Just over a week ago I had the pleasure of joining with a couple of other college students to spend an hour or so prayer walking in downtown Brainerd. Towards the end of our time we happened to run into a couple of foreign exchange students who attend CLC, the local college. Caleb, one our group, knew the two students who were from Brazil, so he introduced everyone and we spent a short amount of time talking. The day was rather chilly, and one of the guys asked Howny, one of the students from Brazil, if he had every experienced winter. Howny’s reply was that he had never even seen snow, and that he was surprised at how cold it was and how early it was getting dark. As we continued to talk, Caleb made the comment that in the middle of the winter it will get dark as early as 6:00 around the area, and Howny frowned, saying that he much preferred the long 
daylight hours of summer.
I didn’t think anything of the conversation at the time, but as I looked back over my day later that night, it struck me that this increasing darkness that is taking place in the physical world as we move into Fall and Winter is exactly what is happening across the world in a spiritual sense. We are moving towards a spiritual winter, one that will leave more and more people fleeing from the narrow path that threads its way through the mountains of life to reach the City of God to instead find shelter in all the turn offs and hostels along the way.
Perhaps the saddest thing that I see is that so many of my generation are so surrounded by the growing darkness that they cannot even acknowledge it. From birth through education and through life experience, all has pointed to the fact that there is nothing other than this deep-shadowed life. Is it any wonder, then, that there are constantly people falling away from the path or being cut down in their walk? Those who have no light and walk in the darkness have no defense from the traps and attacks, and the path that we walk upon is fraught with peril. Pits and snares wait to capture us, stones are ready to fall upon those who walk to close to the edge, and there are ambushes waiting to jump upon those who are not on their guard.
We as Christians are to be the ones who see the snares and dangers ahead, avoiding them and warning those around us of their dangers, but how are we to warn our friends that there is danger ahead when we are not even able to see our own path? Christian – if Christian you truly are – you have a light that should illuminate your path and allow you to guide those who are blinded by darkness. Do you?
In 2 Corinthians the Apostle Paul writes,
“What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘let light shine out of darkness’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:5-6),
and on those two sentences we shall dwell for the remainder of this essay. My goal here is to first explain, I. what the light is and what is its source, II. how we gain access to this source of light, and III. the outcome of receiving the light. For the sake of answering these questions we will begin with verse 6, since the light must first be shone before we are able to see the effects of it.
I. Firstly, what is the light? Paul makes it amazingly clear when he says that we receive, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.” It is the beholding and understanding of the glory of God that becomes a light to and in us. All knowledge is light, everything from the knowledges of science and philosophy to the knowledge of how to build a castle out of legos, but the only knowledge that will truly light our paths is the knowledge of the glory of God. All other studies add accent and color to the brilliant light of the Lord, but they are not the light. It is the difference between the stars on a clear evening and the sun at midday; one may be attractive to look at, but it does no practical good for the one who is attempting to see the way laid out before him. A man may spend year after year in deep study, excelling in schools and all knowledge, but if he has not the knowledge of the glory of God, it is worth nothing.
And what of the source of this light? It is “in the face of Jesus Christ.” Just as we can turn on a lamp and see the effects of its light in the room but you must look straight at the bulb itself to see its full power, so it is with Christ. We may look around us and see the effects of Jesus in other’s lives and in the world around us, but it will do us little good unless we look directly at the light itself. There is no other place outside of the “face of Jesus Christ” were a man may look and behold the glory of God. No other religion offers a light of this sort; not Islam, not Hinduism, not New Age, and not Atheism. They provide no light at all, saying “Go on in darkness, after you die you will see the light,” or “the light is in everything around you, just open your eyes and see,” or, “there is, was, and never will be any light.” Not so with Christ! He says, “Come to me and I shall light your way. Look, see? The end of your path is infinitely bright with joy, and though there may be shadowed moments it shall never be utterly dark.” In the face of Jesus Christ, the son of God alone, will we see glory that will illuminate our lives.
Which brings us to our second question, how do we receive the light? It is one thing to know that there is a light that exists and another thing completely to have one with you at all times. If all the earth is darkness, it is pleasant to know that there is a lamp in that church across the city, but what good does it do when we are in a far away and lonely place? Paul declares that, “God, who said, ‘let light shine out of darkness’ has shone in our hearts.”
Note that well, reader! It is God who has shone the light. We do not reach out and grab it, taking it to ourselves. Anyone can reach out and unscrew the bulb from a lamp, but simply taking the bulb with him into the darkness will do no good, it will still be dark. In the same way, we can study scripture through and through, memorizing verse after verse, we may attend church for years on end and serve faithfully, but unless the Lord is the one who shines the light all knowledge will be as dark as that bulb removed from its source of power. God is the one who must illumen the knowledge of His glory within us for it to have its good effect!
The Lord, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, says, “Look to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:22). That is the way we receive the light which we so desperately need! By looking unto Christ, and only by looking. The great preacher Charles Spurgeon said this when he spoke upon that passage,
“It is not, ‘look to yourself;’ if so, then there would be a being who might arrogate some of the praise of salvation. But it is ‘look unto me.’ How frequently you who are coming to Christ look to yourselves! ‘O!’ you say, ‘I do not repent enough.’ That is looking to yourself. ‘I do not believe enough.’ That is looking to yourself. ‘I am too unworthy.’ That is looking to yourself. ‘I cannot discover,’ says another, ‘that I have any righteousness.’ It is quite right to say that you have not any righteousness; but it is quite wrong to look for any. It is ‘look to me.’ God will have you turn your eye off yourself and look to Him. The hardest thing in the world is to turn a man’s eye off himself; as long as he lives he always has a predilection to turn his eyes inside and look at himself; whereas God says, ‘look unto me.’ From the cross of Calvary, where the bleeding hands of Jesus drop mercy; from the garden of Gethsemane, where the bleeding pores of the Savior sweat pardons, the cry comes ‘Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’ From Calvary’s summit, where Jesus cries, ‘it is finished,’ I hear a shout, ‘Look, and be saved.’ But there comes a vile cry from our soul, ‘Nay, look to yourself! Look to yourself!’ Ah, my hearer, look to yourself and you will be damned. That certainly will come of it. As long as you look to yourself there is no hope for you. It is not a consideration of what you are, but a consideration of what God is, and what Christ is, that can save you.”
– Spurgeons Sermons, Vol I.
That, I think, say it well enough. We walk in dark places, and darkness grows thicker around us as we go…if we desire a light all that is asked of us is to simply look; to gaze upon God and trust him. The God who created the world with no help from us neither needs nor asks any help from us in working our salvation. Look, and continue looking. In the Lord’s good time he will light your heart and you shall see as you have never seen before.
Which brings us to our third and final question. What are the results of receiving this light? But before I answer the question from this text, allow me to borrow an analogy from Paul Washer, another Pastor whom I greatly respect. Imagine that you were driving to meet a friend and when you arrived there you told them that as you had been crossing the train tracks only a few miles away you had been struck by the train. Your friend would never believe you, and for good reason! If any human, no matter how strong or resilient, was struck by a 300 ton train at 60 miles an hour, there would be some change in that person’s appearance. And do not underestimate our God, O man. He is absolutely, infinitely, more powerful than any train, and the shining of the light of the knowledge of His glory will most certainly have just as great an effect upon the person, though perhaps not in such a physically noticeable way.
With this in mind, examine yourself as we face the two changes that the Apostle says will come when your heart has received the light. (These are only two of many evidential changes that are stated throughout the New Testament…search the Word to find others). If you find that there has been a change wrought in your inner being, then rejoice that you have found evidence of God’s work. If not, I would encourage you to hold your life up against the rest of the Word to see whether or not you deceive yourself when you say you are a Christian.
The first thing that Paul says is that, “What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” If Christ has been shown to you for what He truly is, you will know full well that you are not Lord, and therefore you will proclaim Him and not yourself. Conversations will change from a way to tell others about your life or to make others laugh and become opportunities to tell others about the Lord and to show your interest in them. Your job will no longer be only a way to make ends meet, it will be a place where you serve others and seek to proclaim Christ as your Lord. Oh, the situations and applications of this truth are endless! When we behold all that God is, we shrink and become less that He might be more evident.
The second evidence is our service to others. “With ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” Note how it is not “with ourselves at your service for Jesus’ sake,” but instead, “ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” The difference is a great one, my friends. Those who do service have in their minds the list of service that they will do and go home satisfied when the list is complete. But the Lord will not allow that, no, we are to be servants of all; men and women whose life becomes a seeking after ways to serve any and all, so that Christ might be proclaimed.
I see in myself and in the others around me an attitude that is far from what is true. Somewhere along the way we’ve adopted the mindset that in this life we deserve times of rest and entertainment and happiness. Oh yes, there those times in this life, it is certain, but they are not our main goal, particularly as Christians. This life is our life of labor and toil, and in the next we are promised an eternity of rest and enjoyment. We feel as if we deserve to come home from school and work to watch television for an hour and get frustrated when there are other things that yank at our attention. We expect to be able to take several hours of a weekend shopping, and are perturbed when we are not able to. But Christ says, “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) He does not say that we will receive hours of rest or entertainment, but that we are to take heart in our toil and trial, knowing that there is something that will make it well worth the late nights and long days. As Christians this life is our opportunity to imitate Christ and lay down our lives for those around us.
For those who are faithful in their serving and toil, the Lord makes a mind-blowing promise in Luke 12:35-38 as Christ compares his people on earth with servants who await for a groom to return from a wedding feast.
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and d knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds e awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!”
Let that be an encouragement to those of you who weary in your service here on this earth; though the hour is late and everything in you cries “Rest! Rest! Cease from your laboring and sleep, the Lord will not return for awhile.” Stay your course, for those who he finds awake and at work upon his return he will reward. He will remove his royal robes and do as He did during that final Passover, dressing himself in the garb of a servant and bid those who have been faithful, saying, ‘Sit, my beloved, wrap yourselves in garments of righteousness and recline with your brothers and sisters as I lay before a feast!” What a joyous day that will be for those servants!
And I am done, my friends. For those of you who have experienced that glorious shining of the knowledge of the Glory of God within you, I urge you, proclaim Christ and serve others, for in those things there is much joy and assurance. Blessed are those who do so! If you are not a Christian, do as the Lord says in Isaiah and look to him. Look unto the Lord, oh ends of the earth, and be saved! No other knowledge or religion will save you or free you from the fears and captivity of this dark world. We walk in treacherous places, let Him light your path. Look to Him and he will shine that glorious knowledge within you and you will be transformed and be carried with absolute certainty through the greatest of perils, across range after range of mountain paths to the gates of Paradise.
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