A Candle in the Darkness

Germany. The early 1500’s. A dark time in our history. And as we look in, it’s dark now - its past midnight. The candle is burning low, but the monk at his desk doesn’t seem to notice.

In front of him is a translation of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. His eyes are wide. He reads and re-reads the passage: ‘For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”’

That’s it! What he’d been looking for, for so long. All those days of trying to please God were behind him. If he wanted to know God, it was by faith- nothing to do with working hard. Nothing to do with trying harder.

Even though the candle was dying, it was as if his monk’s cell was filled with light. ‘Faith, first to last’! It is God who reveals himself. It is God who saves lives. It is by faith we are saved. So different to the rules and regulations of the Catholic Church. How had he missed it for so long? That night, God revealed himself to an Augustinian monk called Martin Luther (1483-1548).

Here are Luther’s own words:

“I sought day and night to make out the meaning of Paul and at last I came to apprehend it…. The righteousness which availeth with God….’the just shall live by faith’. Straightway I felt as if I were born anew. It was as if I had found the door of Paradise thrown wide open.”

Luther was not the first to have stumbled on the truth, but he was God’s appointed man for a new revolution, a Reformation. The newly invented printing presses played their part. Luther’s ’95 theses’ were soon being read throughout Europe. The hold the Pope had on the church was broken. The cruel teaching that forced to poor to give to ‘buy’ their dead loved ones out of hell was revealed for the lie it was.

The Pope fought back, but too many protested. And the protesters were called by a new name: Protestants.

Further reading:

'Here I Stand - A Life of Matin Luther' - Roland Bainton
'Martin Luther - The Man Who Started the Reformation' - Thomas Lindsay
'Revival - Principles to Change the World' - Winkie Pratney