Arise,
shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the
LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall
come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine
eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come
to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed
at thy side.
(Isa 60:1-4)
The word SHINE is also translated, and is noted in good marginal reference
bibles, as meaning, "BE ENLIGHTENED".
And here is where ENLIGHTENING comes into play.
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;
that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of
the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty
power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only
in this world, but also in that which is to come:
(Eph 1:18-21)
I want to talk today about the sort of characteristics that "enlightened"
believers have about themselves.
The things I am going to speak about are there for every one of you.
A strong desire for them will be the only real cost you must pay to have
them.
- We need to stop putting these things
off, and putting off anything that is as important and vital as being right
with God.
If there is one thing about this generation that is so dangerous and antichrist,
it is the lack of concern in the world for the things of God.
- It is the loose lifestyle people live.
- So loose that I heard on the radio
how they are making popular movies in video format for people who do not
want the filthy language and obscene sights in their viewing entertainment,
and the radio announcer said it struck him badly because he did not want
someone else telling him how moral he should be.
He made it sound mature and adult to think that we ought to let the film-making
artists know that their works of art are left alone and untampered by any
censors.
Whatever happened to being decent and moral and upright?
And when people come to the church of God and live with the same mentality,
casually shirking off moral right and values, and walk around in a world
like they never heard of Jesus...
- Committing fornication, and cursing
and sitting down in a church pew and feeling no conviction, its time the church
get so prayed up and the Lord be able to move so powerfully in our churches
until people cannot stand it if they do not want to live right.
----------------------
Isaiah said SHINE and BE ENLIGHTENED, so that the Gentiles will come
to us.
- Gentiles simply means NATIONS in the
Bible.
- And because they were nations outside
of Israel, we see the distinction made between Israel and the Gentiles.
- Simply it means Israel and the other
nations.
- And Paul said that being enlightened
is learning that the power of God in resurrecting Christ and seating Him
in heavenly places is the same power towards us who believe.
Adam fell and we all fell with him into sin.
But Christ is raised and we are raised with Him out of sin and into glory.
The Bible teaches that although we weren't there when Adam sinned, since
he was earth's king, having dominion over earth, his loss of the dominion
affected all us.
- We were in Adam.
- Its as though you were in your grandfather,
in a sense, before you were born.
- His actions affected your existence!
- Had he not married your grandmother,
your parent would never have been born, and, in turn, neither would you
have been born.
- Or, if he chose to live in some other
nation of the world, and you would have been born a citizen of a different
country.
Well, Adam sinned, and none of his children were born until after sin
and after he was cast out of the Garden.
But Christ came to lift us out!
And so if the light that enlightens us is knowing we are raised up with
Christ as Christ was raised, then the light that people come to see in Isaiah
60 is the experience we have of being seated above all the devil and sin.
What people want to see in believers...
What people will come to see....
...is the position believers have with Christ being seated over all the
enemy.
They are not coming to see weak christians who are defeated.
They want to see GLORY.
What God does in a person who believes, is puts glory into their lives.
Being seated above the devil is real salvation!
If you concentrate on these truths and focus your attention to making
sure you learn them, you will be amazed at what kind of Christian life you
will start living!
The devil got his position over people and he has them enslaved to one
day finally die and be lost without God forever.
But God seats us far above the devil.
Anybody who sees this light, is going to be in for some hassle from the
devil through many forms.
- Family members may start fussing about
you serving God.
- They may say you should stick to the
family tradition for religion.
- Friends may start mocking.
- But don't let none of it fool you.
- Behind it all is the one over whom
you are being seated.
- The devil.
Speaking of LIGHT and ENLIGHTENMENT, the priests in the Old Testament
used a CANDLESTICK that had seven branches shaped like almond tree branches.
Last week we read Exodus 37 and the description.
Jesus is the LIGHT whom we gaze upon and are changed into that same image
and glory.
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
(2Co 3:18)
And this sheds more LIGHT on the issue.
Jesus is spoken of in Isaiah 11 as the BRANCH from the roots, and rod
from the stem of Jesse, King David's father.
- Jesus was of the family lineage of
David.
- And seven spirits are noted to be upon
Him, just as the candlestick that gave light had seven lamps.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem
of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the
LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit
of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he
shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing
of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod
of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
(Isa 11:1-4)
We need these seven spirits to shine on us.
- SPIRITS in these verses also means
WINDS and BREATHS in the Hebrew language.
- Everything about these thoughts points
to one thing over and over.... LIFE.
The candlestick shaped like a TREE is like the TREE OF LIFE whose fruit
would make Adam live forever.
God BREATHED into Adam the BREATH of life, and he became a living soul.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
(John 1:4)
So Isaiah says God will ENLIGHTEN and SHINE on us, and we will then have
LIGHT that the nations shall see, and cause them to come to us.
What we had shone upon us, is then shone from us.
What we saw from God is now part of us.
Like Moses seeing God's glory and then coming down from the mountain shining
himself.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them,
and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
(John 20:22-23)
Jesus even breathed on them and represented giving them the Holy Ghost.
- Jesus was not only like a NEW ADAM,
to lead the human race in God's will, but also the GOD WHO BREATHED LIFE INTO
ADAM in Genesis!
OUR SALVATION LIKE A BURNING LAMP
God's power towards Christ is upon us.
We noted that the tree-shaped candlestick was more specifically almond
tree-shaped.
- And the Hebrew word for ALMOND actually
enhances the idea that God is trying to show us about LIGHT.
- ALMOND in Hebrew comes from a word
which means NOT ASLEEP, WAKEFUL, and WATCHFUL.
It means ALERT.
It enhances the idea of LIGHT because LIGHT helps us to WATCH.
- To see.
- If we're watchful, in a dark world
we're going to carry LIGHT around with us.
- If you want to be watchful and alert
you will shine light forth.
- We need light in order to be watchful.
So many people don't care about whether or not there is a God.
- What a risk!
- People are so small-minded that they
do not want to think about if anything occurs after death.
- They're alive now, and healthy, so
who cares right now about what existence there may be after death?
But those who are watchful and alert, make sure they learn about God and
what is in store for everyone.
They come to the light.
If we're watchful, we will ensure we are righteous.
- We'll not be slack about making our
hearts right with God.
- We'll not be slack about applying what
we hear from the Bible to our lives.
- We're dutiful.
What did Jesus call the five virgins who ensured they had enough oil in
their lamps, and ensured they would be able to endure no matter how long
the time passed into the night before the bridegroom came?
WISE virgins.
Let your loins be
girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like
unto men that wait for their lord,
when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh,
they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants,
whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I
say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat,
and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second
watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
(Luk 12:35-38)
LIGHTS go along hand in hand with WATCHFULNESS.
- It doesn't matter when the master comes,
the WISE and WATCHFUL servants are ready for any moment.
- When he comes, they are all set to
open the door immediately.
- They're watching for him.
- They have LIGHTS.
- That means they received LIGHT from
Jesus.
How did Isaiah 60 say we have the light upon us so that we can shine out
to others in this dark world?
- God shines it on us first.
ALMOND in Hebrew means to be watchful and alert.
- It also means to MAKE HASTE.
- People who make haste are people who
do not fool around.
- They are not slack.
- The almond tree is the first of trees
in Israel to flower and bloom.
- It makes haste!
- It's fast on the draw.
- It's ready.
We say a baby is BRIGHT when they are alert and watchful.
- They are not falling asleep all the
time but are alert.
All of this is an indication of SPIRITUAL MATURITY.
- People, God wants you to serve Him
and become spiritually mature.
- Be so eager to grow in the Lord that
you're responsible with church and the preaching.
- You're responsible with ensuring your
heart is ready for the Lord.
- If He should open the door ay moment,
you're all set and ready.
- You know you could enjoy yourself in
the world, but you are ALERT to the things of God, and RESPONSIBLE with
your life, so you deny yourself and keep in mind that Jesus is coming, and
we've got to be ready.
Even when you fail and sin, you are alert enough to repent and responsible
enough to make it right.
You shine because you made sure the light shone on you first.
- You read where Paul said you need to
be enlightened about some things, so you made up your mind to be enlightened
about them.
- You do not read the Bible, and come
across something you do not understand and forget about it and look for something
you understand.
- You are responsible to realize God
wants you to know the whole book.
- You make it a point to ask about that
verse, or study it yourself in prayerful study.
- You do not want to miss a thing.
Make sure you are saved.
- Make sure you learn what God wants
you to learn.
- Make sure you stay alert and never
slack concerning the things of God.
- If you wonder why things happen then
make sure you find the answer.
- Be pleasing to God.
- Be mature and alert and watchful enough
to take what is in the Bible and what is preached and not simply let it
drift away after you receive it.
- Take it and pray about it at this altar
today, and make sure its in you solidly.
- Pursue it more at home.
The word preached is like seed sown in a field.
- Some ground is too hard to receive
it.
- Other ground has too many other concerns
that are like thorns that choke out this new seedling that results from
the seed of the Word.
- Still Other ground doesn't even receive
it to begin with.
- It bounces off so birds can come and
steal it .
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of
God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and
taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be
saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word
with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time
of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which,
when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and
pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the
good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the
word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
(Luke 8:11-15)
Every one of us can be wise.
- Its just a matter of getting priorities
straight.
- God made this so that nobody has to
go to hell if they do not really want to, and will be responsible about their
souls.
- WE CAN BE ALERT AND FULL OF LIGHT AND
READY FOR HIM WHEN HE COMES!