Acts 22:11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. 1. We need some light in order that we may see; but too much light prevents us from seeing at all. Bury a man in a dungeon to which no ray of sunshine ever comes, and he sees nothing. Bring him out into the full glare of the noonday sun, and he sees no more; and by long gazing at excessive light the power of vision becomes impaired or destroyed. 2. The self-same law which obtains in the external world has its types in the world of mind; and as regards spiritual things as well as visible ones, there is such a thing as over-much glory dazzling, instead of informing and enlightening the mind. I. THE FIRST OBJECT CONCERNING WHICH IT IS TRUE THAT FOR VERY GLORY WE CANNOT SEE IT CLEARLY IS GOD HIMSELF. God is Light: the Father of Lights: that dwelleth in Light. And yet, is it not true that "we cannot see Him for the glory of that light"? "No man hath seen God at any time"; no man can see God and live. We cannot comprehend God; and the longer and more deeply we think upon the Almighty, the more humbly we say, "Verliy Thou art a God that hidest Thyself!" It is only when His glory is tempered down to our weak sight by coming through the medium of a human nature in the face of Jesus that we can understand it, at least in some degree. His eternity, His omnipresence, His reading of every thought of our heart: who can understand all that? You will remember the ancient fable of the sage, who was asked by his king, "What is God?" and who asked a day to consider his reply: and then at the end of the day a month; and at the end of the month a year; and at the end of the year said he never could answer the question at all, because mystery gathered on mystery the longer he dwelt upon the theme. Ah! it is the experience of every man who looks at God in any way but as revealed in Christ. "We cannot see for the glory of that light." II. RELIGIOUS TRUTHS ARE VERY OFTEN OVERLOOKED, JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE SET IN A LIGHT SO THOROUGH THAT REASONING ABOUT THEM IS NEEDLESS. We do not see them, for the very clearness of the light which shines upon them. If you are trying to impress upon any man some truth of great practical importance, but which is not quite apparent at the first glance, you make use of various arguments and illustrations to make it plainer and more obvious. But if a man doubts or denies a truth which is already so plain, what is the use of arguing with him? And the most real of all ways of denying any truth is to deny it practically. Now the evil and the difficulty is that almost all those religious truths which men practically deny are truths which are already so plain that no talking can make them plainer. Take the following truths: 1. The necessity of obtaining a part in Christ's salvation before we leave this world. I know what to do if a man says, "But I do not believe in Christ; and so I seek no part or lot in Him." I should seek to set before him the various reasons we have for believing Christ; and then I should hope that he would begin to act upon his belief. But what can you say to a man who believes that by turning to Christ he may gain heaven and escape hell, and yet who knows and confesses that he is living as though his creed were the atheist's? You can tell him nothing he does not know. Argument and information have no effect upon him, just because he agrees with them so readily: as the strongest blast can make no permanent impression on the willow, just because the willow bends so readily before its breath. 2. The certainty of death and its possible nearness. It is a trite truism to say that "all must die." Who doubts it? We all admit the truth, but who acts upon it? One would think that amid a world of many graves, we who have looked so often upon them would hardly be able to forget that in a little while we shall be laid where we have seen many laid before us. But how very little we realise the hour when we shall lie upon our bed of death! It was no wonder that David said, "Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" for if we could only every day keep that parting hour before us, and realise all it means, what earnest Christians we should be! There is no reason at all why such a remembrance should overcast our days with sadness. Those who think most of death, if they think in the way the Psalmist wished us, are those who will fear it least. III. THE WAY IN WHICH THIS EVIL MAY BE REMEDIED. The right course to take when we feel that any religious doctrine has grown too familiar to us, so that familiarity has taken from the effect it used to have upon our hearts, is to make it a subject of special prayer, that the Holy Spirit may open the eyes of our understandings to understand it better, and touch our hearts to feel it more. Many a Christian can tell you that in a season of prayer or of solemn meditation he has had glimpses of the Saviour's value, and while thus musing the fire has burned — a fire which no earthly power kindled in his heart. And in all this the believer would trace the breathing of the enlightening Spirit of God. Now these influences are free to all believers: we have more confidence in praying for the Spirit than in asking for almost any other blessing. "If ye, being evil," etc. And while we would bear it in our remembrance how much we need Him in many ways — as a Spirit of holiness, prayer, and comfort — let us ask for Him, too, as one whose special province it is to open the eyes of our understanding and make us see by uncreated light. IV. THE GUILT OF THUS OVERLOOKING RELIGIOUS TRUTHS. God has said and shown enough to us; and it is our own fault if we will not see and hear. You remember the answer of Abraham to the rich man in woe, "They have Moses and the prophets." If they would neglect and overlook all the warnings they had, they must do so at their own peril. It would be no answer at the day of judgment to say that they really had never noticed how much God had done to make them think of eternity. And there can hardly be a more awful thing in the appearance of the careless soul, when at last the hour of death draws near, than when first there breaks upon it the awful sense of how much light it had sinned against in its progress towards endless woe. We shall feel then, if not before, the tremendous force of the old reasons for going to Christ and believing on Him, which were pressed upon us a thousand times, till they grew so familiar to us that they produced no impression. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. |
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