The Reflections of Light

     Through the centuries the people of God have met in various places and under various circumstances. It all began in the Old Testament with the people of Israel encamping about a tent --- the portable Tabernacle  in the wilderness. Over the years, the people built various Temples as places of worship, for they wanted to build a house for God. In the early Apostolic church the people even met in personal homes for the purposes of worship and fellowship.
     Today, however, we still study the church in the broad sense; it is not a matter of building and properties. The church consists of born-again believers in Christ who have answered the eternal call of God. With the presence of God in His church, it is truly becoming a "living Temple" not made with hands. That living organization – – the church – –has answered the divine call of God and is busy reaching out to the lost of this world.
THE CHURCH CALLED --- out of darkness,
1 John 1:5-7 KJV
(5) This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
(6) If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
(7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
      All religions make use of the analogy of light and darkness. This, of course, springs from the nature of God. There is something in the character and makeup of God that abhors darkness.  The first creative act of God was to dispel the darkness that "was upon the face of the deep:" (Genesis 1:2)
     God is light. His holy, pure nature is the wellspring of light. Darkness is the opposite of God. When man fell in the Garden of Eden spiritual darkness was introduced into the world. But just as in the beginning, so again God had to banish the darkness – – girst was His law, and then with his Son.  He called to those who would follow from the kingdom of darkness "into his marvelous light." (I Peter 2:9)
     The call to the Christians is to take Jesus Christ, the light of the world, to those who are in darkness. We, then, are reflections of God's light.