The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-11-07
CHRIST THE LIGHT.
Reveals and Cleanses Sin and Leads
the Way Back to God.
Sermon on One of the Six Startling
Claims of Jesus by the "High-
way and ByVvay"
Preacher.
Copyright, 1902. by y. n. kellogg News
paper Coz

John SIP.
The great. glowing sun mounts the
heavens, and the darkness fees before
IL, but Jesus is the Light of the
world.
Scientists tell US that the light and
heat OF the sun will fail some day,
but Jesus, the Light of the world,
is from everlasting to everlasting.
Gods Word tells us that the
heavens and earth shall pass away,
but in that new Jerusalem which
John saw in prophetic vision there
was no sun OF moon, for it had no
need thereof, for the glory of God
did Tighten it, and the Lamb is the
Light thereof"
Isaiah cries: Lift up your eyes to
the heavens, and look upon the earth
beneath; for the heavens shall vanish
away like smoke, and the earth shall
wax ole like a garment, and they
that dwell therein shall die in like
manner; but lin Jesus the Light OF
the world) My salvation shall be for
ever, and Ny righteousness shall not
be abolished"
Jesus, in foretelling future events,
declared: Immediately, after the
tribulation of those days shall the
sun be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall
fall from heaven, and the powers OF
the heavens shall be shaken" but then
"they shall see the Son of man coming
IL the clouds of heaven, with power
and great glory" Paul bears witness
OF the literal brightness of the glory
of Jesus in his defense before King
Agrippa when he says: AT midday,
0 king, l saw in the way light
from Heaven, above the brightness
of the sun, shining round about me,
and l heard a voice speaking
unto me and He said: 1 am
Jesus. whom thou persecutest."
Notwithstanding the light of the
sun shines upon the just and the I'M
just. the people of the world, out OF
fellowship with God, ''walk in dark
ness" "for God is light and in Him
is no darkness al all" The natural
eve may behold the beauty of the
sun of the heavens, but if the mind
'eye be evil, thy whole body shall
be full of darkness. If. therefore, the
light that is in thee be darkness, how
great is that darknessE Nowadays
we hear so much about this enllght-
ened age" and the world is rejoicing
in its intellectuaIis1n, its commercial
ism, its electrical and mechanical
achievements, its fraternalism, and
its ecclesiasticism. and turning from
the ueaven-sent Light, it is binding
itself with its own feeble, Pickering
flame. The world in the light of its
own imaginings is seeking the way
of success and happiness. with Heaven
as the intended goal, while the eter-
nal truth of God remains that Jesus
is the Light of the world and only
can reveal the way to God. The
light streams from His cradle, the
cross and the tomb, and ''if we walk
III the light, as He is in the light. we
have fellowship one with another, and
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
us from all sin" Yes, the Light of
the world is Jesus.
Text Setting.-What a wonderful
and attractive declaration is that of
our text: 81 am the Light of the
According to the twentieth
verse of the chapter from which it is
taken, Jesus had been sitting in the
treasury of the temple teaching
Close beside Him were two colossal
lamp-stands, gorgeOCsly gilded, on
which hung a multitude of lamps,
lighted after the evening sacrifice
during the feast of tabernacles, and
their brilliancy, it is said,
over all the city. The scene which
was familiar to the eyes of Jesus is
fol-
Canon Farrar, who says: Round
these lamps, the people, in their joy
Gus enthusiasm. and even the state
Hest priests and Pharisees, Joined in
festival dances; while, to the sound
of flutes and other music, the Lev
titles. drawn up in array on the fifteen
steps which led up to the court,
chanted the beautiful Psalms which
early received the title of Songs of
Degrees In allusion to these great
lamps. on which some circumstance
Of the moment may have concentrate
ed the attention of the hearers
Christ exclaimed to them: 4 am the
Light of the world"
Natural and Spiritual Light.-The
same hand which hung the great sun
in the heavens to give light and life
to the earth sent His Son into the
world to become the light and life
Of the soul of man. Jesus called
Himself the Light of the world be-
cause His relations to the soul close
X paralleled the relations which the
sun sustains to the earth, and thus
things and conditions in the natural
sphere illustrate and make plain pro- |
found spiritual truth.
The sun is the one universal source !
IF light to the world. As it rides in the |
heavens it sheds its beams of light |
upon every land and every people on |
The globe. II wakens this land to the |
activity of another day is its first rays |
touch the mountain peaks and its ad- |
7ancing light chases away the dark |
ness; from the easternmost tongue of |
land as it stretches out into the At |
antic to the jutting promontories |
,leaving the waters of the Pacific. 1t /
sparkles on the waves of the rolling |
ocean until their waters kiss the |
shores of far-off Asia. 1t climbs the /
table lands OF China and penetrates J
he Businesses of Tibet. where white |
mans foot has never trod. Il shines