'Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light,'--Eph. v. 14.
This is the close of a short digression about 'light.' The 'wherefore'
at the beginning of my text seems to refer to the whole of the verses
that deal with that subject. It is as if the Apostle had said, 'I have
been telling you about light and its blessed effects. Now I tell you how
you may win it for yours. The condition on which it is to be received by
men is that they awake and arise from the dead.'
'_He saith._' Who? The speaker whose words are quoted is not named, but
this is the common formula of quotation from the _Old Testament_. It is,
therefore, probable that the word 'Creator' or 'God' is to be supplied.
But there is no Old Testament passage which exactly corresponds to the
words before us; the nearest approach to such being the ringing
exhortation of the prophet to the Messianic Church, 'Arise! Shine, for
thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.' And it
is probable that the Apostle is here quoting, without much regard either
to the original connection or the primary purpose of the word, a
well-known old saying which seemed to him appropriately to fall in with
the trend of his thoughts. Like other writers he often adorns his own
words with the citation of those of others without being very careful
as to whether he, in some measure, diverts these from their original
intention. But the words of my text fairly represent the prophetic
utterance, in so far as they echo the call to the sleepers to wake, and
share the prophet's confidence that light is streaming out for all those
whose eyes are opened.
The want of precise correspondence between our text and the prophetic
passage has led some to suppose that we have here the earliest recorded
fragment of a Christian hymn. It would be interesting if that were so,
but the formula of citation seems to oblige us to look to Scripture for
the source from which my text is taken. However, let us leave these
thoughts, and come to the text itself. It is an earnest call from God.
It describes a condition, peals forth a summons, and gives a promise.
Let us listen to what 'He saith' in all these regards.