When Light Shines Into the Body

When Light Shines Into the Body

A bright, open face, an honest and upright path and a blameless life that is full of virtue: The way to this has been revealed, yet it is hidden for those who are perishing.

Paul commended himself to every man’s conscience as one who had renounced the hidden things and was not walking in craftiness or handling the Word of God deceitfully. 2 Cor. 4:2-3.

The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that covetousness, vanity, lust for honor, drunkenness, immorality, envy, care for temporal things, etc., shut out the light of the gospel. All of these sins stem from the human spirit, and if they’re able to get power, they drive a person into the deepest darkness and condemnation. Ungodly people present their bodies as instruments of sin until death and corruption break them down.

On the other hand, we who by the grace of God have received the light of the gospel and the Holy Spirit must not allow sin to rule in our mortal body so that we obey its lusts. In the power of God we must keep our body in subjection and overcome it.

It was impossible to overcome the lusts in the flesh by the law. This is the reason God had to send His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin; and He condemned sin in the flesh. In doing this, He opened a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh.

Previously, the light was outside of the body and judged only sinful acts, but now the light has made its way into the body to judge the very root and source of sin. When light enters into the body, it causes judgment, but this must not be confused with condemnation. This light gives us constant opportunities to behold our own corrupted nature and to judge ourselves. That is why Peter writes in chapter 4 of his first letter that now is the time that judgment shall begin in the household of God—with us. The greater the light, the greater the judgment. When this light enters into the heart, it judges the secret thoughts and intentions. If we agree with that judgment, the light which had caused judgment becomes our own personal possession and our life.

We are tried in this way to see if we really love the light and the truth. As we acknowledge God’s light, we lose our desire to resist God. We overcome the lusts in our flesh, and the body of sin is gradually destroyed to make room for divine nature. What a blessed way—full of sufferings, the cross and judgment according to the flesh, but full of delight and genuine joy according to our inner being, in fellowship with God and His children in the light!

God has given us His Holy Spirit and power so that we can make use of that Spirit as a guide and make use of this power to overcome on these inner paths. Then God’s judgment can work in us to give us understanding in areas where previously we were in total darkness. On the way of His judgments, we wait for Him.

Obviously, when God’s light forces its way into the flesh, there will be sufferings according to the flesh; but this is exactly where the way goes: put to death and destroy the body of sin, the source of all sin and evil. If we endure these sufferings with Him, we will be glorified together with Him. On this way, light and wisdom will become our personal possession, and through these we will—if we endure—rule with Him forever. Even in this life we will rule. If a person is willing to allow the light to reign, then their understanding, which has been so darkened, will become enlightened so that they can work together with God in wisdom on their sanctification and the salvation of their soul. Believe in the light while you have the light so that you can become children of the light. Jesus said this and then He went and hid Himself from them. John 12:36. If we believe in the light when it shines into our hearts, even though it exposes a lot of things that have to be judged in us, we will become children of the light. Think! Children of the light! What glorious children! However, if we do not believe, Jesus will quickly hide Himself from us so that once again we are in darkness.

Rays of light from God will drive out my darkness, and God’s Spirit will make my human spirit alive, because it is written that the second Adam has become a life-giving spirit. This is how we partake of divine nature: Our sinful nature is destroyed, and new life develops.

We can say that the baptism of the Spirit is a baptism of grace, but grace will not abide forever, because Christ was not raised up to give us grace but to make us righteous. Where death has taken place, there is no longer a need for grace, because the demands of righteousness are fulfilled. God is able to raise us from the dead in the power of the blood. Grace is the power that bears us to death, but at the moment of death we, like Jesus, must cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” God, as the provider of grace, forsakes us and gives us over to death so that grace can be replaced by righteousness and the power of the resurrection.

The Holy Spirit gives us power to bear another baptism. This baptism is written about in Mark 10:37-38. Two of the disciples desired to sit at His right hand and at His left in His glory. But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” If anyone has received the baptism of the Spirit but has not allowed himself to be led into the baptism of Christ’s sufferings and death, he will lose his part in Christ’s glory, in spite of the fact that he has been baptized in the Holy Spirit.