Light In A Dark World

February 16, 1992

Exodus 27:20-21

Matthew 25:7 Our lamps are going out ...

Introduction

I am using The One Year Bible for personal devotions this year. February 7 there was an interesting juxtaposition of Exodus 27 and Matthew 25. There is the common theme of oil lamps and the need to keep them burning bright. And the Old Testament passage spoke to me.

Granted, there are passages in the Old Testament that require patience, lists of names and the like. But the Old Testament is still the Bible. It is part of God's inspired revelation.

Jesus knew and loved the Old Testament scriptures, and quoted from them. He urged even His critics to search the scriptures. "They testify of Me!" He said.

This passage in Exodus can illuminate one very vital Gospel truth. It is the simple command of God to keep the light burning in the inner room of the Tent of Meeting.

I. A LIGHT IN THE TENT OF MEETING

AN OLD TESTAMENT 'PICTURE-LESSON'

God had delivered His people from bondage in Egypt. They were "free," but they were in the desert. God was leading them to a place they knew as the Promised Land. God led His people by one miracle after another. God STILL leads His people, and it is always a miracle when God enters into the affairs of men and women.

God met with His people in a special way in a place called the "tabernacle," or Tent of Meeting. It was a holy place because it was there God's Presence was manifested.

The assignment for the priests who looked after the Holy Place is the message of our text: they were to keep the lamps burning with a supply of pure olive oil so that there would be a light in the Tent of Meeting. They were never to let the light go out. This task was a relatively simple chore. Not too exciting. Not too difficult. But necessary. A light in the inner sanctuary, the holy place.

JESUS PICKS UP AND EXPANDS ON THIS OLD TESTAMENT THEME:

The idea of a well-tended, ever-burning flame in the Holy Place gives insight into (or at least resonates with) the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. You probably know the story line.

The setting of an ancient Mid-East wedding is too remote, culturally, for us to make too much of the specific customs. A lot of sermons have been preached about what this or that signifies.

But there is one vivid lesson Jesus drives home: A lamp or lamps that were supposed to be burning bright are flickering and going out. And somehow the results of that darkness when the Bridegroom comes are disastrous! Just when the oil is most needed the cry is, "Give us some of your oil! Our lamps are going out!"

Probably not one of us here this morning has given thought that today might be the day when we meet the Bridegroom, or when He might return and call for our lamps to shine. But what could Jesus have been teaching in this parable?

II. EACH PERSON HAS A HOLY PLACE, A 'TENT OF MEETING' A GOD-ROOM IN YOUR HEART!

Wherever or however God speaks to you, that God-connection is the most important thing in all the world! GOD IS SPEAKING TO YOU!

When the world is convinced that God has spoken in a special way to this or that person, the religious of the world tend to build a shrine, and people come by the thousands.

But God wants to speak personally, unmistakably, to each one of us!

A PERSONAL GOD-CONNECTION IS 'CRAZY TALK' TO A MODERN WORLD - Make no mistake: the very idea that God Himself meets with you or me is revolutionary. It takes a miracle. We may not think too much about it. Or, we may submit to the spirit of the age and think that God-business is a "personal matter," or listen to the propaganda that God is the Great Irrelevancy. Whatever we think, God still intends to make a keep a connection with each one of us in this present world (as un-holy as it is)! GOD WANTS TO SPEAK WITH YOU!

God has put within each one of us a "Tent of Meeting." There is a place built into the human personality a place where we can pray, and where we can approach God. Everyone prays sometime or another. It is this holy place that God wants to help us furnish. This is the ONE PLACE where a pure light needs to be kept burning.

This simple "chore" of keeping a flame burning in our Meeting Place with God is easy to overlook. So many OTHER things seem important in this "business-of-being-Christian!" Do this! JOIN here! LEARN these rules! BUT NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TO SEE THAT THE LIGHT OF OUR FIRST LOVE NEVER GOES OUT!