"Children of Night and Children of Light"
MF Blume
MARCH 15, 1999 pm
Gene 1:1-7 In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there
was light. And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the
light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness
he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And
God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let
it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided
the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were]
above the firmament: and it was so.
Gene 1:10 And God called the dry
[land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas:
and God saw that [it was] good.
1The 5:2-8 For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they
shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them,
as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye,
brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not
of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others;
but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night;
and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are
of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and
for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
We read in Genesis that all was darkness.
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The only thing in the earth was water, and water was in darkness.
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Then God says let there be light, and a new "realm" exists.
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He takes the light and separates it from darkness, and calls the light
"DAY" and the darkness "NIGHT."
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So then there were two realms.
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The one that was always there, darkness, and a new one called day.
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Night was not called "NIGHT" until after light came and darkness was separated
from light.
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You cannot have NIGHT until you also have DAY.
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And one time there was no DAY.
Darkness was upon the face of the deep, but something else moved for the
first time upon the face of the waters, also.
GOD'S SPIRIT.
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Two "forces", if you will.
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Two influences.
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Darkness and SPIRIT.
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And the Spirit spoke and there was LIGHT.
The New Testament, 1 Thessalonians 5, speaks of children of the night and
children of the day.
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As much as all of the world was salt water under a realm of darkness, all
people were in sin until Jesus Christ came.
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Everything changed in Genesis when God said LET THERE BE LIGHT.
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After light came the waters that were all under darkness alone, saw a separation,
and some of that sea salt water rose and became waters above.
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Although not everyone accepted Jesus Christ when he came, there has been
a great multitude no man can number who have received Him.
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And they were separated from the world of sin and darkness, and taken out
of it.
Thank God for the LIGHT.
All the world was one kind of people.
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Sinners without God.
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Until light came.
The Gospel of John begins so much like the Book of Genesis.
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In John, we have a beginning.
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And Jesus is the Light.
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John actually explains the symbolism used in Genesis 1.
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was
not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the
light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended
it not.
John 1:9-10 [That] was the true Light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and
the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
As Genesis shows all the world in darkness, and light is introduced to
that darkness, John told us that the LIGHT shined in darkness.
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The WORD was in the beginning.
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It was with God and was God.
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v. 4 - Something was in that word called LIFE.
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And that life was man's light.
John 1:12-14 But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that
believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Some comprehended it not, but others received Him.
Notice that we read the WORD had LIFE in it which was the LIGHT OF MEN.
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There always was THE WORD.
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It was there when there was only darkness upon the waters.
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But that WORD had to spoken before the LIGHT WITHIN IT could be revealed
to people for them to receive.
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God always existed, but nothing would happen in the dark watery world until
God would SPEAK.
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And He spoke and LIGHT came forth.
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And then God was able to separate light from darkness.
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And after He separated light from darkness and made two realms, NIGHT AND
DAY, we read that the waters were separated.
There was only darkness, and there was only salt water before the light
came.
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There was only a world in sin and a people in sin before Christ came.
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But , after light was introduced, two groups then existed.
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A new group is there.
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A new realm.
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DAY.
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And some of the waters that were part of the only body of water in existence
at that time, sea water, were separated and called waters above.
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They were raised up out of the waters beneath.
Darkness was upon the face of the waters.
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But when Light came, something else placed itself before the face of the
waters.
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LIGHT.
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And it brought a change with SOME of the water.
In the early church days, after Jesus came, The Jews did not accept Jesus
and they remained veiled and their hearts were not opened up.
2Cor 3:14-16 But their minds were
blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the
reading of the old testament; which [vail] is done away in Christ. But
even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless
when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
But at the same time as people, to that day, were veiled, others were unveiled
for they turned to Jesus.
2Cor 3:18 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.
Some stayed the way they were.
Since Jesus came, some have turned to Him and saw a veil removed, and allowed
His light to shine in their open faces.
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They change from being one kind of people into another.
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Where there was only one people of sin, now there are two peoples.
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Not a new group created, but a new group made of people from the old group
who were changed.
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Children of darkness and children of light.
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Children of the night and children of the day.
John said that the ones who received Him received power to become the children
of God.
John 1:12 But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that
believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
These children of darkness have the opportunity of becoming children of
another realm.
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Children of another Father.
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The great miracle of the NEW BIRTH is available to all mankind!
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This new birth is the only thing that will separate you from the waters
below and place you into the kingdom of light.
Colo 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
[us] into the kingdom of his dear Son:
This birth is easily understood.
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It is not of blood.
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Amongst humanity, the father of a child determines what blood the child
will have.
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Blood in humanity is humanity's life.
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So blood speaks of human life.
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But this is LIFE OF GOD, not human life.
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We are not born of humanity when we are born again, but we are born of
Spirit.
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We are not born of the will of man.
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I would like to see everyone in this place born of the Spirit, or, receive
the Holy Ghost.
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But it is not as though a couple decides to have a child and they have
a child.
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This is not the will of man involved here.
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It is being born of God's Spirit.
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You may get baptized, and you may repent, but when it comes to receiving
the Holy Ghost, and being born of the Spirit, you must come into a relationship
with God.
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It is according to the will of God, so you must come into a relationship
with God.
Jame 1:17 Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits
of his creatures.
He begets us with His Word.
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Not of the will of man, but of His own will.
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He begets us by the WORD.
Notice the difference between two people in these verses:
John 1:4 In him was life; and the
life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness
comprehended it not.
In THE WORD was LIFE, and that life was LIGHT for men.
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Light shone in darkness, but those who are not saved and still in darkness,
were ones who could not comprehend the light.
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They did not TURN TO JESUS.
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"COMPREHEND" here, in Greek, means "to lay hold upon it."
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"To seize it and take possession of it."
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"Of Christ by his holy power and influence laying hold of the human mind
and will, in order to prompt and govern it."
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Those who are in darkness could not lay hold on Jesus, but when the Word
came, the life within Jesus shined out and WE, who are of the DAY, BEHELD
HIS GLORY.
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The LIGHT from the WORD of God, as He spoke it in Genesis, began DRAWING
part of the waters UPWARD.
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No wonder it says the waters separated and some were upward and others
downward after the Light existed.
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All that was upon the FACE of the waters was darkness.
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But when light came, with OPEN FACE... you have to be open to Him... I
beheld His glory.
Something had to occur before what was inside Him could be received by
me.
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In the WORD WAS LIFE, and THAT LIFE WAS LIGHT.
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And not until the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, could we BEHOLD
THAT LIGHT, and receive it.
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When He became flesh, that Light in Him was released.
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It was in Him and we needed to receive it, or else be left in a world of
darkness.
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When we received it, it caused us to receive power to become the sons of
God.
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We become vessels of what was in the WORD.
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After speaking of the light of God's knowledge being given to us, we read
Paul say that we are earthen vessels of this treasure now.
Where some are blinded...
2Cor 4:3-4 But if our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Yet some are not blinded but are opened to the Light.
2Cor 4:6-7 For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give]
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the
power may be of God, and not of us.
So now there are people of the night and people of the day.
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Recall that only darkness existed at first in Genesis.
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But Light came, and darkness and light existed, though separated, at the
same time on earth.
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And there was only one body of water, like one people.
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And it was in total darkness.
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But after light came, there became two bodies of water.
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Waters above and waters beneath.
But in the end of this world, we read of THE DAY OF THE LORD COMING.
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Those who are of the DAY are expecting it.
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It is akin to them since they are already of the DAY.
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It is a friend to them, the Day of the Lord.
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But those of the NIGHT do not expect it.
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And if there can be one long period of darkness before light comes, there
can be one long period of light after darkness is dealt with.
At NIGHT, people sleep or enjoy pleasures, for the DAY speaks of WORK and
being SOBER.
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You can tell the people of the night and those of the day.
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The people of the DAY are alert and not carried away with pleasures.
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They have their armour on (Read 1 Thess 5)
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But the people of the NIGHT are asleep or drunken (filled with worldly
pleasure).
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Those of the DAY are about their Father's BUSINESS.
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Those of the Night are the people who only care about their own little
worlds, and not even think about the work of God.
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It is not a time to be filled with pleasures of the world.
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It is not a time to be asleep, and not serious.
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So when the DAY OF THE LORD COMES, it will be good news to the children
of LIGHT, but bad news for the children of NIGHT.
To those who are in sin, the Bible says this:
Amos 5:18 Woe unto you that desire
the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD [is]
darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met
him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent
bit him. [Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light?
even very dark, and no brightness in it?
But to the children of light, we read this:
Zech 14:1 Behold, the day of the
LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
Zech 14:6-9 And it shall come to
pass in that day, [that] the light shall not be clear, [nor] dark: But
it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night:
but it shall come to pass, [that] at evening time it shall be light. And
it shall be in that day, [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem;
half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder
sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the LORD shall be king
over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
The day of the Lord will be one continuous daytime for the people of God.
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When evening arrives, when it shall normally become dark, darkness is done
away with.
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And it shall continue to be light.
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But to the sinners, it is a day without light at all.
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How can the same day be continuous light for believers, but continuous
night for sinners?
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What this is saying is that it will be greatest reward of the saints, but
the greatest fear for those not saved.
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Because, at that DAY, whichever realm you placed yourself into, whether
you stayed in darkness with the world, or you were drawn into the marvelous
light of Jesus' Kingdom, you will stay there for eternity.
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And when it is all said and done, instead of all night, there will be all
light.
Reve 21:25 And the gates of it shall
not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
Reve 22:5 And there shall be no night there;
and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth
them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
And the lower waters, called seas, which represent those who were not drawn
up into the clouds by the light, but remained below in the world, will
be no more.
In Genesis, all there was was salt water and darkness at the first.
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But in Revelation, all there will be is DAY and pure clean water.
Reve 22:1 And he shewed me a
pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Reve 21:1 And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;
and there was no more sea.
This means there are no more people of the world, and no more darkness.
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While He still allows people to dwell in the world, and while He still
allows darkness and light to exist at the same time in this world, before
he puts an end to darkness, before the day of the Lord comes, you still
have the chance to move on up into the light and become a child of light.
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Children of night, and children of light.
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God is giving this world a chance.
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He will not wipe out darkness and the waters below without giving them
6,000 years to prepare the world for Him and receive him.
And there will be ONE RIVER of water, God's River, flowing from His throne.
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He is the River, and we become one River with Him,
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Clean and pure.