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Day 1: Greater Works (Part 4) · Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons

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  Welcome to NECF sermons. Each message here is
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  designed to uplift and strengthen you in your
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  walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until
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  the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive
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  right in. From the scriptures we've studied so
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  far, we have sufficient evidence to conclude
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  that the works that Jesus did were contained
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  from the scriptures, that is, from the Old Testament
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  scriptures. And the apostles also did exactly
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  what Jesus did. The context of their ministry,
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  the things they did, the things they taught,
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  were from the Old Testament scriptures. So we're
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  trying to examine the writings of the prophets,
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  And we asked, we said, do the New Testament writers
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  ask the same questions that we are trying to
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  answer today? And we were able to establish some
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  certain things that, you know, they had a context
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  to what they were writing, right? They had a
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  context to what they are writing. We say that
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  one of the challenges we face today is our desire
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  to answer today's questions. using the writings
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  in the New Testament. But we must be careful
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  not to move into error because in our bid to
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  apply these scriptures, we tend to negate or
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  forget the context and the questions that these
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  writers were trying to answer. So it is necessary
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  for us to rightly interpret the scriptures in
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  their context so that in our application we can
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  rightly apply the word of God. Hallelujah. So
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  as men that God has called to continue the work
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  of the Apostles, we are obligated by virtue of,
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  you know, the ministry we've received that is
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  of the Lord to rightly divide the word of truth
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  so that we would not teach what is an error.
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  So one of the most important principles we've
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  established that in biblical interpretation of
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  the New Testament particularly we must consider
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  or We must allow the New Testament writers to
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  answer the questions they were actually addressing,
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  rather than forcing our own ideas into what they
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  were writing. So we say that every episode was
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  written to real audience with a specific historical
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  context and to address a particular issue facing
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  the early church. So our responsibility is to
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  first understand their questions. What are they
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  trying to answer? What was the situation? For
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  example, now if you read the context of the Corinthian
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  church, there were several things that were happening
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  in that church. So the epistles were written
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  specifically to address some of the horrendous
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  practices in that church. And even though that
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  church is a church of Jesus Christ, even that
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  church had a sense of God, but there were some
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  malpractices happening in the conduct of the
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  believers. So we see how Paul will write to correct
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  some of those things happening in that particular
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  church. We say that the things that were written
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  were written not to us, but for us. That from
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  them we will learn we can edify ourselves from
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  what we were written, but we must understand
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  the context of things that were written. And
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  also, you know, we talk about some things that
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  the writers of the New Testament, We're not focusing
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  on, we talk about the issue of women ministry,
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  which we didn't go into details. The issue of
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  salvation, which we say that the New Testament
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  writers, you know, did not actually, their intent
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  was not to address the issue of whether people
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  can lose salvation or not, because in our careful
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  study of the New Testament scriptures, we will
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  realize that there is an assumption that salvation
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  is eternal. And there is no any hint of whether,
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  the believer is losing salvation or not but does
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  that mean that we can answer those questions
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  from scriptures when we look at the whole context
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  of gospel we can answer those questions hallelujah
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  so but then we must appropriate scriptures in
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  the context to which they were given so that
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  we will remain within the authority to which
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  the scriptures has been given so one of the things
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  that was assumed in scripture was marriage Hallelujah.
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  When I mean marriage, I mean marriage practices
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  in the epistles, right? Marriage practices. For
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  example now, in the New Testament, consistently
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  assume the reality of marriage between a man
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  and a woman. Are we together? But gives very
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  little information about how marriage ceremonies
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  were conducted. You know, for example, the scripture
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  never tells us how Priscilla and Aquila were
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  married. They didn't tell us the pastor that
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  joined them together, but we know that they were
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  a couple who were married and they were serving
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  the Lord. Hallelujah. So if you're going to the
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  Bible to answer whether it's a church marriage
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  you want to do, or it's a court wedding you want
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  to do, or it's a traditional whatever it is,
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  the Bible is not there to answer such kind of
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  questions because it was not written in that
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  way, to answer such questions. But does that
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  mean that we will not be able to address such
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  kind of issues? within the scriptures. Yes, we
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  can address such issues, but we must be able
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  to look at God's Word in a totality in order
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  to arrive at a conclusion concerning issues that
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  face us today, because contemporary questions
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  must be answered within the authority of God's
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  Word of the entire scriptures. So likewise, as
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  we said, the New Testament never prescribed a
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  church within Or exchange of rings or anything,
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  but we know that customary we see this and happen
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  and we've mistaken to adopt those things as scriptural
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  They may not necessarily be scripture, but they
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  are practices that may not in themselves be sinful
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  right so The text cannot legitimately answer
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  a question. It was never intended to address
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  Faithful interpretation begins by asking what
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  question was the Bible offers answering? What
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  question we do answer only after understanding
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  the original context should we apply its timeless
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  principles? To the contemporary issues we face
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  in our lives today So Paul will tell Timothy
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  once again in second Timothy 2 verse 15 be diligent
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  to present yourself a proof of God Rightly handling
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  the word of truth. So likewise, Jesus Christ
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  will see He himself modeled this method by rightly
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  interpreting the word of truth for us. Hallelujah.
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  So what are the questions we are facing today?
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  Today we are faced with diverse questions today.
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  In our contemporary world today, we are faced
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  with issues the New Testament writers did not
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  address directly. All right? such as, as I've
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  mentioned earlier in my example, the idea of
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  transgenderism, whatever it is, was never a matter
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  of discourse in scriptures. Issues of abortion
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  was not a topic of discussion in the scriptures.
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  So how do we answer such kind of questions? Issues
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  about surrogacy, issues about capitalism, issues
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  about democracy, was not the questions that were
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  answered or asked in scriptures. Issues concerning
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  socialism, communism, in fact, even slavery and
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  colonialism were not, you know, the issues that
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  the Bible writers were attempting to answer,
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  whether it is good or it is bad. That was not
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  their intention. You know, sometimes we'll face
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  people that will come to us with very confrontational
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  issues and questions. they will tell you that
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  the bible is encouraging colonialism or is encouraging
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  slavery the bible is written to enslave people
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  is written to control slaves but when you look
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  critically contextually the scriptures were not
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  written with the intent of executing these kind
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  of you know practices so we cannot appropriate
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  source interpretation to scriptures because that
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  was never the intent of the writers from the
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  beginning So we must be able to know the truth
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  about the world's work understand the purpose
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  for these scriptures understand the reason or
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  the inspirations of those scriptures the questions
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  that they were answering at that moment in order
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  for us to address the contemporary issues we
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  are facing with today hallelujah and in the process
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  of addressing our contemporary questions today
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  we must uphold the entirety of scripture in that
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  attempt to answer that from Genesis to revelation
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  because when we pick a passage it will not be
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  adequate because the word of God is the entirety
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  of the word that enables us to look at we can
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  look at God's plan in entirety and they will
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  be able to give answers to every issue so the
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  Bible writers never wrote about online church
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  because they will not even understand what is
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  online church I believe that when Paul was saying
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  never neglect the the gathering of the brethren
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  he was very specific And he didn't say that that
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  garden of rebellion can be online. All right?
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  But we cannot even condemn online church from
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  reading the epistles. But from the entire council
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  of gods, we will know the plan of God. And when
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  we read the entire council of God, we will know
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  that church actually cannot be online. Because
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  there are some certain things we can see with
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  evidence of the entire scriptures that indeed
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  will not benefit powerfully and well from what?
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  From that kind of process. or system. So the
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  entertainment -driven worship of today were not
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  some of the things that were exposed in scriptures
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  or attempted to explain to us. Feminism, you
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  know, is one of the issues that today we are
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  faced every day. I confronted someone that is
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  very close to us from this church, the person
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  I've left. The person wrote a whole lot of things
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  about the issue of feminism, the issue of patriarchy,
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  something, something. And I have to take the
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  person back to the plan of God to see what is
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  God's original intention for creating man and
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  woman. So when we navigated through the plan
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  of God, I will look at the whole council of God
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  concerning these issues, the person realized
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  that the scriptures, well not properly interpreted,
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  will allude what it has never been intended to
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  say. Hallelujah. So outside Christ, outside the
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  plan and the purpose of God, the scripture can
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  mean anything. But that is not the intent of
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  it. That's not the intention of the scriptures.
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  So we must understand how to rightly handle this
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  Bible. This scriptures has been given to us as
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  a guide to the exercising of the authority that
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  we have to do greater works. So I said, yes,
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  are the scriptures, especially the New Testament,
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  sufficient to answer our contemporary questions,
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  the scriptures and the New Testament? The answer
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  is yes. The scriptures meaning the entirety of
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  God's word is sufficient enough. The New Testament
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  may not address these issues directly, but it
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  provides the biblical principle and the interpretative
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  framework for us in order to answer some of these
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  questions. So we answer today's questions not
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  by forcing modern issues into the Bible, but
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  by understanding how the Bible authors address
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  the issues of their day. And then we faithfully
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  apply those same God -inspired principle. to
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  our contemporary challenges that we face today.
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  Hallelujah. So I want us to look at an issue
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  that was raised during Jesus' time. Then we will
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  just follow a little bit of his pattern. Then
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  we will have a clue of how we can address some
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  of the issues that we face today. For example
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  now, when Jesus Christ was confronted with the
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  question of divorce, when Jesus was confronted
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  with the controversial issue of divorce in his
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  time, it was controversial. He did not begin
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  with contemporary opinions of cultural practices.
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  All right? He didn't begin to tell them, oh,
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  you know, in the case of so and so and so, this
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  was what happened. No. He went straight to the
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  scriptures. He returned to God's original design
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  revealed in the scriptures. Hallelujah. Now,
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  let's go back to the text we read in Matthew
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  19 verse three to nine and see an examine and
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  see a model on how we can address even the question
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  that we face today. Okay? Matthew 19 verse 3,
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  Matthew chapter 19 verse 3. The Pharisees also
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  came to Jesus, to him, testing him, and saying
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  to him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his
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  wife for just any reason? For just any reason?
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  And he answered and said to them, have you not
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  read that he who made them at the beginning,
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  made them male and female? And said, For this
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  reason a man shall leave his father and mother
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  and be joined to his wife and a two shall become
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  one flesh So then they are no longer two but
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  one flesh therefore what God has joined together
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  Let no man what let no one separate verse 7 they
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  say to you why then did Moses Command to give
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  a certificate of divorce and to put our way He
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  said to the Moses because of the hardness of
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  your heart Because of your hardness because of
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  your hardness of heart permitted you to divorce
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  your wives but from the beginning It was not
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  so from the beginning girls never intended for
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  divorce In fact, we'll read some scriptures in
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  the Old Testament. We'll see where Jesus the
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  Bible is written that you know, he had got he
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  had divorce, right? Yes, he hates divorce. I
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  think I've forgotten the text. Yeah Malachi,
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  right? So if God was a head divorce, then why
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  would Moses give a certificate of divorcement?
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  So and he said to them Whoever divorces his wife
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  except for sexual immorality and marries another
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  commits adultery and whoever marries her who
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  is divorced commit adultery so The Pharisee acts
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  in verse 3 is it lawful is it lawful that a man
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  divorces his wife for any reason So Jesus answered
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  by taking them back to Genesis, all right? Back
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  to Genesis, not to the current debate, but he
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  went back to the original plan of God, the intention
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  of God, the counsel of God from the beginning.
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  And what is the counsel of God? He said to them,
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  have you not read that he, that is God, who created
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  them from the beginning, make them male and female.
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  Therefore, what God has joined together let no
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  man separate. So when they appeal Moses's permission
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  of divorcement in Deuteronomy 24 verse 1 to 4,
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  Jesus clarified, they get clarity to what happened.
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  Hallelujah. So we as well are to give clarity
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  to questions that will arise from some of the
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  things we see in scriptures. Someone has once
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  asked the question that why is it that, you know,
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  why is the Bible so bloody? That will see a scripture
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  where God will give them command to go and wipe
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  a generation. Why is the Bible so genocidal?
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  And I asked him a question. I said even did in
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  the scriptures the children of Israel went and
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  they wiped a generation completely. Let's say
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  for example now which tribe was always they have
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  always fighting? The Amalekite, right? First
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  instance, they said and you hear the report that
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  they He saw the entire Amalekite and none was
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  left. And after 203 -05 he heard that the Amalekite
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  came and overcome. Where did the Amalekite come
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  from? Even did they were erased from the face
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  of the earth. How comes we see after 203 kings,
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  in fact the Amalekite will still be coming to
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  fight them. So it doesn't mean that they were
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  not really erased. Yes, you must understand biblical
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  language. When you write reports about war, especially
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  in their time, in their context, right? For example,
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  Nani, if I say Arsenal demolish Man U, five goals
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  to zero, we kill them completely. We ensure that
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  none of them was alive in the game. Am I literally
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  saying that we kill the entire players on the
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  pitch? No. But you must understand that it's
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  a way of communicating our victory of demolishing
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  them. He's laughing. Hallelujah. So you must
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  understand the way the scripture is written,
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  the way they narrate these issues in scriptures.
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  They're not saying that they're erased because
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  we see them several times. In many, many years
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  we'll see their existence on the face of the
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  earth, hallelujah. So we must be able to understand
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  scriptures properly, contextually, understand
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  the background and the context, the historical
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  context, the cultural context of those people.
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  in order for us to arrive at a better understanding
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  of scriptures. So we see Jesus Christ giving
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  clarity to an issue, right? It says, Moses permitted
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  you to divorce your wives, verse eight, because
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  your hearts were hard, but it was not this way
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  from the beginning. So let's notice Jesus' method.
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  He acknowledged the present question. Did he
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  dismiss the question? He acknowledged the question
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  that they were asking. And then he returned to
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  scriptures. Where did he return to? He went back
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  to the scriptures. He distinguished between God's
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  original intention and the temporary concession
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  made because of human sin, because of human inability.
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  Hallelujah. So we see the techniques he used.
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  He interpreted the alt -estimate in the light
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  of God's redemptive purpose. He interpreted that
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  question or he interpreted that scripture in
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  the light of God's redemptive purpose. Therefore
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  giving clarity to God's plan and God's purpose.
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  Why did God give, why did Moses give him the
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  permission to divorce? It's because of their
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  stubbornness. Because some of them as passers
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  -by told us that if we allow them with the wife
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  they may even do domestic violence will be so
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  high. Because those who were so stubborn that
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  they can do anything. Somebody can just walk
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  up and say he does not like his wife and he will
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  divorce her. At least he should let her go alive
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  to her parents house, it's better. All right,
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  so because of the wickedness that is in the heart
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  of men, Moses permitted, so but in the beginning
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  that was not God's intention. In the redemptive
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  plan of God, That was not the intention, because
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  the idea of marriage was to communicate God's
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  eternal purpose. And in God's communication of
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  his eternal purpose, there is no idea of separation.
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  In God's idea, there is no separation. So Moses'
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  permission for divorce was not God's ideal. It
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  was a concession because of Israel's hardness
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  of heart. God's original design for marriage
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  established in creation remain his true intention.
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  So the framework for today's issue is that from
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  this issue, the way Jesus handled this matter,
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  it provides us a biblical framework for addressing
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  every contemporary issues. We must begin from
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  God's original purpose as revealed in the scriptures.
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  Hallelujah. That must be the genesis of every
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  question that we have that pertains to scriptures.
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  To distinguish between God's eternal design and
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  what is seen in a falling world. And then we
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  apply the timeless principle of scripture faithfully
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  to our modern questions. What are the issues
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  about abortion? For example now, is it right
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  for you to do abortion? And we have to go to
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  scriptures. Because when you go to the epistles,
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  you will not see, they don't even have an idea.
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  It will be strange to them to think that somebody
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  will be pregnant and go to a physician and say,
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  I want to remove the etes. That will be the highest
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  level of witchcraft in their time. They will
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  not understand it. But today, it has been coined
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  at women's rights in our contemporary world.
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  It has been coined as a fundamental human right.
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  The right to eliminate another person's right
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  is a fundamental right in today's world. But
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  when we go to scriptures, we discover that we
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  look at what is God's intention for creating
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  a life. Life is safe. Do you have dominion over
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  another life as a man or as a woman? Do you have
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  authority over the existence of another person?
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  Then we will begin to come along and we'll see
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  in God's eternal plan. questions about gender,
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  about sexuality, about biotech, biotech, technology,
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  economics, worship, or any contemporary challenge,
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  the task of a biblical teacher is to ask, what
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  is God's original intention from the beginning?
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  What is God's counsel? What is God's intention
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  right from the beginning of the creation of the
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  world and humanity? Okay? How did the biblical
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  authors address issues in their context? If the
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  issues were addressed specifically in scriptures,
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  we have to look at contextually, how did they
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  address these matters? What timeless theological
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  principle can emerge from the text that will
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  express the scriptures? And then how we should
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  faithfully apply those things today. So the Bible
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  remains sufficient for every generation. The
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  Bible remains sufficient for every generation.
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  In fact, the truth of scripture is eternal. The
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  truth of scripture is eternal. No matter the
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  level of advancement in technology, the eternal
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  truth of the scriptures cannot be outdated. The
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  principle enshrined in the entire council of
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  God's word are eternal principles. So, Our responsibility
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  is to make the scripture fit our culture, all
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  right? To ensure that the scripture is our culture.
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  Right, I said our responsibility is not to make
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  the scripture fit our culture, but to understand
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  God's revealed will, okay? His revealed will
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  will be found within the pages of the scriptures,
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  the entirety of the council of God's word. So
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  our duty is to find and to understand his revealed
• 24:12
  in the scriptures and apply its enduring principle
• 24:17
  to the questions of our time today. So this is
• 24:20
  the interpretation framework that we can see
• 24:24
  from, we can believe there are several instances
• 24:26
  in scriptures where Jesus Christ was confronted
• 24:28
  with issues and then in answering those issues
• 24:31
  he has to go back from the beginning and even
• 24:33
  the apostles sometimes when they are faced with
• 24:35
  issues they have to go back from the genesis
• 24:37
  of the creation of mankind. And then through
• 24:40
  scriptures, they are able to skim through scriptures
• 24:44
  and show a straight line around, you know, the
• 24:48
  things that God has as a plan and a purpose for
• 24:50
  humanity, thereby reaching a conclusion concerning,
• 24:53
  you know, the issues that affect their time.
• 24:56
  So therefore, we must study the scriptures carefully.
• 25:01
  We must study the scriptures carefully and then
• 25:05
  rightly interpret God's Word to understand his
• 25:10
  whole counsel, his original intention, especially
• 25:14
  when it comes to creation and his redemptive
• 25:19
  purpose. Only then we can faithfully apply his
• 25:26
  word. We can fulfill the work of ministry and
• 25:30
  also work in the greater works to which Jesus
• 25:34
  Christ has called us to do. So we have a big
• 25:37
  obligation. Now, what is our duty? Our duty is
• 25:41
  to go back to the Word of God, the entirety of
• 25:44
  the Word of God, and not treat some above others,
• 25:50
  but uphold the entirety of God's Word in order
• 25:56
  to arrive at the understanding of God's plan
• 26:01
  for us. So we've looked at the essence of the
• 26:08
  synoptic gospels in our bid to look at the context
• 26:11
  of what Jesus did, the works Jesus did. We've
• 26:14
  looked at the reason or the importance of the
• 26:17
  epistles. What were the epistles for? Now, what
• 26:21
  about the Old Testament scriptures, the Old Testament
• 26:23
  scriptures? Since we've emphasized that they
• 26:26
  are crucial, right, for the works that we do,
• 26:29
  then it becomes necessary for us to understand,
• 26:32
  even though we may not... Go through the entirety
• 26:35
  of it, but it's important for us to understand
• 26:37
  the basic foundational truth that we found in
• 26:40
  scriptures. The moment you open the scriptures,
• 26:42
  what is the first thing you see about God? The
• 26:46
  first thing we will see about God is creation.
• 26:50
  Hallelujah. So the common misconception, or the
• 26:55
  view of the Old Testament. When I say the Old
• 26:58
  Testament, understand what we are saying. Genesis
• 27:00
  to Malachi. is that it is merely a collection
• 27:04
  of prophecies pointing to the New Testament.
• 27:10
  If we just look at it as just prophecies, there
• 27:13
  are prophecies pointing to the New, actually,
• 27:16
  to Jesus Christ and his fulfillment and all that
• 27:18
  will happen. There are prophecies. But when we
• 27:20
  just look at it as only prophecies pointing to
• 27:23
  the New, then we will not be honest or we will
• 27:25
  not be fair to the characters that are found
• 27:29
  in those Old Testament scriptures. because they
• 27:33
  had a dealing with God. They had experiences
• 27:36
  with God. They had a relationship with God. Are
• 27:39
  we now saying that all that happened in their
• 27:41
  time was pointing to what is new? That they never
• 27:44
  had an understanding of what they were doing
• 27:47
  until when the New Testament writers arrived,
• 27:50
  they now told us, or they explained to us what
• 27:53
  happened in the Old Testament? Then we will be
• 27:56
  in that dangerous position to assume that, you
• 27:59
  know, God was not really honest with some of
• 28:01
  the things we see we deal with in the alt -estement.
• 28:05
  So, we must understand that why the alt -estement
• 28:09
  certainly anticipates Christ. It first served
• 28:13
  as God's revelation to its original audience,
• 28:16
  okay? We must understand that the alt -estement
• 28:19
  scriptures first and foremost served as God's
• 28:22
  revelation to its original audience. and must
• 28:25
  be understood within its own historical and literary
• 28:30
  context. All right? Removing the context of any
• 28:34
  biblical passage will mean that we remove the
• 28:41
  message of it. Amen? So I don't want to go into
• 28:43
  my pastor's handouts to go into his notes. Yeah.
• 28:48
  So the Autism Enlays the Theological Foundation
• 28:51
  for God's Identity Plan. All right? Whatever
• 28:54
  God will do or whatever God has done, the foundation
• 28:57
  of it, the intention and the foundation of everything
• 29:01
  was laid right from the beginning. Among its
• 29:07
  most important themes is what we call the creation
• 29:10
  theology. As we've seen from Genesis chapter
• 29:12
  1 verse 1, we will see the story of creation.
• 29:16
  All right? The story of creation. And of course,
• 29:19
  we'll see the concept of sin in Genesis 3. Both
• 29:23
  of which are essential for understanding the
• 29:25
  rest of scripture if we don't establish an understanding
• 29:29
  of what is creation Genesis 1 and we don't establish
• 29:34
  an understanding of the scene that happened in
• 29:38
  Genesis 3 then it becomes difficult for us to
• 29:42
  navigate through the entire scriptures and Find
• 29:45
  a better understanding of the character of God
• 29:48
  and what God is doing If our understanding of
• 29:51
  creation is wrong, our understanding of seeing
• 29:55
  how Adam failed is wrong, then I don't think
• 29:58
  we'll be able to know God's will and God's plan.
• 30:01
  Hallelujah. So what I'm going to be attempting
• 30:04
  to do is to maybe pick one of the teams and then
• 30:07
  discuss and then we will interpret it together
• 30:10
  and then see how it goes. So these foundational
• 30:17
  teams are further developed through doctrinal
• 30:20
  messages or themes that we will see. We'll see
• 30:22
  salvation, walk of the Spirit, and then the Church,
• 30:28
  and many, many other things that will come up
• 30:29
  later. So a proper understanding of this will
• 30:33
  enable us to know the purpose of God. Hallelujah.
• 30:36
  So now let's go to Genesis chapter one and try
• 30:41
  to walk through gently in the next few minutes
• 30:44
  that we have. Wherever we stop, we'll just stop
• 30:46
  there. Okay? Now, let's look at Genesis chapter
• 30:49
  one, especially from verse one. It says, in the
• 30:57
  beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
• 31:04
  All right? Now, let me say this. If we don't
• 31:09
  understand this first verse of scripture, then
• 31:15
  understanding the will and the purpose of God
• 31:17
  will be difficult for us. So this is what has
• 31:22
  been termed as creation theology. Creation theology.
• 31:31
  So this creation theology is a foundational theme
• 31:37
  of biblical theology. and the starting point
• 31:43
  of understanding the message of the entire Bible.
• 31:47
  All right? In case you are writing this already,
• 31:49
  you can just write the creation theology. It
• 31:52
  is the starting point of understanding the message
• 31:56
  of the entire Bible. The first two chapters of
• 32:01
  Genesis provides the theological framework upon
• 32:04
  which every major biblical doctrine, salvation,
• 32:10
  including salvation is built. So without a proper
• 32:14
  understanding of creation, we cannot understand
• 32:18
  the rest of scripture. The key biblical concepts
• 32:23
  such as heaven and earth, humanity, God's purpose,
• 32:27
  and his relationship with creation are the first
• 32:30
  thing we can see with the moment we open the
• 32:32
  Bible in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. And they serve
• 32:36
  to us as the foundation for the narrative we
• 32:41
  see in Soskem passages of scripture. So to interpret
• 32:47
  Genesis 1 and 2 correctly, we must first ask
• 32:49
  the same question that his original audience
• 32:53
  will have asked, okay? For us to understand Genesis,
• 32:58
  then it becomes necessary that we today should
• 33:03
  ask probably the questions that will be in the
• 33:06
  heart of the hearers of that teaching at that
• 33:08
  moment. Now the primary concern of these chapters
• 33:15
  or these books especially Genesis is not to explain
• 33:19
  to us the scientific origin of the material universe
• 33:23
  or to resolve modern debates such as evolution
• 33:27
  because one of the biggest mistakes we make is
• 33:29
  that we try to carry the Bible and we try to
• 33:33
  prove evolution theory wrong or right or we try
• 33:38
  to prove how old the world is You know, Pastor
• 33:42
  says, I've taught us that Moses, the writer of
• 33:45
  this scripture was not an, he was not an archaeologist.
• 33:51
  He was not a historian. He was a prophet. So
• 33:57
  what he will write must be the message concerning
• 34:01
  God. So the Bible, especially Genesis, is a book
• 34:07
  concerning God. is not about history knowing
• 34:10
  the history of the world so when we try to carry
• 34:13
  the bible or especially the book of genesis and
• 34:15
  we try to say okay let's interpret let's try
• 34:17
  to know let's try to bring scientific things
• 34:19
  into it we will not be able to answer scientific
• 34:23
  questions with the scriptures hallelujah because
• 34:27
  the bible in its essence was not given for scientific
• 34:30
  research it was not given for scientific purposes
• 34:33
  it was given for spiritual purpose Was given
• 34:37
  for spiritual edification. We say that all scripture
• 34:39
  is given by inspiration of God and it's forfeitable
• 34:43
  for what? For doctrine for teaching and in the
• 34:47
  end we say that the man of God will be what?
• 34:50
  Will be complete for every good work. That is
• 34:52
  the essence of scripture So when it becomes a
• 34:56
  tool for debating scientific research, you know
• 34:59
  the history of the world then we will miss the
• 35:02
  intent of the scriptures Who means the intent
• 35:06
  of the scriptures So rather the Bible revealed
• 35:12
  God, okay, especially this Genesis 1 and 2 reveal
• 35:16
  who God is It reveals his purpose for creation
• 35:21
  It reveals the purpose for creation, okay and
• 35:28
  humanity's role within creation It reveals God's
• 35:32
  purpose for creation and the role of man within
• 35:36
  God's creation. So biblical theology therefore
• 35:41
  seeks to understand the text in its original
• 35:45
  context and cause believers not to only interpret
• 35:49
  scriptures accurately, but also live out his
• 35:52
  truth in the daily life. So we must understand
• 35:55
  how to appropriate scriptures by interpreting
• 35:58
  scriptures contextually, especially within the
• 36:04
  purpose to which they were written so that our
• 36:07
  lives will be edified by scriptures. Hallelujah.
• 36:10
  No one that Paul would tell Timothy, don't engage
• 36:12
  in so much arguments and, you know, debates that
• 36:16
  only will lead into what? It will lead into more
• 36:19
  offenses and other things. There is a focus for
• 36:23
  scripture. It's not for all those kind of debates.
• 36:26
  So let's go back to Genesis 1 and try to understand
• 36:29
  God's word. The essence is that we will know
• 36:32
  the will of God. All right We've seen it as the
• 36:36
  council the whole council of God. We've prayed
• 36:39
  some scriptures that our eyes will be open to
• 36:42
  understand What are we understand? We're understanding
• 36:44
  the old council of God's what inefficiency and
• 36:47
  any coercions of the one Who will be praying
• 36:50
  that we may understand what? We understand the
• 36:53
  way the will of God. Hallelujah But the wheel
• 36:56
  of God begins as a story. There's a storyline
• 37:00
  of God's purpose and his plan and his purpose
• 37:03
  from the beginning to the end. It's a plan and
• 37:06
  it's a story that begins from Genesis 1. So Genesis
• 37:10
  of the 1 verse 1 says in the beginning God created
• 37:14
  the heavens and the earth. Now it is vital to
• 37:18
  understand again that the concept of heaven and
• 37:22
  earth in the communication of Moses and his immediate
• 37:27
  audience in their world. It is important for
• 37:29
  us to understand the concept of heaven and earth
• 37:34
  as communicated in Moses' communication, all
• 37:38
  right, and his audience. The word heaven, from
• 37:42
  the Hebrew word, is from the Hebrew word shamayim,
• 37:47
  S -H -A -M -A -Y -I -M. And it's often referred
• 37:55
  to in relation to God's activities, or the supernatural.
• 38:01
  Okay? This word heaven in the Hebrew, Shamaim,
• 38:05
  was often referred, referenced in relations to
• 38:09
  God's activities, or the supernatural. That is,
• 38:15
  the unseen activities in the, the unseen activities
• 38:19
  in the natural. So to the context of his audience,
• 38:23
  when you talk about heavens they're talking about
• 38:25
  the supernatural all right they're talking about
• 38:28
  the supernatural in the eastern culture the word
• 38:34
  heaven that is the eastern culture has to do
• 38:36
  with the culture of those in whom Moses was writing
• 38:40
  to the children of Israel all right so in their
• 38:44
  culture heaven would refer to where God is where
• 38:48
  God dwells or in literal form God's activities
• 38:52
  in the earth that is found within men Hallelujah
• 38:58
  Heaven would refer to God's dwelling place or
• 39:04
  a literal form God's activities in the earth
• 39:08
  I will see another word again The earth in that
• 39:14
  verse one in the beginning God created the heavens
• 39:17
  and then we will see and the earth So the earth
• 39:20
  was referred or referenced to man's dwelling
• 39:23
  place and activities. Man's dwelling place and
• 39:27
  activities. So there are two, you know, I would
• 39:31
  say complementary ideas presented in Genesis
• 39:34
  1 verse 1. The heavens and the earth. The heavens
• 39:41
  and the earth. The earth was created for man
• 39:45
  to dwell. while heaven relates to the unseen
• 39:49
  part of the earth where God dwells the sphere
• 39:54
  of God's authority over man on the earth the
• 39:58
  realm of influence of God over man on the earth
• 40:02
  right and in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 let's
• 40:07
  look at verse 2 it says the earth that is where
• 40:10
  man is the earth was without form and void darkness
• 40:17
  was on the face of the deep and the spirit of
• 40:20
  God was hovering over the face of the waters.
• 40:24
  What does it mean? Without form and void and
• 40:27
  we see darkness. Now the word darkness was derived
• 40:32
  from the Hebrew word chashek which implies obscurity.
• 40:44
  So what we see on the earth was obscurity. It
• 40:48
  further implies that what darkness implies without
• 40:53
  light or absence of light, that what Chachak,
• 41:00
  S -H -O -S -H -E -K is derived from the verb
• 41:05
  Chachak. So from Chachak we now have Chachak.
• 41:09
  Chachak, C -H -A -S -H -A -K. which implies to
• 41:15
  make dark, to make dark. So darkness, you know,
• 41:23
  here implies obscurity on the earth. We see another
• 41:28
  phrase in that same verse too, without form.
• 41:30
  It says, the earth was without form and void
• 41:34
  and darkness was on the face of the deep and
• 41:37
  the spirit of God was moving over the face of
• 41:40
  the waters. So what does the phrase without form
• 41:45
  mean? It was derived from the word, the Hebrew
• 41:48
  word tohu, T -O -H -U, which implies emptiness,
• 41:56
  or I would say desolation, emptiness. So what
• 41:59
  we see on the Earth is obscurity and emptiness,
• 42:03
  all right? Obscurity and emptiness. In essence,
• 42:09
  the time without form and void and the word darkness
• 42:13
  seems to be synonymous in the application in
• 42:17
  this verse. Void and without form and darkness
• 42:23
  seems to be synonymous in the application in
• 42:26
  this verse. Now let's observe verse two carefully.
• 42:30
  It says upon the face of the deep. Upon the face
• 42:37
  of the deep. Now by just looking at the use of
• 42:40
  the word face upon the face upon the face of
• 42:45
  the deep Darkness does that man has a face. Let's
• 42:48
  read and see it says the ad was void What would
• 42:52
  I form and void and darkness was upon the face
• 42:54
  of the deep? Attributing you know a Character
• 43:02
  of something that is intimate something to something
• 43:04
  is it shows that is a figure of speech you see
• 43:07
  it So, in saying that upon the face of the deep
• 43:10
  and the spirit of God moves upon the face of
• 43:12
  the waters, that word face will see appear twice
• 43:16
  in that same verse two. Yes, it appears twice
• 43:19
  in that verse two. And that word is derived from
• 43:23
  the Hebrew word panin, P -A -N -Y -M. And it
• 43:29
  implies appearance, appearance before the presence
• 43:34
  of. So, the uses of the word face needs to be
• 43:39
  examined what does it mean for darkness to be
• 43:41
  upon the face of the deep and the spirit of god
• 43:46
  was hovering over the face of the waters we see
• 43:49
  face in relation to the the darkness on the face
• 43:54
  of the deep our see face in relation to the spirit
• 43:56
  of god hovering over the waters so it means that
• 44:01
  we need to examine and see what is this face
• 44:03
  the uses of the word face need to be examined
• 44:06
  Firstly says darkness upon the face of the deep
• 44:08
  and also the spirit of God moving on the waters
• 44:12
  Now watch without form and void and darkness
• 44:16
  in this one to a describe They describe the state
• 44:20
  of the man that is the earth away from God's
• 44:24
  creation That is God's plan. They they show the
• 44:28
  time to describe, you know the state of man the
• 44:32
  earth refers to man Let's just say it this way.
• 44:35
  The Earth refers to man. And then the idea of
• 44:38
  without form and void and darkness describe the
• 44:42
  status of man, the Earth, apart from goals, own
• 44:46
  plan, and its purpose. So let's study some more
• 44:50
  about the phrase. We'll look at the phrase later.
• 44:53
  Without form and the idea of without form and
• 44:57
  also darkness. Without form was derived from
• 45:08
  the Hebrew word to who, as we saw. And we can
• 45:11
  see the same word also was used in Deuteronomy
• 45:14
  chapter 32 verse 10. Let's look at Deuteronomy
• 45:17
  chapter 32 verse 10 to see the uses of that word.
• 45:23
  Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 10. Are we there?
• 45:29
  Yes. So he says he found him a desert. A desert
• 45:35
  land and with the Westland, that Westland speaks
• 45:40
  about, without form, that Westland. A holding
• 45:44
  wilderness, he encircled him, he instructed him,
• 45:48
  he kept him as the apple of his eye. So the word
• 45:54
  to who is used to imply West in this text, contextually,
• 45:58
  okay? Confusion in this text, nothingness, desolate,
• 46:03
  vanity. What is vast, what is empty, right? Wilderness.
• 46:12
  So this can be associated with chaos contextually
• 46:16
  to this text as seen here. So what does Moses
• 46:19
  means by darkness in Genesis chapter one verse
• 46:22
  two? Based on how we see him using it again in
• 46:26
  another text. He explains what he implied by
• 46:30
  darkness. in the subsequent verses in Genesis
• 46:33
  chapter one, especially verse two, verse three
• 46:36
  and verse four, as the absence of light on the
• 46:43
  face of the earth. Let's look at verse three,
• 46:45
  Genesis chapter one, verse three. Then God said,
• 46:47
  let there be light, and there was light. So this
• 46:51
  is, you know, the implied meaning of darkness.
• 46:59
  It says, let there be light, And there was light,
• 47:01
  verse four. And God saw the light that it was
• 47:05
  good. And God divided the light from darkness.
• 47:09
  So there was a division that God made between
• 47:11
  the light and the darkness. The prophets also
• 47:17
  presented this idea in the scriptures, in their
• 47:19
  writings, because the prophets, their writings
• 47:23
  has a context. And the context of their writings
• 47:27
  is from the writings of Moses. They all found
• 47:31
  their genesis and their inspirations from the
• 47:33
  writing of Moses. Now let's see how they themselves
• 47:36
  used this concept. Jeremiah chapter four verse
• 47:38
  23. Jeremiah chapter four verse 23. So Jeremiah
• 47:50
  four 23 will say, I beheld the earth, okay, and
• 47:55
  indeed it was without form. and void. Jeremiah
• 48:00
  speaking from Genesis. And the heavens, they
• 48:04
  have no light. Let's look at Isaiah 60 verse
• 48:08
  1. Another prophet. Isaiah 60 verse 1. Isaiah
• 48:14
  60 verse 1. Arise, shine, for your light has
• 48:21
  come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
• 48:25
  you. Specifically talking about light, shine,
• 48:27
  and is a context of Genesis chapter one. So in
• 48:32
  essence, darkness clearly is Moses' explanation
• 48:36
  of the state of humanity without the Spirit of
• 48:39
  God, which is that light. So the time without
• 48:43
  form and void, and of course darkness, were employed
• 48:48
  by Moses to explain this to his audience, okay?
• 48:53
  So these are terminologies that Moses will employ
• 48:58
  in revealing the state of man's condition to
• 49:04
  his audience and his time. This has nothing to
• 49:08
  do with physical creation of the earth so far
• 49:12
  till now because there are a lot of figures used
• 49:17
  here, figures of speech used here that needs
• 49:19
  to be considered and interpreted properly to
• 49:22
  arrive at the intention of the writer. So let's
• 49:26
  look further into Genesis 1 verse 2. The phrase
• 49:29
  without form and void is further substantiated
• 49:33
  by the darkness, by the word darkness. This implies
• 49:37
  that the without form and void, Elia described
• 49:40
  as chaos, can be inferred as the word darkness,
• 49:45
  okay? So remember, as we said, the word earth
• 49:49
  was figurative. was figuratively employed to
• 49:55
  explain humanity or mankind. Now, some of the
• 49:59
  allusions I've made, I've not given proof yet,
• 50:01
  but we're going to see how the writers of scripture
• 50:03
  will refer to earth as humanity, okay? We'll
• 50:08
  see how it was used in scriptures. So, let's
• 50:19
  see Jeremiah once again, Jeremiah 422. Jeremiah
• 50:24
  422, the scripture we read earlier on, to see
• 50:27
  his writing concerning this concept, Jeremiah
• 50:32
  422 to 27. For my people are foolish. They have
• 50:37
  not known me. They are silly children, and they
• 50:42
  have no understanding. They are wise to do evil,
• 50:47
  but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld
• 50:54
  the earth, where we read earlier on. So he's
• 50:57
  talking about the children of Israel, right?
• 50:59
  And he's bringing the conversation of Genesis,
• 51:01
  he's talking about the earth. So when Moses,
• 51:04
  when Jeremiah was speaking about the children
• 51:06
  of Israel, was he referring to people on the
• 51:08
  earth? He was referring to people on the earth,
• 51:10
  right? And he says, I beheld the earth. Don't
• 51:13
  get out of context here. And indeed, it was without
• 51:16
  form and void. Is he referring to their conduct?
• 51:21
  Right? Without form and void, and the heavens,
• 51:24
  they had no light. Verse 24, I beheld the mountains,
• 51:28
  and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved
• 51:33
  back and forth. So there's a chaos here. The
• 51:37
  mountains and the earth, there's a chaos here.
• 51:39
  I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all
• 51:43
  the birds of the heavens had fled. I beheld,
• 51:49
  and indeed the fruitful land, you see, concept
• 51:52
  of land the concept of earth the land which is
• 51:56
  the earth was a wilderness wilderness has to
• 52:00
  do with you know dissolution desolation rather
• 52:04
  and all the cities were broken down at the presence
• 52:09
  of the lord by his face anger verse 27 the last
• 52:13
  verse here 27 for thus says the lord the whole
• 52:17
  land shall be what So from the above text that
• 52:30
  we just read, it can clearly be inferred that
• 52:33
  the word darkness depicts the state of the disobedience
• 52:40
  or the rebellion of man towards God as we see
• 52:45
  in the expression of the prophet in his use of
• 52:48
  language. in his use of the same concept as Moses
• 52:51
  presented in Genesis. While the word light will
• 52:56
  depict God's response to this anomaly, okay,
• 53:01
  the solution to the chaos is actually the light
• 53:05
  that has been alluded here has been absent. So
• 53:13
  let's see also Genesis chapter five verse six.
• 53:18
  To have a clear understanding of this darkness
• 53:22
  that was upon the earth Genesis of the six verse
• 53:26
  five Genesis of the six verse five to see how
• 53:29
  this concept has been expressed entirely in scriptures
• 53:33
  Genesis of the six verse five to six then they
• 53:36
  all saw That the wickedness of man was great
• 53:40
  in the earth So you see the idea is about what
• 53:43
  is happening on the earth and what we are seeing
• 53:45
  as a darkness upon the earth was wickedness and
• 53:48
  that every intent of the thoughts of his heart
• 53:51
  was continually evil and the Lord was sorry that
• 53:57
  he had made man on the earth so man on earth
• 54:02
  and wickedness the chaos that was happening on
• 54:05
  the earth and he was grieving his heart now let's
• 54:08
  move to verse 11 verse 11 to verse 13 the end
• 54:14
  also was corrupt so we see darkness we see corruption
• 54:16
  we see evil all talking about the state of the
• 54:19
  earth. the earth was corrupt before God and the
• 54:23
  earth was filled with violence. so you see violence,
• 54:27
  chaos, violence verse 13. and God said to Noah
• 54:33
  the end of all flesh has come before me for the
• 54:37
  earth is filled with violence through them and
• 54:41
  behold I will destroy them with the earth. so
• 54:44
  here also emphasizing the state of the earth,
• 54:49
  the wickedness that is increasing upon the face
• 54:51
  of the earth. These are the expressions of the
• 54:56
  darkness that is in the heart of men. These are
• 55:02
  different expressions, Moses in his writing expressing
• 55:05
  the darkness that is on the face of the earth.
• 55:09
  And we see it from the beginning, we see it even
• 55:11
  during the time of Noah here. giving us a clear
• 55:15
  scenario of darkness upon the earth. Hence, this
• 55:21
  would be seen in the physical disposition and
• 55:25
  the action of men without the light of God. So
• 55:28
  we see the darkness upon the earth in the activity
• 55:31
  of men that don't have the light of God in them.
• 55:35
  We see wickedness on the increase. We see violence.
• 55:39
  We see disobedience. We see contrary lifestyle.
• 55:44
  that does not align to God's will and his purpose.
• 55:48
  Again, we see another employed word in the text,
• 55:51
  corrupted, that is the act was corrupted. The
• 55:54
  act was corrupted before God, was corrupt before
• 55:56
  God as a description of mankind in rebellion
• 56:00
  towards God, okay? The word F can be seen in
• 56:05
  the letter writings as the word world. So the
• 56:09
  word F and the words have been used interchangeably
• 56:12
  in scriptures, let's see. For example, in John's
• 56:15
  explanation, 1 John chapter 5 verse 19. 1 John
• 56:20
  chapter 5 verse 19. We see John also writing
• 56:25
  from the inspiration of scriptures. He says we
• 56:28
  know that we are of God and the whole world lies
• 56:34
  in what? It lies sway of the wicked one, okay?
• 56:39
  so the word earth here is used interchangeably
• 56:42
  to the world without God it lies in the sway
• 56:46
  of the wicked one wicked one wickedness in this
• 56:51
  context can be interchangeably applied to the
• 56:54
  word darkness here also all right so Paul also
• 56:58
  allude to this similar fact in Galatians of the
• 57:00
  one verse four talks about this world has been
• 57:04
  evil Galatians of the one verse four who gave
• 57:08
  himself for our sins that he may deliver us from
• 57:13
  this present evil age. The word age day is world,
• 57:18
  all right? The word age day is talking about
• 57:20
  the world according to the will of our God and
• 57:24
  father. So interchangeably here we see the F
• 57:28
  also used as what? As the world by Bible writers,
• 57:34
  okay? By Bible writers. And of course, as I said,
• 57:39
  this echo the description of the state of the
• 57:42
  art, as we have seen in the time of Noah, Genesis
• 57:44
  chapter six was five to six, and Genesis chapter
• 57:48
  six was 11 to 13. So therefore, the word light
• 57:52
  and darkness in scripture were not always applied
• 57:57
  literally. When we see light and darkness in
• 58:00
  scripture, especially from Genesis one, they
• 58:03
  are not always applied literally. but were often
• 58:07
  figuratively used to depict the state of being
• 58:11
  of man. That is this world, okay? Man, the F.
• 58:22
  John continues with the same narrative in his
• 58:24
  account. We'll read his epist, I mean the John
• 58:28
  chapter one verse four to five, we'll see. Let's
• 58:29
  look at his writing in John chapter one. verse
• 58:33
  four, to see how he carried this narrative from
• 58:35
  Genesis and expounded on it in explaining to
• 58:39
  his audience. He said in the hymn, John chapter
• 58:42
  one, verse four, says in the hymn was life and
• 58:47
  the life was the light of men. So the light is
• 58:51
  in relation to men. The light is meant to be
• 58:55
  for men, okay? Verse five, and the light shines
• 58:59
  in a darkness. where will the darkness be from
• 59:02
  we'll see it later and the darkness did not comprehend
• 59:05
  it okay so john describes the word as having
• 59:09
  life and contrast that light and darkness this
• 59:15
  echoes strongly genesis 1 verse 2 and 3 so as
• 59:20
  we've seen before in what we are trying to look
• 59:22
  at the creation story the creation theology creation
• 59:26
  you know story of scripture It borders around
• 59:31
  God putting order to disorder because we will
• 59:35
  see God will say, let there be light and there
• 59:37
  was light. Okay? So God introducing light to
• 59:42
  darkness. That is what we're going to see in
• 59:44
  the entire story of creation. That God putting
• 59:49
  order to disorder and putting light to darkness.
• 59:55
  The four gospel writers. In giving an account
• 59:57
  of Jesus' teachings, spoke several times of this
• 1:00:00
  concept. What concept? The concept of God making
• 1:00:03
  light to shine in darkness. Particularly John,
• 1:00:07
  give us an express, you know, explanation of
• 1:00:10
  Genesis 1. In John chapter 1 verse 5, let's go
• 1:00:13
  back to that John that we read, we stop at, okay,
• 1:00:14
  chapter 5, let's go from verse 5 to 9, and see
• 1:00:17
  the continuation of his explanation. He says,
• 1:00:19
  and the light shines in the darkness, and the
• 1:00:22
  darkness did not comprehend it, verse 6. There
• 1:00:25
  was a man sent from God whose name was John.
• 1:00:28
  Now this John is not the one writing, he's talking
• 1:00:30
  about this particular John, he's talking about
• 1:00:33
  John the Baptist, okay? This man came for a witness
• 1:00:37
  to bear witness of the light. Now the light here,
• 1:00:43
  okay, if you read contextually here, is used
• 1:00:47
  as a figure referring to a personality, to an
• 1:00:50
  individual. This man came for a witness to bear
• 1:00:53
  witness of the light that all through him might
• 1:00:58
  believe so the essence of the light coming is
• 1:01:01
  that men may believe in that light he was not
• 1:01:04
  that light who was not that light john was not
• 1:01:07
  that light okay but was sent to bear witness
• 1:01:12
  of that particular light he was sent as a witness
• 1:01:18
  as as a witness to that particular light So we
• 1:01:22
  see verse 7 that the light was applied as a personality,
• 1:01:28
  as an individual here, okay? To bear witness
• 1:01:31
  of the light that all men through him might believe.
• 1:01:36
  So this implies that the word the light was personified
• 1:01:41
  in the writing of scriptures, was used figuratively,
• 1:01:46
  particularly personified as a person. as a message
• 1:01:52
  the light lightens all men that believe verse
• 1:01:56
  9 from here what's not give me verse 9 says that
• 1:02:00
  that was a true light which gives light to every
• 1:02:03
  man coming into the world so this light illuminates
• 1:02:09
  men that believe okay John the Baptist a prophet
• 1:02:13
  was described as one who came to be a witness
• 1:02:17
  of that light Now let's look at how Luke used
• 1:02:23
  that concept of light and darkness. Luke presents
• 1:02:25
  the fact that the light was a message preached
• 1:02:28
  by the prophets across ages. Luke chapter 2 verse
• 1:02:33
  32. Luke chapter 2 verse 32. Look at how Luke
• 1:02:41
  put it. He says a light to bring revelation to
• 1:02:46
  the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.
• 1:02:50
  That is to say this light was meant to bring
• 1:02:54
  revelation not only to the nation of Israel,
• 1:02:56
  but also to the Gentiles Okay, so he's presenting
• 1:03:02
  the light as a message that brings revelation
• 1:03:05
  And he's alluding the context say is that that
• 1:03:07
  is what the prophets all over scriptures has
• 1:03:08
  been talking about So this key facts are also
• 1:03:14
  explored when we look at Jesus's teaching in
• 1:03:17
  the four gospel How did Jesus use the concept
• 1:03:20
  of light the idea of light when we see how the
• 1:03:24
  Apostles the epistles Interpret that concept
• 1:03:26
  of light and scriptures how the prophet explained
• 1:03:29
  the idea of light. Let's look at Jesus's teaching
• 1:03:31
  concerning that idea of light Matthew chapter
• 1:03:34
  4 verse 16 Matthew chapter 4 verse 16 The people
• 1:03:42
  who sat in darkness Have seen a great light And
• 1:03:49
  upon those who sat in the region and shadow of
• 1:03:51
  death, light has done, light has done, talking
• 1:03:56
  about light coming to people who are in darkness.
• 1:04:02
  Matthew 6, 23, Matthew 6, 23, we're looking at
• 1:04:06
  Jesus's word, he's teaching in his teaching how
• 1:04:07
  he used that word light. But if your eye is bad,
• 1:04:11
  your whole body will be full of what? Of darkness.
• 1:04:15
  If therefore the light, that is in you is darkness.
• 1:04:20
  How great is that darkness? So he's talking about
• 1:04:22
  a light that should be in a man. Okay? The essence
• 1:04:27
  of the light is to illuminate and to dwell in
• 1:04:30
  a man. In this context of research in this scripture.
• 1:04:34
  Matthew 10 verse 23. Matthew 10 verse 23. Matthew
• 1:04:39
  10 verse 23. When they persecute you in this
• 1:04:44
  city, flee to another. Marry in the right text,
• 1:04:50
  Matthew 10, 27, sorry, 27. Matthew 10, 27. Whatever
• 1:04:57
  I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. And
• 1:05:01
  what you hear in the air, preach on the house
• 1:05:04
  top, okay? And then Luke 1 verse 79, Luke 1,
• 1:05:09
  79. Luke 1 verse 79. We're looking at how Jesus
• 1:05:16
  used this word, okay? was it literal or it was
• 1:05:19
  figurative was it literal up until now we've
• 1:05:22
  not seen Jesus speaking about this light as a
• 1:05:25
  literal light but he was using it figuratively
• 1:05:28
  to express express concept that has to do with
• 1:05:31
  with humanity with men to give light to those
• 1:05:35
  who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to
• 1:05:39
  guide our feet into the way of peace so here
• 1:05:44
  light is also used figurative okay Because I
• 1:05:49
  wonder how light, if it's literal light, can
• 1:05:52
  save people from death. So this is applied figuratively.
• 1:05:58
  John chapter three, verse 19. John chapter three,
• 1:06:02
  verse 19. John chapter three, verse 19. And this
• 1:06:06
  is a condemnation that the light has come into
• 1:06:11
  the world. And men love darkness. rather than
• 1:06:16
  light, because their deeds were evil. So we see
• 1:06:18
  consistently in his teaching, he is contrasting
• 1:06:20
  between light and darkness. And in the contrasting
• 1:06:23
  between light and darkness, he is using the light
• 1:06:25
  and the darkness figuratively, especially in
• 1:06:29
  dealing with humanity on the earth. Hallelujah.
• 1:06:34
  So we must keep in mind that the word light and
• 1:06:36
  darkness are majorly employed figuratively within
• 1:06:41
  the scriptures. to depict spiritual realities
• 1:06:45
  and personalities. In all the texts we read so
• 1:06:49
  far, we'll see that the users of the word light
• 1:06:52
  or darkness is used to explain either personalities
• 1:06:57
  or spiritual realities. Also, this will find
• 1:07:04
  expressions through the heart, okay? Oftentimes,
• 1:07:07
  when we see what Jesus will say, that this light
• 1:07:09
  will find expressions through the heart of heart
• 1:07:13
  or what we call the mind or the conduct of men
• 1:07:17
  as seen in Genesis chapter 6 as seen in Genesis
• 1:07:25
  chapter 6 narrative about the wickedness that
• 1:07:26
  was on the face of the earth how men became wicked
• 1:07:29
  you know so this concept is further explained
• 1:07:32
  through the scriptures especially let's look
• 1:07:35
  at the epistles Acts chapter 26 verse 18 Let's
• 1:07:40
  look at Acts 26 verse 18. Acts 26 verse 18. To
• 1:07:49
  open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness
• 1:07:54
  to light and from power of Satan to God that
• 1:08:00
  they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance
• 1:08:03
  among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
• 1:08:07
  So the quotation here, is making a contrasting
• 1:08:10
  of two issues here. Firstly, the idea is that
• 1:08:14
  the personality here, okay, will turn them from
• 1:08:19
  darkness to light. And this darkness to light
• 1:08:24
  is meaning from the power of Satan to God. So
• 1:08:29
  darkness and light is used figuratively to explain
• 1:08:33
  the power of Satan and of course God in this
• 1:08:36
  context here. So it's not used literally across
• 1:08:39
  scriptures, but it's used figuratively for spiritual
• 1:08:42
  realities and for personalities. Romans 2 verse
• 1:08:46
  19. Romans 2 verse 19. Romans 2 verse 19. Let's
• 1:08:51
  look at what Paul will say about this. And are
• 1:08:59
  confident that you yourself are guide to the
• 1:09:02
  blind. Okay? a light to those who are in darkness.
• 1:09:06
  So he's talking about the people here as guide
• 1:09:09
  to the blind and people becoming light to those
• 1:09:15
  who are in darkness, all right? Use figuratively
• 1:09:17
  for individuals, for personalities here, okay?
• 1:09:21
  So again, observe the application of the word
• 1:09:23
  darkness in the first Corinthians of the four
• 1:09:26
  verse 15, light and darkness in first Corinthians
• 1:09:29
  of the four verse, see? My goal is to give an
• 1:09:34
  overwhelming evidence Beyond reasonable doubt.
• 1:09:38
  Okay that this is how this idea is expressed
• 1:09:43
  in scriptures Now first Corinthians chapter 4
• 1:09:49
  verse 5 First Corinthians to the 4 verse 5 therefore
• 1:09:55
  judge nothing before the time until the Lord
• 1:09:59
  comes who will but bring to light the hidden
• 1:10:04
  things of darkness and reveal the counsels of
• 1:10:08
  the heart when each one's praise will come from
• 1:10:12
  God. So the word light was employed to describe
• 1:10:16
  revelation and the word darkness to describe
• 1:10:21
  that which is hidden, okay? So also is applied
• 1:10:25
  figuratively here. Jesus referring himself as
• 1:10:30
  a light of the world. John chapter 3 verse 19.
• 1:10:35
  Jesus referred to himself as a light of the world.
• 1:10:41
  And this is the condemnation that the light has
• 1:10:43
  come into the world, and men love darkness rather
• 1:10:45
  than light because they are due to evil. So he
• 1:10:48
  is talking about himself here, that he is the
• 1:10:49
  one that has come into the world. John chapter
• 1:10:51
  8 verse 12. John chapter 8 verse 12. John. it
• 1:10:58
  verse 12 then Jesus spoke to them again saying
• 1:11:02
  I am the light of what of the world he who follows
• 1:11:09
  me shall not walk in darkness but have the light
• 1:11:14
  of life I am the light of the world so he is
• 1:11:20
  a light that the world what is the world here
• 1:11:23
  talking about the earth thinking about men okay
• 1:11:27
  jesus is a light of men who are those who follow
• 1:11:31
  him those who believe in him they will no longer
• 1:11:34
  work under the influence of darkness darkness
• 1:11:37
  here is an expression of what a spiritual reality
• 1:11:40
  while jesus is using the light as a symbolic
• 1:11:45
  expression of himself or a figurative expression
• 1:11:48
  of himself john chapter 9 verse 5 john chapter
• 1:11:55
  9 verse 5 John chapter 9 verse 5. As long as
• 1:12:00
  I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
• 1:12:06
  I am the light of the world. John chapter 12
• 1:12:10
  verse 35. John chapter 12 verse 35. He says,
• 1:12:17
  then Jesus said to them, a little while longer
• 1:12:19
  the light is with you, referring to himself.
• 1:12:23
  Walk while you have the light. Let darkness overtake
• 1:12:26
  you. He who walks in darkness does not know where
• 1:12:30
  he is going, referring to himself as the light
• 1:12:33
  of the world. So this clearly shows that the
• 1:12:36
  phrase light and darkness will refer to spiritual
• 1:12:39
  entities or attributes or the state found in
• 1:12:43
  man, okay? Now let's examine that John chapter
• 1:12:48
  8 verse 12 again. He says, he that follows me,
• 1:12:52
  not John chapter 8 verse 12, he that follows
• 1:12:54
  me. How do you follow him? I am the light of
• 1:12:59
  all he who follows me shall not walk in darkness
• 1:13:01
  with half light He that follows many face to
• 1:13:05
  faith in the light While the first walk in darkness
• 1:13:09
  implies being in unbelief So when you walk when
• 1:13:13
  you follow him when you believe him You will
• 1:13:16
  not walk in the darkness Okay, so Jesus here
• 1:13:21
  describes himself as a light of the world the
• 1:13:24
  world I am as we see all over later in the book
• 1:13:28
  of john was translated from the from a greek
• 1:13:33
  word ego in my ego in my e g o e m i he says
• 1:13:41
  i am the light so is from that greek word ego
• 1:13:45
  in my which was transliteration of the hebrew
• 1:13:50
  word higher okay i am from the old testament
• 1:13:54
  From the Hebrew writings So he is saying he is
• 1:13:58
  God. He is the I am that is a light of the world
• 1:14:02
  That has come to the world Let's say Jesus control
• 1:14:07
  description of himself in John's account. You
• 1:14:10
  see you say I am the light I am the way I Am
• 1:14:15
  the truth. I am divine. I am the life. I'm the
• 1:14:18
  bread of life One vital description that is that
• 1:14:22
  he described in safe is that among all these
• 1:14:25
  that he is the light. Okay? But keep in mind,
• 1:14:31
  the light that we've been talking about in Genesis
• 1:14:32
  of the one verse three, the essence of going
• 1:14:35
  around is to see how biblical writers employ
• 1:14:39
  the usage of this word light and darkness so
• 1:14:43
  that we can comprehend the communication of Moses
• 1:14:47
  in Genesis of the one verse two, verse three,
• 1:14:50
  down in the context of the creation story. Because
• 1:14:53
  all the biblical writers were not inventing their
• 1:14:56
  concepts. They were writing from the inspirations
• 1:15:00
  of the scriptures. They were writing from the
• 1:15:03
  verbiage of the scriptures. They were using terminologies.
• 1:15:07
  They were associated with the writings found
• 1:15:10
  within the borders of the scriptures. So John
• 1:15:17
  equally records seven declarations of Jesus about
• 1:15:21
  himself. as the I Am in what we call the Septuagint
• 1:15:26
  Bible. The Septuagint has to do with the Greek
• 1:15:31
  Old Testament, okay? So in the Septuagint, the
• 1:15:36
  term I Am was translated from two words, ego
• 1:15:40
  and imai. Now let's look at them, some of them.
• 1:15:45
  John chapter 14 verse six. John chapter 14 verse
• 1:15:50
  six. Jesus said to them, I am the way, the truth
• 1:15:55
  and the life. No one comes to the Father except
• 1:15:58
  through me. So that I am there is a transliteration
• 1:16:02
  of the word I am that is found in Hebrew, which
• 1:16:05
  is higher. Okay? So, John chapter six verse 35
• 1:16:10
  also, verse 35, verse 35, John six, 35. John
• 1:16:18
  chapter six verse 35. And Jesus said to them,
• 1:16:22
  I am the bread of life. So Jesus is not bread.
• 1:16:28
  He's not physical bread. So if he's not physical
• 1:16:32
  bread, then he cannot be physical light. Because
• 1:16:37
  that is the context of the usage of this word.
• 1:16:39
  That is how the writer has been writing. He who
• 1:16:42
  comes to me shall never hunger. And he who believes
• 1:16:47
  in me shall never thirst. So believing in Him
• 1:16:50
  and never fasting is actually drinking of Him,
• 1:16:55
  okay? Eating of Him that you may not be hungry
• 1:16:58
  and you may not fast. Look at verse 41 and verse
• 1:17:00
  45, you know, same text. Verse 41 and verse 45
• 1:17:05
  of that same text. Yes, the Jews then complain
• 1:17:09
  about Him because He said to them, I am the bread
• 1:17:12
  which came down from heaven. Let's read down.
• 1:17:16
  42. quickly it is written in the prophets that
• 1:17:20
  the son of joseph whose father okay let me read
• 1:17:25
  again and they said is it not jesus is not this
• 1:17:27
  this jesus son of joseph whose father and mother
• 1:17:30
  we know how is that then he says i have come
• 1:17:33
  down from heaven 43 just therefore answer and
• 1:17:37
  say to them do not mourn among yourselves verse
• 1:17:39
  44 no one can come to me unless the father who
• 1:17:44
  sent me draws him and i will raise him Up at
• 1:17:48
  the last day was 45. It is written in the prophets
• 1:17:51
  and They shall be taught about taught by God.
• 1:17:55
  She is making a bold claim here It is written
• 1:18:00
  in the scriptures That they shall be taught by
• 1:18:04
  God Therefore everyone who has heard and learned
• 1:18:07
  from the father comes to me 46 Not that everyone
• 1:18:14
  has seen the father except the he who is from
• 1:18:16
  God He who has seen the father verse 47 Once
• 1:18:21
  I surely I say to you he who believes in me has
• 1:18:24
  everlasting life 48 I am the bread of life 49
• 1:18:29
  Your father's at the manner in the wilderness
• 1:18:33
  and are dead This is a bread which comes down
• 1:18:39
  from heaven that one may eat of and not die 51
• 1:18:44
  the last verse I am the bread the living bread
• 1:18:48
  which come down from heaven if anyone eats of
• 1:18:51
  this you will live forever and the bread that
• 1:18:54
  i shall give is my flesh which i shall give for
• 1:18:58
  the lie of the world so we will see clearly that
• 1:19:04
  you know he keeps saying i am i am i am so in
• 1:19:08
  john 8 jesus employed that phrase ego in my several
• 1:19:12
  times you know speaking of himself speaking of
• 1:19:16
  himself. So John understood that the Old Testament
• 1:19:19
  writers wrote concerning that I Am that is in
• 1:19:22
  the Old Testament. That is the background of
• 1:19:25
  his writing about Jesus. He wrote with that understanding
• 1:19:30
  of that I Am. They were writing concerning Jesus.
• 1:19:36
  And this was because Jesus revealed himself as
• 1:19:39
  the I Am of the Scriptures. Okay? Let's see that
• 1:19:43
  John chapter 17 verse 6. We'll see how he linked
• 1:19:47
  himself to the Eternal Father. John chapter 17
• 1:19:50
  verse 6. I have manifested your name. What name
• 1:19:54
  has he manifested? What name did Moses make in
• 1:19:59
  the wilderness? He made a God that is called
• 1:20:02
  I Am, right? And Jesus here is saying, I have
• 1:20:05
  manifested your name to the men whom you have
• 1:20:08
  given me out of the world. They were yours, you
• 1:20:12
  gave them to me and they have kept your word.
• 1:20:16
  Verse 26, jump to verse 26. Verse 26. And I have
• 1:20:24
  declared to them your name and will declare it
• 1:20:29
  that a love which you love me may be in them
• 1:20:34
  and I in them. So he's alluding an eternal union
• 1:20:40
  with the father here. So the word manifested
• 1:20:43
  here, okay, him manifesting the name, the word
• 1:20:47
  manifested here is the Greek word feneru, feneru,
• 1:20:53
  P -H -A -N -E -R -O, P -H -A -N -E -R -O, which
• 1:20:59
  implies to reveal or to unveil, to reveal or
• 1:21:06
  to unveil. So Jesus says he is a manifestation
• 1:21:12
  of the name of God. He is a revelation of that
• 1:21:15
  I am. By his use of the phrase ego in my, Jesus
• 1:21:21
  reveals himself as the I am. John was actually
• 1:21:27
  explaining from the Old Testament scriptures.
• 1:21:30
  He was writing his story of Jesus. with the Old
• 1:21:35
  Testament scriptures in mind. Okay? Especially
• 1:21:42
  Exodus chapter one, chapter 20, verse one to
• 1:21:44
  three. Let's look at the Exodus chapter one,
• 1:21:46
  verse three. Exodus chapter one, chapter 20,
• 1:21:50
  sorry, chapter 20. Exodus 20, verse one to three.
• 1:21:59
  Is it one to three? Yes. And God spoke all these
• 1:22:03
  words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought
• 1:22:08
  you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house
• 1:22:12
  of Bandajor. It sounds similar to what Jesus
• 1:22:14
  was claiming. You shall have no other gods before
• 1:22:17
  me. Shall have no other gods before me. All right,
• 1:22:24
  let's look at the same conversation that Moses
• 1:22:29
  later was speaking to the same nation, Hebrews,
• 1:22:35
  Deuteronomy 5 verse 6 and 7. You know, the phrase,
• 1:22:42
  the Lord thy God, was referenced in the Torah
• 1:22:46
  to describe a singularity of the entity. We're
• 1:22:49
  trying to see the union of Jesus and God, okay?
• 1:22:52
  In his expression of that particular light, I
• 1:22:55
  am that he's been expressing. So I am the Lord
• 1:22:58
  your God. who brought you out of the land of
• 1:23:01
  Egypt out of the house of bondage all right so
• 1:23:07
  in his expression and saying the Lord thy God
• 1:23:09
  he was referring to a unity that word the Lord
• 1:23:16
  thy God is is a unity is a word that describes
• 1:23:22
  a singular entity okay Deuteronomy 6 verse 4
• 1:23:26
  also betrays is that So the author presents God
• 1:23:40
  using two Hebrew words, Yahweh, that is Jehovah,
• 1:23:43
  and Elohim, which is God. Earlier in Exodus 3,
• 1:23:47
  we had referenced the same word, Yahweh, we saw
• 1:23:49
  it. Exodus 3 verse 10 to tattoo, we see it there.
• 1:23:53
  So the context of the author's discussion in
• 1:23:55
  Exodus 3. of the word name was derived from the
• 1:24:00
  name name because Moses was asking for the name
• 1:24:04
  of God all right what should I tell them Exodus
• 1:24:07
  3 please what should I tell them is your name
• 1:24:11
  let's say Exodus 3 let's say verse 14 verse 14
• 1:24:18
  yes and also to them three Moses I am who I am
• 1:24:24
  And he said thus you shall say to the children
• 1:24:26
  of Israel, I am has sent me to you Okay, so in
• 1:24:32
  the context of the conversation here the word
• 1:24:34
  name Of course is derived from the Hebrew word
• 1:24:38
  shame a word used to describe a person's character
• 1:24:41
  and The use and also used for an office also
• 1:24:45
  has been teaching us about the name of Jesus
• 1:24:47
  the name of God the name of Jesus Okay, so the
• 1:24:50
  use of the phrase I am in verse 14 Was derived
• 1:24:53
  from the Hebrew word higher as we saw player
• 1:24:55
  on higher Previously which implies to exist to
• 1:25:00
  become or to exist or to become So the first
• 1:25:04
  I am in today's language or we translated to
• 1:25:08
  today's English language Will be written this
• 1:25:10
  way. I am what I am and I will be what I will
• 1:25:14
  be Okay, I Am what I am and I will be what I
• 1:25:22
  will be. So Moses was revealed a God that is
• 1:25:31
  called Ayam. And in his revelation of the Ayam
• 1:25:37
  was towards the goal that that Ayam will exist
• 1:25:41
  and follow him through the redemption of the
• 1:25:47
  children of Israel from Egypt. I wanted to see
• 1:25:49
  what I'm trying to draw the line I'm trying to
• 1:25:51
  draw here. Moses had a revelation of God, that
• 1:25:54
  is, I Am, that will work together with Moses
• 1:25:58
  for the redemption of the children of Israel
• 1:26:00
  from Egypt. And when Jesus came in the flesh,
• 1:26:05
  also for the work of redemption, he revealed
• 1:26:08
  himself as the I Am for what purpose? For the
• 1:26:12
  purpose of redemption. So we can see the unification
• 1:26:17
  of this concept of God being one in purpose,
• 1:26:23
  okay? God being one. So in other words, the name
• 1:26:27
  Yahweh will be interpreted to imply redemption
• 1:26:31
  in Exodus 6 verse 1 to 6 to 8 in all the contextual
• 1:26:36
  application to the children of Israel. We see
• 1:26:38
  that it is implied to redemption to save and
• 1:26:43
  to deliver. However, In the context of Israel,
• 1:26:48
  the salvation of the nation of Israel. So God
• 1:26:53
  revealed what he will become to Israel, that
• 1:26:57
  is in salvation. However, however, Moses was
• 1:27:02
  the one who led the congregation of Israel out
• 1:27:03
  of Egypt. So Moses used the phrase, thy Lord,
• 1:27:08
  thy God, was in view of him working in partnership
• 1:27:12
  with God to bring the children of Israel out
• 1:27:15
  of Egypt. So in scriptures apart from the word
• 1:27:20
  Yahweh, we see the word Elohim meaning unification.
• 1:27:24
  The word Elohim is generic term used for God.
• 1:27:27
  It is also referred to deities and for angels.
• 1:27:31
  I wouldn't want to go deeper into this because
• 1:27:33
  it is crucial but it is important in helping
• 1:27:39
  us understand the conversation at hand. Now let's
• 1:27:54
  look at what Jesus said in Matthew 28 Okay, and
• 1:28:03
  I want you to unify this thought to Moses He
• 1:28:08
  was the I am the work with Moses for the redemption
• 1:28:12
  of the nation of Israel When he arrived on earth
• 1:28:17
  for the work of redemption he revealed himself
• 1:28:20
  as that I am to redeem humanity. Matthew 28 verse
• 1:28:27
  20, we'll see that in relation to the work of
• 1:28:31
  ministry, okay, Jesus established that same concept
• 1:28:36
  of I am. Matthew 28 verse 20, it says, teaching
• 1:28:40
  them to observe all things that I have commanded
• 1:28:42
  you and know what I am with you always, even
• 1:28:49
  to the end of the age. And this is contextual
• 1:28:52
  in the work of ministry that we also will do
• 1:28:56
  on the earth. So he pointed out that the God
• 1:29:00
  of Israel, the I Am was there with them. Okay,
• 1:29:03
  we'll see similarly in John chapter 12, verse
• 1:29:06
  46, you know, the expression of that. So again,
• 1:29:13
  as we conclude this session, for us to put a
• 1:29:16
  stop. Let's observe the order of creation in
• 1:29:20
  Genesis chapter 1 verse 4 and 5. After going
• 1:29:25
  around to establish that Jesus is that light,
• 1:29:28
  and seeing how he connects himself to God, he
• 1:29:31
  connects himself to the Father for the purpose
• 1:29:32
  of redemption, and the light itself shines in
• 1:29:36
  the darkness, talking about redemption. Okay?
• 1:29:39
  Now Genesis 1 verse 4, and God saw the light,
• 1:29:42
  and it was good, and God divided the light from
• 1:29:45
  the darkness. and god called the light day and
• 1:29:49
  the darkness he called night so the evening and
• 1:29:52
  the morning were the first day okay the evening
• 1:29:56
  and the morning were the first day that is god's
• 1:30:02
  plan god's plan is to create order okay and this
• 1:30:06
  order his intention is to bring about a separation
• 1:30:10
  between the darkness and the light That would
• 1:30:14
  be that is what would be good that is saying
• 1:30:16
  it is good. Okay I'm also the light that it was
• 1:30:22
  good. So God intention is to see that that light
• 1:30:27
  Distinct or seen in its effect on the earth that
• 1:30:33
  is in men Separating them from the darkness That
• 1:30:37
  is what is good. That is what is fitting. This
• 1:30:40
  was a middle theme Now when we look through scriptures,
• 1:30:44
  we'll observe, you know, the contrast, the contrasting
• 1:30:48
  theme of the gospels in the book of, in the gospel,
• 1:30:50
  we'll see how, you know, the emphasis were laid
• 1:30:52
  concerning the light and darkness. And similarly,
• 1:30:54
  we'll see in the writings of the apostles, many
• 1:30:57
  times, especially, let's see one contrasting
• 1:31:00
  fact in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14, where Paul
• 1:31:02
  uses this same idea. Let's see it briefly, and
• 1:31:05
  then we run off for today. 2 Corinthians 6 verse
• 1:31:09
  14. Yes, 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14 He says do
• 1:31:20
  not be unequally yoke together with unbelievers.
• 1:31:23
  All right for what fellowship has righteousness
• 1:31:26
  and lawlessness and What communion has lied with
• 1:31:30
  darkness? So Paul was writing here with a concept
• 1:31:33
  of God's plan and God's course from the beginning
• 1:31:36
  that God in God's plan He was intending to bring
• 1:31:40
  about a separation between light and darkness
• 1:31:43
  And remember how we've been defining darkness
• 1:31:46
  as chaos. Remember how we've been defining darkness
• 1:31:49
  as what? As lawlessness. And God's desire is
• 1:31:53
  a righteousness will be separated from what?
• 1:31:55
  From lawlessness. So he describes the believers
• 1:31:58
  as righteousness. He described the believers
• 1:32:01
  as light in Christ. He described Christ, you
• 1:32:06
  know, the believers as what? As righteousness,
• 1:32:10
  light, as Christ, and as a temple of God. This
• 1:32:14
  description are qualified terminologies or pointers
• 1:32:18
  to narratives in the Hebrew text because as I
• 1:32:21
  keep on saying, the writers of the New Testament
• 1:32:23
  scriptures are now writing a different story
• 1:32:26
  from what we found in the Old Testament scriptures.
• 1:32:29
  So this shows a clear division between light
• 1:32:32
  and darkness as pointed out in creation theology,
• 1:32:36
  which is an important thing for us to understand,
• 1:32:40
  okay? It's an important thing for us to understand.
• 1:32:43
  Finally, for now, for now, as we rest, let's
• 1:32:47
  take this last text, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 1.
• 1:32:53
  2 Corinthians 4 verse 1. Tomorrow when we come,
• 1:32:59
  we'll just try to conclude on this idea of creation,
• 1:33:03
  looking at what was the plan as expressed in
• 1:33:06
  scripture. As we view the divination of the terminology
• 1:33:09
  so far, We'll be able to tie it together and
• 1:33:12
  see okay. What was God's plan? Understanding
• 1:33:14
  God's plan from the beginning as a separation
• 1:33:16
  between light and darkness and how God will implement
• 1:33:20
  this Especially in his salvation work will help
• 1:33:25
  settle many many of the ambiguity we have about
• 1:33:27
  the scriptures So when we begin to read the scriptures
• 1:33:30
  with that background in mind We will not deviate
• 1:33:34
  from the initial plan of God from the beginning
• 1:33:37
  And consistently we will see how the story unfolds
• 1:33:40
  until the time of Jesus Christ and how we ourselves
• 1:33:43
  are brought into the matter. Because we're going
• 1:33:45
  to see how this was communicated in the time
• 1:33:48
  of Abraham. We're going to see how this was communicated
• 1:33:51
  in the time of the nation of Israel when they
• 1:33:53
  were coming out of Egypt. We're going to see
• 1:33:55
  how, you know, this was tied down to the church
• 1:33:57
  era and how you and I have brought into this
• 1:34:01
  conversation and how we partner with God. Who
• 1:34:04
  is the I Am? and bringing about the manifestation
• 1:34:07
  of his plans and his purpose on the earth says
• 1:34:10
  therefore since we have this ministry as we have
• 1:34:15
  received mercy do not lose heart but we have
• 1:34:20
  renounced the hidden things of shame what are
• 1:34:23
  these hidden things of shame that we've renounced
• 1:34:26
  not working in craftiness or handling the word
• 1:34:31
  of god deceitfully But by manifestation of truth,
• 1:34:36
  commanding ourselves to every man's conscience
• 1:34:39
  in the sight of God was three. But even if our
• 1:34:43
  gospel is veiled, who is it veiled to? It is
• 1:34:46
  veiled to those who are perishing. How are they
• 1:34:49
  perishing? They are perishing fundamentally because
• 1:34:53
  their minds, okay, whose minds the God of this
• 1:34:58
  age has blinded who do not believe Less what
• 1:35:03
  the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ
• 1:35:07
  who is the image of God should shine on them
• 1:35:11
  Okay So to shine on them. Yes So we do not preach
• 1:35:17
  ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves
• 1:35:21
  once I run for Jesus Christ For it is that it
• 1:35:24
  is the God who commanded where did he command?
• 1:35:28
  He commanded that in what in Genesis of the one
• 1:35:30
  right? For it is the God who commanded light
• 1:35:33
  to shine out of darkness who has shone in our
• 1:35:37
  hearts So we see the operation of that light
• 1:35:40
  in the heart of men. All right to give the light
• 1:35:45
  Who has shone in our hearts? To give the light
• 1:35:50
  of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
• 1:35:54
  of Jesus Christ Hallelujah So what I want to
• 1:36:01
  bring to our notice, before we put the pause
• 1:36:04
  and continue tomorrow, is that the conversation
• 1:36:07
  in Genesis was actually the communication of
• 1:36:11
  God's plan, especially the plan of redemption.
• 1:36:15
  And in that redemption is communicated in figures
• 1:36:18
  of speech, is communicated in what? In terminologies
• 1:36:22
  that when we go through scriptures we will see
• 1:36:24
  consistency in the communication of God. there's
• 1:36:27
  clarity in God's communication right from the
• 1:36:30
  beginning and we will discover that Genesis 1
• 1:36:35
  verse 1 verse 2 verse 3 and all the conversation
• 1:36:39
  in creation story when we tie it up together
• 1:36:43
  we will discover that the creation story was
• 1:36:46
  actually redemption story hallelujah we appreciate
• 1:36:52
  you being here today we hope you carried this
• 1:36:54
  word with you throughout your week Don't forget
• 1:36:57
  to check the show notes for additional insights.
• 1:37:00
  Stay connected with us through our website or
• 1:37:03
  follow us on social media. If you were encouraged,
• 1:37:07
  share this message with someone you care about.
• 1:37:09
  Until next time, stay blessed.