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11. God Is Light and Unites us in His Light
When the Holy Spirit draws you to the gentle light of Christ, you realize more and more that God is your Father in spirit and truth. This is the news which the apostle John shared with us, saying:
The other truth which we grasp when we draw near to our creator is: God is Holy, for when the godly prophet Isaiah saw the Lord in the temple he cried out: “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)
If you examine this revolutionary declaration you will see that the Holy God cleansed the sinner who confessed his sins. God has chosen him, since he put himself unconditionally at God’s disposal and he has been filled richly with God's grace as His servant.
In a different way, the glory of God was revealed to Ezekiel when he was an exile in Iraq. He saw God seated on a great throne, shining more brightly than the sun. His throne was continually moving. In the Old Testament, the wonderful elaboration of the glory of God showed the riches of His attribute and names.
The apostle John described the vision of the Almighty in a way different from all that came before. Since Christ announced himself as “The Light of the World” we understood that God is our loving Father. God the Father and Christ His Son and even His Church bear this quality of light, because they are made of the same substance and the same spirit.
God is the measure of all that can be called righteous, with no darkness in Him at all. His love requires of us a total separation from evil. The love of the Father is truth and clear of all lies. He wants His attributes to be personified in all His children.
The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has enabled the followers of His Son to walk in His light, and has admitted us to the company of other children of light. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have been from the beginning wholly one in love and mutual esteem. As Jesus prayed saying:
It is not only God’s intention to enlighten us, save us and sanctify us, but also to keep us from selfishness and to fill us with a desire to serve other Christians. True Christianity exhibits itself in fellowship between Christians.
This principle requires first of all ridding ourselves from suspicion of other believers, so that we trust them and their words. This leads us to give up our spiritual pride. We thus experience a change in our thinking so that we begin to think in a spirit of harmony and humility. As Jesus said:
This rule is the motto of the children of light. We no longer are masters, but willing servants to all people. The person who follows Jesus spends his time and money in the service of others, even those who reject Him. Our Lord Himself taught us so. His followers discipline themselves, enduring hardships in patience, even as God was patient with them.
We do not say that believers in Christ are perfect. All of us are human, and subject to the temptations of anger, boasting, laziness, lying and every other evil deeds. However, the indwelling Spirit of God gives us the victory. If we stumble or go astray or sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Atoner for our sins.
The spirit of God the Father is our life and the blood of Jesus Christ is our righteousness. For without a constant cleansing in Christ’s blood we cannot receive the power of God or remain walking in His light, even as He is in the light. Thus, constant forgiveness of our sins is the condition for remaining in the light.
Every time we draw near to God in the Holy Spirit, the corruption of our heart is exposed and makes us weep about our condition. But the humility of Christ entitles us to join the company of the repentant and live in the grace of the triune and only God.