Darkness, the evidence of soon-coming light
May 06, 2015
The promise of God in Isaiah 9:1-3 about the light coming to Zebulun and Naphtali says, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”
This promise of light must be preceded by darkness. In fact, the darkness is evidence of the soon-coming light.
Many look at the darkening world around them and are afraid. This prophecy was given to reveal the mind of God and to give opportunity for faith. Faith comes by hearing, and those who hear are then comforted by their faith and hope (expectation) of light.
It is the same in Isaiah 60:1-3,
1 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. 3 And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
This is the “comfort” that the prophet speaks to us in the latter days (Isaiah 40:1). Scripture does not deny the existence of darkness, nor even the danger that is inherent in it, but it shifts our focus from the problem in the world to the solution in the overcomers.
There are many websites which tell us all about the darkness, even describing it in detail. That is okay in itself, for we should know the context of the light that is arising through us and the gospel that we preach. But the darkness should not be our main focus. We ought to take note of the darkness in our peripheral vision, but remain focused upon the point of light as it approaches. That light is what removes the fear of darkness and gives us the hope of the Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God will never be established through fear, but only by faith, which comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). The darkness will never be overpowered by fear, but neither can darkness overpower or extinguish the light. In fact, light is only made greater by the darkness.
In Exodus 14 we have a good example of the way God thinks and works. The Egyptian army chased the Israelites and trapped them at the Red Sea. The people “became very frightened” (Exodus 14:10), for although they all had faith to be justified at Passover, they did not have faith that God could save them from Pharaoh’s army.
So they said to Moses, “Why did you lead us here to die in the wilderness? Didn’t we tell you to leave us alone so we could continue serving the Egyptians? It is better that we had remained in Egypt than to die out here in the wilderness” (Exodus 14:11, 12).
In other words, this Church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38 KJV) thought it was better to remain slaves to the world system than to leave it, place their faith in Christ’s leading and protection, and incur the wrath of the world’s military might.
Moses, who walked by faith, addressed their fear, saying, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13). What?? Did Moses not recognize the problem? Was he so foolish? Did he not know that fear was a good thing, because it would motivate the people to organize some kind of defense?
But such carnal defense could do little in the face of the enormity of the problem. Ah, but perhaps it is better to kill a few Egyptian soldiers than to be slaughtered without any resistance. Perhaps this is so, but in the end such defense would fail, because Israel was not capable of winning such a battle in their own strength. From God’s viewpoint, the destruction of Israel would only cause His promises to fail, even if they were able to kill a few of the enemy.
Instead, Moses told them, “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” (Exodus 14:14).
God wondered what the fuss was all about. Exodus 14:15 says,
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.”
In other words, stop focusing on the Egyptians. Don’t turn around. Just go forward in the direction of the Promised Land. Let God do the fighting. Your instructions have not changed. Your motivation should not come from the Egyptians, who only inspire fear, but from God, who inspires faith.
Could God have destroyed the Egyptian army before they arrived at the camp of Israel? Of course. But that would have deprived Israel of an opportunity to exhibit faith. God was not taken by surprise, nor was He overwhelmed by the size of the Egyptian army.
We today find ourselves in a similar situation. ISIS is coming to a city near you. It was established and funded jointly by the CIA and the Israeli Mossad. So says Scott Bennett, who has worked in the Bush administration at the highest levels of international counterterrorism in Washington D.C.
We also read that “he filed legal action against Booz Allen Hamilton and the Department of Defense for their involvement in secret Swiss Bank Terrorist Finance Operations, in which he uncovered with the help of Union Bank of Switzerland whistleblower, Brad Birkenfeld a massive terrorist funding program.”
I have no doubt that this report is true. The US government and its allies have been stirring up trouble around the world for a long time in order to induce the public to give them more power and to reduce the Constitution to a meaningless scrap of paper. General Wesley Clark has said many times that he was told in 2001 of the US plan to destabilize the Middle East. The plan was to overthrow seven countries in five years, he said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oJUnG3Z6WI#sthash.pHeAwxSd.dpuf
The result has been a mass immigration problem as Islamic refugees flood Europe and America, bringing with them the potential for more conflict and unrest. This was planned at the highest levels of government to give them an excuse to grab more power in order to maintain their so-called “law and order.”
Now a big military operation called “Jade Helm 15” is scheduled for this summer, and many are sounding the alarm.
http://www.zengardner.com/jade-helm-american-massacre/
They say it will be the start of martial law, and we will see the overthrow of our last scraps of freedom. All patriots will be sent to FEMA camps. We’re all going to die.
We have come to the Red Sea. I recognize the danger, but I believe the outcome will be quite different. I have no way of knowing all the plans of men, but I do know that the rulers of the current world system have not planned good things for us—especially for Christians. They are planning to impose more darkness in the earth.
Yet try to understand why they are doing this. Beast governments are falling, and they are trying to defend themselves. They are the ones on the defense, not us. God is working to set us free. They do not like it that they are losing their slaves. They want them back. So what’s new? This is a natural carnal reaction that we have always expected. Get over it. The Babylonian leaders are desperately trying to defend themselves against God, but it is a losing battle. I have little sympathy for the oligarchs of Babylon, but I do feel sorry for their employees and soldiers who do their bidding, because they are mostly ignorant pawns in a game they do not understand.
We do not have a problem. They have a problem, and they cannot win. The light is coming, and no buildup of darkness can stop it. Our orders remain the same: “Go forward.” Don’t let the Egyptian army distract you from the journey to the Promised Land. Fear tells us that we have a problem. Faith tells us that the beast system has a problem.
The light is coming, ready or not, and the darkness has no way of winning. We should expect them to defend themselves to the best of their ability. But we are on the winning side. Yes, really. The time of the beast empires has passed since last October. The rulers of Mystery Babylon are acting like their predecessors in ancient Babylon by refusing to let the people go (Jeremiah 50:33, 34). This has given God a legal case against Babylon, says the prophet, as the sword of justice comes upon Babylon (Jeremiah 50:35, 36, 37).
The passage reaches its climax in Jeremiah 50:45, 46 where we read, “Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon.” This is the plan that we should know. It is not necessary to know the plans of Babylon as they prepare their defense against God’s judgment. God’s plan will succeed, regardless of our knowledge. Babylon’s plan will fail, regardless of our knowledge. Even so, we should be informed, so that we are able to spread faith, rather than fear, and give comfort to the frightened people.