“Ye Are the Light of the World.” (Matthew 5:14)

Chapter 9

And those that understand shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and those that teach righteousness to the multitude as the stars in perpetual eternity. (Daniel 12:3)

This is the testimony of Daniel as an old man. He’d had the richest, deepest experience of any man living on the face of the earth at the time. As a young man, he was taken down to Babylon; some Bible scholars think he was no older than twenty years of age. As he was carried into captivity, if anyone had said he would outrank all the mighty men of that day − that all the generals victorious in almost every nation at that time were going to be surpassed by this young slave − probably no one would have believed it. Yet for five hundred years, no man whose life is recorded in history shined like this man. He outshined Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus, Darius, and all the princes and mighty monarchs of his day.

We aren’t told when he was converted to a knowledge of the true God, but I think we have good reason to believe he had been brought under the influence of Jeremiah the prophet. Evidently, some sincere, godly man – not a worldly professor − made a deep impression upon him. At any rate, someone taught him how he was to serve God.

Nowadays, people talk about the difficulty of the field in which they work. They say their position is a very unique one. Think about the field in which Daniel had to work. He wasn’t only a slave, but he was also held captive by a nation that detested the Hebrews. He didn’t know the language and was among idolaters. Yet he began to shine right from the start. He took his stand for God from the very beginning, and that’s how he went on to live his whole life. He gave the dew of his youth to God and continued faithfully on, until his pilgrimage on this earth ended.

Notice all who have made a deep impression on the world and shone most brightly have been people who lived in a dark time. Look at Joseph. He was sold as a slave into Egypt by the Ishmaelites. Yet he took his God with him into captivity, just like Daniel did after him. And he remained true to the end. He never gave up his faith, even though he had been taken away from home and placed among idolaters. He stood firm, and God stood by him.

Look at Moses. He turned his back on the gilded palaces of Egypt, and identified himself with his despised and downtrodden nation. If a man ever had a hard field, it was Moses, but still he shone brightly and never proved unfaithful to his God.

Elijah lived in a far darker day than we do. The whole nation was going over to idolatry. Ahab and his queen, and all the royal court were throwing their influence against the worship of the true God. Yet Elijah stood firm and shone brightly in that dark and evil day. How his name stands out on the pages of history.

Look at John the Baptist. I used to think I would like to live in the days of the prophets, but I have given up that idea. You can be sure that when a prophet appears on the scene, everything is dark and the professing church of God has gone over to the service of the god of this world. This is how it was when John the Baptist made his appearance, and see how his name shines out today. Eighteen centuries have rolled by, and the fame of that wilderness preacher shines brighter than ever. He was looked down upon in his day and generation, but he has outhved all his enemies. His name will be regarded with respect and fondness and his work remembered as long as the church is on the earth.

Talk about your field being a hard one, consider how Paul shone for God as he went out as the first missionary to the heathen, and telling them about the God he served and how He sent His Son to die a cruel death in order to save the world. Men hated him and his teachings. They laughed him to scorn when he spoke about the Crucified One. But he went on preaching the gospel of the Son of God. The great and mighty of his day regarded him as a poor tent maker, but today who can name any of his persecutors, or others who lived at that time, unless their names happen to be associated with his.

Now, the fact is, all men like to shine. We may as well acknowledge it right now. In business circles just watch how men struggle to get to the top. Everyone wants to outshine his neighbor and to stand at the head of his profession. Go into the political world and see the struggle going on to see who will be the greatest. If you go into a school, you find a rivalry among the boys and girls. They all want to stand at the top of the class. When a boy reaches this position, and outranks all the rest, his mother is very proud of him. She manages to tell all the neighbors how well Johnnie has done and all about the number of prizes he has been awarded.

You go into the army and you find the same thing − one trying to advance above the other. Everyone is very anxious to shine and rise above his comrades. Go among the young men in their games and see how anxious the one is to outdo the other. All these examples serve as reminders to us that we all have that desire in us. We like to shine above our companions and coworkers.

And yet very few can really shine in the world. Once in a while, one man will advance beyond all his competitors. What a struggle goes on throughout our country every four years to see who will be the president of the United States. The battle rages for six months or even a year. Yet only one man can get the prize. A good many struggle in this race to get the title, but many are disappointed because only one can attain the coveted prize. But in the kingdom of God, the very least and the very weakest can shine if they want. Not only can one obtain the prize, but all can have it if they want it.

In Daniel 12:3, it doesn’t say that the statesmen are going to shine as the brightness of the firmament. The statesmen of Babylon are gone and their very names are forgotten. It says that those that understand shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.

It doesn’t say that the nobility will shine. Earth’s nobility are soon forgotten. John Bunyan, the Bedford tinker, has outhved all the nobility of his day. They lived for self, and their memory is blotted out. He lived for God and for souls, and his name is as fragrant as ever.

We aren’t told that the merchants are going to shine. Who can name any of the millionaires of Daniel’s day? They were all buried in oblivion a few years after their death. Who were the mighty conquerors of that day? Few can tell. It is true that we hear of Nebuchadnezzar, but we probably wouldn’t have known much about him if it weren’t for his interactions with the prophet Daniel.

When we look at this faithful prophet of the Lord, we see it is different. Twenty-five centuries have passed away, and his name shines on, and on, and on, brighter and brighter. And it is going to continue to shine while the church exists. Those that understand shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and those that teach righteousness to the multitude as the stars in perpetual eternity.

How quickly the glory of this world fades away. Seventy-five years ago the great Napoleon almost made the earth tremble. How brightly he blazed and shone like an earthly warrior for a short while. A few years passed and the little island of Elba held that once proud and mighty conqueror in exile. He died as a poor brokenhearted prisoner. Where is he today? Almost forgotten. Who in all the world will say that Napoleon lives on fondly in their heart?

But look at Daniel. He was a despised and hated Hebrew prophet. They wanted to put him into the lions’ den because they thought he was too self-righteous and too religious. Yet see how his memory lives on today. How his name is loved and honored for his faithfulness to his God.

Seventeen years ago, I was in Paris at the time of the Great Exhibition. Napoleon III was then in his glory. Cheer after cheer rose up as he drove along the streets of the city. A few short years later, he fell from his lofty position. He died an exile from his country and his throne, and where is his name today? Very few think about him at all, and if his name is mentioned, it is not with love and esteem. How empty and short-lived is the glory and pride of this world. If we are wise, we will live for God and for eternity. We will get outside of ourselves and care nothing about the honor and glory of this world.

In Proverbs we read: he that wins souls is wise (Proverbs 11:30). If any man, woman, or child wins one soul to God by a godly life and example, their life will not have been a failure. They will have outshone all the mighty men of their day, because they will have set a stream in motion that will flow on and on, forever and ever. That little boy may shine in God’s kingdom if he wants.

God has left us down here to shine. We aren’t here to buy, sell, and accumulate worldly possessions and wealth, or acquire position. This earth, if we are Christians, is not our home. It is up in heaven with the Lord. God has sent us into the world to shine for Him − to light up this dark world. Christ came to be the Light of the World, but people put out that light. They took it to Calvary and blew it out. Before Christ went up to heaven, He said to His disciples, Ye are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). Ye are my witnesses (Isaiah 43:10). Go and carry the gospel to the perishing nations of the earth.

God has called us to shine, just like Daniel was sent into Babylon to shine. Let no man or woman say that they can’t shine because they don’t have as much influence as someone else may have. What God wants you to do is to use the influence you have. Daniel probably didn’t have much influence when he first arrived in Babylon, but God soon gave him more, because he was faithful and used what he had.

Remember, a small light will do a good deal when it is in a very dark place. Put one little tallow candle in the middle of a large hall, and it gives very much light.

Away out in the prairie regions, when meetings are held at night in the log schoolhouses, the announcement of the meeting is given in this way: “A meeting will be held by early candlelight.” The first man who comes brings a tallow-dip with him. It may be all he has, but he brings it and sets it on the desk. It doesn’t light the building much, but it is better than nothing at all. The next man brings his candle, and the next family brings their candles. By the time the house is full, plenty of light brightens the room. In the same way, if we all shine a little, there will be a good amount of light. That is what God wants us to do. If we can’t all be lighthouses, any one of us can at least be a tallow candle.

A little light will sometimes do very much. The city of Chicago was set on fire by a cow kicking over a lamp, and a hundred thousand people lost their homes and all their possessions. Don’t let Satan get the advantage over you and make you think that because you can’t do anything great, you can’t do anything at all.

We are to let our light shine. It doesn’t say, “Make your light shine.” You don’t have to make light shine. All you have to do is let it shine.

I heard about a man at sea who was very seasick. If there is a time when a man feels he can’t do any work for the Lord − in my opinion − it is then. While sick like this, this man heard that another man had fallen overboard. He wondered if he could do anything to help save the man. He took hold of a light and held it up to the porthole. The drowning man was saved. When this man recovered from his seasickness, he went up on deck one day and there talked with the man who was rescued. The saved man gave this testimony. “I had gone down the second time, and was just going down again for the last time, when I put out my hand. Just then, someone held a light at the porthole, and the light fell on my hand. A man caught me by the hand and pulled me into the lifeboat.”

It seemed a small thing to do − to hold up the light − yet it saved the man’s life. If you can’t do some great thing, you can hold the light for some poor, perishing drunkard who can be won to Christ and delivered from destruction. Let’s take the torch of salvation and go into these dark homes, and hold up Christ to the people as the Savior of the world. If these perishing masses are to be reached, we must lay our lives right alongside theirs, pray with them, and work for them.

I wouldn’t give much for a man’s Christianity if he is saved but isn’t willing to try and save others. It seems the vilest ingratitude if we don’t reach out our hand to others who are down in the same pit from which we were delivered. Who is able to reach and help these drinking men like those who have been slaves to the intoxicating cup themselves? Won’t you go out this very day and seek to rescue these people? If we were all to do what we can, we could soon empty the bars and taverns.

I read about a blind man who was found sitting at the corner of a street in a big city with a lantern beside him. Seeing that he was blind, someone asked why he had the lantern there, since for him, the light was the same as the darkness. The blind man replied, “I have it so no one can stumble over me.”

Let’s think about that. Where one man reads the Bible, a hundred read you and me. That is what Paul meant when he said, Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men (2 Corinthians 3:2). I wouldn’t give much for what can be accomplished through sermons, if we don’t preach Christ by our lives. If we don’t declare the gospel to people by our sanctified walk and conversation, we won’t win them to Christ. Some little act of kindness could perhaps do more to influence them than any number of long sermons.

A vessel caught in a storm on Lake Erie tried to make for the harbor of Cleveland. At the entrance of that port, they had what are called the upper lights and the lower lights. Away back on the bluffs the upper lights burned brightly enough, but when they drew near the harbor they couldn’t see the lights showing the entrance. The pilot said he thought they had better get back on the lake again. The captain said he was sure they would go down if they went back, and he urged the pilot to do what he could to gain the harbor. The pilot said, “There’s very little hope of making for the harbor, because I have nothing to guide me as to how I should steer the ship.”

They tried all they could to get the ship into the harbor. She rode on the top of the waves and into the trough of the sea. Finally, they found themselves stranded on the beach, where the vessel was dashed to pieces. Someone had neglected the lower lights, and they had gone out.

Let us take this warning to heart. God keeps the upper lights burning as brightly as ever, but He has left us down here to keep the lower lights burning. We are to represent Him here, as Christ represents us up in heaven. I sometimes think if we had as poor a representative in the courts above as God has down here on earth, we would have a pretty poor chance of ever reaching heaven. Let us have our loins girded and our lights brightly burning, so others can see the way and not walk in darkness. Having the loins of your understanding girded with temperance, wait perfectly in the grace that is presented unto you when Jesus, the Christ, is manifested unto you, as obedient sons, not conforming yourselves with the former desires that you had before in your ignorance, but as he who has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (1 Peter 1:13-15).

Speaking of a lighthouse reminds me of what I heard about a man in the state of Minnesota who, some years ago, was caught in a fearful storm. That state is cursed with storms, which sweep down so suddenly in the winter that it makes escape difficult. The snow falls and the wind beats it into the face of the traveler so he can’t see two feet ahead. Many a man has been lost on those prairies when caught in one of those storms.

This man was caught and almost at the point of giving up, when he saw a little light in a log house. He managed to get there and found a shelter from the fury of the tempest. He is now a wealthy man. As soon as he was able, he bought the farm and built a beautiful house on the spot where the log building stood. On the top of a tower he put a revolving light, and every night when a storm blows in, he lights it up in the hope that it can be used to save someone else.

That is true gratitude, and that is what God wants us to do. If He has rescued us and brought us up from the horrible pit, let us always look to see if there isn’t someone else whom we can help save.

I heard about two men who had charge of a revolving light in a lighthouse on a storm-bound and rocky coast. Somehow the machinery broke, and the light didn’t revolve. They were so afraid those at sea would mistake it for some other light that they worked all night manually rotating the light.

Let us keep our lights in the proper place, so that the world can see that the life in Christ isn’t a sham but a reality. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in the heavens (Matthew 5:16). It is said that in the Grecian sports they had one game where the men ran with lights. They lit a torch at the altar and ran a certain distance. Sometimes they were on horseback. If a man came in with his light still burning, he won a prize, but if his light had gone out, he lost the prize.

How many there are who, in their old age, have lost their light and their joy. They once were brightly burning lights in the family, in the Sunday school, and in the church. But something has come between them and God − the world or self − and their light has gone out. If you have experienced this, I pray God helps you to come back to the altar of the Savior’s love and lights your torch anew, so you can go out into the streets and alleys and let the light of the gospel shine in these dark homes.

As I have already said, if we only lead one soul to Jesus Christ, we can set a stream in motion that will flow on when we are dead and gone. Away up the mountainside, there is a little spring. It seems so small that a single ox might drink it up in one draught. Before long, it becomes a rivulet, and other rivulets run into it. Gradually, it becomes a large brook, and then it becomes a broad river sweeping onward to the sea. On its banks are cities, towns, and villages, where many thousands live. Vegetation flourishes on every side and commerce is carried down its majestic center to distant lands.

So, if you turn one person to Christ, that one may turn a hundred, and they may turn a thousand, and so the stream, small at first, goes on broadening and deepening as it rolls toward eternity.

In the book of Revelation we read: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them (Revelation 14:13).

We read the names of many people in the Scriptures who lived such-and-such number of years and then they died. The cradle and the grave are brought close together in these accounts. They lived and they died, and that is all we know about them. In the same way, today you could write on the tombstone of a lot of professing Christians that they were born on such a day and they died on such a day – with nothing whatsoever in between.

But there’s one thing you can’t bury with a good man: His influence still lives. They haven’t buried Daniel’s influence. It lives on today as great as ever. Do you tell me Joseph is dead? His influence still lives and will continue to live on and on. You can bury the frail tent of clay that a good man lives in, but you can’t get rid of his influence and example. Paul was never more powerful than he is today.

Do you tell me that John Howard, who went into so many of the dark prisons in Europe, is dead? Is Henry Martyn, or William Wilberforce, or John Bunyan dead? Go into the Southern states and you’ll find three to four million men and women who were once slaves. You mention to any of them the name of Wilberforce, and see how quickly their eyes light up. He lived for something besides himself, and his memory will never die out of the hearts of those for whom he lived and worked.

Are Wesley or Whitefield dead? The names of these great evangelists were never more honored than they are now. Is John Knox dead? You can go to any part of Scotland today, and you’ll feel the power of his influence.

I can’t tell you about those who are dead − the enemies of these servants of God − those who persecuted them and told lies about them. However, the great men I’ve mentioned have outhved all the lies spoken about them. Not only that, they will also shine in another world. The words of the old Book are so true. Those that understand shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and those that teach righteousness to the multitude as the stars in perpetual eternity (Daniel 12:3).

Let’s go on turning as many as we can to righteousness. Let us be dead to the world, to its lies, its pleasures, and its ambitions. Let’s live for God, continually going forth to win souls for Him. Let me quote a few words by Dr. Chalmers.

Thousands of men breathe, move, and live, pass off the stage of life, and are heard of no more. Why? they do not partake of good in the world, and none were blessed by them; none could point to them as the means of their redemption; not a line they wrote, not a word they spake could be recalled; and so they perished: their light went out in darkness, and they were not remembered more than insects of yesterday. Will you thus live and die, O man immortal? Live for something. Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storm of time can never destroy. Write your name, in kindness, love, and mercy, on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with year by year: you will never be forgotten. No! your name, your deeds, will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind as the stars on the brow of evening. Good deeds will shine as the stars of heaven.