Reading Scripture: 1 John 1:5
Verse to Read: 1 John 1:5
Reference: John 1:1
Goal: to help believers understand what spiritual light is, cast away darkness, dwell in the Light, and receive God’s answers and blessings
Light contains amazingly mysterious power. It drives away darkness, makes us warm, and eradicates germs and mold harmful to our bodies. It is essential for plants to photosynthesize, and it maintains life. Just as such light exists which is visible to our eyes, spiritual light that is invisible truly exists.
Through spiritual light, limitless power can be manifested. When a light shines on a dark night the darkness will vanish at once. In the same manner, when spiritual light shines, the darkness that belongs to the enemy devil and Satan will be driven out and the grace and love of God can come upon us. It also causes all matters that seem to be without solution to be resolved and our hearts’ desires can be fulfilled.
1. What is spiritual light?
1 John 1:5 reads, “…God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all,” and John 1:1 says, “꾿nd the Word was God.” God is Light and the Word that is the truth, goodness, and love of itself.
God existed alone in boundlessly immense space even before the Creation of the heavens and the earth. At that time He had not put on any form. He existed as Light mingled with sound, and the Light harbored the whole universe. The gorgeously brilliant Light surrounded the entire space, and sonorous and crisp sound came out from the Light.
While God existed in the form of light and sound, He planned the providence of human cultivation to gain true children and at some point He came to exist as the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Triune God came to wear the image of men and began the work of Creation. Although He has long since existed in the man-like form, He has the very attributes of the Light and Sound that keep infinite power within.
The spiritual light contains God’s power, love, goodness, and truth. The Word of God in the Bible is the word of the truth that God, as Light, issues forth with sound. Therefore, spiritual light refers to all the words of the truth like goodness, righteousness, and love as written in the Bible.
2. You need to walk in Light to meet God
The Bible records many passages that tell us to ‘do’ something such as to love, pray, give thanks and rejoice. It also presents verses telling us to ‘keep’ something such as to keep the Sabbath holy and keep the Ten Commandments. It also urges us ‘not to do’ things like not to hate, not to worship idols, and not to steal and it tells us ‘to throw away’ every form of evil including greed and adulterous mind.
Obedience in these Words of God is to walk in Light and to resemble the Lord and God. If we do not obey the words telling us to do, to keep, not to do, and to throw away it shows that we are still dwelling in darkness.
The world of light is controlled and dominated by God but the world of darkness is ruled by Satan. Satan opposes God, so those who dwell in the world of darkness cannot meet God. Thus, if you want to meet God and resolve your problems, you need to come out of darkness quickly and dwell in the Light. 1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Just as said, we can say we have fellowship with God only when we walk in the Light.
3. We can have fellowship with God when we walk in the Light
It is just natural to have close association between a father and his child. In the same manner, we also must have fellowship with God who is the Father of our spirit. For us to keep companionship with God who is Light, we must cast off sins and walk in the Light. If we say that we have fellowship with God and yet walk in the darkness, it is a lie as recorded in 1 John 1:6.
Here, ‘fellowship’ is not a unilateral relationship. We cannot say we have ‘fellowship’ with someone just because we know the person. Having fellowship means knowing and becoming close enough to trust and talk to each other in confidence. No matter how well you know the president of your country, if he/she does not know you, you cannot say you have fellowship with him/her. Even fellowship is different from case to case in accordance with how close-linked it is. Some just know each other’s faces and say hello to each other. Others have very close fellowship with each other such that they share important secrets.
The same applies to the relation with God. A true fellowship is built up only when God knows you and recognizes you as well as you knowing Him. If you have close-linked relationship with God the Almighty you can’t be weak or poor and there is nothing you can’t receive from Him.
The Bible indicates that David had close fellowship with God such that God recognized him as ‘a man after His heart’. David loved and depended on God in every circumstance. He asked God like a child of his father if he shall go and even where he should go when he was being chased by King Saul. He sought God’s counsel when he fought in his many battles and because God explained everything in such detail, David achieved victory after victory in wars. The reason why David could enjoy such good fellowship with God is that he pleased God with faith.
4. Blessing given to those who walk in the Light
Jesus came to the earth as the Light, taught people only the truth, and preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. However, because they belonged to the enemy devil and Satan, seekers of darkness could not see and recognize the Light though it was being explained continuously. They hated light and even opposed it so they could not reach salvation and they just took the way of destruction.
But people of goodness discover their sins through the light of the truth and repent. By doing so, they can arrive at salvation. After they receive the Holy Spirit, they live following the desire of the Spirit and spirit is born of the Spirit in their hearts every day. Thus, they can come out from darkness and walk in the Light. Then, nothing is a problem to them in faith even if they lack wisdom and power.
This is because they can communicate with God who is Light, be guided to the prosperous way by receiving the voice and guidance of the Spirit, and receive heavenly wisdom. If they have some web-like-intertwined problems, the Spirit Himself shows the way to resolve them. So there is nothing to block them, and they can avoid it even if there is an obstacle before them.
Wisdom and understanding come upon us from heaven when we become sanctified and completely walk in the Light. Then, we can have peace with God and peace and joy come to overflow in our hearts. We neither argue nor break peace with anybody and we just have love and grace all the time. We can receive blessings of souls’ prosperity, all things going well, and good heath (3 John 1:2). In addition, we can receive both God’s authoritative power and power as well as the blessings of all things’ going well.
5. Do I dwell in the Light?
In order to enjoy the blessing given to those who walk in the Light, we should check first if we dwell in the Light. If you lead a life of lukewarm faith you need to be awakened from spiritual slumber quickly. We must not feel gratified just because we have cast off some forms of evil to some degree. Just as children grow up to be adults we should attain to a level of measure that is that of fathers.
Therefore, we need to discover detailed forms of evil in us and thoroughly root them out. As we become a senior to others and hold more power in a group, we need to become more humble of heart and pay attention to others’ words even though they are young men. Even if they do evil to us we must not harbor any ill-feeling and we have to embrace them with generous virtue and love. Moreover, we must not ignore others nor break peace in our own righteousness.
While working for the kingdom of God, we have to rejoice over, giving credit to those who have worked with us, not showing off our own contribution. And we also have to feel joyful when they are praised and recognized. The love of God comes upon us more to the extent that we achieve the heart of the Lord. Then, we can be prosperous in all things and receive physical blessings. Furthermore, if we become wholly sanctified and a man after His heart we can receive His power and be used as His great instrument. Therefore, I hope you will look back upon your life and check if you have walked in the Light and build up close fellowship with God as His true children.
