"The Word of Life and of Light"

“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.” Victorious in His moral conflict with sin and Satan (the adversary), He came forth the “Messenger of the covenant,” to show light to them “that sat in darkness and the shadow of death.” According as it is written: “The people that sat in darkness saw great light: and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, did light spring up.” “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. iv. 16, 17). “After that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel” (Mark i. 14, 15). “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people” (Matt. iv. 23). And when certain desired him to remain with them, he replied, “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent” (Luke iv. 43).

The testimony of John the apostle saith: “In the beginning was the Word (or ‘Logos’), and the Word (or ‘Logos’) was with God (or ‘Theos’); and the Word (or ‘Logos’) was God” (or “Theos”). “All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” “In him was life: and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” “That was the true light, which lighteth every man coming into the world.” That is, into the world (or “Kosmos”), created by the indwelling “Spirit of wisdom,” which was in the beginning with God.

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” saith the apostle (“and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.” “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” . . . . “John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me” (John i.). Jesus, as the Lamb of God, came after John; what, then, could he signify by his saying, “He was before me”? Evidently that which was the subject of his discourse in the beginning, viz.: “the Word (or ‘Logos’) that was with God” (or “Theos”). “The Life” and “the Light”; “the Truth,” “the Grace,” and “the Glory.”

The truth, set forth in this testimony, is in perfect harmony with that shadowed forth in the type. The light of the glory of Yahweh, that rested between the Cherubim, and over the mercy-seat, upon the Ark of the Covenant, in the Most Holy place of the Tabernacle, was there, in loving proximity to the Word; the law and the testimony that had been placed within the Ark. There, Jehovah communed with Moses, of “all things that he gave in commandment unto the children of Israel.” The light of the Father’s glory, now came to dwell in Christ. In him, as the true Ark of the Covenant, were deposited the commandments and testimony of Jehovah—the “Word of life”! Through him the Father did speak to the children of Israel, and sent them the “light of life.” Even the Word of truth, which, saith the Psalmist, “is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” This light the apostle Paul describes as “the light of the gospel of the glory of the Anointed One, who is the image of God.” “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. iv. 3, 6). This light, then, is the knowledge of the Gospel which reveals the “glory of the Anointed One”—and “the glory of God”—through Him.

According to the analogy of things natural—in the beginning of the creation of the natural world—the Word of God said: “Let there be light, and there was light”; so, in the beginning of the new spiritual creation in Christ Jesus, the Word of God “commanded the light to shine out of darkness.” And as the “Messenger of the Covenant,” Christ brought the Word of Life and light. The apostle Peter, addressing Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, reminded them of “the Word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: he is Lord of all.” The testimony of that Spirit-Word, through Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John viii. 12). “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light” (Ch. xii. 36).

“In him was Life: and the Life was the light of men.” Within the Ark of the Covenant the manna was kept. Of this manna Christ taught, saying, “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” “Verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven: but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” . . . “I am that bread of life.” . . . . “The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and are life” (John vi.). The Spirit-Word, testifying again concerning Himself, said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: No man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John xiv.).

“We feed upon the manna from day to day, in feeding upon the truth.” . . . . “Yet it is life-manna concealed” (Eur., Vol. I., p. 314). When the words of Christ (“the truth”) have been received and assimilated to the intellectual and moral nature of believers by faith and obedience, the apostle speaks of them as being “light in the Lord.” They are then prepared to obey the commandment of the Lord when He saith: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. v. 16). “For the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Prov. iv. 18).

Of the manna, it is said: “The taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil” (Num. xi. 8). The oil used in compounding the “holy anointing oil,” was for the anointing of the High Priest, the sanctuary, and all its furniture. This holy oil has been shown to be figurative of that holy anointing Spirit that sealed and anointed the “Cherub”—Christ Jesus. Pure olive oil was also commanded to be “beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always” (Exod. xxvii. 20). The oil supplied the basis for the light. In the antitype, the anointing Spirit is the illuminator. Through Him “the Word of truth,” “the Light,” “the Life,” “the Grace,” and “the Glory” have been revealed. Of that “Spirit of truth,” Christ said to His disciples: “He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John xiv.).

The anointing, indwelling in Christ, is the subject of the prophet’s testimony, when he saith: “The Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord: And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of Yahweh, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears” (Isa. xi. 2, 3).

The Spirit-Word (“the Logos”) testified again concerning Himself, saying, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John xii.). Of this, the budding Almond-rod that was laid up within the Ark of the Testimony appears typical. “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John v. 26).

Concerning that Word of Life, the apostle John still further testifies, saying: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have beheld, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of Life: For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and declare unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us” (1 John i. 1-2).

The testimony continually exhibits the Father as the great source of all things; and reveals more and more fully His great and glorious name as set forth in Moses and the Prophets. According as He hath said, “I, Yahweh, the First One and the Last One, and without me no Elohim” (Isa. xliv., Eur., Vol. I, p. 112).