ly what they mean by the Messiah. From the form of their
question it would seem that Jesus had used the designation "the Son of
man" in intimating His departure; for they say, "How sayest thou, The
Son of man must be lifted up?" Up to this time, therefore, they had
taken it for granted that by calling Himself the Son of man He claimed
to be the Christ, but now they begin to doubt whether there may not be
two persons signified by those titles.

Jesus furnishes them with no direct solution of their difficulty. He
never betrays any interest in these external identifications. The time
for discussing the relation of the Son of man to the Messiah is past.
His manifestation is closed. Enough light has been given. Conscience has
been appealed to and discussion is no longer admissible. "Ye have light:
walk in the light." The way to come to a settlement of all their doubts
and hesitations is to follow Him. There is still time for that. "Yet a
little while is the light among you." But the time is short; there is
none to waste on idle questionings, none to spend on sophisticating
conscience--time only for deciding as conscience bids.

By thus believing in the light they will themselves become "children of
light." The "children of light" are those who live in it as their
element,--as "the children of this world" are those who wholly belong to
this world and find in it what is congenial; as "the son of perdition"
is he who is identified with perdition. The children of light have
accepted the revelation that is in Christ, and live in the "day" that
the Lord has made. Christ contains the truth for them--the truth which
penetrates to their inmost thought and illuminates the darkest problems
of life. In Christ they have seen that which determines their relation
to God; and that being determined, all else that is of prime importance
finds a settlement. To know God and ourselves; to know God's nature and
purpose, and our own capabilities and relation to God,--these constitute
the light we need for living by; and this light Christ gives. It was in
a dim, uncertain twilight, with feebly shining lanterns, the wisest and
best of men sought to make out the nature of God and His purposes
regarding man; but in Christ God has made noonday around us.

They, therefore, that stood, or that stand, in His presence, and yet
recognise no light, must be asleep, or must turn away from an excess of
light that is disagreeable or inconvenient. If we are not