Hebrews 5:8-9. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.
Hebrews 2:10. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
1 Corinthians 15:45. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. Recovery Version.
Revelation 4:5. And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Exodus 31:2-5. “See, I have called by name Bezalel , the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. “I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.”
Exodus 37:17,22-23. Then he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base and its shaft; its cups, its bulbs and its flowers were of one piece with it….Their bulbs and their branches were of one piece with it; the whole of it was a single hammered work of pure gold. He made its seven lamps with its snuffers and its trays of pure gold.
1 Peter 5:10-11. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 5:8-10. ….for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Matthew 5:14-15. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.”
‘Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered’. Was not Jesus found to be perfect in all His words, deeds and conduct during His life on earth? Why then would He need to learn ‘obedience from the things which He suffered’?
Jesus was the Son of God and He was also the Son of Man. His mother was Mary, choice indeed. Yes! But Mary was conceived in sin as David, her forefather before her, was obliged to confess. As a son of man, just like one of us, Jesus was ‘tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin’. Hebrews 4:15.
It was fitting for God ‘to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings’. Jesus, as the Son of God was the very expression of God’s holiness in heaven, adored and obeyed by the angelic host. From the utmost glory He entered this world of pain and sorrow to become one of us. He lived among those who were hopelessly lost in sin. Not only was every moment Jesus lived in this world an experience of suffering for Him but, in the unimaginable agonies of His death as the perfect Lamb of God, He suffered beyond what any other will ever comprehend, excepting God Himself. Yes! Through all of this Jesus was made perfect on behalf of all who love Him.
The Lord God had created the ‘first man, Adam’ to be a living soul. The One sent to be the answer to Adam’s sin, through suffering unto death on a cross, ‘became a life-giving Spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45. How could Jesus become the Holy Spirit we might wonder? This fact is incomprehensible to our human mind and intelligence but is massive in its significance. We have another instance of this fact in the words of Jesus to His disciples as recorded in John 14. After telling them that the Father “will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever”, He adds “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:16,18. Jesus came into them following His resurrection as ‘a life-giving-Spirit’. 1 Corinthians 15:45.
On the evening of His resurrection we read that Jesus entered through closed doors and stood in the midst of His disciples in the upper room. ‘He breathed into them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”’ John 20:22. Recovery Version. At that time Jesus entered into each one present as ‘a life-giving Spirit’.
Jesus had told His disciples on one occasion, “I and the Father are one.” In the same way, it is apparent that Jesus and the life-giving-Spirit are one.
‘And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God’. Revelation 4:5. Surely the ‘seven lamps of fire burning before the throne’, which the apostle John was shown, are part of a lampstand in the heavens. We are informed that the seven lamps of fire’ are ‘the seven Spirits of God’ or we might say the sevenfold Spirit of God.
How vital it was that Moses did all things according to what God had showed him on the mountain. The lampstand of purest gold made by Bezalel in accordance with Moses instructions was made out of one piece of gold through hammering. This process is also known as forging. Gold is an exceedingly malleable metal which can easily be formed into desired shapes and designs by expertly delivered blows of a hammer. The number of hammer blows to make the exquisite piece of art that was this lampstand would have been uncountable and will have taken an immense amount of time.
“See, I have called by name Bezalel , the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God.” The skill of Bezalel in the power and under the guidance of the Spirit of God was unparalleled. Yet, is it even possible that he knew that what he was creating was portraying, not only Jesus as the light of the world, but the blows delivered by his hammer were a type of Jesus’ sufferings that would lead Him to become a life-giving-Spirit, even ‘the seven Spirits of God’?
Under the skill and artistry of Bezalel a solid piece of fine gold, refined in the fire, became the stand for seven golden lamps, that these seven together might give light to the whole interior of the tabernacle.
After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. Just as the Lord Jesus must be perfected through sufferings so also must we. To be without sufferings for Jesus’ sake is to be denied the perfecting work of the Holy Spirit. Without the hammering of suffering for Jesus sake how shall we individually and in company with others become light bearers for Jesus?
‘….for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light’. There can be no doubt that we were formerly darkness. All who have come to Jesus, the light of the world, know that their former condition was darkness. Now, having received the light of life, let us ‘walk as children of Light’.
Jesus told His disciples, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” Just as the lamps on the lampstand in the tabernacle gave ‘light to all who were in the house’, to all who entered it in those far off days so we, as the ‘light of the world’ are to give light to all His people in our own sphere of influence today where we live and wherever God may send us.
As the Lord God had ‘to perfect the author of our salvation through sufferings’, so we must follow in our Master’s footsteps, that He may perfect us through sufferings also. Then, as members of His body, we may in Him shine forth, not only to those of like faith as ours but, perhaps most importantly, be transmitters of the light of Jesus to those lost in sin in this present very dark world.
The shining of the light of Jesus through His people is His testimony on earth. Those who will reign with Jesus for a thousand years following His return will be those who, in the darkness of the age in which they lived, have been part of that city on the hill whose light cannot be hidden. May God be gracious to us that we may be among such as endure all for His sake that we may one day reign with Him.
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