PEOPLE THAT REBEL AGAINST THE LIGHT
"There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways nor abide in its paths." (Job 24:13)
God is the Creator of the world and of every person in it; "The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1). As such, he deserves our worship and total obedience to His instructions, which are being imparted into our lives through His Light. "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (1 John 1:5-6).
He communicates with humanity through various degrees of light—light of truth, light of mercy, light of knowledge, light of holiness, light of wisdom, light of knowledge, light of understanding, and so on. Those that will embrace these lights must obey God and avoid darkness. Every man has a reflection of God's light in their life, though we don't recognize it. It is the light of God's mercy that spared our lives till this moment.
Light is sovereign, and resistance to it is rebellion against it. God has given it to be a display of Himself, for God is light, and He has clothed it with a measure of His majesty and power of judgment. Rebellion against light has a high degree of sin in it. It may be virtuous to rebel against darkness, but what will be said of those who resist the light? truth, holiness, and knowledge?
It is wickedness to reject and rebel against the light of God.
"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, because you have rejected the word of the Lord. He has also rejected you from being king." (1 Samuel 15:23).
We cannot be said to rebel against anything except that which has power and authority over us. A man may oppose and contend with his equal, but he cannot be said to rebel against his equal; we rebel only against those that are above us.
It is rebellion when a child opposes his father and a servant opposes his master, because fathers and masters have authority over their children and servants. All rebellion is the breaking of the bands of subjection, and this happens when light is being rebelled against. Because light of heavenly truth is invested with all power and authority over us, it has the power to lift us up and the power to humble/cast us down. It has the power to persuade and the power to comfort; it has the power to kill and the power to bring back to life.
THE LIGHT OF DIVINE TRUTH
The Sun gives light to the eye, or outward man; the spirit of truth gives light by the word to the inner man. When God sends His word to people, He sends light to illuminate their dark minds and embrace the truth. Christ is the light of the world. His word is light as well.
1. Light is pure and beautiful, and it cannot be tainted; truth is the same. Though many people have attempted to corrupt the truth and word of God, the truth remains incorruptible forever and ever. Its beauty is not faded, nor is its purity stained, by all the filth of false doctrine which has been cast in its face from the beginning of the world to this day.
2. Light is pleasurable and delightful (Ecclesiastes 11:7). is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing to behold and receive the light of divine revelations, which ravish the soul and fill it with unspeakable delights. Truth is appropriate and pleasant to the understanding, encompassing great delights; "If your law had been my delights, I would have perished in my affliction." (Psalm 119:92), "Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me; yet your commandments are my delight." (Psalm 119:143). All David's troubles were overbalanced and conquered by his delights in the law, and all his delights and contentment were centered on the law. That light delighted him so much that it overcame all worldly darkness and even extinguished all his worldly lights.
3. Light has heat in it and is accompanied by influences. All living creatures are cherished and refreshed with the heat, while non-living things (stones, gems, and minerals) are concocted and refined with the warmth and virtue of it. So is truth; the light of the word carries heat and influences with it, to warm the heart and comfort if possible, to concoct the grossness of man's mind and sublimate it into heavenly purity.
"And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight" (Luke 24:31).
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4. Light discovers and makes manifest what truth is. "For every one that does evil hates the light, nor comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." (John 3:20-21). Light makes manifest. The word of God is a discernment of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It reveals this to us through the lens of the word.
"But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world "(Romans 10:18). The fact is that all men have received at least some light. The Lord Jesus Himself said: "This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light."... But he that does truth comes to the light (John 3:19,21).
CORNELIUS PRAYED FOR MORE LIGHT
Cornelius was such a man. He did not rebel against the light he had, but prayed for more light. Therefore, God sent Peter to him (Acts 10), and when he heard, he believed and was saved.
Perhaps God will send other "Peters" to any other "Corneliuses" who have believed whatever light they have (in nature, conscience, etc.) with the needed additional light to lead them to Christ.
The light of the word does not only offer advice and give counsel, but it gives out a command, which we must obey. Therefore, unacceptance of the word or resistance is rebellion. The light of God's word is like a king, with power and authority.
The truth is now the rule of living and it shall be the rule of judgment. "He that rejects me and receives not my words has one that judges him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him on the last day" (John 12:48).
It is the standard by which we must live for Christ, and it will be the standard by which Christ will judge us.
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THE KINDS OF PEOPLE THAT REBEL AGAINST THE LIGHT
1. Those that know and have seen the light, well-instructed people, who have been accustomed to teaching others, and yet turn aside to evil; these are grievous traitors. They commit horrid wickedness; they oppress the poor, the fatherless, and the widow; they detain the hired laborers and send them away hungry and thirsty when they have done their work.
They knew the light but decided to rebel against the light. God's light has shone on them, yet they rebel against God, the father of all lights.
This also includes the children of Christian parents who sin against their early training, upon whom prayer and entreaty, precept and example are thrown away. Hearers of the Word, who quench convictions deliberately, frequently, and with violence. Men with keen moral sense, who rush on, despite the reins of conscience which should restrain them. Hence, lewd professors who, nevertheless, talk orthodoxy and condemn others, thereby assuredly pronouncing their own doom.
2. Those who are aware of the existence of light but refuse to accept it; to know more than would be convenient, therefore they deny themselves time for thought, absent themselves from sermons, neglect godly reading, shun pious company, avoid reproof, etc.
3. Those who are aware of the light but refuse to accept it, as well as those who deceive others. They scoff and fight against it, calling light darkness and darkness light; infidelity, ribaldry, persecution. They darken it for others, hindering its operations among men, hiding their own light under a bushel, ridiculing the efforts of others, etc.
4. Those who are aware of the light but choose to disobey and rely on their dark knowledge. Walking away from the light is rebelling against it. Setting up your own wishes in opposition to the laws of morality and holiness is an open revolt against the light. Many presume upon their possession of light, imagining that knowledge and orthodox belief will save them.
5. Those that don't know the light and refuse to accept it. They would rather remain in darkness than embrace light, "whose minds the god of this age (Satan) has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them" (2Corinthians 4:4). They prefer to remain unforgiven as culprits, blindfolded for death. They sin with tenfold guilt, with an awful willfulness of heart.
If they don't repent and embrace the light, they will be cast into that darkness (Hell) which increases in blackness throughout eternity.
6. Those who prefer to walk in the darkness of sin, so that others do not see what evil they do; and those who prefer to walk in the darkness of ignorance, so that they do not see that what they do is evil. "Those who are drunken are drunken at night," according to 1 Thessalonians 5:7, and "it is shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret" (Ephesians 5:12). As every wicked man would be glad that he didn't recognize or know that he does evil, and try to extinguish the light of that knowledge in him, so most wicked men would be glad that no man knows of the evil that they do, and they do what they can to hinder others from knowing it.
As all gross hypocrites love the light, or to be seen while they are doing good, so the most wicked usually avoid the light, and love not to be seen when they are doing evil.
DEGREES OF REBELLION AGAINST THE LIGHT
1. It is very sinful and extremely dangerous not to love the light. "This is the condemnation that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light" (John 3:19). This is a condemnation against sinners who closed their eyes to the light when it came and disregarded it.
2. Disobedience or partial submission to light is exceedingly sinful. Jesus Christ shall at last be revealed from Heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that don't obey him as revealed (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8). It is evil not to do everything that the light directs us to do.
"For let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 5:6)
3. It is a great sin not to put the light in higher esteem than the enjoyments and comforts of this world. We should be ready to take a bold step to embrace the light of truth above all our achievements and traditions. "He that will be my disciple must forsake father and mother,... and his life too" (Luke 14:26). We should endure any torment by standing up for the light rather than rebelling against it.
4. We are subject to utter darkness when we neglect the light of the gospel. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by those who heard him?" (Hebrews 2:3).
The wisest man in the whole world cannot advise a man on how to escape eternal darkness.
Those who rebel against the light shall "go to the generation of their fathers, where they shall never see light" (Psalm 49:19).Those who rebel against the light of knowledge shall not enjoy the comfort of the light of comfort.
5. Those who rebel against the light usually embrace the soul monster and the things that are shameful to speak of. "For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty" (Psalm 74:20), that is, of cruel men who inhabit those places where the light of truth does not shine, places where they have no true knowledge of God among them. The Prophet Hosea shows in Hosea 4:1 that where there is no knowledge of God in a land, there is no truth nor mercy in that land but opposition, deceit, and falsehood.
"Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel; for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land." (Hosea 4:1).
CONCLUSION
Light is our best friend, and it is wisdom to obey it; we rebel against our own interests when we resist it. Light triumphs still. Owls hoot, but the moon shines. Opposition to truth and righteousness is useless; it may even promote that which it aims to prevent. Light would lead to more light. Consent to it, for it will be beneficial to your own soul.
Light would lead to heaven, which is the center of light. Light would give peace, comfort, rest, holiness, and communion with God while living on earth. Let us not rebel against light, but yield to it's lead; yea, leap forward to follow its blessed track. Let us become the allies of light and spread it.
It is a noble thing to live as light bearers of "the Lord and Giver of Light." Let us walk in the light, as God is in the light; and so our personal enjoyment will support our life's work.
Light must be our life if our life is to be light.(Charles Spurgeon)
All darkness is a rebellion against light. Let us "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." (Ephesians 5:11). Don't rebel against light; God is light and the fountain of all light.
Embrace the light of salvation and mercy, ye sinners. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
Let others know about the light, o ye Christians. "You are the light of the world." A town built on a hill can not be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. " (Matthew 5:14-16)
O ye saints and ministers of God, let your life reflect the light of truth to others. Let those that are oppressed know the truth, so that they can be set free. "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)
Let those of us who have been saved stand up for the salvation of others and proclaim the light of truth to those who are in the darkness of sin and deception. When God saves you, He makes you a partner in saving others; you become His coworker in spreading His message of salvation to others. You’re not on earth to merely balance the ecosystem; God has a purpose for your life. He saved you and sent you here to bear witness to Him. "Ye are my witnesses, and my servant whom I have chosen," says the Lord. (Isaiah 43:10).
"The way of the wicked is as darkness; they have no idea where they stumble." (Proverbs 4:19), therefore have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them (Ephesians 5:11). There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways nor abide in its paths.(Job 24:13). "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6); "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).
PRAYER FOR GOD'S LIGHT
Heavenly Father, please shine the light of truth into our hearts and dislodge every stronghold of darkness, and make us be a carrier of your light to the whole world (Mark 16:15). Let your light shine on the hearts of our leaders (spiritual and national) to enable them to choose the way of truth (Psalm 119:30) and lead us in the right direction.
Kindly arise and have mercy on us; for the time to favor us, our set time has come (Psalms 102:13). So shine your light of mercy and favor on us, so that we can obtain favor before everyone, just like Esther did (Esther 2:15). Let the light of peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7) dwell with us and lay your healing hands on us and make us whole again (Hebrews 13:8). In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.
God Bless You.
James Dina(james@mountzionblog.org)
January 15,2021
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Reference - "An Exposition with Practical Observations upon the Book of Job" by JOSEPH CARYL.
