Christians are familiar with the session of Christ in heaven (Hebrews 1:3, 10:12) and the ancients were also in touch with a God who gives priority to justice where there’d been none.

God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: Psalms 82:1

The Throne, the justice, and the positive ID

One has to assume a loss of place to visualize someone taking a place. One also has to assume that justice had been on hold. One also has to assume that justice as rendered by God has a unique face. There are hints of all three.

Hints of a return appear in Psalm 24:7-10.

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah

There are signs of enthronement in Psalm 2 :6

As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.

We find the promise of ruling the nations in Psalms 2:8

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

The seat of the Son is assured

But of the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. Hebrews 1:8

The ministry of justice in action

No matter what we see in the halls of power God has a sure means of giving a clear witness to his integrity. It is his justice. It is his verdict that the dead may live, that the oppressed be relieved. The offer pardon distinguishes divine justice. Mercy is his justice made plain in the cross.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. Psalms 89:14

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. Psalms 82:3-5

The journey of photonic references in the Bible begins with the light in the great universal expanse, passes to the two great lights, to the ornate tabernacle furnishings, to the Hebrew understanding of God, and to individuals, especially those of Davidide descent. Thence it passes to the church and every believer, as member, to the human eye, and the believer’s person. In this way, Christ, Root and Offspring of David, makes photonics a personal interest.

Visual Reality Lamps

The stand

Yhwh orders for the tabernacle, in Exodus 25:31, the manufacture of the stand

You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

The lampstand was for lighting up the space beyond which only blood gave access.

Seven lamps

Exodus 25:37 informs us that there were seven lamps

You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.

Oil for fuel

Staying connected to the sacred lightworks, we acknowledge that light was a function of heat. The fuel in the sacred tent was oil. A statute established the criteria for it.

Leviticus 24:2-4

Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

The priestly responsibility

He shall arrange the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord regularly.

Samuel calls it God’s lamp ner elohim, נר אלהים

1 Samuel 3:3

The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.

Lamplight for a Bethlehemite

Coming now to David’s dynasty it is not possible to get past the God of Israel who is celebrated as a lamp in a song written by David on the occasion of his rescue from Saul’s murderous plot.

2 Samuel 22:29

For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness.

Thereafter light becomes the metaphor for God and the lamp represents the individual and his person.

Psa. 27, YHWH is my light
Psa. 89:15, YHWH’s face

Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,

Psalms 18:28

For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

The Christian is a luminary.

for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Ephesians 5:8

David’s dynasty, successors to the throne

Endurance Promises.

• 2 Kings 8:19. Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, since he promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever.
• 1 Kings 11:36. Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.

The horn of David

There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine. Psalms 132:17-18

In Messiah
– the world’s light. I am the light of the world
– the seven churches in his hand,

Eye-Lamp in the believer

Luke 12:35-36
Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.

Light-filter
Matthew 6:22
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,

Trimming the lamp becomes the now thing as we await the forever presence
Luke 12:35-36

Finally as we return to think about lamp and light in their original settings, the designation of the Son of God as Anointed transforms the oil for the lampstand into trimming our operations of the Holy Spirit in us; teaching and guiding. Lamp and stand, as personal photonic interest, come down to learning processes tied to the Messianic mission.

Yeshua’s Church, lifesaving word, and face

If this exploration did not end with Christ it would have been a fruitless venture. The reward is beautiful because it brings us face to face with the Lord of light.

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 4:6

In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Revelation of John 1:16

That we need to pray without ceasing (Luke 18:1 1The 5:17) is critically highlighted by the episode in Luke 11:1-13 . We learn here that there is symmetry in prayer, in its fellowship and layers.   The Lord paused from praying, yet we have to imagine that he was not as he paused, still on the phone. He is Who He is though. That he always listens and concurs is essential to his mediation. We tune out.

Teach us to pray

That grown men bar mitzvahed and enrolled as disciples of Moses found a reason to seek guidance on prayer is eye-opening. If we had a book containing 150 prayers we would be reasonably assured that there is a prayer for every situation. At least we would be certain that our lives either reflected one of the existential conditons of human life, lostness or salvation, faith or unbelief. We would be confident that the Psalms offer scores of examples of prayers that address both conditions.

Try something other

Something was afoot that made John teach his disciples to pray. The previous models were obviously inadequate. Behind the prayers of the ancients was the knowledge of being God’s people: the people in the covenants, in the promises, and participants in various glories (Romans 9:3-4, Luke 2:29-32). In reality those prayers become leaky in the presence of unbelief and hostility.

Father of all-who-come

The lesson features God as Father. That is a new way to conceptualize God. We understand that this establishes our adoption (Romans 8:9-15, Galatians 4:6) and has a new way of living. The prayer has handles for our temporal life: daily bread (including the work assignments John 4:34). It gives us handles on our fellowship with the Father by means of our capacity to do what Christ does: forgive sins.
Our Lord goes on to show examples of what a prayer life should indicate (Luke 11:4-13), namely sensitivity and generosity (#1) due diligence (#2, 3, 4, 5).

1. responding to a friends request at midnight: And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; Luke 11:5, rise and give him as many as he needeth. Luke 11:8
2. receiving follows request: And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; Luke 11:9a
3. “eureka” is the reward of inquiry: seek, and ye shall find; Luke 11:9b
4. knocking facilitates entry: knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Luke 11:9c
5. gifts match the request: If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if [he ask] a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Luke 11:11, Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? Luke 11:12

He reminds us that humans are not the best practitioners of giving.

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luke 11:13

Channel JOY

Tuning in to listen seems to the priority.  When our Lord paused from praying he engaged with the disciples, and those communications with them meant he was not, for one, actively giving thanks.  To listen well and speak in sync with the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26) at the same time is beyond our multitasking abilities.  Prayer needs a place and time. The two need to come together for the joy of fellowship to energize us.

His speech is dynamic, relaying, live, what the Father has to say to us, so he is still in prayer as he interacts with his companions.  In prayer, he locks in with God in a undistracted session. That is prayer to the 7th power! Regular prayer, sees us flip in and out and distracted by tasks and interactions. Prayer, as it is in heaven, is first of all adoration, graphically, an endless ascription of glory, honour, and power to God (Rev 4:8-11).

It is really beautiful how one apostle talks about his prayers for his friends. As often as he remembers (thinks of?) his friends he takes joy from presenting petition(s) regarding them to God.

always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, Phil 1:4

It actually challenges us to distinguish between our earthly condition and the secret place where joy does pervade. So life for the children of God, though burdensome, even troubling and distressing, comes with prayer as a reliable joy portal to the ultimate space of self expression and rapt attention on both sides.

Some people think that our sharing blessings and sending wise words is kind of cheap. Some of the senders and receivers may not even be saved. Some like the idea that they have a chance to get one thing or the other.

Let me remind everyone that the words Yeshua spoke were life. They were energetic and life-giving.

Should we not also speak life?
That’s what we do when we send greetings, blessings, prayers, words of wisdom, and words of correction. Aside from the blessing lottery, pipedreams, and click traps, there needs to be more conversation in the rich heritage we Christians possess. So, rejoice rich people. We are super rich.

When Judeo-Christian standards have no heart for children and creates misery for them I smell a curse. Walls and prisons are signs of social decay anywhere, but especially telling

in Babylon

in China

in Israel

and in the United States

The great America cannot build protection for children in school but wants a wall to isolate itself. Where would America be without France, Haiti, and African labour?

Facts. Broken constitutions lead to broken nations. There is a nation that has became a cage, one massive prison, for every unclean and detestable bird (demon?).

Unenlightened hearts have lost even natural affection but the cowardly legislators can approve inappropriate and unsustainable affections in the guise of the liberty of love.

The world needs parental hearts sensitive to children equally as it needs the hearts of children sensitive to parents.

Fatherhood

is defined as

interest in orphans and widows.

Civilized society chooses to help,

but passing on the other side,

and terrorizing the poor is

as poor as judgment can get.

Conflation and the Six Commandment Door to Life

Everyone likes that one thing, the panacea, including people in New Testament times.  One of Yeshua’s contemporaries asked him about the one thing a person seeking life should do.  Evdently the answer to this type of question had better be accurate. The questioner, in Mark 10:17, being a Jew, gets the top priority interest of all Jews: comply with the covenant. The interviewee is experienced and skilled in dealing with entrapment questions, and this looks like one of them.  The man and his entire nation could hardly say they tried to find a one thing, it was all over the place.  Adam demonstrated grabbed it, it distingushed Abraham, it eternalized David, and gave exulting joy to Sarah, Ruth, Deborah, and Mary.  We have a record of one thing at work, while on the other hand we have covenant failure and God’s persistence in showing the key to life’s door, but the persecution of Moses, the patriarchs, and prophets is a record of conflating the discrete revelations of God’s design – Law, Prophets, and Writings – into a sweet and deadly deception.

Historical hostility to Moses

Did not Moses give you the law, and [yet] none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? John 7:19

Historical hostility to Yeshua, prophets, and Christians

1. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they [have] of the Jews: KJV 1Thess 2:14 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: 1Thess 2:15 KJV Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. 1Thess 2:16 KJV
2. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: KJV Acts 7:52 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept [it]. Acts 7:53 KJV
3. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Acts 10:43

Inescapable witness to death

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Matt 23:31

After claiming to have kept the law (perhaps he means he tried, or is aware of it) the questioner is exposed as a lost soul, whose life-interest was his possessions. There is no question that Yeshua knew that even with the man’s best efforts the man was one of those for whom He came. Yeshua cannot be forgetful of the difference between Saviour and sinners.

Sweet little thing

Our tendency to conflate causes us to treat the similar narrative in Matt. 19:16ff as identical.  They are not.  The person in Matthew is not young, and he insults the Lord by equating the Lord with a thing humans could do.  In the realm of things we can do and of things we need done Christ is himself the answer.  None of us dare tell any one that entering life is a Six Commandment Thing, and one would have to stark raving demoniac to argue that selling one’s property and distributing the proceeds to the poor opens the door to life.  It may have been the best thing to demonstrate a readiness to repent and be forgiven, but as far as entering into life is concerned, all of us, people enter into life by grace.

After his resurrection from the dead our Lord tagged His own disciples as “slow-hearted” to believe the prophets, including Moses. Luke 24:25

A sweet and deadly deception undergirds human righteousness, in any form, and we do well to avoid the sting of death and its power.

• • • The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law. 1 Cor 15:56, But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 15:57, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Cor 15:58
    • Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. Deut 31:19
    • Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. Deut 31:26

Six, two, ten, one hundred or five hundred commandments do not amount to a righteous standard, and the Lord’s work (God’s work) is to believe. His personal accomplishment of God’s will was to die for us and live to help us and ours best accomplishment is to believe.

Who has believed the news, and to whom was God’s Arm revealed?