THE LAMPS

The lamp is a small utensil. It is directly related with the life of man and his activities, because when the sun turns around and the mantle of darkness falls wanting to stop everything, only by means of a lamp may one continue despite the obscurity. The “lamp” is like a small cup, which exists to allow man to have light with him and to bring light into the dark places in which he moves. In the midst of darkness without this element, man is like blind; he is by himself alone impotent to advance or develop. The lamp will be at his side when night falls, to show him where to step, to see the way. It is fundamental to have a lamp if one has to move around during the night, because it is the only thing that allows a safe walk when darkness reigns.

Our ten virgins took each their own lamp, which indicates that it was dark or was about to darken. How similar to the times we are living in! From the many testimonies we have heard, we know that the Lord will come at midnight; but who can say what time it is in the clock of the ages? Is it about to get dark, or is it dark already, or are we near midnight? The cry of the Spirit is with an increasing urgency everywhere in the world, without mentioning what we can see about wars, earthquakes, famines or diseases, and that makes us understand that His coming is near, but we cannot say what time it is. Yet, be it as it may, it seems to be time to walk with a lamp at hand. Nevertheless, in our age of electricity, what is the spiritual meaning of what in this parable is mentioned as a “lamp”? What aspect of life does the Holy Spirit want to show with this small object?

In this story of the virgins, we can see one first thing: the lamp is reachable. One can stretch out and grab it, thus being clear that the lamp is not something “part of” nor “incorporated in” the virgins. It was not something belonging to their natures. It was not part of their skin. The lamp is a separate object. To be a virgin is one thing, the lamp is another thing.

And also then, picking up the lamp or not is something voluntary. Our parable says that the virgins took their lamps; they were not forced to. They simply saw the coming darkness and they took the appropriate utensil. When darkness begins to cover, to take the lamp depends on the will of each person. It is me who decides if I will make the effort of taking it, or if I will walk into the darkness trusting in my own ability of “seeing” in the night.

We were saying before, that the virgins represent the Church, so we can also consider that the taking of the lamp, or not, is under the will of the redeemed ones. Every child of God, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, has complete freedom of picking up the lamp or leaving it. Although apparently God assumes that each virgin has hers, because in another place He says: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning!” (Lk.12, 25). Two other portions of the Scripture give us a deeper glimpse. Psalm 119, 105 says: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet” and Proverbs 6, 23, “The commandment is a lamp”. These verses let us understand that the lamp is a figure of the Word of God. The king and prophet David recognizes before God: “Your Word…” and the wise Salomon says: “The commandment…”, and both are referring to the Word of God.

HIS WORD is the lamp.

"--I am going to buy myself a Bible, so I can have my lamp. Or should I have to memorize it before saying that I have a lamp?”

Scriptures certainly ought to be scrutinized and memorized as much as possible. From them we learn great part of what the Lord wants to teach us about Himself and about His kingdom, so if we leave them aside we do ourselves a very big personal harm. But to buy a Bible or even memorize it is not to have a lamp.

The lamp of our parable was of clay, and the first step to have a lamp is to get the clay from the quarry. The reading of the Scriptures, becoming acquainted with them and memorizing them is like getting that clay from the mountain. Later it will be taken to the potter so that he can make a lamp with it. Yet the taking of the clay from the quarry and putting it on a wagon to bring it to the potter’s workshop does not mean one has a wagon full of lamps. That is to be too optimistic. It is just that one has the material to begin with. Then, it is not only clay what is needed. Also water will be required to make the dough, as well as the potter’s work to give it its form. The dough, that mixture of clay and water, is not only the “read” or “studied” Word, nor the “meditated” Word. The work to be done is more than just that. The clay has to be mixed first with water, then it goes under the potter’s hands and with its final form it is being laid for some time under the sun or in an oven. So it is, that to the clay that has been brought from the quarry, the water to be added is: my believing in what I read; my acceptation to have my life changed according to what the Word says my life should be . The dough is “the believed Word”; the Word which I embrace with my faith and into which I wish to put my obedience. The clay (His Word) joined with the water (my faith and my acceptance to be conformed to that Word) form the dough which the Divine Potter takes in His hand to give it the necessary form and which He later exposes to the trial of our faith (the heat of the sun or of the oven), so that the Word in me and my faith in it become one same thing.

It was the Word of God that David embraced with his faith that turned unto lamp for him. That is why certain Scriptures are lamps for some people, while they still are not lamps for others. Their faith has not been involved in those Scriptures yet. All the Scripture is not a lamp for everyone today; but yes, there are lamps: they are those portions which faith has embraced. For example, one may say: “the life does not consist in the abundance of the things I possess”, and that sounds very well. But it is when this sentence Jesus said (Luke 12,15) becomes real, because faith embraced it and the person accepted to live according to it, that that Word transforms itself into a lamp for that individual. “My life does not consist in the abundance of the things which I possess”, comes first intellectually. One understands it and accepts it. But it is still only clay. Yes, it is on the wagon, but it is still impossible to pour oil into it. It is mere knowledge in the mind, needed to make a lamp, but it is still no lamp. But when the spirit of that Word finds a place inside the being, in the person’s heart, and this person starts turning its life around it, because he or she believes in it, then one has a dough.

The potter will start putting His hands on the job. His artisan hands will give the form according to the need or to His will. The supplied water of the faith is conformed to the Word and to the will of the Potter, and the heat of the drying will complete the job. It will make the water (the faith in that Word) to remain forever on that clay, and it will make the clay useful for something, through the faith of the one who gave himself to believe that Word. From then on, as long as that Word exists, his faith in that Word will also exist, because the Potter has faithfully mixed them. Those processes make a lamp.

And yet, not everybody has a lamp. Some do not even know that there is a mountain from which clay can and has to be taken. Others know, but they do not go to the quarry; the Scriptures do not mean much for them. And still others go to the mountain and fill the wagon with clay, and they even take it to the Potter in their hearts; but because they never believe it, no water is being added, and the dough never gets to be made. If there is no dough, what can the Potter do? A lamp will never exist there.

A lamp is the Word of God that I have accepted in my heart; the one I have believed in, and after which I accept to be modeled under the heat of the sun to walk according to it in obedience. For ever.

There were lamps of all kinds. In the archaeological museums they can be seen, some small and others big, to be hanged and illuminate a whole room. In our parable, the model of the lamp was of the small ones, of the size of the palm of a hand. These were the personal type. They were to lighten one’s own way, not much more. But exactly this fact is the characteristic to be considered from this Scripture: they are personal. Of the proper size to lighten around the person and some more, but not sufficient to illuminate many. Every one had to have his own lamp. The neighbor’s light was not enough.

Also its size demands a requisite: If we want to keep it functioning, it is necessary to refill the oil often. The reservoir is appropriate, but small. It is good for several hours, but no more; after a certain time its strength begins to diminish, and if it is nor replenished, its light extinguishes.

“Your Word, the commandment, is a lamp unto my feet”. It is what allows me to see which way to go, where to step and where not to step. His Word was a lamp for David, for Salomon, and it of course has to be so for each one of us. It was personal for them, and they filled it continuously. The lamp we ought to have is the same. Only ours, and needing to be constantly refilled.

Yet a lamp… is nothing but a lamp. A lamp can be placed on the highest part of the room, and it will shine during the day under some sunray. Though when night falls, darkness will cover it just like it covers all the other things. Because the lamp itself, although it seems to be a source, does not provide light; it only holds it. It is only a support for the light.

Our popular way of talking skips things and because of that sometimes we fall into error. When we say that we have a lamp in our hand, we are not referring to the “lamp” exclusively, but really more to the fact that darkness is not worrying us, because we have light to see where we are going. We say that we have “a lamp”, meaning that we have “light”. And really, it is the light that matters. Our way of talking avoids certain things, so it will be better to deepen a bit into this matter.

In those lamps of the old days, apart from the clay cup and the light, there also where the oil, the wick and the fire. And since each one of these things is necessary to provide light, although we do not find those elements specifically mentioned in the parable, it is convenient for us to look at them with some detail.