The dark and the bright

“And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great.

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and [bright, margin]: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” (Rev. 19:5-8).

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12).

“But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.” (John 11:10).

While driving one day I noticed the black cloud formation in the photo above. It looked eerie because it was so dark compared to the other white clouds around it. The phenomenon grabbed my attention as I wanted to know what made the black cloud so unique. I wondered, Was it made of smoke from a furnace? But, I saw no factories nearby or other chimneys producing smoke.

Finally, I looked to the west and higher in the sky. I noticed a larger cloud above the black cloud. It was more to the west and was blocking the sunlight from the westering Sun, so that the black cloud was actually in the shadow of the higher, larger cloud. Maybe you can see part of the blocking cloud in the upper right-hand corner of the above picture.

The more distant clouds past the black clouds were white and bright because they were situated beyond the shadow created by the large cloud in the upper right corner of the photo. So the distant clouds were receiving the full light of the Sun, while the closer clouds were receiving no sunlight. It was the Sun that made the difference between the clouds which were white and which were black.

The sunlight shone onto and through the white clouds, reflecting back to me the light of the Sun. It became obvious by the black clouds that no cloud is naturally white. If it receives no light from the Sun it is naturally black. As beautiful as they could be when they are made white by the Sun, of themselves they are full of darkness and depression. They are eerie and foreboding, like the darkness which came up when the bottomless pit was opened during the fifth trumpet of Revelation. “And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” (Rev. 9:2). Clouds without light have the dark hue of “jacinth” (Rev. 9:17); and human hearts without the light from God’s word eventually are full of the blackness of “smoke, and…brimstone” (Rev. 9:20), which indicates demonic control. This prophetic description of the locust plagues during the fifth and sixth trumpets are repeated in the third angel’s message.

“If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” (Rev. 14:9-11).

The fifth trumpet locusts torment the foreheads, or consciences, of “only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” (Rev. 9:4). And later the sixth trumpet locusts “slay” (Rev. 9:15) the same foreheads. In other words, the “fire, and…smoke, and…brimstone” (Rev. 9:20) are the symbolic effect of not having the Seal of God, which is the Son of God permanently affixed in their thoughts. Rather, they have the only other alternative, the defaulted darkness in the soul by the mark of the Beast.

“There is none righteous, no, not one:

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

Their feet are swift to shed blood:

Destruction and misery are in their ways:

And the way of peace have they not known:

There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3:10-18).

Only with the Son can we be good; with the Son we go “about doing good, and healing all that [are] oppressed of the devil; for God [is] with [us].” (Acts 10:38).

“Behold, a virgin shall be with Child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God [is] with us.” (Matt. 1:23).

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5).

“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4).

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1Jn. 5:12).

“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” (1Cor. 1:30).

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isa. 8:20).

“The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Prov. 4:18). But, “The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” (Vs. 19).

We can be bright and pure children of God only as the glory of the Son is shining upon us and in us. None of us is inherently pure and bright. No sooner do we refuse the Son than we refuse the glory that brightens our life for others to experience, and we refuse the glorious life that shines all around us into our eyes. “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14). When we stay away from His lovingkindness we cease to be kind and loving, pure and white. A dark hue covers our heart and fills our soul with the acrid smoke of our inherently evil, hellish nature.

But, when we have the light of the Son we receive power to become sons of God. We have and do what Jesus had and did, and what He still has and does. We have life to do His bidding toward others. He, His presence, keeps us from falling into selfishness and self-sufficiency and self-indulgence. “Selfish gratifications” (Great Controversy, p. 622) flee away from our heart.

This was all Christ’s desire, “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” (John 17:22).

And one day we will have what “we ourselves groan within ourselves” to have, that is,“the redemption of our body.” (Rom. 8:23).

In that day, “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire…from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” (2Thess. 1:7-10). “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matt. 13:43). “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.” (Dan. 12:3).

“And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Rev. 21:23-27).

“And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 22:3-5).

“And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever.” (Rev. 5:11-14).