An Exegesis of light

Chapter 4
(excerpt)

The Division of Light from Darkness

“And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.”
Genesis 1:17

We now come to another very important aspect of the work of God especially as it relates to our day: the separation of THE LIGHT from THE DARKNESS. Notice the article “THE”. This is not only speaking of a light but The Light; and it is not just a darkness but The Darkness. Even here we read prophetic declarations of this final Day. The Devil has no power against The Light of God. The Light defeats all of the stratagems and power of the Devil. By nature, he hates the light and everyone who is of the light. His only hope of victory is by attempting to diffuse the light, by introducing darkness, and mingling the two. The purer the light, the more the power of God is released. The purer the light by which one walks in God, the greater the ability of that one to see, hear and know God.

“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8

It is to this end that the enemy of our souls works incessantly to mix darkness into the light of the Word of God and the hearts of God’s people. The enemy’s strategy is clear as he converses with Eve in the Garden of God. “Has God not said…” The tone is one of creating doubt. The choice of words is selective so as to present God in a less majestic manner. In presenting the question to Eve, he uses Elohim rather than Jehovah or YHWH. Elohim, though a name of God in the scriptures, can also be used for idols and is often translated as “gods”. It was a calculated tactic of Satan to lessen the impact of God’s Holiness upon Eve’s conscience. The simple and seemingly innocent question was designed to cause Eve to come to a conclusion based upon her own independence and contrary to God’s direct command. Eve now replies to the Devil by quoting God’s Word but the quoting is now weakened. Her place of standing moves from the light of Day into the darkness of independence and self. In view of her response the Devil moves from a seemingly sincere question into an outright attack upon the verity of God’s Word. “You shall surely not die…” He takes it even further with an additional assault of an evil thought which subverts God’s motive in giving the Word.

“For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:5

Not only does he now openly slander God, but he also very slyly presents the promise of her own advancement in life. As Eve begins to come to her own conclusions (from which God has been marginalized) her own self has been magnified to the point of supposing to become like God through self-effort and independence. The rest we know is history. We read these things and our initial reaction may be one of “Where was God while this was going on? Why did he not intervene?” The answer is very simple and one of profound import. The higher the creation, the greater is the capacity of free will. God has created us for fellowship, friendship, and companionship. For all of these reasons it is necessary that we move and commune with Him freely as holy individuals on the basis of personal choice. Eve had to be tested as to whether she was going to “grasp” at becoming like Him through independence, or through obedience and submission to Him and His goodness. Relationship must involve the mingling and sharing between two or more individuals.

“Can two walk together,
except they be agreed?”
Amos 3:3

This is the fundamental law of relationship and the very reason that God created man with the ability to choose to exercise his will in compliance with God’s way. In the crucible of the moment Eve chose the way of self-effort which brought her and Adam and the whole human race into the darkness and the lie of the Devil.

God was not taken by surprise by this course of action. In getting to know Him we realize that “fruit” is never created; it must be formed (Galatians 4:19). Fruit is revealed by the very nature of the life which produces it. We read in the New Testament that Jesus was “a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The offering and the answer to Eve’s choice existed from beyond the reaches of time in the wisdom and foreordained council of God. Some ponder the ramifications of this and come to the conclusion that God must then have created evil. The fallacy of this notion is quickly put to rest by realizing that God is incapable of doing or creating moral evil.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.”
James 1:16-17

If God did not create evil, then how did evil come into being? Satan (formerly called Lucifer), was one of the highest creations in the heavenly order of God’s Domain and as such, he possessed a certain freedom of will as well as incredible power and wisdom. The very declaration “I will ascend; I will exalt my throne…” are all statements of a free will making choices (see scripture below). The scriptures reveal that at some point he began to desire the throne of God for himself…

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.”
Isaiah 14:12-14

Just as darkness is simply the absence of light, evil is the absence of good. Reverting back to John 8:44 Jesus in speaking of the Devil states:

“…when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
John 8:44

In other words, the devil is the father and initiator of THE LIE. He is the one who through self-will, blind ambition and self-seeking gave birth to the darkness and LIE (he fathered it). In his rage and blindness, he introduces to Eve the very LIE which was and is his own undoing. It is for this reason that we have two seeds in the earth: God’s seed and the Devil’s.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:15

Those who seek preeminence in the world and in the church through the motives of self-will and pride will be judged in the same light. Worthy is the Lamb of God who has delivered and is delivering us from such a horrific fate! He has come to bring forth purity of motive in our lives with submissive hearts to the doing of His will.

It is worth noting here that in the above mentioned scripture God was the one who put enmity between the seeds. Yet in many of today’s religious circles the church is trying so hard eliminate this enmity by becoming like the world. They seek the approval of men; they want to present a friendly and inviting atmosphere where the people of the world can feel comfortable thereby mingling the light of God with the darkness of the world.

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
James 4:4

The above scripture is written within the context of unanswered prayers amidst division and strife. Surely it is a day to repent and turn from our ways that we may find grace in this hour to be vessels of light in a day of great darkness!

This compromising “gospel” is a product of the LIE; a result of mingling light with darkness; a dimming of the grace of God wherein men and women no longer feel the anguish of living outside of the light and power of God. They are no longer presented with God’s Holiness. They can come to “church” without sensing the Holy Presence of God nor the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The early church met in God’s presence to such an extent that the unbeliever cried out “surely God is in your midst” (1 Corinthians 14:25) The contrast between then and now is poignant. The Word of God is declared often without seeing any change in those who hear. Mixture and the doctrines of men rob God’s Word of its power and purpose.

“And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition… Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”
Mark 7:9-13

Herein lies the deception and horror of our present day. We reject the Word of God so that we can keep our own teachings and holding to the methods of men rather than walking in the pure wisdom of God. The response to those who question these methods is “well that is how we do it now”. No wonder our ways continue to bear the fruits of lukewarm living and halfhearted faith! The very purpose of the five-fold ministry (Ephesians 4:11-13) is to establish God’s people in His ways to the intent that we all come into the unity of the faith; a people who can no longer be swayed by the hypocrisy and mixture of the teachings of men.

“So that we may be no longer children, sent this way and that, turned about by every wind of teaching, by the twisting and tricks of men, by the deceits of error…”
Ephesians 4:14, BBE

God hates mixture. He hates lukewarm hearts, He hates tepid prayers and hypocrisy. We see from Genesis to Revelation that God’s word to His people is always dispensed in order to bring forth a separated and holy people. We must be ever vigilant to watch objectively over the affairs and issues of our own hearts.

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth”
Revelation 3:16

(continued)

Brian Troxel