FULL OF LIGHT, AND ALERT


October 6, 2002, am
Mike Blume


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.
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.
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...
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Isaiah said SHINE and BE ENLIGHTENED, so that the Gentiles will come to us.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It means ALERT.

It enhances the idea of LIGHT because LIGHT helps us to WATCH.
So many people don't care about whether or not there is a God.
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.
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.
How did Isaiah 60 say we have the light upon us so that we can shine out to others in this dark world?
ALMOND in Hebrew means to be watchful and alert.
We say a baby is BRIGHT when they are alert and watchful.
All of this is an indication of SPIRITUAL MATURITY.
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.
Make sure you are saved.
The word preached is like seed sown in a field.
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.