"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile" (Psalm 32:1, 2).
As sin is darkness, so sin is death. "To be carnally minded is death," for "the sting of death is sin" (Rom. 8:6; 1 Cor. 15:56). Sin and death come from Satan, for it is he who has the power of death. The darkness of this world is the darkness of sin, and that is the darkness of the shadow of death. Those who sit in sin, sit in the shadow of death; and the light that springs up to such is the light of Christ's sinless life.
As sin is death, so righteousness is life. To be spiritually minded is to have the mind of the Spirit of God, and that is to have His life and righteousness. It is to have the law of God in the mind, "for we know that the law is spiritual" (Rom. 7:14). The only thing that can dispel darkness is light. So the only thing that can take away sin is righteousness. And the only thing that can overcome death is life. [1]
Those who sit in the shadow of death, which is the shadow that sin casts, may have that shadow dispelled by allowing the light to shine in. That light is to be manifested in its fullness in the church before the end, so that the life of Christ will be manifested before the world as plainly as when Christ was here on the earth in person.
This will be the standard around which thousands will rally, even as they did on the day of Pentecost. It is this light of Christ's life of which the prophet speaks in these words: "Arise, shine, for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people: but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (Isa. 60:1-3). [2]
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