This in turn means that by the end of the first century the light of His glory and presence had been severely diminished in His people the church. There were many reasons for this not least of which the pride and arrogance of leaders, immorality, lack of zeal, rejection of authority and false doctrine.
Do we for one moment think that things are different today? The world desperately needs the light of Christ but it cannot see Him because the church is too far from God in distance and likeness! This should cause us to weep.
The words of Paul
Paul tells us that Jesus must become four things to us:
1. Wisdom from God
2. Righteousness
3. Sanctification…..and,
4. Redemption
1Corinthians 1:30
Wisdom from God means that Jesus alone is the ultimate truth. When we know Him the truth about all other things becomes clear. For example; a person who knows the truth of Jesus will never condone or endorse abortion. The light of Jesus’ truth teaches us that to abort children is in fact murder. The same is true about family, marriage and most importantly salvation. Jesus is the only way to God the Father since He Himself declared that He is the way, the truth and the light and the only way to His Father. Those who truly know Jesus declare these truths no matter how unpopular they may be in the world. Wisdom is defined as the ability to apply truth correctly.
Righteousness is a gift given to us when we embrace Christ by repentance and faith. First of all it is imputed and thus covers all of our sins as a gift. Because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross our Father in heaven sees us as perfect and spotless all the time. We are therefore, as Paul put it in his Ephesian epistle, “accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6) However, righteousness is also imparted to us in that we become “the thing” that God sees when He imputes righteousness to us.
This real impartation of actual righteousness to us is a lifelong process called sanctification. The light of Jesus teaches us that we have not evolved but have in fact devolved and are thus in desperate need of character transformation which is defined, measured or understood by the perfection of Christ. Jesus, by His Spirit, changes us, cleans us up and empowers us. In short, He is our sanctification and as we walk with Him on a daily basis by prayer, fellowship, Bible study and communion we become like Him. (Acts 2:42)
The light of Christ therefore redeems us or buys us back from darkness, wickedness, sin rebellion and the devil. Jesus’ people are therefore a redeemed people or a people who have found friendship, wholeness and meaning to life in Him. Blessed are the people who live like this!
A world shone upon
When the local church becomes these four things its light burns brightly and suddenly Jesus appears in the light. As a consequence the world is shone upon and is drawn to what it feels and sees in the lives of God’s people. This is a challenge and high calling that we each one should aspire to. As the people of God we count it our chief joy and privilege to please God, shine for Him and by so doing reveal Him to a lost world. As we speak His word the world should turn, look and see Jesus. This is our calling and we must embrace it fully. This is why we exist as a church and we must never forget it and therefore remember that Jesus warned the church at Ephesus that a lack of love and zeal for Him, if remaining unchecked, will force Him to remove its place of witness in the world. He would remove the light of His glorious lampstand (Revelation 2:5) and they would become irrelevant!
Christmas time
At Christmas time we rightly celebrate the light of God revealed to the world in Christ. Angels sang of the light as the glory of God broke upon shepherds in the fields, Wise Men followed this light as it, in the form of a star, led them to a manager where the Christ-child lay and men and women have rejoiced in this light down through the ages as it has impacted and transformed their lives. Jesus is the only light of the world so let us embrace Him anew this advent season and give His light to a dark and dying world.
Merry Christmas,
Malcolm Hedding
©Malcolm Hedding Ministries
2013Devotional