Sonlight Devotional

At Look at the Ten Virgins

June 18, 2020 by Admin

Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-13

Let us look today at the parable of ten virgins from Matthew 25. The ten virgins represent the true Church. They were all well dressed and waiting for the Bridegroom. The one point of difference between the five wise and the five foolish virgins was that the wise had oil in their lamps and oil in their vessels. The foolish only had oil in their lamps, and none in their vessels.

Proverbs 20:27 tells us that “The spirit of man is the lamp of God.” We all know that “oil” in Scripture is symbolic of “the Holy Spirit,” therefore, “oil in the lamp” means “the Spirit of God in man’s spirit.” Symbolically, “vessel” means “soul,” as well as “body.” In the same way, “oil in the vessel” means “the Spirit of God in man’s soul.”

The five wise virgins, therefore, became the Bride of Christ, and at the moment of the union between God and man, the five foolish virgins lost their position. The Scripture declares, however, that they went out and “purchased” oil. What is the price that the wise virgins paid to receive their oil in their souls? The Word says, “They loved not their lives unto the death.” In order that the life or Spirit of God might enter into a person’s soul, that person must first give up his own life to Christ. This is so, because in order to be filled with Christ, one must be emptied of all else.

“But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months” (Revelation 11:2).

It is very clear here, that those who are not submitted to the headship of Christ will not be in the class of the Bride, and that is what the Scriptures describe as it refers to the door as being “shut.” The fact, however, that they got oil and were knocking at the door, tells us that they had the Holy Spirit, but that they would be killed for their testimony of Jesus. They represent the Outer Court, which are the “foolish virgins.”

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them” (Revelation 13:7).

The rest of the quotation is found in Daniel 7:22, “Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”

The conclusion is that the “foolish virgins” will be saved through death, while the wise will become like Jesus Christ, minister for three and one half years, and then give their lives and be resurrected after three and one half days.

May the Lord richly bless His Word to your hearts.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, April 1992)

Thought for today: Let us submit to the headship of Christ so that we may be added to the class of the Bride.

Posted in Christian Walk | Tagged Five Foolish Virgins, Five Wise Virgins, Headship of Christ, Matthew 25, Revelation 11:2 | Leave a Comment »

Feasting on Jesus Christ

June 17, 2020 by Admin

Scripture reading: John 6:48-51

The whole operation of the third church realm, as represented with the Table of Shewbread in the Tabernacle of Moses, is a type of man feasting on Christ.

John 6:48-51, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

This does not merely represent man feasting on the word of God from the pages of the Bible, BUT it represents man feasting on the living CHRIST Himself. Feasting on Christ is a spiritual business, not a memorizing of scriptures or any other physical act, but an entering into the Spirit, and a submission to the Spirit of God, who is able to feed us with the living word.

We feed upon Jesus Christ in three dimensions.

(1) The Christ Within – Christ is in the Holy Ghost. When the believer receives the Holy Ghost, he receives Him in his spirit. Immediately, the Holy Ghost begins to energize the soul, so that the Christ might enter. The still, small voice within the soul of the believer should be nurtured and obeyed. Very often, our tendency is to obey the voices from without, and to reject the voice within. As a matter of fact, the majority of the churches teach that we must obey our leaders, and that women must obey their demon-possessed husbands, no matter what they say or what they do. I am teaching that we obey the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost in the believer will lead us to obey good and not evil. If a woman takes this as license to rebel against her husband, or if any Christian takes this as encouragement to rebel against his leader, then that Christian is not hearing the voice of the Spirit. The Holy Ghost leads us into all truths.

(2) We feed on the Christ in the body of believers. Those who have gone before left us very real teachings and examples which we should keenly observe and follow. Since there are so many counterfeits, we have to depend on the Holy Ghost. God, therefore, will send to the body the necessary spiritual food they need. In the assembly, there is a movement of the Spirit, which cannot be found anywhere else. Where the two or three are gathered together, the Spirit will move with gifts and blessings which are not present anywhere else. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25). Two words stand out in this quotation: “ourselves,” and “together.” “Ourselves” in this passage means those who are one with you in the Spirit, and “together” means being in one accord. On many occasions, many assemble, but they are not together and they are not the “yourselves.” Sometimes we gather together under man’s auspices, and man dictates the terms upon which we meet, therefore God is secondary in the gathering or the assembly. Every assembling of Christians must have God as King of the congregation, and He must be thus recognized in our gatherings. The following scripture will bear this point out.

Matthew 18:19-20, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

This passage clearly shows that Jesus Christ attends our meetings, and that the key of our gathering is being “together.”

(3) We feed on Christ in a third dimension in His presence and person. This means that the man Christ Jesus is walking about our houses, in our bedrooms, in our dining rooms, in our living rooms and in our churches. He is not there as a visitor to whom we will show kindness, but as Lord and King. If this is so, then we WILL feed on Him night and day, sleeping or waking.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 92-94)

Thought for today: If we make Jesus our Lord and King, we will feed on Him night and day, sleeping and waking.

Posted in Spiritual Food | Tagged Bread of Life, Feeding on Christ, Tabernacle of Moses, Table of Shewbread | Leave a Comment »

Yeshua

June 16, 2020 by Admin

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Psalm 23:1-5

God is a provider. There is provision in Him to cover all our weaknesses and to heal all our diseases.

Some who read these lines may be in grave physical danger as war and revolution sweep the earth; but remember, David faced danger every day of his life, and the Holy Spirit spoke through him more than any recorded writer, of the deliverance of God from the enemy.

Psalm 23:1-5, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me; Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.”

This and more represents the response of overshadowing which God gives to the church, as she moves in the Spirit. The embroidery covering in the structure of the Tabernacle of Moses is symbolic of all this.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 87)

Thought for today: We have provision in God to cover all our weaknesses and to heal all our diseases.

Posted in The Covenant | Tagged Anointing, Paths of Righteousness, Provision of God, Psalm 23, Tabernacle of Moses, Yeshua | Leave a Comment »

The Ministry of the Teacher

June 15, 2020 by Admin

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Scripture reading: 1 Timothy 2:7

A congregation can appoint a teacher, but it cannot give him/her a ministry. God alone sets ministries in the body. The ministry of the teacher must come directly from God. From my own experience, when God tells me what to tell His people, He tells me how to tell it. I teach sometimes with a chalkboard, and the drawings I put on the board are those things which I see in the Spirit.

There are, however, many, many different administrations of the Spirit. Although God deals with me in this way, He may deal with someone else in an entirely different way, BUT with the same result – His people will get the message, and it will be directed by Him.

There are ministries with the same name as gifts of the Spirit, but the ministry is different from the gift. The gift is the manifestation of the Holy Ghost within the believer, working whatever gift God sees fit to bring forth through the individual.

On the other hand, the ministry is a special and more powerful endowment to the church. The minister, therefore, is the gift of God to the church. His endowment is not his own. He cannot preach where he wills, do what he wants, but as an important part of God’s machinery, he must move when and where God wants him to move or go.

Every human being is capable of some gift of the Spirit if he or she surrenders to God, but not everyone is an anointed preacher of Christ. It must be remembered that every believer, as part of a body, is a ministering, functioning part. In a sense, everyone who is born of God is expected to work with the ministry in one capacity or another. Without these sinews of the body, the ministries could not function effectively.

These are the five bars of the tabernacle.

We should not forget one important observation. The golden rings which hold the bars are attached to the gold on the boards, thus signifying that the nature of God in the body is that which holds the ministry, and not the ministry or minister holding the congregation.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 80-81)

Thought for today: The nature of God in the body is that which holds the ministry, and not the ministry or minister holding the congregation.

Posted in Doctrine of God | Tagged Administrations of the Spirit, Five-Fold Ministry, Gifts of the Spirit, God's Teacher, Tabernacle of Moses | Leave a Comment »