Kingdom Principles: Salt and Light

As we continue meditating on the Kingdom principles that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, we come to two powerful metaphors that directly speak to the life and witness of His disciples: salt and light. After teaching the Beatitudes, Jesus explained how citizens of God’s Kingdom should live in a way that influences the world and brings glory to our Heavenly Father.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). Salt has a purpose: it gives flavor and preserves. If salt loses its distinctive quality, it becomes useless. In the same way, followers of Christ are called to live lives that demonstrate the character, truth, love, and holiness of Jesus. Our lives should make a spiritual difference in the world around us.

Jesus also said, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Light has a purpose: it drives away darkness and makes things visible. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, and a lamp is not placed under a basket but on a lampstand so that it can give light to everyone in the house (Matthew 5:14–15). Jesus is teaching us not to hide the light He has placed within us.

Therefore, Jesus gives us this powerful instruction: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Our good works are not the reason for our salvation; rather, salvation through Jesus Christ produces good works in our lives. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s character becomes visible in us. As we follow Jesus, His light is reflected through our words, actions, love, compassion, humility, and obedience.

Our purpose is not to receive glory for ourselves, but to point people toward our Heavenly Father. May our lives truly be salt and light, so that others may see Christ in us and glorify God.

Let your light shine, love God, and love people. Have a blessed day!

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Daily Devotionals

If the righteous dead do not go directly to heaven, then how was it that Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration?
August 21, 2026
Read Time: 2 min

It’s interesting that the very last thing the Old Testament says is, “Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,” and, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet” (Malachi 4:4, 5). Then in Matthew 17:3, we find these two Bible heroes appearing with Jesus and three of His disciples on a mountaintop. This is an important story!

First, the Bible teaches that Elijah never died and was taken in a fiery chariot to heaven (2 Kings 2:11). There are a few instances in the Bible when God takes people directly to Himself (see Genesis 5:24). But that is obviously not the case for the majority of Earth’s inhabitants. The Scriptures teach that even David did not ascend to heaven at death but is in the grave (Acts 2:34).

So, if Moses died, as is stated in Deuteronomy 34:5, then how could he appear on the Mount of Transfiguration with Elijah and Jesus? There is a reference in Jude 9 that gives us a window into what happened to Moses after his death. “Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ ” (Jude 9).

Michael, which is one of the names for Christ (see Daniel 10:31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; and Revelation 12:7), was a ruler over the angels and resurrected Moses. (See page 109.) Even Jewish tradition states that three days after Moses died, the Lord came and raised him up.

There is another example of a “special” resurrection; it occurred after Jesus died on the cross. “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matthew 27:52, 53). This was an unusual occurrence, obviously. Most of us will be raised when the Lord comes the second time.

Key Bible Texts
And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. (Mark 9:4 KJV)

Blessed When We Suffer for Christ

As we continue meditating on the Sermon on the Mount, we come to the final blessed words Jesus spoke concerning persecution. In this great teaching, our King reveals the principles and values of the Kingdom of Heaven. These words are a blessing and encouragement to every citizen of God’s Kingdom who seeks to live according to His truth.

Jesus says, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11–12).

Jesus teaches His disciples that when we are insulted, persecuted, or falsely accused because we follow Him and pursue righteousness, we should not lose heart. Instead, He calls us to rejoice and be glad. This teaching is completely different from the values of the world. Human nature often responds to persecution with anger, fear, bitterness, or discouragement, but Jesus calls His followers to respond with faith, joy, love, and perseverance.

Our suffering for Christ is not meaningless. Jesus reminds us that our reward is in heaven. He also points us toward the faithful prophets and saints who suffered because they stood firmly for God’s truth. Their lives are examples for us to follow. They chose righteousness over popularity, obedience over comfort, and faithfulness over worldly approval.

Jesus Himself is our greatest example. He endured rejection, suffering, false accusations, and persecution, yet He remained faithful to the Father’s will.

Hebrews 4:14–16 reminds us that Jesus, our great High Priest, understands our weaknesses because He was tempted in every way as we are, yet remained without sin. Therefore, we can approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, knowing that we will receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.

May we remain faithful when we face opposition, remembering that Christ is with us and our heavenly reward is great. May God’s peace and grace be upon you. Have a blessed day and night. Love God and love people.

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Ellen G. White
THE SABBATH IS THE LORD’S DAY — NOT SUNDAY

There is a phrase in Scripture that deserves our careful attention: “MY DAY.”

God does not speak of the Sabbath as merely a Jewish tradition or a human religious custom. He claims it as His own day.

Isaiah 58:13
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day…”

Notice the language: “MY holy day.”

God says:

“My sabbath” — Ezekiel 20:12
“My sabbaths” — Ezekiel 20:20
“The sabbath of the LORD thy God” — Exodus 20:10
“My holy day” — Isaiah 58:13

And who is the Lord of the Sabbath?

Mark 2:28
“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”

Jesus did not say He was Lord of Sunday. He identified Himself as Lord of the Sabbath.

Go back even further—to Creation.

Genesis 2:2–3
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made… And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.”

The seventh day was blessed and sanctified before there was a Jew, before there was Moses, and before there was Mount Sinai.

Then God placed it in the heart of His moral law:

Exodus 20:8–11
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy… But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.”

The question is therefore not simply, “What day do I prefer?”

The deeper question is:

“What day has God Himself claimed as His?”

Scripture answers: the seventh-day Sabbath.

Sunday may be widely observed by tradition, culture, or religious practice, but we must distinguish between what God commanded and what human tradition established.

Jesus warned:

Mark 7:7–9
“But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

The Sabbath is not presented in Scripture as something God casually gave and later abandoned. Isaiah points forward to the new earth:

Isaiah 66:22–23
“And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”

From Creation, through the Ten Commandments, through the ministry of Christ, and into the new earth, Scripture consistently gives the seventh day a unique place.

So let us not allow tradition to speak louder than Scripture.

The Sabbath is not my day. It is not your day. It is God’s day.

“The seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.” — Exodus 20:10

If God calls it “MY holy day,” shouldn't we be willing to honor what He has claimed?

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Monks in Greece took apart a 1,500-year-old manuscript of Paul's letters and reused its pages as binding material for other books.
Centuries later, scientists found the lost text hiding in the ink of the pages that replaced it.
Codex H is a sixth-century Greek manuscript containing the letters of the Apostle Paul, one of the oldest and most important New Testament witnesses in existence. In the 13th century, it was dismantled at the Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos, and its parchment — valuable and reusable — was cut up and repurposed as binding material and flyleaves for other manuscripts. Its surviving fragments ended up scattered across libraries in Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, and France.
Here's what made recovery possible. At some point the manuscript had been re-inked, and the chemicals in that new ink bled faintly onto the facing pages — a reversed, mirror-image imprint of text that no longer physically existed on the page itself. It was invisible to the naked eye, but not to a camera.
A research team led by Professor Garrick Allen at the University of Glasgow, working with the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library, used multispectral imaging — capturing the parchment under wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared — to bring those ghost imprints back into view. Combined with radiocarbon dating to confirm the manuscript's sixth-century origin, the team reconstructed 42 lost pages, recovering around 130 verses. The find includes some of the earliest known chapter divisions for Paul's letters and roughly a hundred scribal corrections and annotations, giving scholars a rare window into how early Christians actually studied and compared their copies of Scripture.
And here's the part worth sitting with: the recovered words match the text already preserved in other ancient New Testament copies. After thirteen centuries in pieces, scattered across four countries, cut up and reused as bookbinding — the words hadn't changed.
Share this with someone who thinks ancient texts are fragile things we can't trust.
"The word of our God will stand forever." — Isaiah 40:8
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TruLight Daily Manna for 19 August 2026 ::: It is Finished !!! tetelestai /// The Future Of The Temple Mount: The Most Explosive Flashpoint In The Middle East ::: https://trulightdailymanna.co.za/19-august-2026