Life Walk Bible Lesson 55 — Live as Children of Light
Jesus, the Light of the World
Matthew 3:16-17
16 “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”
John 8:12
8 “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
Blue Letter Bible: The Greek word for “follows” is akoloutheo (ak-ol-oo-theh’-o), meaning “to be in the same way with, that is to accompany, specially, as a disciple — to join one as a disciple, become, or be, His disciple…specifically in John 8:12, where Jesus likens Himself to a torch which His disciples follow.”
Scripture Reading: Revelation 4
Revelation 4:11
11 “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
Review:
Genesis 1:1-5
1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Genesis 1:3 Latin Vulgate:
“And God said, ‘Be light made. And light was made. [Dixitque Deus, Fiat lux et facta est lux.]”
The Book of the Cave of Treasures, St. Ephraim; [E.A.W.Budge]; First Thousand Years, Creation—the First Day:
“In the beginning, on the First Day, which was the holy First Day of the Week, the chief and firstborn of all the days, God created the heavens, and the earth, and the waters, and the air, and the fire, and the hosts which are invisible (that is to say, the Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Lords, Principalities, Powers, Cherubim and Seraphim), and all the ranks and companies of Spiritual beings, and the Light, and the Night, and the Day-time, and the gentle winds and the strong winds (i.e. storms). All these were created on the First Day.
“And on the First Day of the Week the Spirit of holiness, one of the Persons of the Trinity, hovered over the waters, and through the hovering thereof over the face of the waters, the waters were blessed so that they might become producers of offspring, and they became hot, and the whole nature of the waters glowed with heat, and the leaven of creation was united to them.
“As the mother-bird maketh warm her young by the embrace of her closely covering wings, and the young birds acquire form through the warmth of the heat which [they derive] from her, so through the operation of the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit, the Paraclete, the leaven of the breath of life was united to the waters when He hovered over them.”
Cross references: New Testament Scripture regarding leaven:
Matthew 13:33 “And He spoke another parable to them, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”
Matthew 16:5-12; Mark 8:15 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod
In the Old Testament, God gave Moses, and the ancient nation of Israel, instructions for celebrating the Passover, and the Days of Unleavened Bread, a seven day festival picturing, and celebrating, the removal of sin from their lives. The removal of leaven from their homes during this time, each year, was a reminder of how they left Egypt in a hurry, symbolic of coming out of sin quickly.
As leaven penetrates everything, so does sin. Jesus taught the disciples the significance of this after having fed over five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two small fish, which were creatively multiplied in the hands of those who fed the people.
Just as sin is creatively multiplied wherever it exists, hence, the leaven of the Kingdom penetrates everything it touches also, creating good outcomes, just as the writer of The Book of the Cave of Treasures describes the “leaven” of creation. Hence, a tree is known by its fruit, according to the parable Jesus taught His disciples. [Matthew 7:16-18]
The annual, and tangible, reminder of not being able to have time to let the dough rise, and bake, before leaving Egypt is for us today as well — don’t give sin the time of day, or night, to produce its results in our lives.
Cross reference: Scripture regarding a mother bird:
Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”
Let there be Light
The Legends of the Jews, Volume 1, by Louis Ginzberg, translated by Henrietta Szold from the German manuscript, 1913, Page 8, under the heading “First Day” states:
“On the first day of creation God produced ten things: the heavens and the earth, Tohu and Bohu, light and darkness, wind and water, the duration of the day and the duration of the night. Though the heavens and the earth consist of entirely different elements, they were yet create as a unit, ‘like the pot and its cover.’
“The heavens were fashioned from the light of God’s garment, and the earth from the snow under the Divine Throne. Tohu is a green band which encompasses the whole world, and dispenses darkness, and Bohu consists of stone in the abyss, the producers of the waters.
“The light created at the very beginning is not the same as the light emitted by the sun, the moon, and the stars, which appeared only on the fourth day. The light of the first day was of a sort that would enable man to see the world at a glance from one end to the other. Anticipating the wickedness of the sinful generations of the deluge and the Tower of Babel, who were unworthy to enjoy the blessing of such light, God concealed it, but in the world to come it will appear to the pious in all its pristine glory.”
Cross references (regarding Bohu, water from a rock):
Exodus 17:1-7
Deuteronomy 8:15
Nehemiah 9:15
Psalm 78:15-16
Isaiah 48:21
Wisdom 11:4 (Catholic Canon)
Wisdom 18:24 [Aaron’s garment represented “the whole world”]
Wisdom 19:6-8, the children of Israel protected; [verse 21, second half refers to Manna]
It is clear from Scripture, and particularly God’s desire that things on earth may be as they are in heaven, from the model prayer Jesus taught us, that earthly things have their spiritual counterpart in heaven. We may summarize, then, that what God has He wants to share with us, in a most tangible way, and particularly the blessings of heaven. The “green band” around earth, God’s “footstool” [Isaiah 66:1] therefore has its counterpart at the throne, which is encircled with the rainbow where all John could see was its predominant color, green.
Revelation 4:3 “And the One Who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like emerald encircled the throne.”
It’s a Kingdom principle: Isaiah 32:1-8
Jesus is The Rock, and the Spring of Living Water: Jeremiah 17:13 (John 8:1-11) John 4:10
In 2Enoch 24-25, God speaks to Enoch about creation, and how He created the heavens and the earth, from their invisible state, in His thoughts, to their visible state in their physical manifestation. In verses 1-5 God describes how the light came to be, from His Holy Arm.
I’m using the Slavonic translation, as it gives the best understanding of the words, in my view, of the concept God is showing us, of something birthed, as different from the R. H. Charles translation, which renders the word for “deliver yourself” [as in delivering a child at its birth], as “become undone” in verse 2.
Slavonic Enoch [Max Planck Institute for the History of Science PDF] with footnotes below:
2 Enoch 25:1
“And I thought of making a beginning198 [оумислых же поставити ѡснованїе ]; I created visible beings [сътворити тварь видимѫѧ]. At first I ordered one of the invisible to descend and {become} visible [повелѣх въ испръних да сънидет е̑дино ѿ невидимих видимо]; and the massive Adoil199 descended [съниде Адоил прѣвелик зѣло]; and I looked at him [смотрих е̑го]; in his abdomen200 there was great luminosity yielded [и се въ чрѣвѣ тъ ими свѣта великаго]. I told him [рекох къ немоу ], 'Deliver yourself [раздрѣши сѧ ], Adoil [Адоиле],201 and may the visible be born from you [бѫди видмо раждаемо ис тебе]!'202 He delivered himself [раздрѣши сѧ ]; and an overwhelmingly great Light came out [изыде свѣт прѣвелик], and I {was} in the midst of this Light [и азь же срѣдѣ свѣта ].203 As the Light was looming [како носѧщоу сѧ свѣтоу ], a great epoch came out from it, making manifest all creatures which I was thinking of creating [е ѿ свѣта възыде вѣкь великы явлѣе в с̄ѧ тварь , ѫже азь помысли х сътворити]. I saw that it was good [видѣх яко бл̄го]; and I placed my Throne there [поставих себѣ прѣстол͡], and sat on it [сѣдох на нем]; and told the Light [свѣтови же гл̄а х], 'Ascend above the Throne and stand fast [възыди т ы више прѣсто л͡ и оутвръди сѧ ]! Be the foundation of the upper {world} [бѫдѫ ѡснованїе вышним]!' Above the Light was nothing else [нѣс͡ прѣвышѧ свѣта иного ничʼсоже]. Then again I bent over [пакы въсклони сѧ ], looked down from my Throne [възрѣх ѿ прѣстола мое̑го] and for the second time raised my voice in the Abyss below and said [възвах вторицеѧ въ прѣиспо дных и рѣ х], 'May from the invisible firmament appear the invisible204 [да изыдет ѿ невидмых твръди невидмо]!' Arkhas came out [изыде Архась], who was hard and heavy and very red [тврдъ и тѧжкь и чрьме н͡ зѣло ];205 and I said [рѣх], 'Release yourself [развръзи сѧ ],206 Arkhas, and may the visible be born from you [бѫди видимо раждаемо ис тебе]!' He released himself [раздрѣши сѧ ] and a very big dark epoch came out {of him} [изыде вѣкь тъмень прѣвелик зѣло]; it was carrying the creatures of all the lower worlds [носѧ тварь долных въсѣх]. I saw that it was good [видѣх яко добро]; and I said to him [рѣх къ немѹ], 'Go down and stand fast [съниди ти долоу и оутвръди сѧ]!' And {thus he} became the foundation of the lower {world} [быͨ͡ основанїе нижних]. And there was nothing below this darkness [нѣͨ͡ подь тъмоѫ иного ничесоже]. Then I ordered {elements} to be taken from the lightness and darkness [повелѣх да възмѣт сѧ ѿ свѣта и ѿ тьми] and I said [и рѣх], 'Be fecund and be wrapped in Light [бѫди тлъсто и ѡбито свѣтом]!' I spread this out [то прострѣх] and it became water [и быͨ͡ вода]. I stretched it over the darkness [прострѣх връхоу тьми], under the Light [ниже свѣта ] and thus I fastened the waters [ако воды оутвръдих], that is to say, the Abyss [сирѣч безднѫ]; and with Light I encircled the ring of the water [основах свѣтом окрѫгоу воды] and inside I made seven circles [сътворих з̄ крѫ г͡ въноутрьѫдоу ]. I featured them like crystal207 [въобразих яко хроусталь], damp and dry [мокро и соухо ], that is to say [сирѣч], glass and ice [стъкло и ледь], surrounded by waters and the other elements [ѡбхожденїа водам инимъ стихїа м]. And I showed each of them their path [оуказах комоуждо свои пѫт], with seven stars [з̄-мим звѣздамь ], each of them being in its own heaven [кааждо ихь на своим нб̄си], so that they move in this way [тако да грѧдѫт]. I saw that it was good [видѣх яко добро]; and I divided the Light from the Darkness [разлѫчих междоу свѣтом и тъмоѫ], which was in the midst of the waters from here and there [сирѣч просрѣ воды сѫдоу и сѫдоу]. And I said to the Light [рекох свѣтови], 'May you become day [бѫди ти дн̄ь]!' And I ordered the darkness to be night [повелѣх тъмѣ да бѫдет нощь]; and it became evening and morning, the first day [и быͨ͡ вечерь и пакы быͨ͡ оутро, то еͨ͡ а̄ дн̄ь].”
198 Lit. 'foundation' / 'basis'.
199 See Forbes and Charles [1913: 445, footnote XXV. 1], where the form Adoil is interpreted as 'the
hand of God'.
200 Lit. 'womb'.
201 The name is in the vocative.
202 Here and further below, the terms 'deliver' and 'release' allude to childbirth terminology.
203 On the homonymy between lexemes denoting Universe and Light see the discussion above (footnote 95).
204 Perhaps a scribal error? It should read: 'May from the invisible firmament appear the visible!' 205 In Old Church Slavonic the adjective чрьмен͡ is used for the Red Sea.
206 Another term for childbirth; lit. 'untie/unfasten/unknot/unravel/disentangle yourself'.
A Little Scripture
It is interesting, isn’t it, that in the Book of Matthew, in chapter 27:41-50, the chief priests mocked Jesus, while He was being crucified, challenging God to deliver Him, just as He had delivered others. God’s Own words are used against Him; how audaciously arrogant they were to speak to God that way! How merciful God is to say, even while dying on the cross as the human man Jesus, the fullness of God in human form, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” [Luke 23:44]
A Little Science
The speed of sound is approximately 760 miles per hour at sea level. Think, for a moment, about when Jesus sat in the boat on the lake, and spoke to the crowds, as recorded in Matthew 13:1-2, without microphone in hand, aided purely by the propelling of his voice upon the water once again, as in Genesis 1:1-2, and spoke about how the Word of God, sown in various places, produces results [verses 3-9].
Space scientists call this level of the speed of sound Mach 1. So, Mach 10, the record set fairly recently, as of 2018, is 7,672.69 miles per hour, (12,348 kilometers per hour).
The speed of light in a vacuum is 186,000 miles per second, (299,792 kilometers per second, or 300 million meters per second), and “in theory, nothing can travel faster than light,” according to space.com.
That is about 670,616,629 miles per hour. Scientists are still researching this previously accepted fact, based on Einstein’s research in 1905, contending that there is a “possibility that this cosmic speed limit changes, a consequence of the nature of the vacuum in space” according to livescience.com “The definition of the speed of light has some broader implications for fields such as cosmology and astronomy.”
According to the article on the consequences of moving faster than light, “If something were to exceed this limit, it would move backward in time, according to the theory. The new finding raises all sorts of thorny questions. If the neutrinos really are travelling faster than light, then they should be time travelers. The particles could theoretically arrive somewhere before they departed. Physicists suggest such an ability, if it really existed, could be used to send neutrinos back in time to deliver messages.”
Neutrinos are one of the most amazing creations of God, in themselves, this same God, Who knows the end from the beginning, according to Isaiah 46:10, Who is the Alpha and the Omega, according to Revelation 21:6.
According to the above mentioned article from livescience.com , “They are neutral, nearly massless particles that hardly ever interact with ordinary matter. They come in several kinds, called flavors, and they strangely seem to be able to change from one flavor to another. So it’s possible that their faster-than-light abilities are unique features as well.”
According to the Legends of the Jews, Volume 1, aforementioned also, the Tree of Life in the middle of the heavenly Paradise (in the third heaven) has “15,000 tastes” (page 21) each different from one another, and the perfumes thereof vary likewise.”
As amazing as that sounds, look at The Book of Wisdom, in regard to its description of “Manna”, Exodus 16:31, which God fed the ancient nation of the children of Jacob (Israel) while in the wilderness, which He calls angel’s food, the “grain of heaven” in Psalm 78:24. “Taste and see the the Lord is good,” the Psalmist says in Psalm 34:8.
Wisdom 16:20-21
20 “Instead thereof thou feddest Thine own people with angel’s food, and didst send them from heaven bread prepared without their labour, able to content every man’s delight, and agreeing to every taste. 21 For Thy sustenance declared Thy sweetness unto Thy children, and serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man’s liking.” [Read the context: Wisdom 16:1-29]
Children of God, Children of Light
Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:11-27, and Genesis 2:
Genesis 1:11-13 On the third day, God creates all the vegetation “according to their kind”
Genesis 1:14-19 God creates the luminaries, planets, and stars, and He sets them according to their function in the expanse of the heavens, to govern, either the day or the night, and for signs, seasons, days, and years.
Genesis 1:20-23 On the fifth day, God creates the sea creatures and birds of the air, male and female, “according to their kind”
Genesis 1:24-25 On the sixth day, God creates livestock and wildlife, male and female, “after their kind”
Genesis 1:26-27 Also on the sixth day, God creates humans, male and female, in the same way — after His Kind — after His Image and Likeness, to rule over that which God created with them on the same day.
Genesis 2 recounts the events and how God planted a Garden, and brought the animals to Adam in order to name them, and so they were named, just as when God called the light “Day”, and the darkness, “Night,” and it was so.
Godly Dominion
The first act of taking dominion, in Genesis 1-2, was for God to call things that are not as though they were, to name them by their function, and kind of species, and to sustain them accordingly, by the Word of His mouth from then on.
Notice that God Himself says to those with Him, “Let us make…” And so also, He gave that kind of dominion to humans. He taught Adam and Eve to take care of that which was given to them, and be productive.
The Apostles Paul and Peter reiterate this concept by teaching the Church to “submit to one another” (Ephesians 4-5, Philippians 2, and 1Peter 5) and work together in the unity of the Holy Spirit of God in order to achieve good outcomes together.
Jesus sets the example of faith, in Mark 11:12-22, when He speaks to the fig tree to be withered from its roots, and it obeys His voice, teaching His disciples to have faith in God, believing when in prayer, that God will also give them what they ask, just as God our Father in Heaven did for Jesus.
Where there is good productivity, there is good multiplication. Whatever is not productive, or produces bad outcomes, is removed, as is made clear also in John 15:1-17.
James 1:17-18
17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His Own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”
Scripture Reading: Luke 3:23-38 — The Genealogy of Jesus
Luke 3:38 “ the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”
John 1:11-13
11 “He came to His Own [things or domain], and His Own [people] did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right [authority] to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 12:36
12 “‘While you have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may become sons of the Light.’ These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.”
Jesus, in Whom dwells all the treasures of wisdom…called His disciples “friends” and “children”…[John 15:14-15]
A King’s Message about Wisdom
Wisdom 6 [Catholic Canon]
Sirach 1 [Catholic Canon]
Sirach 4:11-19
Sirach 6:18-37
Proverbs 4, and 8
Even though Jesus hid Himself from the people, He also could not remain hidden for long, for again He says to the people:
John 12:46
“I have come as a Light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”
Matthew 5:14-16
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
A light is created to function, just as it is written in Genesis 1. It cannot help but shine.
Daniel 12:3
3 “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”
Romans 8:28-30
28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Colossians 1:9-14
9 “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father Who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed [transferred] us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
God Separates Light from Dark, and Water from Water
Genesis 1:4
4 “And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.”
Genesis 1:6-8 (See also the Septuagint Translation)
Scripture Reading: 1John 2:1-11 Spiritual application: Love = Light; sin = darkness
Christ in You
Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:21-27; Colossians 3:1-4
1 Corinthians 2:6-10
6 “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained [predetermined] before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”
John 14:23
23 “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.’”
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14 Paul praises God
John 3:16-17
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Let Your Light Shine
2 Corinthians 4:1-6 The Light of Christ’s Gospel
2 Corinthians 6:14
14 “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship [in common] has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion [fellowship] has light with darkness.?”
Ephesians 5:8-10
8 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.”
Hebrews 11:6
6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Encouragement:
The Holy Spirit helps us in all these things, by giving us His love, His joy, His peace, His patience, His kindness, His goodness, His faithfulness, His gentleness, and His self-control, and even, His faith, so that our light can shine brightly, and bring many to righteousness in Christ. [Galatians 5:22-23; Romans 12:3, 2 Corinthians 10:15; Ephesians 4:13]
