Tag Archives: darkness

Light Revelation

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light-shines-in-darknessLight is essential for our survival, both physically and spiritually.  At this time of year, we celebrate light in the darkness.  The menorah symbolizes the light of Yeshua (Ps 119:105, John 8:12)  Arlene Sheldon provides an interesting study on Yeshua’s miracles that correspond with His “I AM” statements ( http://www.wellofbethlehem.witnesstoday.org/menorah.html ) as the living menorah.  The light of the Father poured forth from Yeshua.  Yet, Yeshua tells us that we are the light of the world (Matt 5:14).  What is light? How are we to be light in the darkness?

YHVH created light on the first day, but He created the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day.  What was the light that YHVH created?  Some ridicule the Bible and say that it contradicts itself.  How could YHVH create light but not create the sun until day four?  In his article entitled Sunlight Before the Sun, John D. Morris, PhD. from the Institute for Creation Resource points out that there are many types of light such as short-wave light including ultraviolet light and X-rays and long-wave light including infrared light and radio waves.  Perhaps YHVH created the materials for light on day one and then chose different combinations of materials for various types of light.  YHVH provides various combinations of spiritual light within us as we draw closer to Him, the Source of light.

We can be misled by what we do not see.  For example, when we turn on an incandescent light bulb, we may think that the light we see is the only light produced by the bulb.  However the incandescent bulb emits only around 10% of its energy as visible light and the remainder is infrared light (“Light,” Wikipedia).   We are to be light in the darkness.  Are we incandescent bulbs?  No, we are light in the sense that there is ignorance or defiance of YHVH’s truth and we can reflect the light of YHVH’s truth to those living in the chaos of darkness.  We may think that the light we provide to the world is small and insignificant, but perhaps we are unaware of the various kinds of light that YHVH is able to produce through us.

Light can also mean understanding or comprehension of Scripture.  Psalm 119:130 states, The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple (ESV).  When we read or study Scripture, we can interpret or comprehend on four levels. Peshat is the surface or literal meaning,  Remez the allegorical or symbolic meaning,  Daresh  the comparative meaning given through similar occurrences and Sod is the secret meaning given through inspiration or revelation.  Light can penetrate through layers of darkness.  As we comprehend Scripture and it becomes part of us, we emanate its light to those around us.  Light and truth are closely related to each other.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God (John 3:21 NIV).

YHVH Himself is light.  1 John 1:5 states …God is light, and in Him there is no darkness.   YHVH has many mysteries hidden in the dark and as they are revealed, YHVH will be more fully revealed.  How do we reveal YHVH to others?  Isaiah 58:10 says If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noonday.

By steeping ourselves in YHVH’s light through His word and through personal relationship with Him, the oil of the Holy Spirit will keep our lamps burning brightly in the ever increasing darkness of this world.  Our light will shine through our words and actions to others.  Let your light shine in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt 5:16).  We will not only survive in the darkness, we will thrive.

 

Behind the Scenes

Nancy's blogs, Spiritual Maturity, , , , ,

praise-to-yhvh-my-rockIn our book, What’s Missing, we discussed how the story of the Israelites in Exodus is symbolic of the redemption that Yeshua, the true Passover Lamb, brings to all of us.  The story of YHVH actively intervening on behalf of the Israelites to set them free from slavery to the Egyptians and leading them out of Egypt in a miraculous way is an account of real events.  However, these events are a type or shadow of an even greater story of YHVH working on behalf of all humanity to free us from our spiritual enemies.   A phrase or even a single word in Exodus paints a graphic picture of the ongoing battle between YHVH and His adversary.  We must keep in mind that behind the scenes of our daily dramas, YHVH is carrying out His plan to establish His kingdom on earth while His adversary is trying to do the same.  It is the greatest drama of all.

After the tenth and final plague, we find that the Israelites left Rameses, which means “born of Ra”.    Who is Ra?  Ra was the primary name for the sun god in Egypt.  We get a clear picture that those who partake of the Passover Lamb are leaving the kingdom of darkness (ruled by the sun god) and going to Succoth (ruled by the one true God, YHVH).  Succoth is derived from the Hebrew word sakah and carries several different meanings.  Let us examine these meanings to see how our “behind the scenes” picture develops.

One of the meanings of sakah is “covering” as used in 1 Kings 8:7.  Just as the cherubim provided a covering for the ark of the covenant,  YHVH provides a covering for His sheep.  In Ezekiel 28:13, we see the description of YHVH’s archenemy before his rebellion.  He was covered (derived from sakah) in precious gems just as we are covered with Yeshua’s robes of righteousness.  In 2 Kings 16:18, the word is used for the Shabbat canopy.  YHVH stands beside us and is our protective covering (Ps. 121:5 NLT).  Isaiah 1:8 uses the word sukka as a watchman’s hut.  In 2 Samuel 11:11 the same word is used to denote a protective booth for soldiers.  Leviticus 23:41-42 and Deuteronomy 16:13 require all Israelites to construct temporary shelters (sukkot) for themselves for a week each year to commemorate YHVH dwelling among them.

All those who have left the kingdom of darkness for YHVH’s kingdom of light are protected by YHVH Himself.  However, all of us are also called to be soldiers in YHVH’s campaign to establish His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.   YHVH is fully capable of eradicating His enemies and establishing His kingdom by Himself.  However, He purposely gave dominion of the earth to humans and expects each of  us to participate in the great spiritual battle for the earth.  We are not left to fight the battle alone for YHVH Himself is our leader and protector.  It is imperative for us to get off the spiritual milk and onto meat (1 Cor 3:2) as soon as we are able so that we can fully participate in the role that YHVH has assigned for each of us.

The word selected in Exodus 12:41, 51 (tsaba) refers to the Israelites and those who joined them in the flight from Egypt as armies or hosts.  In most other places the people are referred to as Israelites or the children of Israel (b’nei yisrael). In Exodus, 13:17-18, the picture becomes crystal clear.  YHVH takes the Israelites on a detour because they are not yet ready to do battle with their Egyptian enemies.  However, YHVH still has them leave Egypt “like an army ready for battle”.  A short time later they would have the opportunity to do battle for the land promised to them.  They were still not ready and thus the nation of Israel spent 40 years wandering in the desert.  The battle must and will be fought at some point.

The children of Israel would have to fight their enemies in order to take over the land that YHVH promised them.  The children of YHVH will have to fight our enemies to reclaim the earth for YHVH.  In both cases it is YHVH who will go ahead of us and be our covering.  What role are you called to play in this great drama?

Discerning Wisdom

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Seeking Wisdom

Where do we get our wisdom?  If this seems to be a foolish question for followers of Yeshua, perhaps we are assuming instead of discerning.  YHVH has given us incredible minds and great capacity for wisdom, but does our wisdom come from ourselves and our Creator?  Are we ever influenced by hasatan’s workers without being aware?  Could we be listening to the enemy and thinking it is our own wisdom or wisdom from YHVH?

A most enlightening book entitled War on the Saints has just come to my attention.  Jessie Penn-Lewis wrote the book with Evan Roberts, a great revivalist during the Welsh revival.  The book was originally published in 1912, but through the efforts of Hannah Lowe, was reprinted unabridged in 1973.  There have been several printings since then.

This is a relevant book for the last days, since it reveals our greatest vulnerability to evil as well as our ignorant compliance with hasatan.  War on the Saints resonated with me from the beginning because of my experience in spiritual warfare.  My own awakening to the truth occurred one day in 2008 when I “woke up” and realized that I was on a spiritual battlefield, fighting against trained soldiers who had very sophisticated equipment while I was ill-prepared and poorly armed.  It was a frightening day but a turning point for me.  Since then I have learned more about spiritual warfare and realize that I still have much to learn.

War on the Saints educates YHVH’s children on the tactics that hasatan uses on humans.  Many followers of Yeshua today are more focused on the physical realm and remain largely ignorant of the spiritual warfare that is going on around us.  This is evidenced by the emphasis on physical preparation for end times’ challenges.  Scripture repeatedly warns us about the latter days, but does not advise us to worry about our physical welfare.

Many followers of Yeshua are being swayed by the multitude of prophecies and “revelations” pouring forth today.  The greatest threat we face is deception coming from the spiritual realm, and many of us are plunging headlong into the very thing we need to avoid at all costs.  Yeshua told us not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear or even about what we will say when we face persecution and trial (Matt 6:25, Luke 12:11-12).

How can we be truly wise in these last days?  Two Hebrew words used in Scripture provide the answer.  The word chokmah (wisdom) concerns obeying YHVH and relying on His wisdom and binah (understanding) comes from knowledge of YHVH gained by spending time with Him.  Our focus should be on correctly following Scripture and spending quality time with our heavenly Father.  When we spend time with YHVH and His Word, we gain His wisdom.  Our own wisdom is no match for our enemy.  Human wisdom is influenced either by YHVH or the enemy and too often followers of Yeshua have assumed that all spiritual revelation comes from YHVH.

Note that Yeshua was not immune to bouts with the enemy even after His baptism.  Yeshua met the enemy’s challenges by correctly quoting and applying Scripture.  Yeshua spent many hours, sometimes even whole nights communing with His Father.  We should follow the example of our Teacher.  The enemy is well-versed in Scripture and is able to subtly but powerfully distort it in efforts to confuse or distract us.  We should be aware that as we grow and mature in our relationship with YHVH, the enemy changes his tactics to meet our new level of spiritual sophistication.  The enemy is not only an accuser and tempter, but first and foremost a deceiver.

Scripture warns us repeatedly to be wary of being deceived (partial list:  Dan 6:35, Matt 24:4, Luke 2 :8, 2 Cor 11:3, Col 2:8, 2 Tim 3:13-14, Titus 3:3-6, Heb 13:9, James 1:22, 1 John 4:1).  It is easy for us to be deceived, especially if we remain ignorant of the spiritual realm and the tactics of our enemy.  There are two things that make us especially vulnerable:  (1) ignorance or misunderstanding of the spiritual realm and (2) passivity.  Our ignorance and passivity enable the enemy to wreak havoc without detection in our congregations and communities, as well as in our individual lives.

Many of us do not realize the levels of deception that hasatan utilizes.  For example, for people who are still controlled by their flesh, hasatan influences them to lust for fleshly desires.  People who have more control over their flesh will not fall for such tactics, so hasatan moves to other wiles, such as attempting to influence our intellect and reasoning.  In the last days, the greatest deception will occur because of faulty doctrines (2 Cor 11:3-4).

YHVH’s people are the strongest when they are the most aggressive in fighting and withstanding the enemy, such as the Israelites under Moses and Joshua, or the early church under the apostles.  When we are actively on guard against the enemy we are the strongest.  When we are ignorant and/or passive concerning spiritual warfare, the enemy is able to accomplish horrendous evil through followers of Yeshua.  Many of our predecessors have done horrendous things in the name of Yeshua, no doubt thinking that they were pursuing righteousness.   Examples:  the Crusades, Christian persecution of the Jews.

People tend to avoid learning about how the kingdom of darkness functions.  It can seem frightening, but the most frightening thing we can do is to ignore them and pretend they don’t exist.  We inadvertently assist Hasatan and his followers as they work undetected to wreak havoc among us.   I urge you to get a copy of War on the Saints and read it for yourselves.  Then prayerfully seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help acquire wisdom and understanding from YHVH alone, so that you can detect and discern the subtle work of hasatan and refuse his evil influence.  We cannot afford to live in ignorance or passivity, especially now.

Our Darkest Hours

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Light

Life is full of challenges and often we are able to rise to the occasion and overcome our trials.  However, there are times when we feel overwhelmed by our circumstances.  During these times, we realize that we are weak and vulnerable.  What causes these dark times to happen?  What can we do?  Scripture provides some insights for us.

Sometimes our suffering is a direct result of our own poor choices, such as when David succumbed to temptation and slept with another man’s wife.  He continued to yield to temptation by attempting to cover up his sin with various schemes.  At last, David confessed and repented of his sins, but there was the consequence of losing a child.  It was only after David confessed his sin and repented that he was set free from his guilt and was able to finally move forward (2 Sam 11-12) .

At other times we need to adjust our focus.  A good example is found in the book of Job.  Job was living in fear and focusing on the negative.   His fear became his focus and performance became his “god”.  “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me” (Job 3:25 NIV). Only when he experienced the loss of family, health, goods, and reputation did his focus change. He met YHVH personally and YHVH became his focus.   And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you (Phil 4:8-9 NLT). 

Another source of adversity is when we build false strongholds.  We rely on something or someone else besides YHVH to protect us.  When we are threatened or injured, we tend to develop strategies and attitudes to keep from further injury.  The strategies become our “god” and the attitudes, instead of insulating us from further hurt, only trap us and make a dark place for the enemy to reside.  We know from Yeshua that “[t]he thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10 NIV).  Through deliverance and inner healing, we can remove the darkness and step into the light.

 Yeshua promised us that we would endure persecution for following Him (Matt 10:16-23).  The apostles suffered much persecution and many of our brothers and sisters today are suffering severely.  We must be ready to endure whatever is required of us (1 Pet 3:13-17).  Yeshua endured tremendous persecution during his time on earth, yet He kept His focus on His Father and Abba’s promises to Him.  As a result of His faithfulness, He is exceedingly glorified and we are tremendously blessed (1 Pet 3:18-22).

Whatever the cause of our darkness, the solution is always to turn to YHVH and put our trust in Him.  YHVH will take what is meant for evil and produce glorious good for us (Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28).

Yehovah is Light

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light shining out of darkness We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:4-5

I John 1:5 says that God is light, but what does that really mean and why is it important to us? It seems significant that immediately after God [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth, He saw that “The earth was without form and void; and darkness was over the face of the deep”. (Gen 1:2)  It is clear that He was not pleased with the darkness, because He then said “Let there be light”, and when He saw the light, He declared that it was good (Gen 1:4). But He didn’t stop there – He was still not totally satisfied, because He then separated the light from the darkness.

At a physical level, we have a very consistent theme here – God is light and is the source of all light. There is a related theme that is just as important though – God cannot dwell in the presence of darkness, so He must separate His light from all darkness. I quoted the first part of I John 1:5 above, but I left out the last part – after John says that God is light, he goes on to say “in Him there is no darkness at all”. Throughout the Scriptures, darkness is associated with people’s sinful hearts (John 3:19), or the evil one and his Kingdom of darkness (Col 1:13).

In the same way that YHVH separated the light from the darkness in His creation, he wants to separate us from the darkness of this world. In Isaiah 52:11, YHVH says: “Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves..”. He is telling His people to come out of the darkness and impurity of the world and to cleanse their hearts of worldly impurities. Sha’ul tells us to live in the light: “You are all children of light and of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness”. (I Thess 5:5) Peter [Keifa] says that as followers of Yeshua we are: “…a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that we may proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light”. (I Pet 2:9)

From all that we have studied about the deeper (sod) spiritual meaning of YHVH’s Scriptures, everything that YHVH does has a purpose and usually teaches us some type of lesson. So let’s dig a little deeper here. We started at the front of the book with God “turning on the lights” in the beginning, and also heard John make the statement that God is light. Now let’s go to the back of the book. In Revelation 21:23, Yeshua tells John that in the end there will no longer be any need for the sun and moon because the glory of God will illuminate the city of New Jerusalem, and the Lamb [Yeshua] will be its light. When we look at the ancient Hebrew word pictures associated with the three letters in the word for light (ohr in Hebrew), we see a deeper meaning emerge: “the first Man [Yeshua the living Word] was there in the beginning when light was created”. So, we see that Yeshua was the source of light in the beginning, and He will be the source of Light again when He comes to reign on the new Earth.

Yeshua told us clearly that He is the Light of the world and we are to follow Him:

  • John 8:12: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
  • John 12:46: “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”
  • Acts 26:17: Yeshua encountered Sha’ul on the road and told him to be a light to the lost: “… to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God…”.

Sha’ul encourages us to walk in the light of Yeshua: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”. (Eph 5:8) In Yeshua’s well-known teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, He says: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven”. (Matt 5:14-16) At first glance, it sounds like He wants us to be out there in the world drawing attention to ourselves as we do good works. But look at the punchline at the end. What is the purpose of doing good works? So that we can “Glorify our Father in Heaven”. We are not to draw attention to ourselves through our wonderful deeds, but to Abba Father! We need to be constantly pointing to Him when people ask us why we are doing what we do, acting humbly and selflessly but boldly giving Him the glory.