THE CHOICE IS YOURS

“BUT THE SONS OF THE KINGDOM WILL BE CAST OUT INTO OUTER DARKNESS. THERE WILL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH”. JESUS HERE SPOKE THOSE WORDS TO THE CENTURION. JESUS SAYS OF THE PERSON, WHO WAS UNDER AUTHORITY ALSO, IN VS. 10, “I HAVE NOT FOUND GREAT FAITH, NOT EVEN IN ISRAEL”.

                HE THEN MAKES A CONTRAST OF THESE TWO WORDS, DARKNESS AND LIGHT. IN VS. 12 HE SAYS THE SONS OF THE KINGDOM WILL BE CAST INTO OUTER DARKNESS. BUT IN VS. 11 HE STATES, “THAT MANY WILL COME FROM EAST TO WEST, AND SIT DOWN WITH ABRAHAM, ISSAC, AND JACOB IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN”. SO WE SEE THE CONTRAST, WHERE ABRAHAM, ISSAC AND JACOB WERE NOT DARKNESS. IF NOT DARKNESS, THEN IT MUST BE LIGHT.

                 LIVING GODLY IN AN UNGODLY WORLD, OR WALKNG IN LIGHT AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT ( I JOHN 1:7) IS A HARD THING TO DO IN THIS LIFE. BUT WE WANT TO LOOK AT LIGHT VERSES DARKNESS AFTER THIS LIFE ENDS. THE WORD’S LIGHT AND DARKNESS ARE USED A NUMBER OF WAYS.

                MATTHEW 5:14 STATES, “YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”. VS. 15 STATES, “ A LIGHT IS PUT ON A LAMPSTAND, SO THAT IT GIVES LIGHT TO ALL WHO ARE IN THE HOUSE”. VS. 16 “LET YOU R LIGHT SHINE”. LIGHT IS ONLY NECESSARY WHEN THERE IS A NEED FOR IT. IF THERE WAS NOT DARKNESS IN THE WORLD (SIN), THERE WOULD BE NO NEED FOR LIGHT. SO WE SEE BOTH WORDS USED HERE IN REFERENCE TO THE TYPE OF LIFE ONE LIVES.

                GEN. 1:1-5. “ AND GOD SAID LET THERE BE LIGHT, AND THERE WAS LIGHT. AND GOD DIVIDED THE LIGHT FROM DARKNESS”. HERE IN REFERENCE TO DAYS AND TIME WE LIVE.      BUT LIGHT AND DARKNESS ALSO REFER TO WHERE A PERSON WILL BE WHEN HIS ARE HER LIFE IS OVER. MATT. 8:12, “ BUT THE SONS OF THE KINGDOM WILL BE CAST  OUT OUTER DARKNESS”.  DOES IT JUST MEAN THERE WILL BE NO DAYS OR NIGHTS THERE? REV. 21:25 STATES, “THERE WILL BE NO NIGHT THERE”. SO IT’S NOT HAVING REFERENCE TO THIS TYPE OF DARKNESS.

                DOES MATT. 8:12 TEACH THAT THOSE WHO ARE IN LIGHT AND THOSE WHO ARE DARKNESS WILL BE SEPARATED? YES, BUT MORE THAN THIS. WE DWELL TOGETHER HERE ON EARTH. GOOD AND EVIL, BUT YET GOD’S BLESSES ALL. WE GIVE LIGHT TO THE WORLD BY LIVING GODLY AND IN DOING SO, WE GLORIFY OUR FATHER. JAMES 1:17, STATES, “ EVERY GOOD GIFT AND EVERY PERFECT GIFT IS FROM ABOVE AND COMES DOWN FROM THE FATHER OF LIGHTS”. THIS FATHER OF LIGHTS GIVES GOOD AND PERFECT GIFTS. HE IS REFERRED TO AS A FATHER OF LIGHT AND THRU OBEDIENCE TO HIS WORD, WILL GIVE LIGHT TO A DARK WORLD.

II THES. 1:9 STATES, “ THESE SHALL BE SHALL BE PUNISHED ( THOSE IN DARKNESS, HOW) WITH EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION, ( WHERE) FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD AND THE GLORY  OF HIS POWER”. SO HERE, WE SEE WHAT THE FULL MEANING IS OF OUTER DARKNESS. YES, GOOD AND EVIL WILL BE SEPARATED. BUT AT THAT TIME, DARKNESS WILL BE COMPLETE DARKNESS. GOD’S GLORY WILL NOT BE THERE. THIS IS SOMETHING MANKIND HAS NOT EXPERIENCED. THAT’S THE MEANING OF DARKNESS IN MATT. 8:12

REV. 21:23 STATES, “ THE CITY HAS NO NEED OF THE SUN (LIGHT) OR OF THE MOON TO SHINE IN IT, ( WHY) FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ILLUMINATED IT. THE LAMB IS LIGHT”. AGAIN, SOMETHING MANKIND HAS NOT EXPERIENCED HERE ON EARTH. THOSE WHO WALK IN LIGHT HERE WILL DWELL IN A PLACE WHERE GOD IS THE LIGHT. WE WILL DWELL IN A PLACE WHERE NOT EVENA SPECK OF DARKNESS DWELLS. THIS IS THE MEANING OF LIGHT IN MATT. 8:11

                WHAT WORDS WILL YOU HEAR AT JUDGMENT. ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT OR CAST HIM OUT INTO OUTER DARKNESS. THE CHOICE IS YOUR’S.

                                                                                                 - CL Bruner