20 Saturday Feb 2016
Posted in Anne Bradstreet, Uncategorized
Tags
It is a pleasant thing to behold the light,
but sore eyes are not able to look upon.
The pure in heart shall see God,
but the defiled in conscience shall rather choose to be buried under rocks
than to behold the presence of the Lamb.
Anne Bradstreet, Meditation XXVII
26 Tuesday May 2015
Posted in William Spurstowe
What an amicable as well as amiable thing is light. For These two tapers enlighten the same room, do not shine with a divided or with a confounded, but with a united light as the optics do clearly demonstrate the distinct shadows which they cast: yet the eye which is benefited by both of them, to a more full and perfect discerning of its objects, cannot differentiate the rays and strictures that flow from them, or assign, which is the light that comes from one or the other.
Such I have sometimes thought is the harmony between the natural light of gifts and the supernatural grace meeting in the same person — though they be both differing the original, yet in the subject, in which they are seated, they shine not with a divided or confounded, but with a united light: For in their efflux and emanation so conspire, as that they greatly better him in whom they are conjoined and cast a mutual luster also upon each other: one being the gold which adorns the temple, and the other as the temple which sanctifies the gold.
Let no man therefore despise the light of gifts, as needless to the perfection of a Christian; nor yet so magnify it as to be injurious to the light of grace, no more than would put out one of his eyes as useless, because when he winks with one he can see well with the other: there may be a reason sometimes to shut one eye, but there can be none at any time for to extinguish it.
11 Monday May 2015
Tags
1 John, 1 John 1:5-10, Confession, Dark, First John, FOTS, Light, Preaching, Sermons, Walking
1 John 1:5-10:
1 John 1:5–10 (ESV)
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
30 Wednesday Jul 2014
Posted in affliction, Hebrew, Prayer, Psalms
Tags
Affliction, Darkness, Depression, despair, Hope, Light, Psalm 88
YHWH,
God of my salvation
Day, I cry out to you
By night, close before you.
Let it come before your face, this prayer
Turn your ear to my cry.
My soul is crammed with evils
And my life touches upon Sheol.
I am reckoned with those who go down into the Pit
I have become as a man of strength with no strength.
Among the Dead, free,
Like one of the slain, lying in the grave
Never remembered at all
Cut-off from your hand.
You appoint me to the Pit of Depths
To shades of darkness.
Over me rolls your poisonwrath
All these, your waves, break me.
You drive those knowing me far from me
You appoint me as their hated thing;
Locked-in, I cannot go out.
My eyes falter from my pain
I call out to you, YHWH
All the days
I force my hands open before you.
Do you show wonder to the dead?
Do the dead spirits rise and praise you,
Selah
Is your loyal love rehearsed in the grave?
-Or, your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
It is known in that darkness, the wonder of you?
Or your righteousness in that land of forgetting?
But I, unto you YHWH, I cry
In the morning, my prayer goes out to meet you.
Why O YHWH do you cast off my soul
And cause your face to hide from me?
Afflicted I am and dying since youth
Bearing the horrors of you.
Your wrath washes over me
Your terrors silence me,
They surround me like waters all the day
They encircle me altogether.
You drive the beloved far from me;
My companions: darkness.
NOTES ON THE TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION:
08 Tuesday May 2012
Posted in Ecclesiastes, Psalms
Tags
benefits fo wisdom, Ecclesiastes, eyes, folly, foolishness, Light, Proverbs, proverbs, Psalms, Wisdom
What are the advantages of wisdom over folly?
Though wisdom’s advantages are only temporary, still, for Qoheleth, they are real. The bandages to wisdom have been the implicit and explicit assumption to this point, though their temporary us has now proven disenchanting. Most commentators rushed to admit the “relative” words of wisdom, yet Qoheleth speaks unequivocally about its absolute value over folly…. But rather than wisdom simply being relatively better than folly, Qoheleth asserts their differences are like night and day. Later, and 10:2, he says they are as opposite as right and left (Fredricks, 95).
To better understand the value of wisdom being “light” and “eyes in one’s head” consider:
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. Proverbs 4:18–19 (ESV)
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. Proverbs 22:3 (ESV)
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. Proverbs 13:20 (ESV)
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 (ESV)
For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, Proverbs 6:23 (ESV)
They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man. Job 12:25 (ESV)
Murphy writes of this passage:
What credence does Qoheleth give to the “advantage” (יתרון yitrôn) of wisdom? He ranks it over folly (cf. 2:3, 9), which is never a viable option for him. But it is clear that v 14b modifies the saying in v 14a about the superiority of wisdom. Qoheleth is not to be described as “anti-wisdom,” but he is its severest critic; after all, he tried to attain wisdom, and he acknowledged failure in 7:23–24.[1]
06 Friday Apr 2012
Posted in 2 Corinthians, Mark, Matthew, Revelation
Tags
2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 3:12–4:6, Exodus 34:29–35, glory, God, Gospel, Light, Mark, Matthew, Moses, Revelation
In 1 Peter 2:9, we read that God has called into “his marvelous light.” In reading that phrase, we could easily overlook the adjective, reading as a generic synonym for “good”. However, when consider the word is actually used, Peter is saying something far more pointed. The word “marvelous” refers to plain instances of God’s work evidenced. It refers to the installation of Jesus as King (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:11), the miraculous (John 9:3), and the wonders of God revealed (Rev. 15:1) and the work of God in judgment (Rev. 15:3):
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Λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς· λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας· παρὰ κυρίου ἐγένετο αὕτη καὶ ἔστιν θαυμαστὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν;
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Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
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παρὰ κυρίου ἐγένετο αὕτη καὶ ἔστιν θαυμαστὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν;
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this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
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ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ τὸ θαυμαστόν ἐστιν, ὅτι ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε πόθεν ἐστίν, καὶ ἤνοιξέν μου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς.
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The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
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ὑμεῖς δὲ γένος ἐκλεκτόν, βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, ἔθνος ἅγιον, λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν, ὅπως τὰς ἀρετὰς ἐξαγγείλητε τοῦ ἐκ σκότους ὑμᾶς καλέσαντος εἰς τὸ θαυμαστὸν αὐτοῦ φῶς·
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But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
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Καὶ εἶδον ἄλλο σημεῖον ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ μέγα καὶ θαυμαστόν, ἀγγέλους ἑπτὰ ἔχοντας πληγὰς ἑπτὰ τὰς ἐσχάτας, ὅτι ἐν αὐταῖς ἐτελέσθη ὁ θυμὸς τοῦ θεοῦ.
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Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.
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καὶ ᾄδουσιν τὴν ᾠδὴν Μωϋσέως τοῦ δούλου τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν ᾠδὴν τοῦ ἀρνίου λέγοντες· μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ τὰ ἔργα σου, κύριε ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ· δίκαιαι καὶ ἀληθιναὶ αἱ ὁδοί σου, ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν·
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And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!
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Thus, the idea of “marvelous light” is more than just a vague metaphor. It is a light which has an effect:
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Exodus 34:29–35 (ESV).
This light is the light of the Gospel, which changes everything
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:12–4:6 (ESV)
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