Eph. {5:14} Whereforehe saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,and Christ shall give thee light.
* If we wake from our sleep and rouse ourselves from our course of life leading only to death-- Christ will give us light. We have a new life in Christ.
Matthew. {25:1} Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened untoten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meetthe bridegroom. {25:2} And five of them were wise, andfive [were] foolish. {25:3} They that [were] foolish tooktheir lamps, and took no oil with them: {25:4} But the wisetook oil in their vessels with their lamps. {25:5} While thebridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. {25:6}And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, theKing James Bible Matthew Page 568bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. {25:7} Then allthose virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. {25:8} Andthe foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for ourlamps are gone out. {25:9} But the wise answered, saying,[Not so;] lest there be not enough for us and you: but go yerather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. {25:10}And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and theythat were ready went in with him to the marriage: and thedoor was shut. {25:11} Afterward came also the othervirgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. {25:12} But heanswered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.{25:13} Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day northe hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
*All will sleep but some will sleep prepared, others will sleep and they won't be prepared for the Lord's return. All will wake up but for some it will be too late. Some will want to take the preparations made by the wise but the wise will tell them no, they have to go get their own because no one is saved or made ready by another- Christ alone prepares us with His light, His righteousness.
Heb. {1:9} Thou hast loved righteousness, and hatediniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed theewith the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
*We need the oil of gladness in our lives, we need to love righteousness and hate sin...HATE SIN...not make excuses for it, but loathe it completely. Not accept it, but detest it. Not condone it as our lot, but despise that it is our lot.
Rev. {4:5} And outof the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings andvoices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning beforethe throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
*Lamps burn before the thrown. Lamp which are the seven Spirits of God. Lamps in a parable are what the wise will have and have extra oil for. We need the Spirit of God in us, we need to be ready to constantly accept the Spirit of God as it leads us in paths of Christ's righteousness. There is one unforgivable sin and that is ultimately- dying without having heeded the Spirit of God.
Zech. {4:1} And the angel that talked with me came again, andwaked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, {4:2}And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I havelooked, and behold a candlestick all [of] gold, with a bowlupon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and sevenpipes to the seven lamps, which [are] upon the top thereof:{4:3} And two olive trees by it, one upon the right [side] ofthe bowl, and the other upon the left [side] thereof. {4:4} SoI answered and spake to the angel that talked with me,saying, What [are] these, my lord? {4:5} Then the angelthat talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowestthou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. {4:6}Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This [is] theword of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might,nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.{4:7} Who [art] thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel[thou shalt become] a plain: and he shall bring forth theheadstone [thereof with] shoutings, [crying,] Grace, graceunto it. {4:8} Moreover the word of the LORD came untome, saying, {4:9} The hands of Zerubbabel have laid thefoundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; andthou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me untoyou. {4:10} For who hath despised the day of small things?for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the handof Zerubbabel [with] those seven; they [are] the eyes of theLORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.{4:11} Then answered I, and said unto him, What [are]these two olive trees upon the right [side] of the candlestickand upon the left [side] thereof? {4:12} And I answeredagain, and said unto him, What [be these] two olivebranches which through the two golden pipes empty thegolden [oil] out of themselves? {4:13} And he answered meand said, Knowest thou not what these [be?] And I said, No,my lord. {4:14} Then said he, These [are] the two anointedones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.
*This [is] the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Not by might, not by power, but by GOD'S Spirit!
Christ promised to send us a comforter. No, He could not physically remain with us, His work as our High Priest demanded that He minister the blood He shed, the sacrifice He made in the Heavenly Sanctuary not made with hands. That the work of our redemption including not only the forgiveness of sin but of the cleansing of it once and for all be made by Him. So Christ promised to send us a Comforter, the Holy Spirit to be a reality to us here and now in our lives guiding us, lighting our way to Christ and His righteousness. The Spirit of God, the light of the world, our Comforter. We HAVE to live with the Holy Spirit as a reality in our lives, as with us just as Christ would be with us guiding us.
The Light of the Lord is real and it is a light we can keep out of our lives if we choose. We are not forced to have the light, we can choose to live in darkness. We make the choice and we make it all the time...all the time.
Can we choose to physically live in darkness? Yes. We can. Would most people ever do so? No. Why wouldn't they? For one thing you can't see anything in darkness. Even those who are blind and we can say live in darkness don't physically live in the dark. Would it be detrimental to live in the darkness? Yes. Health-wise it's proven that for the majority of people complete darkness isn't good for us physically. Yes, some could argue there are people allergic to the sunlight, people sensitive to it, for them darkness is good, but if they don't get enough sunlight can their be deficiencies in their health? Yes there can be and often deficiencies can be made up with vitamins and getting what the sun gives in another manner.
We can go back and forth on this and yet in the end most people would choose to live in light, not in darkness if they were given a choice. Even those blind will often long to see, some will go to great lengths to have a chance at seeing again.
Note I said most people, because you'll always have a few that defy the rest with good intentions or not.
Light is equated with goodness, darkness with evil.
And this is in a spiritual sense.
Odd isn't it how most people will want to live in spiritual darkness- the complete opposite of the physical light where most want to live with light in their lives.
If a light is too bright it hurts.
If a light is present it's hard to hide things.
If light pushes away the darkness it's not allowing us to hide in the cloak of darkness, it's revealing us.
Spiritual light reveals us for what we are, it reveals our sin-filled state and our sinful actions.
When we sin we shouldn't like it but we have to see that we sin and for that we need the light of Christ to show us, the Spiritual light needs to shine on us to show us the sin. So is it any wonder that people wish to remain in spiritual darkness, they don't want their sins revealed for what they are. They want to live in their sins without any reprimanding, without any reproving. When we don't see that we are covered in filth then we can fool ourselves into believing that we are clean. When we don't associate with those who can see we are covered in filth then it can't be pointed out to us. We like the darkness, we like our filthiness hidden from us.
It is my prayer, my earnest prayer that the Holy Spirit illuminates us all! That we will see the filthiness of our sinfilled selves and be drawn to the only One who can cleanse us of the filth, Christ Jesus. May the Holy Spirit shine all around us, may the darkness in our lives be exposed to the light of the Holy Spirit, may we see...and no longer be blind so that we may run to the foot of the cross and beg forgiveness for our sinfulness and choose to walk with Christ in the light now and forever.
Amen.
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