Thank you for sharing.
Blessings,
Soraya
Em sex, 26 de mar de 2021 17:41, mike mcinnis <ratmotor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
escreveu:
GRACE GAZETTE
Volume XIX Issue 14
*Published occasionally for Zion’s mourners*
*Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And
make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out
of the way; but let it rather be
healed.
Hebrews 12::12-13*
THE POWER OF DARKNESS
* When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands
against*
*me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
Luke 22:53*
The allure of the once very popular “Star Wars”, movies was in large
part because it fed into the naturally received myth, that there is an
ongoing struggle between the powers of darkness and the powers of good. This
is the commonly received philosophy which pervades the thoughts of men as
they seek to make sense of the things which transpire in the earth. This
thought process is most surely described by Solomon in the Proverbs when he
said, “*There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death.” (Prov.14:12*)
This philosophy leads men to view the triumph of “good” over “evil” as
a battle whose outcome is not at all certain, and one which requires that
men step up and do their part to quell these forces of darkness and
malevolence, causing good to shine forth for the benefit of mankind. This
very viewpoint has crept its way into the thinking of many today who would
be erstwhile leaders of those who claim to be the followers of CHRIST. Such
thinking is at the heart of that teaching which claims that men can, by
their own effort, cause other men to be born into the Kingdom of GOD.
The LORD HIMSELF declares the origins of light and darkness, good and
evil, and peace and unrest. *“I am the LORD, and there is none else,
there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that
there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the
light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do
all these things. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour
down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation,
and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.” (Isa
45:5-8*)
Such a declaration from the lips of the LORD needs no commentary,
though the vast majority of today’s “Bible teachers”, either ignore the
passage completely or spend much time in explaining why it doesn’t mean
what it says. It is striking, is it not, that the LORD actually
anticipates such presumption in the next verse when HE says, “*Woe unto
him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the
potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What
makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?” (Isa 45:9*)
We have to confess that we are struck dumb with amazement when we read
this passage and are caused to fall upon our faces before HIM who has
created all things according to the good pleasure of HIS will. “*Remember
the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God,
and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the
east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have
spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do
it.” (Isa 46:9-11*)
Darkness cannot exist apart from HIM who made it according to the good
pleasure of HIS will. HE has formed it in order to display the Glory of HIS
LIGHT which is both contrasted with and transcendent before it. In the
beginning (before which we have no knowledge); GOD did set forth that
Creation which we now can see. Darkness was upon the face of the deep. GOD
then declared, “*Let there be LIGHT*” and there was “LIGHT”. John
speaks to us of this LIGHT. *“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.” (John
1:1-4*) It is ever a wonder to me in the consideration of the natural
creation that LIGHT existed on the first day and was separated (i.e.;
contrasted) from the darkness. Yet the Sun was not created until the
fourth day, which belies the “scientific” explanation that light emanates
from the Sun. The Sun receives its illumination from HIM who is the
LIGHT of the world.
So, we understand that darkness was created by HIM to bring glory to
HIS NAME, as HE shines HIS LIGHT, for in HIM is no darkness at all. (see I
John 1:5) HE would manifest the sons of GOD in the Earth by separating
them from the darkness to which the reprobate have been appointed to
inhabit. *“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” (1John 1:6*) *“Then spake Jesus
again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12*
) *“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.” (2Cor 4:6*)
As the sons of GOD are appointed to dwell in the LIGHT, which no man
can by his own power or understanding ever approach unto, (see I Tim.6:16),
so too are the reprobate appointed to dwell in that darkness which they
delight in. *“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were
evil.” (John 3:19*) They have loved the wages of unrighteousness, *“These
are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom
the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.” (2Pet 2:17) “Raging waves of
the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved
the blackness of darkness for ever.” (Jude 1:13*)
There is indeed a great contrast between those who are the sons of GOD
and those who are not, as GOD is pleased to manifest HIS work in those whom
HE has loved with an everlasting love. For there is no difference
between the elect and the non-elect *by nature*. We are all born
naturally into darkness and would continue to delight ourselves therein
apart from the grace of GOD who makes us to differ from another. *“And
you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in
time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past
in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” (Eph 2:1-3*
)
Peter describes that contrast with these words, “*Unto you therefore
which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And
a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy.”(1Pet 2:7-10*) “Why was I made to hear THY voice and
enter while there’s room, while thousands make a wretched choice and rather
starve than come. T’was the same LOVE that spread the feast which
sweetly forced us in, else we had still refused to taste and perished in
our sin.” (Isaac Watts)
The LORD told the Pharisee’s that their *“hour*” had now come. That
purpose for which they were created was fast approaching and they would act
according to the “*power of darkness*”, which they could not escape for
they were both snared in it and embracing it according to their own desire.
This is that “*hour*” which Peter declared, “*Him, being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain.” (Acts 2:23*) According to HIS good
pleasure HE sent forth HIS SON into this world and made the darkness for
this “hour”, that HE might manifest HIS eternal purpose in redeeming those
whom HE loved from the beginning. “*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: In whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:12-14)* Are
you of the LIGHT or the darkness? mam
