They are of those that rebel against the light— Job 24:13

These evidently had the light, and this should be esteemed as no small privilege, since to wander on the dark mountains is a terrible curse. Yet this privilege may turn into an occasion of evil.

Most of us have received light in several forms, such as instruction, conscience, reason, revelation, experience, the Holy Spirit. The degree of light differs, but we have each received some measure thereof.

Light has a sovereignty in it, so that to resist it is to rebel against it. God has given it to be a display of himself, for God is light; and he has clothed it with a measure of his majesty and power of judgment.

Rebellion against light has in it a high degree of sin. It might be virtue to rebel against darkness, but what shall be said of those who withstand the light, resisting truth, holiness, and knowledge?

• Well-instructed persons, who have been accustomed to teach others, and yet turn aside to evil: these are grievous traitors.


• Children of Christian parents who sin against their early training; upon whom prayer and entreaty, precept and example are thrown away.


• Hearers of the word, who quench convictions deliberately, frequently, and with violence.


• Men with keen moral sense, who rush on, despite the reins of conscience which should restrain them.


• Lewd professors who, nevertheless, talk orthodoxy and condemn others, thereby assuredly pronouncing their own doom.

• Some refuse light, being unwilling to know more than would be convenient; therefore they deny themselves time for thought, absent themselves from sermons, neglect godly reading, shun pious company, avoid reproof, etc.


• Others scoff and fight against it, calling light darkness, and darkness light. Infidelity, ribaldry, persecution, and such like, become their resort and shelter.


• Persons run contrary to it in their lives; of set purpose, or through willful carelessness. Walking away from the light is rebelling against it. Setting up your own wishes in opposition to the laws of morality and holiness, is open revolt against the light.


• Many presume upon their possession of light, imagining that knowledge and orthodox belief will save them.
  
• Many darken it for others, hindering its operations among men, hiding their own light under a bushel, ridiculing the efforts of others, etc.


• All darkness is a rebellion against light. Let us "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness."

• To have the light removed.


• To lose eyes to see it even when present.


• To remain unforgiven, as culprits blindfolded for death, as those do who resist the light of the Holy Spirit.


• To sin with tenfold guilt, with awful willfulness of heart.


• To descend for ever into that darkness which increases in blackness throughout eternity.

• Light is our best friend, and it is wisdom to obey it: to resist it is to rebel against our own interest.


• Light triumphs still. Owls hoot, but the moon shines. Opposition to truth and righteousness is useless; it may even promote that which it aims to prevent.


• Light would lead to more light. Consent to it, for it will be beneficial to your own soul.


• Light would lead to heaven, which is the center of light.


• Light even here would give peace, comfort, rest, holiness, and communion with God.


• Let us not rebel against light, but yield to its lead; yea, leap forward to follow its blessed track.


• Let us become the allies of light, and spread it. It is a noble thing to live as light-bearers of "the Lord and Giver of Light."


• Let us walk in the light, as God is in the light; and so our personal enjoyment will support our Life-work. Light must be our life if our life is to be light.

Off the coast of New Zealand, a captain lost his vessel by steering in the face of the warning light, till he dashed upon the rock immediately beneath the lighthouse. He said that he was asleep; but this did not restore the wreck, nor save him from condemnation. It is a terrible thing for rays of gospel light to guide a man to his doom.

The sins of the godly have this aggravation in them, that they sin against clearer illumination than the wicked. "They are of those that rebel against the light" (Job 24:13). Light is there taken figuratively for knowledge. It cannot be denied that the wicked sin knowingly; but the godly have a light beyond other men, such a divine, penetrating light as no hypocrite can attain to. They have better eyes to see sin than others; and for them to meddle ;with sin, and embrace this dunghill, must needs provoke God, and make the fury rise up in his face. Oh, therefore, you that are the people of God, flee from sin; your sins are more enhanced, and have worse aggravations in them, than the sins of the unregenerate. — Thomas Watson

Sins of ignorance are truly sins, for every lawgiver takes it for granted that his subjects seek to know his laws. But the deliberate commission of known trespass, and the willful neglect of known duty, have in them elements of great disloyalty. He who knew his Lord's will and did it not was beaten with many stripes. If a man puts his hand into the fire knowing that it burns, no one will pity him; if he wantonly enters a pesthouse, no one can wonder that he is smitten with disease. When the ice is marked "DANGEROUS," the warning should be sufficient for any reasonable man; and when the notice is repeated at every corner, and set up in great capital letters, he who ventures on the rotten ice will be not only a fool but a suicide, should he perish in his rashness.