The Shining Light of Glory Part 2

Continued from Shining Light of Glory, Part 1

by Pastor Mark Downey

Most people find it difficult to walk into a room that is pitch black. We fumble around in the dark until our eyes adjust or we find a light switch. Conversely, when we exit dark quarters and enter a brightly lit environment, it's hard on the eyes and we squint. The same can be said about ideas or concepts. When Jesus ministered dozens of profound thoughts, the Bible says the crowds of people were astonished at His doctrines (Mt. 7:28). The Sermon on the Mount must have been like lightening, striking some of the people with sudden fear and trepidation, and others with sudden wonder and awe. The enemies of Christ didn't like what Jesus was saying, because the Lord was illuminating the dark traditions which were contrary to God.

The political/religious establishment didn't think He was politically correct and considered Him a threat to their power over the people. The people welcomed the rush of revelations and wisdom from Jesus. This new awareness of divine truths was a pleasant surprise. Who would have guessed that the manifestation of the Almighty would have occurred in their lifetimes? But guess what? "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past to the fathers (of Israel)" (Hebrews 1:1), and in verse 3 declares Jesus as being "the brightness of His glory . . . upholding all things (the light of the Old Testament) by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins."

We know that the antichrist jews can have a plan for a two or three hundred year conspiracy to come to fruition (such as the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion and a plethora of other jewish writings). But, a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruits. We are advised that we can know them by these fruits. We can identify them by what they produce. This is important because not everyone saying to Jesus 'Lord, Lord' will enter into the Kingdom or government of heaven on earth. II Cor. 11:14 asks the question "didn't satan (or false accusers) marvelously transform themselves into an angel of light", when they're nothing but messengers of darkness? Can darkness bring forth light? Can lies become truth?

"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers (and the White man can start with dark people) for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?" (II Cor. 6:14). Absolutely none for a racially pure society of White Christian separatists! Light is the perfect metaphor for separating ourselves from evil. If the churches of our day have become apostate (fallen away from the shining light of God's glory) . . . and they have . . . , then we might as well admit that Matthew 15:14 is here. This is where Christ is speaking about the conspiracy of the scribes and pharisees. Starting in verse 13, He said, "Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Many will say 'Lord, Lord, did not we prophesy in your name of Yeshua and cast out demons and done so many wonderful works' (Mt. 7:22)? And then Jesus will tell them "I never knew you, get away from Me, you who work lawlessness" (Mt. 7:23). You who make a law unto yourselves, 'encompass sea and land to make one proselyte, you judeo missionaries who go to Africa to make the Negro like you, has made him twice the child of hell than yourself' (Mt. 20:15).

Light is like that sharp two-edged sword . . . quick and powerful. The Word of God is light that exposes our thoughts and motives. And like a sword, light can bring life, i.e. photosynthesis, or light can take away life, i.e. a thermonuclear blast. I know of some people who have a hard time living in the Northwest during the long overcast winters. A type of depression sets in, and there's actually a product that duplicates sunshine: a panel of light that people can sit in front of and feel better health. There are some prisons that Amnesty International says tortures people by leaving a light bulb on in their cells 24 hours a day. I was surprised to hear a janitor at a local mall explain why they had to replace some of the plants and flowers every 3 to 4 days, and he said it's because the lights kill 'em. Dental labs use certain lights to kill bacteria. Laser light technology is used by the military for weapons. So, you can see how man has taken light and used it for good and bad purposes. Same is true with the shining light of glory, as to whether it's used for understanding or ignorance.

The jew knows that the best lie or falsehood is the one that's 99% truth. It's that 1% that is enough to cast the shadow of death. "In Jesus was and is the life and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). And in verse 5 "the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." There are ignorant people who cannot or will not see or perceive that Christians understand the message from God Almighty. Those who ignore the light are dead to eternal life. This poses a challenge as to which messenger of light are YOU going to listen to? If the true messenger is rejected, it's like what God told Samuel in I Sam. 8:7-9, "and the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and serve other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore, hearken unto their voice: how beit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." And people wonder why we had a scumbag like Bill Clinton in office?? .... And why we had a dog and pony show for the idiots Bush and Gore that were running for president? Because there is no light in them. They are destitute of understanding.

Let's go to the oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, where Job is a little down about the so-called friends round about him. He's a bit depressed, but not without courage to answer their platitudes. If you read the 12th chapter of Job, you can expand your growing understanding of Biblical light. Here Job eloquently answers his critics. He mentions adversity in verse 5 as a lamp; in other words, a light for all to see the troubles that we face and how persecution exposes the dark deeds of persecutors, which brings things to light for all to see. Job responds to Zophar in verse 2 rather sarcastically by saying 'oh yeah, no doubt, you are the people; you speak the collective thought for everybody.' In the previous chapter, Zophar insults Job in verse 12; that it was highly unlikely that a stupid man, like Job, could get understanding. Job replied in 12:3 that he was just as intelligent as his contemporaries. Job was a just and blameless man accused of meaningless circumstances in his life, interpreted by shallow friends as God's judgment upon him. Verse 5 seems to be saying those that live the easy life are blind men to the misfortunes of others, and reminds me of the cliché 'hitting a good man when he's down'. Some Bible scholars think that verses 7-12 are out of place here, sounding more like one of the friends than Job. But again, Job may be using some sarcasm to paraphrase his friends. Verse 13 is more of a parody, ridiculing the special wisdom of his friends. Job abhors the intellectual claims of his friends and asserts that with God alone are wisdom and power. Job elaborates on the Lord's doings in verses 13-25, and therefore, proves the Lord's mighty acts to manifest knowledge and control of the realms of light and the mysteries of darkness. Job argues against the rampant injustices in chapter 24, verses 13-16,

"They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night as a thief. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, no eye shall see me: and disguise his face. In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light."

Rebellion against God is the love of darkness as a cover for their crimes. The corruption of the world is the hatred of the shining light of glory. Job's search for expression to tell his friends the impossibility of achieving wisdom by man's efforts is found in the poetic analogy of chapter 28, and the idea of a miner looking for gold. "The thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light" (Job 28:11). Man can dig into the bowels of the earth and bring hidden jewels to the surface, to daylight. But the irony is that man cannot find wisdom in the deepest mindshafts of his intellect. Wisdom belongs to God, not to man. Only God knows the location, the spiritual hiding place. We can get it, but only on God's terms, as a gift. "And unto man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding" (Job 28:28). The light for us can only be reverence to God and to obey Him.

Whenever Job is mentioned, people think of his pain and suffering, but if we read the last chapter of Job, we read about the fruits by which we know him. His life serves as an illustration of godliness and afflictions which brought him to the light of knowing God. The fruit of Job's tribulations were vindication and honor, and Job 42:12 tells us "so the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, for he had fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters . . . and in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his son's sons even four generations."