Stepping in the Light

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” III John 2-4

In his greeting at the beginning of his third epistle, John expresses his wishes that Gaius, the recipient of the letter, would prosper and be in health physically as his soul prospered. John obviously esteemed Gaius as a very spiritual person, and John was pleased to have heard about the strength of his relationship with the Word of God. At the end of the passage above, John refers to “my children,” giving us the impression that Gaius was one of his converts. John rejoiced because of how much of the Bible Gaius knew (the truth that is in thee) and that Gaius was living his life according to scripture (thou walkest in the truth). John said that he had no greater joy than to hear that his converts were living according to scripture. How much does the Bible influence your life in a week’s time? Does the truth of scripture affect how you talk? Does it affect the places you go and the people you spend time with? Does it influence the way you spend your time and your money? If John had led you to Christ, would he be happy to hear about the things that are important to you and the way you spend your discretionary time? Every Christian’s goal should be to live every day walking in truth. We must first endeavor to know the Bible, and then we must decide to obey it.

“In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.” Daniel 5:5

Belshazzar must have felt invincible. He had inherited a world empire and seemed to believe that he was entitled to his position. He apparently wanted to flaunt the wealth and power that had been given to him. He had evidently spent enough time looking through all of the treasures that were brought to Babylon from around the world to know about the sacred vessels from the temple in Jerusalem. Belshazzar had made a feast for a thousand of his lords. He called his servants to bring the vessels from the temple of God so he and his lords could use them to drink to their idols. What Belshazzar did not understand was that those vessels had been dedicated to the one true God, the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and earth. He did not realize that God was watching him and was angered by his blasphemy. As Belshazzar and his lords were drinking, they saw a hand writing a message on the wall. He could not understand the message, so he called for someone to read it and interpret it for him. When Daniel was brought before the king, he read the writing and gave the interpretation. Belshazzar’s kingdom was found lacking in God’s eyes, and it would be finished that very night. There is a message for all mankind in the handwriting that Belshazzar saw that night. God rules over all things, and no man can ever take His glory away.

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” I John 5:13

We often sing, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine; Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!” But what is it that we are singing about? The message here is that it is a tremendous blessing to know for sure that you are saved. The song goes on to say, “Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His spirit, washed in His blood.” If you know that you have received salvation, that you have been born again by the Spirit of God, and that your sins have been washed away by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, you have something to be excited about! It seems that many people lack this degree of confidence in their salvation. One of the main causes for doubts is a deficiency in understanding regarding what it means to be saved. John helps us sort out whether we are saved by giving us an absolutely fool proof test. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (I John 5:12). The previous verse declares that God has given us eternal life in His Son, Jesus Christ. If we have received Christ, then we have eternal life. The assurance of salvation cannot be based upon our own merit. We do not deserve to be saved. Salvation is a gift. Either we have received Christ or we have not. How can we know that we are saved? It is because the Bible says so! God gave us His promise, and we can rest assured that He will keep it.

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” Daniel 1:8

Everything in Daniel’s life had been turned upside down. His city was overrun by invaders, and he was taken captive and forced to make the long march from Jerusalem to Babylon. His family, his home, his belongings, and his social standing were all stripped away from him; they even changed his name. But Daniel loved the Lord, and he decided that no matter what happened to him, he was not going to break his covenant with God. Daniel had made up his mind. Come what may, he was not going to eat the food that was declared unclean in the Law of Moses. With this determination rooted deep within his heart, Daniel began to seek for a way to avoid conflict and prolong his life. He respectfully requested a dietary exception, and when that was denied, he sought to allay his superior’s fears by proposing an experiment. God miraculously honored Daniel’s faith and determination, and He used this initial phase of testing in Babylon to put Daniel in position to have an impact on the course of history. Life is sometimes like a raging river that can carry us along with overwhelming force. Daniel is a great example to us because he understood that his relationship with God was more important than everything that was happening around him. Like Daniel, we should purpose in our hearts that we will always be faithful to God and His Word.

“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.” I John 3:2

Genesis tells us that we were created in God’s image, so we can assume that as we learn more about ourselves, we can in some way be learning more about God. We think and experience a broad range of emotions, and there are a number of places where scripture reveals God’s thoughts and emotions to us. This helps us to understand Who God is and endeavor to pattern our thinking after His. God presents His holiness as His primary attribute, and He commands us to live our lives in holiness according to the pattern He has set for us. After thousands of years, God became man in the form of Jesus Christ. As He lived His life here on earth, Jesus set an example for us to follow in our attempts at godliness. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Striving to be more like Christ is the essence of the Christian life, but none of us come close to attaining the level of selflessness and righteousness that He achieved. The Apostle Paul said, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:19). John lends some encouragement to us in our struggles by assuring us that one day when we see Jesus we will be like Him. We don’t know everything that that means, but John told us that this hope itself should challenge us to purify our lives.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” I John 2:15-17

The word world has a wide range of meanings. In one context, it can mean the earth, while in another it can mean the general public. The word is used a number of different ways throughout scripture, and most of the time we must depend on the context to help us determine its meaning. Because Christians are commanded not to love the world, it is easy to get the idea that the world in the passage above is something external. But John defines the term here so that we can understand his intended meaning. He says that the world consists of “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” All three of these are internally generated responses to our surroundings. Therefore, we need to concentrate our efforts on our response to the things of the world rather than upon the world itself. Pride and fleshly desires reside within every person. The people who give themselves over to these desires and attitudes constitute the world, but they themselves are not the enemy of the Christian. Our enemy lies within us. It is our own pride and sinful desires. These earthly things will pass away, but God wants us to love Him and love others so that our lives will bring honor to Him.

“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 John 1:5

The existence and properties of light are used throughout scripture as metaphors that help us understand spiritual principles. The first spoken words recorded in the Bible were when God said, “Let there be light.” God is the Creator of the light that we see in this world. We are told in Genesis that God divided the light and the darkness. If you walk into a dark room and turn on the light, the darkness disappears. Darkness and light are separate from each other. The Gospel of John introduces us to Jesus as the active member of the Godhead in creation, and it makes application of the imagery that poses light as spirituality and darkness as carnality. Speaking of Jesus, John says, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:4-5). The spiritual life within Christ was a light that shown forth upon the spiritual darkness and carnality of mankind. Jesus was surrounded by people who did not understand Who He was. They did not appreciate what Christ offered to them in the spiritual sense. The Jewish people were anticipating the arrival of a deliverer from Roman oppression; not a Redeemer Who would save them from their sins. But the light of Christ was not just for one nation of people. “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). Spiritual light shines forth to every person on earth because of the life of Jesus Christ.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” II Peter 3:9

Some people say that they don’t believe the Bible because they don’t believe that a loving God would send people to hell. This may be a fair argument from the human perspective, but it certainly reveals a lack of scriptural knowledge. It is true that God created all things, including hell, but Matthew 25:41 tells us that hell was created for the devil, so hell was never intended for mankind. Furthermore, the passage above makes it clear that God does not want any person to go to hell. However, God is holy, and He does not allow sin into heaven (Revelation 21:27). Even one sin would be enough to keep a person from entering heaven. The Bible teaches that God loves us, and it is His will that every person should be saved. In His own likeness, God created us with a sovereign will. He allows us to choose what we believe and what we do. Therefore, it becomes a battle of the wills. God’s will is for man to be saved; man’s will is to cling to his own self-righteousness. This prideful thinking sometimes manifests itself in the form of religion by proclaiming man’s innate goodness, and sometimes it takes the form of humanism, agnosticism, or atheism by casting doubt upon the existence of God. No matter how strongly man is opposed to believing and accepting God’s plan, God’s will is that man would repent and accept His gift of eternal life.

“The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.” Ezekiel 37:1-3

In a vision, God set the prophet Ezekiel down in a valley full of dry bones. When Ezekiel saw the vision, he must have wondered where the bones came from, how long they had been there, and why God was showing them to him. In real life, such a sight would have seemed to have been the aftermath of disease, famine, or war. The bones were very dry; every sign of life was long gone. As Ezekiel looked around, the Lord asked him, “Can these bones live?” Humanly speaking, the answer would have been, “No,” but Ezekiel responded, “O Lord God, thou knowest.” God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and tell them that they would live. In the vision, as Ezekiel began to preach to the bones, God began bringing them back to life, and they became a great army of living, breathing people. Then God told Ezekiel that the vision was about the house of Israel. The Lord was showing him that He was going to bring the nation of Israel back together, they would one day possess the land that He had given them, and they would become a nation again. As He was comforting His people, God was showing us that He can breathe life into anything.

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:26-27

The Israelites had hardened their hearts against God for many generations. Numerous times they bound themselves into a covenant with God where they solemnly promised to worship and obey Him. Each time they promised, they went back on their word. As we follow the history of Israel in the Bible, the people continued to drift farther and farther from the way that God wanted them to live. They ignored the feasts and Sabbath days. They began to bring sickly and blemished animals for their sacrifices and eventually stopped making the sacrifices altogether. They began to worship other gods and set up idols in groves throughout the land. They eventually desecrated the temple itself by bringing in false idols and making sacrifices to them instead of to the true God. They displayed a blatant disregard for everything God said, and they mocked, persecuted and even killed the prophets that He sent to them. Israel had a heart problem. As a people, they had a heart of stone. God told Ezekiel that He was going to give the people a new heart so that they would change their attitudes and begin to obey His commands. How would you characterize your attitude toward the things of God? If you have strayed from His will, submit to His Word and ask Him to give you a new heart.