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Mark 4:21 - 25
Blessed Light!

You come into an unfamiliar house at night. You try to find the light switch. You feel with your hand along the wall nearest the door. It's not there! You slowly, carefully make your way across the room to find other doors to the room, thinking that the switch might be near one of them. You bump a few things on the way, wondering what idiot designed the house and didn't place the light switch near the front door! Not finding it near the other doorways, you're about ready to give up! You slowly cross the room once more to go out, and something brushes your face. You realize it's a pull string for the light that's overhead! You pull it, and the room is immediately flooded with cheerful, confidence-inspiring light! What a relief!

With the light on, you notice a Bible open on the coffee table. Curious to see what the reader has been reading, you pick it up. You notice that it's open to the fourth chapter of Mark. You've just had a real-life illustration, so now you really understand what Jesus was saying in that passage! When a lamp is brought into a room, it's to supply that much-needed relief you just felt! It's brought so that you won't bump things, so that you can see what you're doing, and even so that you can read the Gospel of Mark!

Of course, Jesus was illuminating something much more important than a room. In fact, it's referring to a different kind of light.  He was telling us that the light is the Gospel. And He's telling us that it wasn't brought into the world only to be hidden! It's here so that you and I might not stumble and bump through life. Its purpose is the elimination of darkness and ignorance.  It's purpose is that you might come to really know Jesus Chriast. God sent that Gospel into the world to give us the only real relief there can be from a kind of blind groping after we know not what!

But the light of the Gospel isn't merely some written accounts left for us by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It's much, much more: the Gospel is a Person.  It's the Gospels' central Figure - Jesus Christ Himself, and He is the personification of its good news. John makes that clear at the beginning of His gospel when he says, "There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His Name." (John 1:9-12) Jesus is the true Light Who has come into the world to take away our ignorance of His Father and our God, so that we can begin to relate to Him - and to all His world - as we were intended to do.

Jesus Himself said it. He said, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life!" (John 8:12) When you come to know Jesus by means of the written Word and by the help of His Spirit, you begin to have an experience like the one John and the disciples had. As John put it, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth!" (John 1:14)

And that's not all!  As you continue your acquaintance with Him you begin to want Him to be Lord of your entire life - not just of your "religious" life. You see that He's the Creator and Lord of everything, that He's even concerned about the little things you do every day. You begin to understand your true origin and purpose - what life is all about, even down to the smallest details. Everything begins to make sense and to take on real meaning when you begin to know and relate to Him.

The "Lamp" of Jesus' illustration, then, is just Jesus Himself, the true "the Light of the world." In the same way that light reveals what can't be seen in darkness, so the Son of God came to reveal what we could never know otherwise. Paul made that very clear when he said, "But God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6) Jesus Christ brings the light of knowledge, a special kind of knowledge, a higher, better kind, a knowledge - of the glory of God! But that knowledge is revealed in Him, says Paul - in His "face" - in all that He is and does, in all of His words and works.

Of course there's something you need to be aware of here: light like that tends to reveal some things we don't necessarily want noticed. When God's glorious Character is revealed, our very human, very fallen actions are also revealed for what they really are by way of contrast. In fact, the sinfulness of sin becomes abundantly clear.  We could never really realize how bad it is unless we first understand the holiness and goodness of the God against Whom we rebel when we sin. That holiness and goodness of God, though, are just the qualities revealed in and through Jesus Christ His Son. In the light of that revelation, then, and by comparison, all the seemingly inconsequential sins of men are seen for what they really are - symptoms of rebellion against infinite goodness. Man would prefer to hide, but God's purpose is to reveal, and he does so by means of His Son the living Light.

He does it because He's determined to rescue some of the rebellious people - His chosen ones - from their rebellion. So the next thing Jesus says here in Mark is a command.  He says, "If anyone (of you) has ears to hear, then listen!"

Not everyone has such "ears to hear." They're purely a gift from the Holy Spirit to His chosen ones. As Jesus said elsewhere, "No one can come to Me, unless the Father Who sent me draws him . . ." (Jn. 6:44) This "drawing" of the Father is by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit moves the hearts of God's chosen ones to a special understanding of His Word, an understanding of God, of themselves, and of Jesus Christ. In their realization of the glory of Jesus Christ, they also also see and confess their sins and come into a new relationship to God. Simply put, they obey their Lord's command to "listen," because they have "ears to hear."

Hopefully you and I have "ears to hear," and we therefore obey the further charge to listen intently. In fact, says Jesus, "Be careful how you listen!" To what should we carefully listen? Here as with any Bible passage, it's always best to assume that the most immediate reference is the correct one. Here, the most immediate reference for "listening" are the sayings of our Lord Himself in these verses, the sayings concerning the purpose of the lamp and the things that will be revealed by its light. We should listen intently to His words here.

Since our Lord Himself is the "Lamp," and since the beautiful  light of Christ reveals the glory of God, it follows that when He tells us to "listen" to His words, He is exhorting us to become more and more acquainted with God's glory. The amount of care we give in seeking that acquaintance will be the measure of the benefit we receive.

He says here, "In the measure you measure out it will be measured to you." The more your effort to learn of Him, the more blessed will be your relationship with Him! If you're satisfied to seek Him but little, then you'll be blessed but little, but if you seek Him much, then you'll be blessed much. It must be obvious that our times in the Word and in prayer must be spent eagerly seeking to become more and more acquainted with God as he is revealed in His Son – is that what you do when you read the Bible?

But what can our Lord possibly mean by what he says next? He says, "For to whomever has, more shall be given, and from whoever doesn't have, even what he has shall be removed?" Very, very simply, He means that those shall be blessed greatly who have at least some true acquaintance with Christ, and they'll grow in it - more shall be given to them. But from those who don't have such an acquaintance, even the knowledge they have will be meaningless and will result in no benefit - the benefit they have will be taken away.

So - if you have even the slightest acquaintance with Jesus Christ, pursue Him with all your might! In doing so, you'll graciously be given more and more understanding and blessing. If you don't, then you lose eternally! Our Lord is the Lamp Who lights the way of blessing.  How important it is to believe His promise to those who seek to know Him more! Let's act upon that promise!

Well put Al!
Very well said, you are a  good faithful Expositor of God's word.
God will bless you.

Amen!  I agree with you, Chris.  We have a gold mine here with Al Moak's knowledge.  

May the Lord truly bless you, Al, as you labour for Him in this part of His vineyard.

Thanks so much brother & sister.  I pray HIS Word will indeed bring about "life more abundantly" - in me as well.