Ephesians
5:13
"But
all things that are reproved* are made manifest
(are shown to be what they really are) by the light: for
whatsoever doth make manifest is light**."
*all
of these things that the Bible declares are anti- God. **Whatsoever
does make known is Light and Truth and Truth reproves error be it
small or great, error is error.
When
we come to that word "manifest" we make the
comparison of the little light under your microscope. We know every
body has not had a chance to look through a microscope, but any more
we imagine that most have. Maybe in high school chemistry or possible
biology classes. And you know that when you put a slide under the
lens you still do not see anything until you turn on the power of
that little light, and then you see things that you would never see
otherwise. That is what the Scripture means over and over when it
uses the word "manifest." For a moment turn to
John’s synoptic gospel and see how Paul is in perfect accord with
even the gospel accounts of some of these things. In John chapter 3
we have Jesus speaking in His earthly ministry to Nicodemus. And, we
want people to understand that He was just more than
the carpenter of Nazareth. He was the Creator God, born of a
surrogate mother and a foster father, who knew the end from the
beginning. He was the God of all power. He was the same most High God
that Nebuchadnezzar came to recognize, and Abraham and Isaac knew. But now as He has come in the
form of the flesh, this same God speaks with that same authority that
only God could have.
John
3:19
"And
this is the condemnation, (this is why the human race is
already condemned) that light is come into the world*,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil."
*the
Light that brought Life to an otherwise dead planet, now walking
there on the dusty roads of Palestine in what was called Israel.
We
may need to hear what 2Thessalonias 1 has to reveal or better still
take it upon yourselves to study it through.
We
could change the word “were” to are and not miss a
beat. Is it stupid really? As we have already said, there is
nothing more miserable than trying to walk in pitch darkness. You
stumble around, you do not know where you are going, and you do not
know what is in front and ahead of you not to mention on either side.
It is just not a very happy experience to walk in total darkness. And
yet mankind is stupid enough to rather walk in spiritual darkness, as
to step into the Light. For this would require the denying of all
self-will and man just refuses to do so. And therefore walk in
darkness of night with eyes wide open but still blind as a bat. A good illustration of this are those people who take the Bible in a literal since and through the bath water out in regards to the spiritual since. They are like the double minded man who remains unstable in all his ways. Just as those who want Israel to be the central focal point when in Fact of Truth Christ is all the way through. God's word revealed through His prophets said that He was about to do a new thing and then showed how this new thing was to come about, a virgin would give birth to a boy child. What they failed to hear was the boy child who would come as a herald in advance of Him to prepare, make straight, the way of righteousness.
Way
back in one our earlier sections, we used the example of a rancher,
down there in the mountains of Southeastern Oklahoma, and he had an
abundance of rocks. Every once in a while on a hot summer day, he'd
just flip over one of those rocks to see what was under it. It might
be a snake, or spider, you never know what to expect. But you know
what we have always noticed? When you turn that rock over on a real
bright sunny Oklahoma day, those little creatures scurry for their
little tunnels to get away from that light. They are accustomed to
their darkness, and that is what they prefer. Well that is a good
example of mankind also. Just as soon as the Light of the Word of
God hits them, they scatter like a covey of quail, because they do
not want the Light, they love their darkness. They
would rather stand in darkness and call it light than to switch,
repent from unbelief and sin with the whole heart.
"Leave
me alone" they say, "I’m happy in my miserable state,"
and that is what they are, they are miserable. My goodness, all you
have to do is read the newspaper or listen to the evening news. We know it is not the vast
majority, but it is a large percentage that is in total misery. Most
of the time they do not even know it. Man remains mule headed and
hard, yes hardhearted and you know what God will leave him in his
chosen state.
I
do not know whether I want to tell this or not, because we love this
state, so I'll make use of another, I don’t want to bring a bad
reflection on this state. But the other day in the "Daily Banner" we happened to be going through the legal section,
and there was a list of names in small print at least a foot long, of
the divorces that had been filed that week in just one city. We
looked at that and thought, "Look at all those couples that are
going through the trauma of divorce." We have visited with
enough people from coast to coast that we have never yet talked to
anybody that said divorce was a pleasant experience. But rather it is
a traumatic experience, it tares people apart especially the young
ones. And yet these multitudes are going through all of this because
most are walking in darkness, and know not what it is to walk in the
Light. And consequently they do not even realize the source of so
much of their unhappiness, and misery, their own stubbornness of heart.
"...and
men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light,
neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
That
is why they hate the Light. If they step into that Light, then they
suddenly see themselves as God sees them, and they do not like that.
So immediately they slip back into the darkness, just like the bugs
under the rock. When we understand that this is just what the Holy
Spirit is doing within us in our first estate (of Redemption) then we
begin to gain what? Knowledge of Him!
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