"And they came to Jericho: and as He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging." Mark 10:46

"And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him." Genesis 21:5

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12

"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:5

This day let the light of Christ brighten up the dark corners of your life! If you do, then will this day be one of deep-moving peace and happiness which you will long remember.

Let me quote John 8:12,

"Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the Light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life."

I have many thoughts to set before you concerning this one verse, but first I want to talk about prophecy. Frequently I remind you of the passage in the Book of Revelation which reads: "...The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (19:10). Is it possible that in this one verse which I have just read to you that we can find prophecy? The reason that so many people, including our priesthoods, can see nothing in the Bible except the casual, and the face-value of words – which they love to interpret to mean something different from what they say – is that they are spiritually blind.

Recently I was telling you about blind Bartimaeus and his friend, whose eyes Jesus opened on the outskirts of Jericho. It is quite correct to say that Bartimaeus represented the entirety of Christendom until this day.

(But hark! 'tis the footsteps of Jesus we hear approaching; arise and shout, ye blinded ones, for the power of God is at hand! The glorious beauty of the returning Daystar is now streaming over the spiritual horizon, and soon light shall flood in upon the world once more.)

The Lord of Life has traversed Galilee, which symbolizes the Gentile world, and has passed through its "Moon City" (Jericho). We are now in those very years symbolized by the outskirts of Jericho, when the eyes of blind Bartimaeus are soon to be opened. What joy was his, and what joy will be yours – when your eyes are opened to see what you have never dared to believe could be true!

It might be well for you to have paper and pencil convenient in order that you may better understand the prophecy that I will show you shortly. Most of the prophecy I set forth involves numbers; that you may better understand, write them down.

To better understand the prophecy of the Lord's simple declaration – that He constituted the Light of the world – we must link that statement with His more complete saying that "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world, but night cometh when no man can work" (Jn. 9:4-5).

In His saying that He constituted the Light of the world, we cannot help but associate that with the sun, which is man's light of day. I am going to quote to you Genesis 1:14:

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years."

I wonder how many of you have stopped to realize the meaning of that word "signs" which I just quoted to you? It is a word which denotes a significance, or a message conveyed by signals. In other words, the sun and the moon and the stars, which God created and set in the firmament of the heavens, were intended to convey their message to us – that is, some specific message or messages. And indeed they do!

Here our Lord stated explicitly that while He was in the world, He was the Light of the world, and that those who would follow Him would have the Light of life and not walk in darkness. Therefore, we cannot help but associate Him with this sun, which gives us the light by which we walk in the daytime. But the entirety of the Mosaic ordinances involved the moon, and their calendar was ordered accordingly. Did you ever stop to realize that our Lord was crucified in the full moon? It was on the day of the Jewish Passover, which was set for the full moon in their first month of the year. That corresponded to our spring and Easter. The very fact of His sacrifice in the full of the moon tells us two things: first, that He was that Lamb of God (as declared to the people by John the Baptist) Who was sacrificed for the people as their Passover Lamb; and, secondly, the moon's fullness symbolized that the religion of the Jews according to Moses and the Prophets had then come to its fullness, following which its light and influence would be waning.

Did you ever hear that the moon has a cycle? Or heavenly bodies their cycles, even as our earth has its own? Luna's cycle is that of an even 19 years, when it returns to the exact spot in the heavens on the same day and in the same degree of what is commonly called the Zodiac. Write down that number 19.

Abraham was 100 years of age when Isaac was born. You may have heard, and it is correct, that Isaac was a type of Jesus Christ. Abraham means "the father of a multitude," while Isaac means "laughter" or "great joy." That links up with the happy tidings of good things which He brought unto His people and the world at large. Now, because Abraham was 100 years of age when Isaac was born, that tells us that God manifests to man through that number, or ratio of 100 to 1.

Because God said that the sun and the moon and the stars were to be for signs, or to convey a message to us, we must take Him at His Word. And we have just seen how God manifests to man at 100. So, since our Lord was crucified at the full of the moon (and He said that night would set in), we must take that cycle of the moon in order to compute the length of the night. So, just add two ciphers to that figure 19 you have already written down, and you will have 1,900 years. It is not too important whose chronology we use because they would only differ in a few years. But I am personally convinced that the greatest precision is to be found in the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, the chronology of which I computed back in 1949 and published at that time. That chronology, if we were to harmonize it with our present calendar, would place the crucifixion of our Lord in the spring of 36 A.D., instead of 33 or even 30, as some claim. So, below the figure of 1,900 write down 36 (spring), adding the two: we get 1936 A.D. at Easter time. That completes the cycle of the moon according to God's yardstick in relationship to man. Therefore, it was time for our Lord to once more manifest to man. And that He did!

I will give you more detail in the next message, but quickly now, add the number 12, for it was at the age of 12 that Jesus first appeared in the Temple in His discoursing with the Jews. Adding that number takes us into the summer of 1948: what happened? That was the exact year and time when the Jews declared themselves a reborn nation in Palestine! I ask you: was the Lord of life again with His people, asking them questions and answering questions through that event of world-rocking importance?

I will have more to say to you about this prophecy in my next message, but for the moment let us look at the individual application. "...he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (Jn. 8:12). Did the Lord here say anything about the soul of man after the body had died? No, indeed; He was talking about man's earth-life, and in their walking in that light which Christ constituted. Can you be sick and miserable and still say that you have the light of Christ? Can you go from one disappointment to another and even into grief, disillusionment and failure, and still say that the light of Christ fills your life? When or where did you ever hear or read that those who followed the Lord were limping along, sick, blind, in despair, unhappy or failures? There were none such!

Christ gave the Keys to the Kingdom unto Peter, but men fell asleep and an enemy stole in and sowed the tares. The spiritual night settled in. Men have slumbered and slept and stumbled in their sleepwalking. But now, the principles to the Keys to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ for our here and now have been made available free, in printed form, that whosoever will may come into the light of Jesus Christ and "follow Him in the way," unto their present success and happiness and everlasting joys!

"While I am in the world I am the LIGHT of the world" rang the voice of Jesus the Galilean (Jn. 9:5). The Christ had spoken: the multitudes were dumbfounded, while scribes and Pharisees were enraged by His words because He spoke as if He were very God. But they knew Him to be a man, so they considered Him to be a colossal braggart, and THAT they threw in His teeth by saying, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true" (Jn. 8:13).

Was Jesus a braggart? Was Jesus but an ordinary man, although very clever? We have but to look about, as well as at the record of history, to answer that question emphatically, leaving no room for argument. Ever since Rome accepted Christianity as the state religion, a great many nations have fallen at the feet of Christ to accept Him as their guiding Light. It therefore follows that if the words of the Christ were true (that while in the world He constituted the Light of the world), then we shall find that evidence among those nations which have accepted Him. And that we do.

Look at the world's leading nations: they are the Christian nations. Look at the greatness of the United States of America, today recognized as the world's leading nation; yes, look back through the previous century and even more at Great Britain and her Commonwealth of nations which were, throughout a vast period of time, not only THE world empire, but also THE leading nation regardless of how viewed. Look to Germany, France, Italy and the rest of the Christian nations, and we find that without exception they have been the leaders in science and sociology, in medicine and government, to establish for their people LAW, order and equitable systems to assure liberty and justice to all of their citizens. Look to the living standards of these countries; yes, look to the concern for human rights, and you will find that those nations which never recognized Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ of God cannot, by comparison, hold up the faintest candle to the glorious light and standards of the world's historically Christian nations.

Look to China, Japan, India, Egypt and other non-Christian countries; it becomes an insult to Christendom to say that there is even a comparison, except to the extent they have accepted and mimicked the standards of the world's historically Christian nations. Yes, much has changed in the last 50 years as to the testimony of these "Christian" nations, but that does not change the verdict of history when they were more committed to the principles of life and truth as declared by Jesus the Christ. The only exception to this is the Jewish nation, out from among whom have come many of the world's greatest names in history. Yet remember these two factors: they are the Chosen People of God, who were, in His Own words, "hewn by the prophets" (Hos. 6:5); and for over 1,000 years they were tutored and disciplined by their God. Secondly, bear in mind that world Jewry of today has mostly been cradled in the lap of Christendom and been nurtured by Christian culture, and therefore has partaken of that guiding Light which became the heritage of those Christian nations which accepted Jesus as the Christ of God. To any right-thinking person this constitutes far more than the required evidence to PROVE that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ of God and, indeed, the very LIGHT of the World – while He was in the world. The nations of Christendom constituted that very proof when they were more committed to His principles of truth.

Again, for contrast we could look at the nations which once were Christian but apostatized through their forms of government – for instance, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany (which during the Soviet era officially embraced atheism), Romania and others. When they publicly rejected the Christ of God, they commenced to slip back rapidly into primitive barbarism, and to social conditions which would not be tolerable to any modern Christian.

Let that verdict of history and the existing facts of today answer the question: "WHO was Jesus of Nazareth?" – The very Christ of God!

"While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world" (Jn. 9:5) – what a startling statement! Never has it been recorded that any man, previously or since, has spoken with such a ruthless sweep of authority, power and dignity. Had He been but a common man, His words would long ago have died from human memory, even as the braggart which gave them voice – IF that is what He was. But the words of Jesus Christ live on and on, growing in luster, power and grandeur.

Long and dark has been this spiritual night which He predicted would settle upon our world; but soon – thank God! – glorious light-beams will be shooting over the spiritual horizon, heralding the dawn of a New Day.

Have YOU seen that light? Has it become a mighty beam to guide your every step, and lead you to ever-higher peaks of achievement and happiness?

If not, it is high time you join that happy throng who live in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ for our here and now.