It’s All Light

Bryon Anderson shares a personal testament about his journey through life learning about God's love, sharing stories about various ways God showed up for him and for his wife Joan.

For the law-keeping Jew, God was the fearsome, mountain-shaking Yahweh of history. To the wayward Jew, He was the all-patient One. To the forsaken Jew, God was the friend that sticks closer than a brother. To the beleaguered Jew, God was the Faithful and Holy One speaking through His prophets, promising punishment along with restoration and peace. To the Jew of Jesus’ day, the much-anticipated, prophesied promise of God spoke of a Messiah who would reign terror and vengeance and crushing defeat on their enemy, Rome, and in the process, restore Israel’s rightful sovereignty. Zephaniah 3:9-20, VOICE 1. Zephaniah 3:9-13 – Promise of nations ___________________________________ 2. Zephaniah 3:14-17 – Promise of joy ____________________________________ 3. Zephaniah 3:18-20 – Promise __________________________________________

With the terrifyingly majestic encounter with Divine Glory still thundering in our ears from the base of Mount Sinai, we now race ahead four Centuries to ca. 1000 BC, to King David and his outpourings of love and gratitude for a very different aspect of one and the same God. He moves us from the meta-narrative to the micro-narrative, from Creation’s resplendence to acknowledging God as the Lover of his soul. David says, in Psalm 8: “I know you are the fascinating artist who fashioned it all! But when I look up and see such wonder and workmanship above, I have to ask you this question: Compared to all this cosmic glory, why would you bother with puny mortal man or be infatuated with Adam’s sons?” (TPT). Psalm 139 1. vv. 1-6 – A Kingdom seeking ___________________________________________ 2. vv. 7-12 – A Kingdom reigning ________________________________________ 3. vv. 13-18 – A Kingdom attentive _______________________________________ 4. vv. 19-24 – A Kingdom requiring ______________________________________

The dizzying reality that we are now people of the Kingdom, joint heirs with Christ of the beauty and the bounty of God, continues to be a mystery we are called to embrace. We see all that Jesus modeled, all that he taught, all that he did to introduce the Kingdom. But what went before? What foretastes were given to help prepare undeserving hearts to receive the glories of such an inheritance? Well, in a way, the entire Old Testament story is a Kingdom primer, with repeated glimpses of power and glory and authority totally other, totally mesmerizing, totally sublime. Exodus 19:16–Exodus 20:21 1. 19: 16-25 – The approach of __________________________________________ 2. 20:1-17 – The voice of _______________________________________________ 3. 20: 18-21 – The response of __________________________________________

Since our adoption into the Kingdom of God, our lives have become an integral part of the Meta-Narrative, the over-arching Love Story that is found from Genesis to Revelation. We are the Beloved, the Church of the Living God, the Bride of Christ. There are multiple micro-narratives that abound, spinning out from innumerable, ceaseless sources, narratives which toll doom and despair, dystopian narratives without glimmer of light or hope, essays trafficking in fear and anxiety. But, Praise God!, we do not look to these for truth. Our hope, our confidence, is in the invincible Kingdom of God, full of Light and Truth in the face of Jesus. 1. Isaiah 9:6-7 –Irrepressible _________________________________________ 2. John 1:5, Luke 4:16-21 -Undaunted ____________, Audacious __________ 3. Acts 1:8 -Pre-established ___________________________________________ 4. Hebrews 12:23-29 -Unshakeable, ___________________________________ Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

The Kingdom of God and light are inseparable. In John’s Revelation of the New Jerusalem, he saw: “The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:23) and: “Night will be no more. They will never need the light of the sun or a lamp, because the Lord God will shine on them.” (Revelation 22:5). Later, in his Gospel account, John records Jesus saying: “While I am with you, it is daytime and we must do the works of God who sent me while the light shines. For there is coming a dark night when no one will be able to work. As long as I am with you my life is the light that pierces the world’s darkness.” (John 9:4-5). 1. Luke 2:25-32 – The Light ___________________________ (Isaiah 9:2, Isaiah 60:1-3) 2. John 1:4-5 – The Light ______________________________________________ 3. John 8:12 – The Light, ______________________________________________ 4. Ephesians 5:8-10 – The Light ________________________________________

Relational discord, power struggles, secret plotting, angry shouting, division along ‘party’ lines, all these things are totally absent in the Kingdom of God and the life of the Trinity. There, there is Shalom. Only Shalom. Always Shalom. Spirit fruit is forever in abundant evidence. And when the Kingdom broke in on earth, that Shalom-saturated atmosphere, through Jesus, began its confrontational spreading. Its presence so rankled Jewish leadership early on in Jesus’ public ministry that their plotting of Jesus’ death began. Dietrich Bonhoeffer pointedly wrote: ‘There are only two ways for man to encounter Jesus; man must die, or Jesus must be put to death.’ 1. John 5:17-20 – obedient ______________________________________________ 2. John 14:8-11 – not just alike, ___________________________________________ 3. Luke 22:41-42 – submissive _____________________________________________ 4. Luke 23:44-46 – faith-filled _____________________________________________ 5. John 20:11-17 – Jesus called him _______________________________________

One of Isaiah’s prophecies regarding Jesus, states: “. . . He possessed no distinguishing beauty or outward splendor to catch our attention – nothing special in his appearance to make us desire him.” (53:2, TPT.) This physical ordinariness hid Jesus’ majesty from public view. His humble origin, place of upbringing, rural accent and clothing, all kept his full identity well concealed until his ‘hour had come.’ His disciples spent three and a half years doing double takes at the surprising things he said and did in their presence. In all that time, what they were witnessing, firsthand, was the mesmerizing, sometimes shocking, Kingdom way of life, right before their eyes. Luke 6:27-36 1. vv. 27-31 – Kingdom love is characterized by _____________________________ 2. vv. 32-35a– Kingdom love is characterized by ____________________________ 3. vv. 35b,36 – Kingdom love is ____________________________________________

Jesus. To the Old Testament Israelites, he was the prophesied and much-longed-for, Deliverer. To John the Baptist, he was the Greater One. To the disciples, a Rabbi-become-Friend. To the religious rulers, a threat to their status. To the Romans, just another Jewish nuisance. To the Church, life itself and so much more! Isaiah 9:6, VOICE, says it like this: “His name? His name we’ll know in many ways.” Each one who encounters him does so at a point of need and thereafter knows him as the needed answer, the needed rescue. So, the big question is, who is he? Colossians 1:12-20 1. vv. 12-14 - The Christ as _______________________________________________ 2. vv. 15-17 - The Christ as _______________________________________________ 3. vv. 18-20 – The Christ as _______________________________________________ The four living creatures worshiped, singing: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty! The Was, the Is, and the Coming!” The twenty-four elders worshiped, surrendering their crowns, singing: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, for you created all things, and by your plan they were created and exist.” (from Revelation 4, TPT)

God the Father meticulously chooses times to accomplish His will. But strangely, these ‘times’ are largely unannounced beforehand. So, at a time when thousands were having to travel from their homes to the cities of their forefathers for the census, one young couple, inconspicuous in the crowd, made their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. While there, their baby boy was born in the obscurity of a cattle shed. No one but a group of unnamed shepherds were informed of this nearby birth. It was they who received the exclusive, Royal invitation to be the baby’s first visitors. Luke 2:1-20 For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Today, in the city of David, a Liberator has been born for you! He is the promised Anointed One, the Supreme Authority. . . .today in Bethlehem a rescuer was born for you. He is the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah. Luke 2:11, KJV, NIV, VOICE, TPT 1. KJV –________________________________________a Saviour, Christ the Lord 2. NIV – A Savior_________________________________________, Christ the Lord 3. VOICE – A Liberator_______________________________, the Anointed One, the Supreme Authority 4. TPT –_________________________a rescuer, the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah