The same One who said, “I am the light of the world,”
Created the light of the world through a saying;
All lights have their home in the heavens,
So men should look heavenward for illumination.
No light comes from below, but from above;
Christ’s home was not among us, but in the heavens.
He was in the beginning, creating and dividing all that is seen by what is unseen;
And by the Word He creates in us anew and divides us from this present darkness.
God created man in His own image;
He came to occupy the form in which He created.
Just as man was taken from dust, Christ was from heaven;
Man was created from below, Christ from above.
If you know a tree by its fruit, then what tree is Christ, except the tree of life?
His fruit from the cross is eternal life to everyone who believes.
Although the cross is a dead piece of wood that brings forth death,
But like Aaron’s staff which budded, so the cross brings forth fruit of life.
If there be a tree of life, then a tree of death;
All who think they can get right through the Law, eat from the tree of death.
As God created woman suitable for man,
He created man suitable for God and planted eternity in his heart.
As He made woman from man’s body,
Christ’s bride is from His body, which was broken for her.
Christ executed judgement upon the serpent’s foremost;
The serpent bruised His least-most member.
He now persecutes the woman and her children.
God covered His children with garments of skin;
And we who are in Him put Him on like new clothes.
Let us walk unashamedly before Him all our days!
As Shem and Japheth covered their father’s nakedness,
The love of Christ covers a multitude of sins.
Where there is vengeance in the law, even seventy-sevenfold,
There is grace in Jesus Christ, seventy-sevenfold, even in a single day.
How mysteriously a large ship floats on the water!
But no surprise that Jesus Christ is a Rock and Safeguard from danger;
Even the rock-badgers are considered wise for making their home in the rocks.
The angels fell when they saw the beauty of women and made giants;
And God’s Son came into the world through a woman.
God blessed the whole world on account of one man, Noah;
He provided a soothing sacrifice to the LORD.
And God blessed the world again on account of One, Jesus Christ;
He provided a sacrifice for the whole world.
As Noah alone was righteous in a crooked world,
Christ was the only One to stand for the truth in a crooked and evil generation.
God scattered the tongue of wickedness so they would be confused;
He made one language through His Spirit so they would be one.
Truth is a tongue, and lies are a language;
Those who abide in the Teaching are truly His disciples;
As Seth was a son in Adam’s own likeness,
So the Truth is preserved in God’s children.
Melchizedek had no origin, no genealogy, no history;
And so He resembles the Son of God who is Forever.
As Rebekah said, “Your curse be on me, my son,”
Jesus took upon Himself our curse that the blessing of Abraham may come.
Rachel stole an idol and an oath of death was made;
Although she was guilty, she did not die;
But Benjamin did no such thing with a similar oath,
Yet he was given the death sentence.
And so Jesus was innocent, and we are guilty;
Yet He was punished and we were set free.
Judah had two sons, both died when they went unto the same woman;
He held back his third for he supposed the woman to be accursed.
He went in unto her unknowingly, but he did not die.
So Jesus went to Sheol, and arose from her.
Just as Jacob’s life was bound up in Benjamin,
So Christ’s life is bound up in the Father.
If we desire to live, our life must be in Jesus.
We are deceived into putting clocks on our wrists;
They deceive us into thinking, “I know what time it is!”
We look back at a few years and say, “That was just last night”;
And to a decade, “It was but yesterday!“
The future is darkness and the past we don’t remember;
Those who think they know don’t really know anything.
The weather man exclaims confidently, “Wind & rain!”
But the LORD God Almighty exhales snow and hail.
The only light of the future is the coming of the Great King;
And also the day of our death, and even then we don’t know the day!
The more we discover about time,
The more we discover that we know so little.
These days are evil, wicked and perverse, who can understand them?
We say, “Tomorrow, we will do this and that”, but we don't know.
Which is more deceitful: the promise of tomorrow or the human heart?
Both are wicked and have no understanding.
They are equals.
Procrastination kills today;
It renders the day useless.
Prudence says, “I will do today, so if tomorrow comes, I will be ready.“
A fool says, “There is a lion outside! I cannot go today.“
There is a time for everything: so don’t look upon the poor with contempt;
Your day of poverty is also soon coming.
People tell time differently just as people talk differently;
A new language for them and a new way to tell time for you.
No-one can stop the coming of a day;
We will all have our share of good and evil.
Esau sold his birthright for a single meal, even a single moment;
Even though he sought it with tears, he did not obtain the eternal blessing.
People trade today’s pleasures for everlasting disgrace;
When the unknown day comes, they will inherit it.
The fools think, “I have forever and I will never die.”
But the prudent say, “Today & right now is all that I have.“
Our time moves slow like a turtle, like watching the springing of grass;
God sees us as a passing vapor, a mist dissipating in the air.
Who can tell time but the Head of Days?
Has He not set the boundaries?
Is He not the Beginning and the End?
No-one can tell when a disaster strikes;
Otherwise, they would have prevented it.
Can anyone understand how time is?
Can the hand grasp itself?
Everyone looks like a fool trying to do so.
Man’s days are deceitful & full of toil & burden;
How can he remain full of joy in all his meaningless days?
There is nothing better than to love God & keep His statutes,
To enjoy all his meaningless days because this is his lot in life.
Who knows? If the LORD God is pleased with you, you might be taken sooner,
like Enoch, the seventh from Adam, snatched from the earth before his time.
If we do get to heaven, we will be shamed that we complained about life;
The surpassing greatness of heaven will put us to shame.
Therefore, love today, love your troubles and sufferings,
knowing your King, the Christ, Jesus, also suffered as you did.
He humbled Himself to be like you are;
And He knows that you should be ready for His coming.
Listen to Him. Was He not once outside of time & has come to us?
Time takes extraordinary faith;
We hardly see the day prior nor do we see tomorrow at all;
We don’t even see the full extent of right now.
God moves the world in a cadence, each moment at a time;
Which luminary dares to get out of step?
The breath of life moves us and animates us;
How also does time?
Time is a predator;
When you set your eyes on it, it holds still.
The day of death catches like a snare;
At an unexpected time, life is no more.
Sin is a bad itch;
After you have satisfied it, the rash has spread.
Sin is a beast caged up, the more you feed it, the bigger it gets;
And the bigger it is, the more it feeds.
Evil is a cancer;
Once it has started, who can put a stop to it?
Sin is the very power of satan,
It makes its home in the sons of men.
Evil is a sugary, salty, & fatty meal,
For it tastes good going down, but it turns bitter in the stomach.
Sin is an irate child,
It always is demanding its own way.
If sin feels good for a short while, being evil,
How much more does goodness feel being for a lifetime?
Sin is a living power, living inside men,
Yet it's deathly and its end is death.
Sin is dysfunctional,
taking the functional use of God’s creation and perverting it.
Sin knows no bounds, even treading upon the Holy Word;
It trots and boasts, making itself known.
Sin has no spirit; it is an animal;
It moves by its own instincts; by its gut it traverses.
If you want to see what sin looks like, look at death,
It corrupts much that is good.
Sin is a newborn baby, crying in public,
It doesn't regard even its own mother’s feelings.
Evil walks in darkness & delights in blindness;
It’s afraid of the light;
It does not go, otherwise its deeds would be reproved.
Sin blankets itself with lies;
And sleeps in the dumps.
Lawlessness is an unruly & wild animal, not able to submit to anyone;
Sin cannot be tamed even by kings.
Sin’s mother is lust; her friends are like her.
They all delight in ignorance.
Sin spreads like gangrene, like a little yeast throughout the whole batch of dough.
A little bit of mold; it couldn't hurt, could it?
Sin is deceptive: how can something that feels good be bad?
If sin were truthful, no one would willingly chose it.
Sin sells itself as something great;
When you have bought it, you can’t take it back.
Sin offers a moment of pleasure for everlasting disgrace;
Those who love God will stay away from its web.
Sin is deceptive like money;
It cannot deliver a soul, even while promising, it takes the soul.
Just as man’s presence keeps a dog from eating the owner’s food,
So God’s Presence keeps from sin.
Sin deceives saying, “All is well”,
While sitting in a pit, awaiting to be burned.
Is there a man without sin?
Is there a person who does not humble himself to defecate?
In the light, there is forgiveness, in darkness there is only lies. See & walk in the light while you have the light.
A day is coming, and is here now, of universal darkness, where sin will run rampart in the streets in broad daylight.
Following the time of darkness will come the day of light: when He comes on a white horse with countless thousands of His holy ones to execute judgement on the ungodly world for all their ungodliness in which they have ungodly committed.
For they chose not to believe in God, so that they would live a godly life and see many days.
Their life will be cut short and never be picked back up again; wrath and indignation awaits all workers of evil; and immortality for those who seek righteousness and peace.
Glory be to the Lord Jesus Christ.
As an expensive car travels on the same broken road as a used car,
So it is when the rich perish, they will share the same fate as the poor man.
Just as cars pull over for an ambulance,
All people will behold the Son of Man and bend their knee and confess His name.
As God separated light from darkness,
So too must His people separate themselves from this world.
Where foreigners are, so is their tent;
They look forward to their native land.
When sacrificing a lamb or a goat for sin,
There is still guilt for killing an innocent animal.
It’s impossible to be a slave when God has redeemed you;
Who can take from the Almighty? Who can take you out of His Hands?
Unless He turns you over, how can it be?
A tame dog is of more use than a man who acts like a wild animal;
He is wild and unruly, who can put a yoke on him?
Everyone uses the presence of evil as an excuse to make money;
They show they are no better than evil.
They say, “A disaster has hit, send me money!”
And “My dog died, please send aid.”
They think, “Since this bad thing has happened to me,
I mid as well get something good out of it.”
The darkness of sin is often covered up with bright colors:
A grave with it’s flowerbed, a tomb with its whitewash,
A colorful venomous creature, the LGBT community.
One can see the truth of a matter;
They only need to look to the beginning.
People want peace & harmony in sin;
They don’t want their sins pointed out.
“I will allow for your sins”, they think, “Why don’t you, me?”
Abundance of life comes from being sober and awake,
Self-disciplined and watchful, self-controlled and alert.
Things that people do secretly are secretly seen by few;
And in that Great Day, all secrets will be viewed by all.
People will risk their lives to save a sliver of time and some effort;
They risk the rest of their lives, for a single moment!
The blackest darkness is the worship of idols;
Such folly even lighter darkness can reveal.
With pride comes all sorts of evil and impurity;
The love of money with much calamity.
The more attractive to the eye,
The more poisonous!
Evil people love murderous movies, but absolutely fear death;
They love bonds, but hate jail and prison.
Fools trivialize their fears by making fun of them;
A wise man faces what he most fears.
“My fears will find me out”, they think.
So they put their secrets on display to make light of them.
With what your sin desires, God will punish;
He humbles and rebukes those He loves.
He sent flocks of birds for meat;
And while they gorged themselves, He smote them.
God gave man humble beginnings;
In the day of his pride, he should remember.
Like a strongman flexing his muscles in the mirror
So is a man who speaks high-sounding nonsense.