A LAMP is obviously a source of light. In the Bible, light can be just that, or a metaphor describing illumination of the heart and mind and bringing understanding to someone who had been in the darkness of ignorance and sin. Those who read and believe God realize the power of this light and know that the source is God. On our own, we cannot find our way . . .
2 Samuel 22:29. For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness.
This word is also used as a metaphor for the heirs of David who were promised by God in covenant with this king and his offspring, eventually Jesus Christ. 1 Kings 11:36 and other verses speak of this lamp: “Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.”
Psalm 119:105 points to the source and the purpose of God’s lamp: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Since Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh, He is also the Light of the world and guides His people out of darkness and sin and through life, even through those dark places that test and scare us but cannot destroy us for our Lamp is illuminating the path.
Proverbs 6:23 tells me that light comes through learning and obeying God’s Word. “For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.” His light preserves me from all sorts of evil. Jesus also tells me to be ready and keep my lamp lit, so as not to be caught in darkness, obviously referring to keeping my focus on what He says and doing what He tells me to do.
2 Peter 1:19–21. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Luke 11:33–36. “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. The Lamp gives me light now yet in limited ways, usually only what I need for each day. However, the day will come when I am with Jesus. The difference will be like the difference between a candle and the sun because, as Revelation 22:5 says, “Night will be no more. I will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be my light, and I will reign forever and ever.” These days have been dark with friends in trouble or even dying, yet God holds my hand and shows me what I can do. His light is not only guidance but a great comfort in dark times.
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