by Amalia Monroy
Assess your relationship with the Lord.
We all have an insatiable longing in the deepest chambers of our hearts for a closeness to the Father. Our faith directly correlates to our identity in Christ – the more we believe, the more sensitive we will be to the presence of God and His purpose for our lives. So, how do we increase faith? By understanding.
Let’s take it back to the beginning – Genesis 1:1-4 states: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.”
What is the “light” that was divided by the Father in Day 1 and why was it so good?
If we take a deeper look into the Hebrew definition of “Light,” the root word it comes from is אוֹר (pronounced ‘ore’) meaning to be light or bright, to be enlightened [1]. The “light” that was divided in Day 1 is correct understanding from wrong understanding. John the Beloved illustrates the divide perfectly in 1 John 1:6-7 – “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
John was considered the closest to Jesus/Yeshua out of the 12 Apostles. He laid his head on the Savior’s bosom at the Last Supper (John 13:23), was defended by Yeshua after Peter questions his calling (John 21:20-23), and wrote the book of Revelation, the complete unveiling of the second advent of Christ that is soon to come. The Apostle hands us the key to be in a close, spiritual relationship with the Lord: we must walk in the same light. Yeshua carefully teaches His disciples the reality of being enlightened by His understanding:
Mat 13:10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
Mat 13:11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
Mat 13:12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
Mat 13:13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
What was the purpose of the parables?
The purpose of the parables was to open the spiritual eyes of the 12 Apostles resulting in a close relationship with the ultimate Teacher.
When we begin to see things spiritually, we begin to walk like Yeshua did. He drew the 12 Apostles deeper by allowing them the opportunity to be unveiled, completely determined by how hungry and teachable they were to know the secrets of God. Paul the Apostle writes about these secrets to the church at Corinth:
1Co 2:6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
1Co 2:8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9 But as it is written: “EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”
1Co 2:10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Foundationally, being “spiritual” is dependent on our ability to break through the veil of our carnal understanding to see the hidden meaning in Scripture. The Bible states many times about the significance of having eyes to see and ears to hear to understand, or be enlightened (Deuteronomy 29:4, Isaiah 37:17, Luke 10:23, Jeremiah 5:21, Ezequiel 12:2, Mark 4:12).
Without the spirit of God, it is impossible to see the hidden mysteries of Scripture, therefore impossible to see eternal, or heavenly things. In the second letter to the church of Corinth, Paul clearly speaks that “…the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor 4:18).” These unseen things are crucial to our spirituality and eternal healing of our souls.
One of the greatest Christian theologians, Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 – c. 253), also speaks of seeking the spiritual meaning of the “the seen” and “unseen” things in Scripture. He further explains the relationship between the two:
Therefore just as “the seen and the unseen” (cf. 2 Cor 4:18), earth and heaven, soul and flesh, body and spirit are related to each other, and this world is made up of these relationships, so too must it be believed that holy scripture is made up of seen and unseen things. It consists of a body, namely, the visible letter, and of a soul which is the meaning found within it, and of a spirit by which it also has something of the heavenly in it, as the Apostle says: “They serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary” (Heb 8:5). Since this is so, calling upon God who made the soul and the body and the spirit of scripture-the body for those who came before us, the soul for us, and the spirit for those who “in the age to come will receive the inheritance of eternal life” (Lk 18: 18,31) by which they will come to the heavenly things and the truth of the law-let us seek out not the letter but the soul. . . . If we can do this, we will also ascend to the spirit. [1]
Origen explains that the bridge between the heavens and this carnal realm correlates to how capable we are to understand the true meaning of Scripture.
How capable are we to understanding the true meaning of Scripture?
This is the bridge between the heavens and the earth.
When we come to the truth of the law, we ascend in our understanding and our reality becomes spiritual. The more that we can see spiritual things in the Scripture, the more that we can walk in the fullness of God and be “transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Lord of the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).
Halleluyah!
Blessings,
Amalia
Reference:
1. Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible, AHLB#1020-J(V), Strong’s # H215
2. Origen of Alexandria – “Spirit and Fire: Thematic Anthology of His Writings”