Judges 5:31 So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.

Psalm 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

Psalm 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

I Thessalonians 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

MEMORY VERSE: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. —I John 1:7

CENTRAL THOUGHT: God’s people have ever been those who walk in light, are filled with God’s light, and who are a beacon of light to the world.

WORD DEFINITIONS

Judges 5:31 “Them that love him”: “Not he who ‘believes that God is,’ and comes to Him with formal service and an alienated or negligent heart; not he who recognises the duty of worship, and discharges it because his conscience pricks him, but has no buoyancy within bearing him upwards towards the object of his love; not he who cowers before the dark shadow which some call God; but he who, knowing, trusts, and who, knowing and trusting ‘the love which God hath to us,’ pulses back the throbs of a recipient heart, and loves Him in return—he, and he only, is a worshipper. Let us learn the lesson that Deborah learnt below the palm-trees of Lapidoth, and if we want to understand what a religious man is, recognise that he is a man who loves God” (MacLaren’s Expositions).

Psalm 89:15 “Blessed”: happy. “The joyful sound”: the shouting and music that accompanied the feasts of Israel; an allusion either to a shout made upon a victory gained or to the jubilee trumpet, which proclaimed liberty and a restoration of inheritance. “The light of thy countenance”: “The favour and lovingkindness of God manifested in that gracious face which He turns to His servants” (MacLaren’s Expositions).

Proverbs 4:18 “Shining”: brightness; splendor; as the light of dawn. “Shineth more and more”: literally, going and shining; a common Hebrew idiom denoting progression or increase. “Unto the perfect day”: high noon, when the sun seems to stand still.

Isaiah 60:1-3 A prophecy of Zion, the dwelling place of God, the church of God.

DISCUSSION:

1. Those who love God will be like the __________.
2. What two things were told of Zion in Psalm 50:2?

LESSON BACKGROUND

From the lips of Deborah, an Old Testament prophetess, comes a most sublime prophecy of those who love and worship God. It is the last portion of her song celebrating the military victory of General Barak over Sisera, the Canaanite captain, who was actually executed by Jael. Jael was a common tent-dweller who fed Sisera and invited him to rest in her tent, after which she put him to death. The verse compares the victory over Sisera to victory over all of God’s enemies, but the thought about those who love God being like the sun points forward to prophecies in the Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel and their fulfillment when Jesus said to His disciples, “Ye are the light of the world.”

The verse in Psalm 50 speaks of the origin of the “shining.” It is truly God Himself, who indwells Zion, His people. This connects with the verse in Isaiah 60 where Zion, as a light to the world, was to arise and shine that light; it also goes on to say that “the LORD shall arise upon thee.” Truly, as God is our light and shines on us, He also shines from within us, lighting the world around us! God lights our path at the beginning when we first trust in Him, but that light grows brighter and brighter as we grow in Him, as the verse in Proverbs shows us.

The apostle Paul’s writings to the Romans, Ephesians and Thessalonians make us aware of the responsibility of being children of the light of God. There is reference to “armor;” hence, a battle that is being fought between the forces of darkness and the army of light. Our walk then, he warns the Ephesians, is to be “as” children of light. The forces of darkness are called “a wicked and perverse nation” in Philippians, among whom we shine as lights. To the Thessalonians he speaks of the coming of the Lord being like a thief, by which the children of light, walking closely with the Lord of light, will not be entirely surprised. There are ways of darkness, such as drunkenness, of which the children of light are not to partake.

Our memory verse gives the precious promise that, if we walk in God’s light, an inner cleansing by Jesus’ blood takes place continually in our lives, keeping us pure and holy.

—Sis. Angela Gellenbeck

DISCUSSION:

1. What is the meaning of the “joyful sound” in Psalm 89:15 and how does it affect those who know it?
2. Daniel speaks of two things which cause the righteous to shine. What are they?
3. Jesus called Himself the “light of the world,” but He called His disciples that as well. Can you explain the meaning?
4. What is the environment in which we shine as lights?

COMMENTS AND APPLICATION

As we learn from Paul’s epistles to the Romans, Ephesians and Thessalonians, being children of light makes the people of God distinctly different from the world. This is not a difference, as the MacLaren quote in Word Definitions points out, of mere duty, formality or fear, but a natural consequence of the power or energy of the light within them. When you “know” the joyful sound of God’s trumpet call to spiritual freedom, when you have a brilliance within you that gets brighter as you mature in Him, and you walk in—advance in, obey, respond to—that light, it leads you out of the deeds you used to do when you were “darkness.”

When we need to know if something is “okay,” let us measure it against the light. Does it go along with the lifestyle of darkness or is it embraced by those walking in light? What is pure, holy, and chaste; true, honest and sincere; virtuous, noble and kind—is fitting for the children of the light. What is obscene, irreverent, suggestive, dishonest, hypocritical or self- centered or in any way caters to the earthly, sensual or devilish realm is of the darkness. People of God will not watch it, have affection for it, follow it or fellowship it because its origin is “the night.”

Jesus once warned that His followers must walk in the light while they have the light. If the light within us turns into darkness because we refuse to walk in it, how great is that darkness! Let us embrace and follow the Light, so it can shine out from us and illuminate the dark lives of people around us!

—Sis. Angela Gellenbeck

Ruby Bell
April 10, 1932 — April 6, 2003

“Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” Psalm 97:11

It was my mother, Sis. Ruby Bell, who helped me seek the Lord to be saved. By her example she convinced me that there is a God who lives and loves us. Her attitude of kindness and forgiveness still brings back a challenge and sweet memories to me.

What are the chances of a little 14-year-old girl—living in the hills on a 40-acre farm in Arkansas, whose mother had died leaving her with no religious training or church affiliation— passing down a spiritual legacy to the next generation? One tragedy after another in Ruby Bell’s early life tore apart the family as she helped her three young siblings—one brother and two sisters—survive. It was several years later, after she had married and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, that she found the Lord through a little church in her neighborhood.

The Scripture says, “light is sown for the righteous.” Where is it sown? It is sown at the crossroads and areas of trouble in our lives. It is sown in our desperate places of need. It is sown in our places of sorrow. It is sown at our places of temptation. Light doesn’t just appear by happenstance. It has been sown there years ago by our gracious heavenly Father who knows ahead what we will face. He sows it just when and where we need it to be. God’s light will continue to lead ordinary people like my mother to more and more light as we go through life. Praise God! On the crowning day we will be with the “the father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

My dear mother walked in the light she had, and when more light came she stepped up to it. Life was hard for her, but she stayed in the light of God, and He was her guide, as He led her out and to the true Church of God where there was no man rule. We each have the privilege to walk this way. We can expect light, understanding and clarity that will lead and guide us through every place if we need it. It will be beyond our human expectations. The key here is letting God know that we are needing and wanting His light.

—Bro. James Bell