OBJECTS: A Lamp, a Mirror, a Bowl, a Glass of Milk,
Bread, a Cup of Honey, a Hammer, a Sword, a Jar
of Seeds
In this chapter we think together as to what the Bible is like, and produce the object referred to.
We confine our thoughts to what the Bible says it is likened unto.
1. The Bible is likened unto a lamp. Here produce an Oriental lamp if possible; if not, use an ordinary house lamp, and quote the following Scripture: Psalm 119:105, 130; Proverbs 6:23.
This is a dark world, it is under the power of darkness. (Col. 1:13.) It is controlled by the "rulers of darkness" (Eph. 6:12). Unless it is enlightened by the Bible lamp it will go to its own place, "the blackness of darkness forever" (Jude 1:13). "God so loved the world, that he gave us his Lamp that whosoever should follow the Light, might not perish, but have everlasting life." Like the golden candlestick it shines upon divine things near at hand, and like the pillar of fire it lights up the way through the wilderness journey. All other lamps will go out, but this light shines more and more to the perfect day.
Harken, ye children of men, listen, ye people of all nations, "The entrance of thy word giveth light."
2. A mirror. (2 Corinthians 3:18; James 1:25.)
An ordinary looking-glass can be used here if it is put in an upright position.
It shows me myself just as I really am, not as I think I am, but as I am. (Rom. 3:19.) The human heart shrinks from looking at it for it shows the heart as it really is. And yet, to see one's self as it is revealed in the mirror is the first step in the true way back to God.
A missionary to China once read aloud, to a large audience, Romans 1. One of the Chinamen present said he thought it was very unfair and unkind for the "foreign devil" (as missionaries were there called) to come to find out all their secret sins and write them down in a book, and read them out in that public way. It is a truth that the Bible is a mirror, "Mine to tell me what I am."