God's revelation a light.
"I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people." The terms "law" and "judgment" are designed to include all forms of Divine revelation—the various ways in which the Divine will is made known to man. Revelation means light. It is a mistake to assume that there are things revealed which are not intended for our comprehension; they are revealed precisely with the purpose of unfolding so that we might understand them. There are hidden and secret things, but Moses carefully distinguishes them from the revealed things, saying thus: "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but the things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this Law" (Deuteronomy 29:29). Only this much is true—revelation is not light to every age equally. Some things seem mysterious at one time that are clear enough at another. And in each fresh generation we may say—
"The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from his Word."
This, at least, we may assert, prove, and illustrate—in all essential matters relating to moral conduct and religious faith, God's revelation is light.
I. GOD'S REVELATION IS LIGHT THAT SHOWS UP SIN.
1. It gives us proper apprehensions of God himself, and shows sin by our contrast with him.
2. It unfolds before us the graciousness of his relations with us, and convicts of sin as it makes us feel the weakness of our response to such relations (Daniel 5:23, last clause).
3. It declares to us the laws by which both our conduct and our spirit ought to be ruled; and by the Law is the knowledge of sin.
4. It presents to us the Lord Jesus Christ as the Gift of God; and "this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil."
II. GOD'S REVELATION IS LIGHT THAT SHOWS THE WAY OUT OF SIN.
1. By removal of the penalties it has involved.
2. By restoring the broken relations it has caused.
3. By changing the spirit of the sinner—melting him to penitence, quickening him to believe. Illustrate one feature from the parable of the "prodigal son," and other features by such passages as Romans 3:19-26; Romans 5:8-10.
III. GOD'S REVELATION' IS LIGHT THAT SHOWS THE WAY FOR THOSE REDEEMED FROM SIN. There is the "way of holiness" in which they have to walk. There is a sanctifying, through cares and chastisements, which they have to experience. There is a personal and practical application of the Christian principles to the details of common life which has to be made. And, for all this, God's Word is a "lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path."—R.T.