The long-awaited Messiah, the Seed of the Woman who would crush the head of the satanic serpent and undo the catastrophe in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve joined the rebellion of the fallen angels which resulted in the Fall of Man – Immanuel, God With Us, had finally come into this world!
The Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world lived a perfect life, resisting every temptation. He died to make atonement possible, for Jews and Gentiles so that we could be reconciled to God and live forever! He overcame the real and ruinous forces of Satan and the demons, sin and death! Then He ascended back to Heaven, to rule at the right hand of the High King of Heaven – God the Father. From there King Messiah gave His Spirit to His followers whom He entrusted to carry on His mission on Earth – to proclaim to those human beings who are part of the dark kingdom the Good News about God’s kingdom; to teach those who were receptive; to help others in practical ways.
These are essential truths that human beings need to understand so that they can be reconciled to God. They are vital to salvation, and to enjoy eternal life. It is very, very important that we understand these realities and teach them to others.
How do we make sure we understand these truths and teach them to others? By making sure that our inner attitude toward God is right.
Yeshua is the light of the world. He is the Ultimate Revealer Of God And Truth. The Son of God may have come into this world humbly, but He was not hiding His light. Through His wisdom and His great teachings; through His bold proclamation about the kingdom of God; through His miracles; through His sinless life, His light was shining brightly throughout Israel. If many of the Jewish people weren’t seeing the light that was shining from Yeshua, it wasn’t because the light wasn’t shining brightly enough. It was because their spiritual eyes were not open. It was because their inner attitude toward God was not right. There was spiritual darkness within them that prevented them from understanding the truth about Messiah. They were not allowing the light to get to the spiritual darkness within them. We don’t want to repeat their mistake.
Luke 11:33-36: The Lamp Of The Body
No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.
Messiah teaches two major ideas here. First, you need to see clearly so that you have genuine inner understanding, so that second, you can communicate the truth that can save others.
Geldenhuys, in his commentary on Luke, observes the following: “When a lamp is not working properly, there is darkness. The eye is like the lamp. The eye allows us to receive light. If it is not working there is darkness. When the eye is healthy and light is shining, the eye enables you to make full use of the light. You can see where you are, how to walk and how to do your work. When your eye is not functioning, you can’t make use of the light, even when the brightest light is shining. It is as if you are in darkness.
So, here is what Messiah is telling us: When a person’s inner attitude is right towards God, when he really wants to know God way down deep at the core of who he is, then the light that is shining from God and from Messiah and from the Bible and from creation shines brightly in his heart and life. He is walking in the light. He is understanding essential truths that make a successful life and salvation possible.
The light that is emanating from God and Messiah and the Bible and from creation is constantly shining, but whether people experience its blessed influence and its saving power depends on their inner attitude toward God. Each one must make sure that his inner attitude toward God is right because that prevents the light from shining into his life with very beneficial results.
Make sure that your inner attitude is one characterized by really seeking God, so that the light that is shining from God and from Messiah and from the Bible and from creation changes you inwardly; that attitudes of true love toward God and Messiah and the Bible and people and serving the Lord are within you. Make sure that spiritual darkness is not within you, so that sin and wrongdoing and spiritual confusion and wrong priorities are prevailing.
Make sure that you have experienced genuine inward change that includes repentance, sanctification and renewal. Is that you? Have you really repented, which means turned away from sin and selfish living and worldly priorities, and turned to God, and doing what is right, and living for God, and God’s priorities?
[Note: much of the above is based on ideas taken from Norval Geldenhuys’ commentary on The Gospel of Luke, New International Commentary on the New Testament”]
Then, once your spiritual eyes are open, and you understand these essential truths about God and Messianic salvation, you must share the truth with others. No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.
This idea about making sure you have the right attitude to receive truth and then communicate truth is really important to understand and practice, because a very similar teaching is repeated in Luke 8:16-18: The Teaching About The Lamp On A Stand, teaches us that we must continue Messiah’s mission of proclamation and teaching. If we don’t, it may indicate that we never truly belonged to Him.
No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.
If God has saved you, you have received light – spiritual truth about the Three-In-One God and the way of salvation. You understand that Yeshua is the Way, the Truth and the Life. You understand the Word of God; you understand the truths being taught by creation – about the reality of a powerful and wise Creator God; and the reality of sin. Don’t hide your light! Let your light shine! No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.
In other words, boldly tell others the truth! Proclaim the Good News about the kingdom of God – the wonderful and real and eternal Kingdom that will be enjoyed by those who end their rebellion against God and transfer their loyalties to the Three-in-One God of Israel. Teach those who are interested the important spiritual truths that you know. Speak the truth! Don’t be silent! In a dark, fallen world that is satanically controlled and is in rebellion against God and under a curse it will be hard to proclaim the truth. The dark spirit of the dark kingdom that is full of people in darkness doesn’t want your light to be shining.
You will be pressured to put your light under a bed or in a jar. The world will try to intimidate you into silence. Don’t yield to intimidation! You can’t do that! You were given truth for your own personal salvation, but also so that you could carry on Messiah’s mission of proclamation and teaching, so that your light could shine in the darkness and help others.
Shining our light, proclaiming the truth, is one of our most important responsibilities. It is our duty to the Three-in-One God. Hiding our light is an act of disloyalty to the Father, Son and Spirit. See refusal to tell others the truth as temptation, as giving in to cowardice. Don’t give in to that temptation! Be bold! Be courageous, especially since we know that a day is coming when everything will be revealed. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.
There will be a Day of Judgment when absolutely everything will be revealed. The truths about God and Messiah and Messianic salvation through Yeshua and the infallible Word of God and the message of creation will be made clear. Each error, every lie, all false teachings will be exposed and refuted. The liars and deceivers and those who listened to them will be punished. Those who suppressed the truth and those who ignored the truth, will lose everything. The truth-tellers will be greatly rewarded.
There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. What the Son of God is telling us is that since everything will be revealed in the future, it only makes sense to courageously tell the world important spiritual truths now! Proclaim the Good News about salvation that is available because of Messiah to those around you! Teach those who are interested everything in the Word of God.
There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. That means that all truth will be revealed. So, proclaim it all, teach it all!
Consider this additional warning. Messiah warned us: Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels. It’s not just failure to identify with Yeshua Himself; it’s not just failure to proclaim the Good News about Him that results in divine displeasure, but it is also failure to stand by Yeshua’s words – all of His words: Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words.
We must not be ashamed about Messiah’s words – any of Messiah’s words – His words that He is the Messiah and Lord and the eternal Son of God; His words that all human beings, Jews and Gentiles, are sinners in need of the salvation that only He can provide; His words that unless we believe in Him, we will die in our sins; His words that He alone by His death and resurrection makes atonement possible; His words that He is the only way to Heaven, the only truth that can save us and the only way to experience eternal life; His words about moral absolutes – that there are rights and there are wrongs and there are “you shall nots”; His words about the infallibility of the Bible; His words about creation, and the flood of Noah; His words about the resurrection and the Day of Judgment; His words about Heaven and Hell; His world about miracles and angels and demons.
Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels. Are you ashamed of Him or any of His words? Don’t be!
Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Listen to the Father! Listen to the Son! Listen to the Spirit! Listen to every word of God, to every word of Messiah. Pay attention to everything found in the Word of God. Listen to the message of creation! Listen to it all, practice it and then proclaim it all. There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. So, tell them everything! With boldness, with courage, with forthrightness.
This is really important. Proclamation of the Gospel, the Good News, and teaching those who are interested is a litmus test of our loyalty. This is a reward or punishment, possibly even eternal life-eternal death issue for us. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.
Don’t be a spiritual coward! Spiritual wimps, by yielding to intimidation, by hiding their light, by their failure to proclaim the truth, are in danger of losing everything – because their cowardly silence indicates that they were never truly loyal to God, never truly saved. How can you be saved? How can you have the Spirit of the courageous Messiah living in you? How can you have the Spirit of the One who boldly proclaimed the truth, who had a passion for evangelism, who proclaimed the Good News about the kingdom of God in you, and remain silent?
Whoever has life, who is genuinely saved and has real life from God, will be given more – more life, eternal life. Whoever does not have life – real life, born-again life, even what they think they have – life – will be taken from them. They will forfeit the little life they had. They will not live forever. They will die the Second Death.
Why? Because by hiding their light, by refusing to fulfill this basic responsibility of proclamation, by failure to carry on Messiah’s mission, they demonstrate that they were never saved, never born again, never really spiritually alive; that they were weed, not wheat, that they were those who said Lord Lord but didn’t do Lord Lord.
No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.