It is well to have a defence from that which is without us; but it is more needful to have, if a comparison can be made between the two, a glory in the midst' of us.
The one is external defence; the other inward illumination, with all which light symbolises--knowledge, joy, purity.
There is even more than that meant by this great promise. For notice that emphatic little word the--the glory, not a glory--in the midst of her. Now you all know what the glory' was. It was that symbolic Light that spoke of the special presence of God, and went with the Children of Israel in their wanderings, and sat between the Cherubim. There was no Shechinah,' as it is technically called, in that second Temple. But yet the Prophet says, The glory'--the actual presence of God--shall be in the midst of her,' and the meaning of that great promise is taught us by the very last vision in the New Testament, in which the Seer of the Apocalypse says, The glory of the Lord did lighten it' (evidently quoting Zechariah), and the Lamb is the light thereof.' So the city is lit as by one central glow of radiance that flashes its beams into every corner, and therefore there shall be no night there.'
Now this promise, too, bears on churches and on individuals. On the Church as a whole it bears in this way: the only means by which a Christian community can fulfil its function, and be the light of the world, is by having the presence of God, in no metaphor, the actual presence of the illuminating Spirit in its midst. If it has not that, it may have anything and everything else--wealth, culture, learning, eloquence, influence in the world--but all is of no use; it will be darkness. We are light only in proportion as we are light in the Lord.' As long as we, as communities, keep our hearts in touch with Him, so long do we shine. Break the contact, and the light fades and flickers out.
The same thing is true, dear brethren, about individuals. For each of us the secret of joy, of purity, of knowledge, is that we be holding close communion with God. If we have Him in the depths of our hearts, then, and only then, shall we be light in the Lord.'
And now look at the last point which follows, as I have said, as the result of the other two.
