light

A New Creation: Illumination

May 5, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:4-5, 12, 13

The Hurricane Lamp

Growing up in south Louisiana, the inevitable hurricane season brought with it the danger of losing electrical power. Often it would be days before the linemen would make it out to our secluded property to restore power. However, my father was always (and is still) a master of preparation. He always made sure we had batteries for the radios and flashlights and candles (with matches) tucked away in the utility drawer. My favorite was when he would break out the old hurricane oil lantern that we would generally keep on the dining room table. There was something about this old lantern and the green oil in the bottom reservoir with its cloth wick that always captured my imagination.

Even when we still had power or if the reservoir had no oil, I would fidget with the small wheel crank on the side that would lower and raise the wick. When lit, the more the wick was exposed to the air, the brighter the flame to enlighten the house. When the wick was lowered, the flame would reduce and inevitably extinguish. Sometimes I would fidget so much with the wick that it would completely retreat into the oil reservoir or completely out of the oil, rendering the lamp useless. Reflecting back on this childhood experience gave me a renewed understanding of Jesus’ words when He said “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

The Lamp in the House

There are some symbolic images in Jesus’ metaphor that often go missed when reviewing that passage. An oil lamp in Jesus’ time typically was composed of 4 elements. First, there was the lampstand. In a common peasant home of the day, a lamp was a simple piece of clay pottery with a pinched indention near the front, opposite the handle of the lamp. The lampstand was the most prominent visual feature of the lamp itself. Often, the lamp would also be placed on a clay dish in order to capture any potentially spilled oil in case the lamp was tipped over.

Secondly, there was the oil, which fuels and controls the flame. Typically the oil in question was olive oil or some other plant based oil. Olive oil, however, was not prohibitively expensive as it was quite common and easily accessible in the Mediterranean. While not expensive, it was a priceless commodity as its diversity of use extended beyond mere fuel, but also to cooking. In some places in the Roman empire, it was used as a form of soap and shampoo that would congeal and then be scraped off the body or rinsed out of the hair, carrying away the dirt and grime of the day.

Thirdly, there was the wick, which displays the flame for all to see. The wick would typically be a small piece of cloth or a piece of wood reed that would be soaked in the oil and then placed on the pinched indentation, with one end still in the oil to soak more as the fire would burn down the wick. The wick served to not only display the flame for the house to see, but also to demonstrate a control of the oil so that the oil didn’t burn through too quickly.

Finally, there was the only external element that was required for the lamp – air. This is perhaps the most important element necessary for the lamp to burn. While the oil acts as a fuel and catalyst for the lamp, without oxygen the lamp would not be able to be ignited or burn. The more air that is available to the wick and flame, the brighter the flame will glow. If the wick is not exposed to the air, eventually the wick would burn out, even with the oil available.

In the typical Jewish family home, it was the responsibility of the father or mother to light the lamp and place it in a place that would give light to as much of the home as possible. In rare cases, some families would have multiple lamps, but this was not the norm as most homes in first century Judea had only one or two rooms, or in rare cases of the more affluent, a third room. In a two room home, a lamp would typically be placed high in the doorway connecting the room so that both rooms would have access to the light.

The Lamp of the Christian Life

In the Christian life, the lamp represents the totality of your kingdom existence. The lampstand represents your God-assigned place of influence. This is wherever you are. The people with whom you associate. Your friends. Your family. Your professional colleagues. Wherever you go, you are displaying what light or darkness you have in your life. If your lamp is burning brightly, then all can see your place in the kingdom. But if you are a believer, yet you hide this fact from those around you, then eventually the flame will burn out from being snuffed under a the bushel of your pride.

The oil within the lamp represents the Word of God, that which is the catalyst for the flame to burn. It is what controls the flames and gives it substance. It fuels the flame and gives it warmth. Without the oil, the wick will burn brightly, but extinguish quickly as the wick is consumed. The oil is there to serve as a control for the wick, so that the fire burns brightly, but sustainably.

The wick itself is your behavior on display for all to see. This is where the flame is most evident. When our behavior is controlled by obedience to the Word of God, the flame glows steady and controlled. The flame burns longer and extends through the night providing light within the darkness.

The final element, the air, represents the most important factor in the work of the lamplight of the heart – the Holy Spirit of God. Without the air to give life to the flame, it will quickly extinguish, even with the presence of the oil. Instead, all you will see is choking smoke. The more air that is evident in the flame, the brighter it glows, but when the wick is lowered into the oil and incapable of consuming air, the flame will go out. In the same way, without the Holy Spirit giving life to the flame burning in your heart, that flame will quickly be extinguished even if fueled by the Word of the God. It is the Spirit of God that gives life to the Word of God. Otherwise, the Word becomes a dangerous weapon choking out the light and filling our heart and lungs with poison.

The Purpose of Light

Light, especially the light of the lamp, has several key purposes. First, it is to provide vision. In order for the eyes to see, there must be light present. Light helps us to not only see one another for who we really are, but it helps us to see ourselves for who we really are. Have you ever tried to look in a mirror while in a dark room? It’s impossible to even see yourself without turning on a light. If you’ve ever walked into a dark room, reflexively we all naturally begin reaching for and fumbling for a light switch. The Light of Christ in the life of the believer helps you to see and have a vision of life that is different from a life walking in the darkness without Him.

Secondly, light provides clarity. The more light that is available, the better you can see clearly what is around you. The brighter the light that shines, the less the shadows obscure what is tangible before you. In the same way, the light of God’s illumination in your heart gives clarity to the world around you. You can see more clearly the pathway ahead and avoid the pitfalls and potholes that you will inevitably encounter along the way.

Next, light provides color. Isaac Newton’s masterful work Opticks describes how light can be broken up into a spectrum of color and that all of the colors of the world we see are a reflection of that light. The sky itself is a prism diffusing and refracting light causing the horizon to change colors through various times of the day from yellow to orange to blue and back again. But when the clouds come in and obscure the sun, or the storms roll in and bring darkness and rain, it doesn’t mean that the sun has ceased to exist. Above the clouds, the sun is still shining. In the same way, above the storm clouds of life, the Son is always shining.

Finally, light provides glory. When we “shine a light on” someone, we are drawing attention to them or their accomplishments. Everything that was created was created to bring glory to the creator, as a painting brings glory and accolades to the painter. And God’s crowning achievement of creation was humanity itself, in which He bestowed His own image. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

Let There Be Light

The first step that one must take to emerge from the darkness of a life of sin is to allow the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to enter your heart. The first thing God did in creation was to speak into the dark void of existence and bring light into the Creation. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:3, 4) In an instance, with a spoken word He illuminated the darkness exposing the emptiness and chaos, so that He might set to work bringing order to the chaos and filling the emptiness that only He could fill.

It is really very much like a light switch coming on in your heart and mind and with properly developed eyesight, you can begin to see life in a whole new array of colors. He is the Light of the world and it is truly His light that must burn in our hearts. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Darkness is blinding. It can be disorienting. It some cases, it can even be paralyzing. The most problematic thing about darkness is that it has no substance, yet it carries some devastating impacts upon the presence and activity of life. When ever the lights are extinguished in a room unexpectedly, the first response is typically an audible gasp of shock. But when the lights are turned back on, there is also the inevitable sigh of relief.

If you want to know more about this light and the life you can have where you can see the truth for what it really is, please reach out to a trusted Christian friend and ask questions. If you don’t know any Christians in your life, but still want to know more, please reach out to NeedHim.org and have a chat with someone who genuinely cares about you and introducing you to the Savior. Or you can reach out to me personally via social media.

A New Creation: In the Beginning

May 4, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1:1-3

One of my favorite things to do as a child was to go outside at night and look up and stare into the night sky. In middle school, I recall my dad bringing out his old childhood telescope and setting it up as we looked up at the moon and we could clearly see the craters that marked the surface, giving it the shadowed shapes that we see on the face during a full moon. Shapes that we would often imagine as a wry smile or a rabbit or any other figures that our imaginations could devise.

Still other times, we would gather outside and watch the moon change to shades of orange and red as the light reflecting off the surface would diffuse as part of a lunar eclipse. Occasionally as I would watch the night sky I would catch a glimpse of a shooting star and make a fanciful wish that I hoped would somehow make my life easier to live. At other times, I could vaguely make out the faint white haze that I would come to know was the Milky Way.

What I did not understand at this time was that the pock-marked scars on the surface of the moon were a sign of chaos. Chaos born in the darkness of space as aimless meteors would slam violently into the low-gravity surface of our nearby satellite. And there was beauty in the midst of the chaos and darkness and vast emptiness of space. And it is in this beauty of chaos that I first began to see the inklings of our Creator.

Beginning with Time

“In the beginning, God created…” (Genesis 1:1) This is the first thing that Moses wanted his readers to know. It is the pre-eminent and first message of Scripture – God is. He exists before the creation of time itself. We know time as a construct of days, months, and years. Hours, minutes, and seconds. The concept of time itself necessitates that there is a beginning, and a beginning necessitates there is a beginner. One who starts the clock. The very first thing God creates is time.

In that same instance, He creates the heavens and the earth. Space and matter. The canvas and materials with which He will construct His great masterpiece declaring the majesty of the Creator. Space – the canvas – was empty. The first brushstrokes on the canvas of existence had not yet been placed. The canvas was empty – a void. Void of substance. Void of beauty. Void of vision. The sheer reality of emptiness.

The earth was formless. The materials had not yet been shaped into a structure that the Creator would use to paint His masterpiece. The Master Potter has yet to apply the water to the clay so that it might begin to take shape and form. The water waited patiently for the Potter to dip His hands into the coolness and draw out that which was needed to soften the hard lump and begin to mold it into a figure of glory.

In the beginning of creation, there was chaos, emptiness, and darkness. Before the Potter could begin to make order out of the chaos and fill the emptiness, He must first address the issue of darkness. And the Spirit of the Creator hovered over the water preparing to dive in and make the greatest splash of all time.

Illuminating the Darkness

“hāyâ ‘ôr” – two simple Hebrew words that illuminated the darkness – “Let there be light.” Two simple words that brought forth the ability of the Creator to see His creation in vivid color. Color does not exist apart from the presence of light. Darkness in and of itself has no substance. It is in fact, the lack of the existence of light. Without light, we have no concept of color. We have no concept of visual beauty. We have no concept of vision. We have no concept of reality or truth.

As any artist will tell you today, art requires light not only so that the observer can see the masterpiece designed by the artist, but so that the artist can create with the vision that he has in his head. The more light that the artist has to work in, the greater the clarity of the picture she can paint. The greater the accuracy of the statue he can carve. The greater the detail that creator can instill into his creation.

I never fully understood or appreciated the work of Claude Monet until I saw up close and personal his painting “Lavacourt under Snow” (pictured below). Painted when he was 38 years old, over the course of 3 years, the master’s command of light and depth and texture within a painting that can easily obscure into a flush of white, pink, yellow, and light blue. With my face merely inches away from this painting I could see how the light played off the texture and created depth in the landscape scene. Once I saw this painting with new, fresh eyes in the carefully positioned light, I began to appreciate the artistry of this grand master of French Impressionism.

“Lavacourt under Snow” (1878-81) by Claude Monet (1840-1926) National Gallery, London, England

Filling the Emptiness

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-3) Our lives are often marked by chaos. Pain. Scars. Destruction. Death. It is a natural consequence of the reality of sin. Sin has made us blind to the reality of His truth. Our sin has made us live in darkness, not seeing the truth of who we are. “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

But God in His infinite love and desire to create and recreate begins the process of creation and recreation with the illuminating Word. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:5, 14)

Without light, there is no life. There is only darkness and chaos. No vision. No direction. Only the emptiness of space. And the first thing the Creator does is fill the emptiness of space with the light of revelation announcing the Creator is. It is then, and only then, that His creation will begin to see all that He has made and declare His glory as His creation.

Ordering the Chaos

If you’ve ever wandered through the halls of any museum worth its salt, you will be filled with wonder at the creations of the many artists whose works are on display before you. The Mona Lisa declares the genius of Leonardo da Vinci. The great Florentine statue of David declares the skill and beauty of the artistry with Michelangelo Buonarotti. Within the halls of the Vatican Museums, the great fresco of the School of Athens declares the majesty of Raphael. The majestic Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore declares the ingenuity of Filippo Brunelleschi. Art says more about the artist than it does about the art itself.

In the same way, all of Creation declares the majesty of the Divine Artist that is Yahweh Adonai – the Lord God. And you are His greatest creation. It isn’t until He creates His crowning achievement in His own image that He takes take to rest from His work. It isn’t until He breathes the breath of life into the nostril of mankind that He says “it is very good.” God creates that which He loves. He blesses that which He creates.

He illuminates the darkness. He fills the emptiness. He brings order to chaos. He brings life from dead earth. And He is worth of all glory and majesty more so than the great Renaissance masters of old. He is the original artist driving away the shadows and giving you the vision to see all that He has created so that you might see all that He is.

The Light of the Kingdom

July 31, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16

In 1990, I began my first stint with college life. As a freshman, and newly reborn believer, I invested a huge amount of time in the Baptist Student Union – now known as Baptist Collegiate Ministries. It was through this campus organization that I had numerous summer missionary opportunities in such places as Cochise County in Arizona, Hong Kong, Cuidad Acuna in Mexico, and Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana. It was also the place that I developed some of the longest lasting friendships that I still have today. One of those friendships was with a young student evangelist named Kenny Moore.

I still have one of Kenny’s business cards from those days. It had the usual contact information while in the background it had the picture of a lighthouse. When Kenny gave me his card, he asked if I knew what the lighthouse meant. Well, I was familiar with the old gospel song “The Lighthouse” and I assumed that it meant that the lighthouse was a representation of Jesus – a light shining in the darkness to guide us to the safety of shore. However, Kenny gently corrected my misconception when he said, “No, the lighthouse is me. It is us as believers who are called to shine the light of Jesus in the world.”

Thus began my fascination with the imagery of lighthouses. I’ve always been drawn to paintings and photographs and posters of lighthouses. I’ve always loved ceramic and porcelain mantlepieces of lighthouses, even though I have none of my own to this day. And there are some things about lighthouses that I learned over the years that has stuck with me, thanks to Kenny’s enlightenment.

First of all, lighthouses are not built on beaches, but rather on rocky cliffs overlooking the sea. This provides for more stability when the storms of the sea come crashing in. Secondly, a working lighthouse must never be abandoned – someone must always be there to tend to the light and ensure that it is always shining. Finally, the beacon is actually a large mirror that reflects the light within it and projecting it through a rotating lens so that it can be seen from all around.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was the great Lighthouse of Alexandria, built during the reign of Ptolemy II, and was one of the tallest man-made structures in the world in its day. It was severely damaged by earthquakes and then abandoned to ruin. The last portions of it were used to build what is now the Citadel of Qaitbay, built in the 15th century.

In the Christian life, we are called to be a lighthouse to the world. We are called to build our lives on the solid rock of the proclamation of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This firm foundation is one that is unshakable, even as the storms of life come crashing in around us. The truth of Jesus as the Messiah in unchanging and eternal and is our anchor in the storm. We must anchor deep within Him and abide in Him in order to withstand the trials and tribulations of this life.

Secondly, we must always be tending to the light and keeping it shining. That is our number one responsibility as ambassadors of Christ – to shine the light of the King upon this dark world so that others can see the safety of shore and be warned of the dangers below. And we must always be attentive to the light, ensuring that it is shining as bright as possible so that the whole world can see Jesus for who He really is – our safe harbor in the midst of the storm.

Finally, the light that we shine is not our own light, but it is a reflection of His light that is focused outwards towards all around us. This is evidenced by our works of service that are done with a pure heart that seeks not its own gain or reward through pats on the back. It is so that those we minister to will come to know Jesus as the provider of eternal safety in this life and beyond. As we saw in Matthew 4:23-25, Jesus met the physical needs of those who came to Him first and then He addressed their spiritual need for the Kingdom beginning with the Sermon on the Mount.

In a typical home in Jesus’ time, when it reached sundown, it was the duty of a member of the household to light an oil lamp and place it in a position so that all in the home could see in the dark. Darkness in and of itself has no substance. It’s empty. When we are in the dark, it is not so much that we are “in darkness”, but rather we are absent from the light. That’s all darkness is – the absence of light. If you go into a dark closet and close the door, typically you can not see anything once you are in there. All it takes is the tiniest of lights – like the one on your watch – to pierce that darkness and allow a small amount of sight. The brighter the light, the greater the vision.

In Tuscany, Italy – perhaps one of my favorite places in the world – cities are built in one of two locations. They are either built near a river so that the inhabitants have access to fresh water and commerce. Examples of this include Florence and Pisa, as they were built on the banks of the River Arno. The downside to building cities on a riverbank is the potential for flooding, which can cause tremendous damage – as evidenced in the Florence Flood of 1966, which killed 101 people and destroyed millions of artistic masterpieces. There is are still marks of this destruction around parts of Florence to this day.

Elsewhere in Tuscany, cities are built on the top of hills, typically in order to be fortified against attacks by other warring city-states. Examples of this include Arezzo and San Gimignano (the Town of Fine Towers). One unique town is Monteriggioni, which is built on a hill, but also surrounded by a high wall and watchtowers, with only a single gate, the Porta Franca, in and out of the city. This city was the inspiration for the ring of giants that encircled the abyss of Inferno in Dante Alighieri‘s masterful work, The Divine Comedy.

As a city on a hill, the Church has only one entrance and that is through submission to Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives. We are built upon a rock that is steady and sure so that the world can see that the work that we do in for the His glory, not ours. For that to be true, we must always be attentive to the light and continually submit to Him daily, taking up our cross – not a cross of obligatory burden, but a cross of victory over sin, death, and the grave. Above all, we must remember that He is the light that lives within us and we must live in a way that is reflecting His light to all around us, so that they will see the dangers below and be guided safely home to shore.