“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:22-23.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Let the Light shine in! It will remove the darkness and sin. The Sermon on the Mount is about living in the Light.
“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” John 3:19-21.
It goes to the heart of the matter; it probes the thoughts and motives of the heart. “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the innermost parts of his being.” Proverbs 20:27.
So let us consider what Jesus next addresses in this teaching called the Sermon on the Mount: “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:22-23. There is much to see here.
The eye is the lamp of the body. This is true physically but also spiritually. Physically, it is true that it is the eye by which light enters your body. If you are blind you live in darkness. There is no light that enters you, all is darkness. Deep darkness. Without guidance you will stumble and fall, you have no way to know where you are going.
The same is true spiritually, Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is My image, 2 Corinthians 4:4. I am Light, there is no darkness in Me. And in seeing Jesus you see Me and He is the Light of the world. No follower of His will ever walk in darkness but will have the Light of life. John 8:12. For I who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” am the One who has shone in your hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of My glory in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6.
The first thing I spoke into being was light. And yet I did not make the sun, moon, and stars until the fourth day. And I tell you what that light was, it was life, the light of life.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:1-5.
In Jesus I have qualified you for the inheritance of the saints in Light. I have called you out of darkness into My own marvelous Light. I have transferred you from the realm of darkness into the Kingdom of My Beloved Son. And He is the Light of the world and the lamp of Heaven. Revelation 21:23.
To see the true light that shines on every man you have to see with the eyes of your heart, that is, your spirit. My apostle Paul prayed for you that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened to know three very important things: the hope of My calling for your life, the richness of the inheritance that I have for you, and the surpassing greatness of the power that I have put in you who believe that is working in you now. And he is speaking of resurrection power which I brought about in Christ when I raised Him from the dead and seated Him at My right hand in Heaven with all things under His feet. Ephesians 1:18-20. I have given Him full authority in Heaven and on earth. And He has entrusted to those who are His body on earth to be a light to the nations.
The eye is the lamp of the body. The word in the Greek language in which this passage was written for lamp is luchnos (λύχνος), which means an oil lamp, that is, an oil-fed portable lamp, usually set on a stand. It is the same word used for “Let your light (lamp) shine before men” in the first part of the Sermon on the Mount.
In the Old Testament, I tell you that your spirit is My lamp. Proverbs 20:27. I alone give light to your lamp and brighten the darkness around you. “For You light my lamp, LORD, my God enlightens my darkness,” sang David. Psalm 18:28. In Hebrew, the language in which the Old Testament was written, and Jesus did not speak the Sermon on the Mount in Greek but the Hebrew dialect, the word used for lamp in these passages is “ner (נִיר),” which is the same word I use for the lamps mounted on the golden lampstand (menorah) in the tabernacle of Moses. They are oil lamps also, to be lit with the finest olive oil, “You shall charge the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.” Exodus 27:20; Leviticus 24:2.
There is no darkness at all in My heavenly Kingdom. My glory lights the Kingdom of Heaven and Jesus is the lamp. Revelation 21:23. Luchnos. A portable oil lamp. Do you recall with what oil I anointed Jesus? Yes, the oil of JOY! Hebrews 1:9;
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your companions. Psalm 45:7
Jesus loved righteousness and hated wickedness so I anointed Him with the oil of joy. He walked in the Light; He had NO darkness in Him. Satan found no place in Jesus. The power of darkness never entered Him. Jesus told His disciples the night He was betrayed, “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” John 14:30. Jesus called Satan the “ruler of this world.” Adam and Eve had been that originally for I gave them dominion authority over the world and the works of My hands, but they stepped out of the Light of authority into the darkness of slavery and plunged all their descendants into the same. But in Jesus I rescued you from the power of darkness and brought you into My marvelous Light.
And what did Jesus call that hour of betrayal and His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane? When Judas Iscariot came leading the crowd that came to arrest Jesus, Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber? While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.” Luke 22:52-53. He had told them previously their father was the devil but anyone who receives My Son is born again as My child. You are no longer children of darkness, no, you are light in Me, you are children of Light. I have lit your lamp with the oil of joy. And My joy is your strength.
Be dressed (girded) in readiness, and your lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Luke 12:35-37.
How do you get your lamp lit with the oil of joy? Today Samuel is not coming with a horn of oil to anoint you king as he did for David. But Jesus told you how to have the same anointing of joy that He has. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:11. The revelation of My Word gives light. My Word is anointed, it is Spirit and life. The anointing of joy is in My Word, and that is where you will find it and receive it. As the two disciples walked to Emmaus with the risen Lord He shared the Words foretelling Him in all of the Old Testament and their hearts were lit with fire so that they burned brightly within them. Faith comes by hearing and hearing My Word about Christ, the anointed One. Joy unspeakable and filled with glory. “And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:8-9. You are born again by the imperishable seed of My Word. And the anointing of joy is in My Word. It has the power to save your souls. Not just your spirit but also your soul (mind, will, and emotions).
Let us look some more at the teaching we are considering today, “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23.
“If your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.” That is true in the physical, clear unobstructed eyesight lets the maximum light and vision in. And the same is true in the spiritual.
The word in Greek that is translated “clear” is haploús (ἁπλοῦς), which literally means “unfolded, single, without folds,” referring to a single (undivided) focus, which prevents an over-complicated life (becoming needlessly distracted). Haploús is the antonym of the Greek term diplous meaning, “double.” To pray the prayer of faith that moves mountains and raises up the sick, you must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind and ought not to expect that he will receive anything, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:7-8. The spirit of faith is single minded, you believe in your heart and speak with your mouth and do not back down until you obtain the promise in My Word.
“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” Eyes that not good physically give dim vision, tunnel vision, unclarity, floaters, blindness and the like. This plunges you into darkness and unclarity of vision. The same in the spiritual. If your eyes are looking into evil and are focused only on the things of this world, you will walk in darkness, the darkness of depression, hatred, doubt, fear, sickness, malice, bitterness, unforgiveness, guilt, defeat, the lusts of the flesh and the worries of this life. Again, it is back to the thoughts and motives of the heart.
“That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” Mark 7:20-23.
“But if your eye is bad,” the word in Greek translated “bad” is ponéros (πονηρός) which means evil, bad, wicked, malicious, slothful. It is onērós (an adjective which is also used substantively, derived from pónos, which means “pain, laborious trouble”– properly, pain-ridden, emphasizing the inevitable agonies (misery) that always go with evil.
This is very serious. The eyes of your heart—are they enlightened with the light of life or are you plunged in darkness? You will be able to tell very quickly by your joy level. Remember? I light your lamp, for it is a portable oil lamp, with the oil of joy. In these last days, many people’s love will grow cold due to the evil and darkness they see. But the deep darkness in the world is getting darker, for there are none so blind as those who will not see, whose minds are blinded by Satan, held captive in darkness to do his will. But the light of My glory is shining on you. Your bright light will be seen by all.
My servant Luke recounts this same teaching but as a physician he adds more detail, “The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.” Luke 11:34-36.
When you see as I see, that is, you see healing and not sickness, you see joy and not sorrow, you see light and not darkness, you see provision and not lack, you see beauty and not ashes, then you are full of light with no dark part, wholly illumined as when a lamp illumines you with its rays. Jesus saw this way. When He saw the sick, He spoke healing. When He stood outside the tomb of Lazarus He saw life and not death. When He saw five loaves and two fish He saw abundance as He told the people to sit down and get ready to be fed. When they brought Him the woman caught in adultery He saw beauty for her ashes. And when you see Him and hear Him you see and hear Me. Light be. It was very dark, but I saw and spoke light and light was.
When Moses spent time with Me in prayer and writing down My Words, his face shone. He was radiant. And everyone saw it.
Everyone should see the light with which I lit your lamp shining upon the way into the Holy of Holies like the golden lampstand of the tabernacle. And it had seven lamps, the center lamp (the vine) and the six lamps on the branches coming out of the center shaft (the branches). Six is the number of man, for I formed you on the sixth day, and seven is the number of completion and entering My rest (shabbat). And in Christ you are complete. He is the Light of the World and He is your peace and joy.
I love you. Shine on the world like bright lights, you are offering it the Word of Life. Life for the light of men.