“In Thy light shall we see light”.
(Psalm 36:9b)
In this light a human sees. In the heart, the soul of a man upon whom true light was bestowed, a window was placed and through this window light streamed inwards. When he became aware of that, he could say with the man that was born blind: “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). That is the experience of all God’s children.
And what do we see then? Ah, these things are so great. Therefore we should never speak about them without hesitation – not because they are not true, nor because they should not be certain, but because they are so great. A man then sees God in His glory. He had read about God, in all probability had he spoken about the Lord and often mentioned His name, but he had always been without any true knowledge. This he now sees! He would have never seen it, if that enlightenment had not come.
When you ponder over this, you will realize that the truth must be contradicted. If you are not contradicted, then it is no truth. You will also understand that God’s people must be the “filth of the world” and the “offscouring of all things”, like the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:13. This is so because these things are not valued, as the world does not know them. The world does not know God in His glory, nor does the world know the Lord Jesus Christ. For the glory of God is seen in the Person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God dwells in an unapproachable light. Nobody must think that he could ever approach a Being that dwells in such a light. But God has revealed Himself. He was made flesh. He became Man. He shows Himself in His human nature, so that His glory, the glory of his righteousness, His holiness, His mercifulness, His kindness, His love and His compassion is seen in Jesus Christ. A discovery we never had until that time.
(From: Meditations, 9 February. Sermon on 1 John 1:7, 5 May 1949 in The Hague.)