Holy Hormones Bible Study: Teaching — If your book isn’t a buzz, it’s not the Bible.
GOD & ABRAHAM & ISAAC: HONEST QUESTIONS — 4th PROPOSITION OF 4: Part 1
Ancillary information: LIGHT
Introduction
(You can skip this introduction if you’ve read the SHAMAR article.)
For anyone who may have been following this series about the honest questions arising from the incident of Abraham offering Isaac, I had promised to answer the question, “If you have or had a son and you believe God asked you to kill him for the sake of testing your dedication, would you automatically do it without hesitation as the story indicates,” in this post. But, because the Bible is like a Divine Onion which gets bigger with each layer that is peeled away, extra information is necessary before addressing that question. The extra information has been serialized because to put everything in one article would test the patience of Job.
This article is a follow-on from the previous post which concerns God’s Logic.
The organizing principle when gathering this information has been 1 Corinthians 2:13–14 || These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The Bible has been High-Tech all along. Contrary to the thoughts of many, God knows quite a bit about science.
Yehovah used light to teach Einstein, a Jew, about Time. The message He gave Albert was, “By the way, Time means nothing to me.”
THE LIGHT IN GENESIS 1:3 IS THE SAME LIGHT IN REVELATION 22:5.
What?!
It is written in Genesis 1:3 || Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And in Revelation 22:5 || There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God (Yehovah Elohim) gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
And He keeps dropping reminders through the text.
John 8:12 || Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Psalm 119:105 || Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
But isn’t the light in Genesis 1:3 created?
Didn’t Elohim say, “Let there be …,” as He did in bringing all Creation into being?
What He said will be closely examined shortly but first some simple deduction is necessary.
- The sun was created on Day 4 making it created (natural) light. Genesis 1:14–19
- The light mentioned in Revelation 22:5 is Yehovah Elohim, the Preexisting One. It is specified that there is no need for the sun.
- Elohim was present to utter Genesis 1:3. He was present to utter John 8:12. The Light has always been there.
- God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Having no mass, He is not subjected to time. He is beyond the horizon — beyond our perception. He is the same Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow. His Name is El Olam, Everlasting God — God over eternal things. So, His Light is not natural.
If it is not now clear that the Spiritual LIGHT has never not been there (the scream from the English teachers can be heard from across the sea), I give up.
It is not unreasonable, therefore, to deduce that there is natural light and there is Spiritual LIGHT.
If it has to be explained that LIGHT is operating on a higher plane than light, nothing I say will make any sense to you.
Exactly what did Elohim say in Genesis 1:3?
[Keep in mind that He was also at the Burning Bush. I won’t insult your intelligence by raking over that, yet again. But there lies the key to what was said in Genesis 1:3.]
Sadly, those whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame — who set their mind on earthly things (Philippians 3:19), have only one illumination source available: light.
The Saints, however, have a choice of two; LIGHT and light; HIGH BEAM and low beam.
The effect of different illumination sources.
Shining the light on the Burning Bush.
Exodus 3:14 || And God said to Moses, “I am that I am.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
What, on earth, does that mean?
Illuminating now with LIGHT
Exodus 3:14 || And God said to Moses, “I AM(H1961) THAT I AM(H1961).” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM(H1961) has sent me to you.’”
H1961 — hāyâ הָיָה (Inflexion אֶֽ .אֶֽהְיֶה is silent.) = I AM, the verb of existence, the verb of being.
Speech: Verb — action
Person: First Person — God is doing the action
Stem: Qal — simple statement
Type: Imperfect — an action which is continuous, incomplete, or open-ended. Rather than depicting an action as a single event, the imperfect depicts it as a continuing process. Equivalent to present tense in Greek.
What is God doing continuously? Existing.
There is no noun or personal pronoun specifically included in the Hebrew. Two verbs connected by a relative particle to function as a noun is a tough ask in English.
“Existing that will continue to exist”???? (See if you can do any better. I’ll accept any help.)
(By comparison, Yehovah, H3069 יְהֹוָה = HE IS.)
A quick comparison between English and Hebrew before examining Genesis 1:3
The Table highlights the redundancy of letters and words in English, compared to Hebrew. The importance will soon become evident.
Genesis 1:3 illuminated by light.
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
This causes (some) seminary graduates to suffer cognitive dissonance when trying to hold Genesis 1:3 and Genesis 1:14–19 in tension. And it is easy to understand why when considering only English. (I can’t speak for other languages.)
Even knowing about the intricacies of redundancy only gets so far on low beam.
Deleting the redundant words to make it flow better in English, Genesis 1:3 || Then God said, “Let light be (H1961)”; and light was (H1961), but that is just linguistic gymnastics and doesn’t help at all.
Genesis 1:3 illuminated by LIGHT.
The translation is near-enough the same using the low beam or HIGH BEAM but NT Saints have an advantage — Revelation 22:5 gives us the Identity of the LIGHT.
Far be it from me to try and put words in God’s Mouth but it seems that a reasonable person could interpret the translation to be along the lines, Then God said, “LIGHT IS LIGHT WAS.” Indicating that Elohim was emphasizing that He is everlasting.
This eliminates the argument that Jesus was created.
Hermeneutics (the theories of interpretation)
(You are possibly aware of Christian Hermeneutics but the theme of this series is Hebrew so that’s where we’ll stay.)
The Hebrew approach views four levels of this:
1) Peshat, the literal, direct meaning;
2) Derash, the homiletical, or practical application;
3) Remez, an allegorical significance; a hint of something deeper; and
4) Sod (rhymes with road), the mystical or hidden meaning.
The light illuminates' points 1) and 2). The LIGHT shines through to 3) and 4).
Science is just beginning to catch up.
The late American Bible teacher, Chuck Missler, used the analogy of the hologram to describe the effect of the LIGHT of the Holy Spirit on the Holy Scriptures.
The simple figure opening this post shows the principle of laser light being split and bounced around a target onto a photographic film. (Explanations about laser light abound on the internet.)
When the film is developed it looks as though the development process has been stuffed-up (a technical term in Australia which does not carry the message of success) because it has the appearance of fog blurring the target. . .. UNTIL . . .. a laser light of exactly the same frequency, or wavelength, (or however one describes laser light,) is focused on the photograph. Then a 3-D image appears.
It is the Holy Spirit who casts the initial LIGHT when the text is written. If natural light is used for viewing the image (Scripture) is very much blurred. If the Mind of Christ shines the LIGHT → sharpness. It takes some practice because the experience can be overwhelming — but it is worth it.
Trading in Your Black and White TV
Something along the same line is learning the rudiments of the Grammar of the languages which are the foundations of our English Bibles. Dr Haddon Robinson, noted professor and seminary president, once wrote, “Some scholars liken the benefits of the original language to watching a game on a fuzzy old 1950s monochrome TV compared to a hologram that puts you in the middle of the action.”
“Scholar,” is a loose use of the word as far as I’m concerned. But ten hours and US$100 on a Greek grammar course [Ref 5] is one of the best buys I ever made. I’m looking for something similar for Hebrew if you are aware of one.
The advantages of illuminating your Bible by natural light?
None.
It is written in Ecclesiastes 1:14 || I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
Is it possible to be Righteous with the Scriptures illuminated only by light?
Yes.
It is written in 1 Corinthians 1:2 || To the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
sanctified = set apart for God.
The congregation of the Church in Corinth gives hope to us all but things were not going well.
If you have reached this point, you may decide that the effort has not been worth it. It may be too mystical for your liking. Apostle John was a bit of a mystic, so I’m not embarrassed about being a fool for Christ. For what it’s worth from me, I think that there should be more romance (i.e., love with a spark) and HIGH BEAM mysticism between Christ and His Bride.
If you disagree, the best action for you to take is find the evidence to show it to be in error. Don’t send it, though. Just use it to improve your Theology.
There is another Ancillary topic, The Miracle of Obedience, published at the same time as this. Both the ancillary posts will be referred to when answering the honest question.
Reference [1] Relative frequencies of letters in the English language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequency#Relative_frequencies_of_letters_in_the_English_language
Reference [2] Speedwriting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedwriting
Reference [3] Inferred Vowels in Hebrew http://www.singlesplus.net/Bible03.htm
Reference [4] Chuck Missler, 1998, Cosmic Codes: Hidden Messages From the Edge of Eternity, © Koinonia House Inc, Volume 1, 50min into presentation
Reference [5] Greek The Ezra Project https://ezraproject.com/about/
All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)
