Sermon on the Mount 11- The Light of the World that Shines on a City on a Hill
Matthew 5:14-16
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that[b] they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
On the surface, it sounds like living as the light seems like doing many good works, doesn’t it? You must know it is actually the opposite of this. We have studied about the salt and the light in the Sermon on the Mount #10. I have said it simply is not advice or instruction for the saints to live like the salt and light in this world. It is the inevitable life of a saint who is caved into the covenant and being dragged by it and that life is the salt and the light. It is not about ‘let’s be the salt or let’s be the light.’ That is why I explained it with the salt covenant. Today, I will give you a little more supplemental explanation about the light and next week we will study how the story of the light and the salt connects to the completion of the law and the prophets.
According to John 1, the light in “You are the light of the world” is indicating Jesus Christ, who came as the word. Right? Jesus is the light. It is an important verse so let’s check it out and move on.
John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life,[a] and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
When ‘light’ or ‘salt’ comes out while reading the Bible, you should not picture certain kinds of light or salt that you know. Since the primary recipient of the Bible was the Hebrews, you need to know in what meaning they received it. So we should not understand the salt and the light in the context we know, as in something that prevents decaying or something that melts to benefit others or something that shines brightly.
As you can see, it says the light is Jesus the Creator and the Creator Jesus is the light. It says He created all. It says He is the word and the life. It is ‘zoe’, life. Jesus, the word, represents the mystery of the Creator, the infinite God in whole. That is the word and Jesus. But as you know, finity cannot understand or learn infinity. What is in the definite territory cannot understand, sense, see, or learn infinity. That is why the veil was there as a wall in the gap between finity and infinity. The word became flesh and came to this world to break down that wall. He came to make a way for finity to understand infinity. So infinity inserted into finity is incarnation and that is Jesus.
By infinity coming into finity, the door of communication between finity and infinity opened up. The door to unity opened. That is the event of the word becoming flesh and the event of the cross. When infinity comes down into the world of finity like this, it cannot be expressed other than as the light. It is not talking about a visible light, but there is no human word that can describe infinity coming into finity, other than ‘light’. That is why it just says ‘light’. In the territory of finity where there is no understanding of infinity or, rather, where such understanding is not even approachable, the mystery of infinity shoots out like the light. The light is coming out from here like it is shooting out. Like this, the mystery of infinity shooting out in the territory of finity becomes the mysterious light of God. That is why it is called the light but it is not the kind of light that shines or a ray of laser.
Also, the mystery of infinity, the infinity of the revelation, is guaranteeing the territory of the creation. Guaranteeing it means it will most definitely be created. I can also say it is pledging but guaranteeing it means it will for sure create the territory of the creation. That is the mystery of infinity. Because the mystery of infinity is guaranteeing the territory of the creation, it is also called ‘zoe’(life). So the word is called the light and also the life. As such, that light is ‘musterion’, which is impossible to understand in the territory of darkness, in the territory of this world, in the phenomenal world. That is why it says the light came but darkness could not understand it, could not accept it. In this phenomenal world, the mystery of infinity is impossible to understand. That is why the light, the mystery of infinity, came and this darkness, the phenomenal world, could not recognize it and could not understand it.
The darkness of finity, which cannot understand Jesus the light, the revelation of infinity, is the serpent, right? This world here is the cosmos which is captured by the finity of its own existence to the core, seized by what is seen, and enslaved by its desire to conquer the life of infinity by its inner force of will. That is why those who are tied to the phenomenal world obviously cannot recognize it when the light, the mystery of infinity, comes. Obviously, they must not recognize it. But Jesus is saying you are the light of the world. How would you understand this?
If the Bible is as deep as you would read superficially, anyone can understand this. But the Bible is hidden from the world like this. God made it in a way so that not anyone can understand it. The literal understanding, a superficial understanding that even a Korean contemporary philosopher like Do-ol Yong-Ok Kim can do is not the understanding of the Bible. Only the saints can understand it. You are the light of the world. Well, how are we the light of the world? We are still trapped in the phenomenal world and we are nothing but darkness, but God is saying we are the light of the world. As we have seen, this light is the mystery of infinity, Jesus Christ, the word, and the life. But Jesus, using this exact word, is saying ‘you are the light of the world’. How shall we understand this?
You need to understand this well. In ‘you are the light of the world,’ the word translated as ‘world’ is ‘cosmos’. In its origin, the word, ‘cosmos’ means order. It is order, harmonious arrangement, adornment, orderly decoration, ornament, etc. So to the Hebrews, cosmos is not just a world or universe, but it is an ordered system which is sequential and systematic. So to the Hebrews, this cosmos is not simply a universe or world and at least in today’s text, ‘world’ is not just indicating a certain territory or existence outside of God’s selection. Where is the Sermon on the Mount being given? It is the Mountain, right? That is why it’s called the Sermon on the Mount. If you look at Matthew 5:1, it shows which mountain it is. Let’s take a look.
Matthew 5:1
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
Here in front of the word ‘oros’(mountain), there is an article ‘to’(the). This means it is not just any mountain but the mountain, a certain mountain. Why did Matthew write it as the mountain with an article? He is suggesting that this mountain is closely connected to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The mountain Jesus is sitting on here is Mount Zion. Mount Zion represents Jerusalem of heaven, the spiritual Jerusalem. What was on Mount Zion when it was understood in history? The Temple of Jerusalem was there. It is understood as the Mount Sinai of the law. When the mystery of the infinite revelation comes down to human beings who ate the fruit of good and evil, it is always understood in the level of the phenomenal world. That is why Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, is understood in this world as the Mount of Zion, Jerusalem, or the Mount Sinai of this world. Stories about this come out in many places in the Bible and I will eventually find them out for you.
So, this holy city, this mountain of grace incubating the New Jerusalem, Mount Zion is understood as the Mount Sinai in this world of the law. That is why it is all received as the law when the grace of heaven is explained. It is the same as the Bible, which is filled with grace given to men of the phenomenal world and it is accepted as morals, ethics, decrees, and regulations. Here the mountain which represents these two mountains is coming out.
In Psalm 121, it says, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come from?” Our help comes from the mountain of the heavenly Jerusalem, where the temple is, where the throne of God is, but men understand it as the mountain of Jerusalem of the law, the Mount Sinai, and try to receive help from it. So when the true people of God, the church, read “I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come from?” they think of the heavenly Jerusalem. But when the phenomenal world reads this, it will think of the benefit that will be rewarded by keeping Jerusalem, Mount Zion. It may be difficult but listen carefully till the end. It may be easier to understand if we go to Galatians 4.
Galatians 4:21-26
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;[a] she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Where is Jerusalem? It is on Mount Zion but Paul says Mount Zion is Jerusalem. Jerusalem is on Mount Zion but Apostle Paul says Mount Zion and Jerusalem are the same place. If you look further down, there is another Jerusalem, which is above. God gave Jerusalem on earth, the temple, to explain Jerusalem above, but men are taking it as Jerusalem of flesh in the phenomenal world and that is their darkness. So the identity of light is being peeled away little by little. In today’s text, there is a keyword which reveals clearly what mountain it is. Let’s go back to verse 14 of today’s text.
Matthew 5:14
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Here, a city set on a hill comes out, a city on Mount Zion. Here the translated word ‘orous’(hill) could mean just a mountain but it is also a word that indicates spiritual maturity and the procession of the understanding of the inner world. This word ‘orous’(hill) indicates the understanding of the mystery of infinity through the word, but also at the same time as the understanding in the flesh, distorted understanding, and misunderstanding as the law. Like this, the city on a hill in today’s text, indicates the temple of the law in history but it also represents the Holy City of the New Jerusalem, which is completed in the infinite revelation. It is a dual representation.
It becomes clearer if we look at the word ‘city’ and it is the word ‘polis’, which indicates a city state or a town. There is polis in English, too. Right? It is not a small village or a small town on a mountain, but a metro city. A city, polis. This word was used in a single feminine nominative case and to the Hebrews at that time, there was no other polis on a mountain written in a single feminine nominative case except Jerusalem. So the Hebrews knew it was Jerusalem when they heard ‘a city on a hill’, the polis, ‘orous’, or ‘to orous’. There is a place where the same word comes out and it will become surer if we look at it. Please look at Revelation 21:2.
Revelation 21:2
And I saw the holy city, (This is polis. A city. A city on a hill) new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
So, the Holy City in the infinite revelation, a city on a hill, the new Jerusalem, is pictured as a model but people are not realizing it as the New Jerusalem on a hill of the infinite revelation. It is just Jerusalem on a hill because they do not understand it. This place, this temple, has to be destroyed. It has to be shattered. The hill is Mount Zion, where Jerusalem is constructed and the city on that hill, on Mount Zion, is Jerusalem.
If we go to Hebrews, we can see that a city on a hill and Mount Sinai are being compared.
Hebrews 12:21-22
Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
Words like Mount Zion, the city of God, and the heavenly Jerusalem come out. What is the mountain that is being compared in the verse before this where Moses went up? It is Mount Sinai. It is being compared. Mount Sinai is being compared to the New Jerusalem of the Heaven and Mount Zion. Mount Zion of this earth is given to understand the heavenly New Jerusalem, but it is recognized as Mount Sinai by the people. To tell you about the darkness of the people who always take it as the law when the grace, Jesus, is being explained to them, I am talking about this complicated stuff- not having done this in a while, it is really complicated. I am not used to this… Well, the Bible is emphasizing that darkness can never recognize the light.
The city above is the temple of Jerusalem, the sum of legalism. So the city on a hill is Jerusalem, the old temple in this history which is represented as legalism and the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus, the true temple of the heaven explaining the word of life. Clearly, it is Mount Zion, Jerusalem, but men are taking it as Mount Sinai, the law. So the true temple came down and is saying, “Wow, this is frustrating. I gave you the new temple of Jerusalem to explain me, the true temple, but you are making a market place. I am the temple. I came down so I will explain this clearly to you.” The Sermon on the Mount is this true temple which is sitting on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, on the mountain where the throne of God is and breathing out help to men the creatures, shattering and destroying the old temple. So as you read the Sermon on the Mount, if you go, “Man~, not killing but even calling your brother ‘laga’ is a murder so let’s not even say stupid to the brothers”, you are reading it completely upside down. The Sermon on the Mount is what destroys the law. The site of the cross of grace breaking down the temple of the law- this is the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus is saying the city on a hill will not be hidden and be revealed by the light incubated by the saints. Didn’t He say you are the light of the world so by this light, a city on a hill cannot be hidden? There, the word ‘ou’, which means absolute denial, was used. So it means it must be revealed. It can never be hidden. What is? A city on a hill in history. A hidden city on a hill which is pretending to be the heavenly Jerusalem, the true temple, will be exposed and at the same time, the New Jerusalem hidden inside it, the true identity of the New Jerusalem of the Heaven, will definitely be revealed by the light in us- this is the story of today’s text.
It means, “You are the light of the world. By this light inside you, the true identity of Jerusalem of legalism will be exposed and the true meaning of the heavenly New Jerusalem hidden inside it will be witnessed to the people.” So, it is becoming clearer what the light inside us is.
So in Jerusalem, the old temple, Jesus is speaking of the light of the world, the ‘cosmos’. I said the world is ‘cosmos’ and ‘cosmos’ is of a sequential and systematic order. Here, Jesus is sitting on the old temple, the place of the sum of legalism, Jerusalem on Mount Zion, and speaking of order, ‘cosmos’.
I said ‘cosmos’ is about something that exists as a systematic and sequential order. What is that? It is the law that is in order and regulated- cosmos. So, Jesus saying the light of the cosmos, in Jerusalem on Mount Zion means you will live as a certain light in this legalism. It means, like the new life which is the light, coming into us while in flesh, our flesh is the old temple. In this body, no matter what word we receive, we cannot help but be men-centered humanists and take it as a decree and commandment. We are like this even now, being insecure and afraid. It can also mean we are “those who have the light in there”. The whole world is moving towards the law, right? That is humanism and legalism. It means we are elected as those whom the light reveals something in the history and life built by the Adams who ate the fruit of good and evil. We first experience and go through something as the one who has the light in the old temple. Also, the whole world in this history moves towards the law, right? This is cosmos. So the word cosmos, the world can be changed with a word ‘law’. We exist as a certain light in there. And this light is Jesus, life, the mystery of infinity. So, in this history, wearing a body of flesh in this world, we are to live a life revealing, teaching, and witnessing who this Jesus is, why this world has to be created only by the light, and why there is life only in this light. That is why it says you are the light of the world, the cosmos, and in the law.
You have studied it too easily. When speaking of the light of the world, you learned this as ‘yes, let’s be the light and shine on as a lamp’. But it is hard because I explain it like this, isn’t it? However, if you master a few things like this, many other parts of the Bible can easily be understood. So please do not think of it as being hard and listen well. Now, let’s look at how the saints who are incubating the light in this world, the cosmos, in the law, expose the fake city on a hill and reveal the true city on a hill. Please picture the old temple in the Old Testament in your head. Pass the courts like the outer court of the gentiles, the court of women, and the court of men. There are brazen altars, lavers, tabernacle and lamp stand, altar of incense, table of showbread, the veil, the Ark of the Covenant… like this, there is a sequence and an order. All these are sequentially explaining Jesus Christ. But not understanding this as Jesus, not realizing this and solving it as Jesus, is the law- this is called the world, cosmos.
Well, all these are explaining Jesus. When the mystery of infinity, the revelation of the heaven, the word has come to earth but people understand it as just order, decrees, or ‘cosmos’, there is something in there that for sure exposes and proves it and that is the light. There is a light inside the tabernacle. What is it? It is the lamp stand inside the tabernacle. I now will connect the light to this lamp stand and take you all the way to Revelation. You will see. There is a light that must not go out. The priests must not let the light go out. That is the lamp stand. We are the unquenchable light that burns inside the old temple. This is what the light of the world means. It is shown well in detail what the light of the world, or the lamp stand in the old temple, cosmos, or the law is in Revelation. Let’s take a look.
Revelation 1:20
As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches.
The lamp stand in the temple is the seven lamp stands. It is made into seven lamp stands by hammering one talent of gold. And the lamp is placed on a stand. Oil is placed in a bowl and the lamp is placed on a stand – this is the lamp stand inside the temple. It is talking about this now and it says the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches. Seven churches come out in Revelation but the seven churches do not mean there are seven churches, but it is the perfect church in the infinite revelation, the completed church. That is why it says the seven churches, using the number 7. You can think of it as the church. The lamp, the lamp stand, is the church.
If so, how can the saints who live as the light of the city on the hill, the cosmos, or the temple of Jerusalem exist as the exclusive light in there? All the churches of the world are going down hand in hand with humanism and legalism now. Then, how can the church of God exist in cosmos? It cannot do it by itself. It is done by grace. That is why you should not understand the Sermon on the Mount, the story of the kingdom of heaven of grace, as a legal requirement or pressure to be the light and salt of the world or not to kill or commit adultery. The Sermon on the Mount is to show that it becomes possible by grace. In Revelation, it says the lamp in the temple is the seven lamp stands and these are the seven churches and these also are the seven spirits. What are the seven spirits? They are the Holy Spirit, which is perfect and complete. Please look.
Revelation4:5
From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings[a] and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,
Clearly it is the Holy Spirit, right? Then, what does this mean? It said the seven lamp stands that exclusively shine in the law, witnessing the light, Jesus the life, and decreasing to increase the life, is the church. And it says it is also the Holy Spirit. This means the church and the Holy Spirit must be intimately related. They cannot be separated. The church does not exist without the Holy Spirit. And for the church, the Holy Spirit comes down. They cannot be separated.
Revelation5:6
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain (Who is this slain lamb? Jesus, right?), with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
It is becoming clearer. It says it’s the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus Christ must witness, reveal, and explain only Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of Jesus, the seven churches, the heavenly church exists and is sustained. That’s how it is being connected right now. Like this, the seven lamp stands or the light inside the temple is the main body of the word, Jesus Christ the main body of the light, and the church incubating Jesus Christ. Why, the church itself is Jesus Christ with Jesus Christ as its head. Thus, we are seized of our own individual self-ego because Jesus is the head. You are Jesus, too. We are not Jesus in the way Man-Hee Lee, the cult leader, says he is the messiah, but we are Jesus because we are the church Jesus made as one, with Him being the head. That is why we can say we are Jesus. God only accepts this Jesus, only Jesus. If you look in Revelation, there is a tree standing in the kingdom of God. When looking at the completed new heaven and new earth, a tree is standing and what is this tree called? It is the tree of life. The tree of the fruit of good and evil disappeared. There is the tree of life. The temple was a model made according to the blueprint of this kingdom of God, but there is nothing other than the lamp stands that are shaped like a tree. That is why they are made like leaves, trunk, and branches, seven branches. Then, what is the lamp? It is the tree of life, Jesus Christ. The reason this Jesus Christ is placed outside of the Holy of Holy is because Jesus exists as a savior who comes into history and saves us who are in the phenomenal world. In reference to the tree of life which is Jesus Christ, the Bible says the seven lamp stands are the seven churches. That is why you are Jesus. We are saved having become Jesus, having become an heir. (This, I will explain how we become a son with the names of the twelve sons next week. I was going to do it this week but we do not have enough time so I will postpone till next week.) The appearance of the united church with Christ as the head- this is the seven lamp stands or seven lamps.
But here, it says the seven spirits are the seven eyes. Where have we seen the seven eyes? They come out in Zechariah. Please look at Zechariah 4:2.
Zechariah 4:2-10
And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
All of a sudden, this lamp stand came out in a vision and he asked what are these lamps, but the angel does not answer him. Instead, the Angel said "not by might, nor by power, but by God’s Spirit". The angel said God is making it the lamps, the light on the lamp. It means the light is made not by your might, nor your power, but by the Spirit of God, by the Holy Spirit. It means that is how the light shines.)
7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” 8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. “These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.”
Eyes of the Lord, the eyes of the Lord come out also in Revelation and also the seven lamps and seven spirits. The content of Zechariah 4, which you just read, is a vision Zechariah saw. There are a total of seven visions in Zechariah. Without a doubt, you can assume the kingdom of God and the number representing the creation when you see the number 7. So the book of Zechariah is to show how the kingdom of God is completed through the seven visions. And this is the 5th vision. This vision is picturing the heavenly kingdom of God, the temple and progression of the true temple being built. The kingdom of God primarily refers to Jesus Christ and also to us, who are called as the holy nation. So, the seven visions are to show how we are completed and perfected and that is the completion of the kingdom of God. How is that being explained? There are seven lamps on a lamp stand and two olive trees, one on each side. And the oil is flowing in from the olive trees and the light continues to burn. There is no power in the lamp stand in itself, but the oil is being fed into the light from the outside. And Zechariah asked “what is this?” I have said this is the church, the kingdom of God, right? This kingdom is sustained by the Holy Spirit continuously supplying the oil and the light keeps going. It dies once the oil stops. There is no more church if this happens. So the oil must continue to be supplied. But this is not sustained by might power, not by the power, worth, or might of the phenomenal world in history, but it is continuously supplied by the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. This vision is to show this is how the church, the sanctuary, is completed.
Zerubbabel comes out in this vision and he is a grandson of Jehoiachin. (This coming Sunday, I will look into Ezekiel and there come out the last kings of Judah, such as Jehoiachin and Zedekiah.) So Zerubbabel was royalty. Zerubbabel came out along with Israel to rebuild the temple. And at the time it was a very hard time. There were many great hindrances from here and there when rebuilding the temple and even northern Israel and the people of Samaria came to the building site and tried to deter the rebuilding by scattering dead bodies around it. (He worked as a prophet from BC520 and the temple was completed around BC515 or BC 516.) He must have said, “Oh man~ can this temple be rebuilt when things are like this? Can the temple be completed?” The vision was shown to him at this time. It is to show that “Temple is built not by your might nor power but by the Spirit of the Lord. It is done by God. How? God is doing it by pouring over the Holy Spirit, by pouring the oil.” Anyways, Zerubbabel is someone who is standing there as a model for Jesus, who completes building the church, the true temple of God, by bearing the cross. So the story of the fifth vision of Zechariah 4 of the lamp stand and two olive trees is a description of the church, the kingdom of God, being completed by the Holy Spirit like that. “The church is made by God’s grace like this.”
So the light on the seven lamps are to symbolize you, the church in the entire history that is sinking into the kingdom of God by the Holy Spirit, and that is why you are the light. The Light. “After the ministry of salvation is finished, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, comes in and all begin by Christ and finish by Christ.” - This is the church being supplied with the oil of the Holy Spirit.
However, at a certain point, the end comes to this history. The end is coming. So when that happens, there is no need for the oil of the Holy Spirit, the church, to reveal Jesus in the world since it is the end. Then, what kind of things should happen? The oil from the seven bowls is being poured out. That is why the last disaster in Revelation ends with the seven bowls being poured out. That is the end. Please look at Revelation 16:1.
Revelation16:1
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
Once this oil is poured out, it ends with it. History ends. And we then will exist as the mystery of infinity and infinite revelation in Jesus, who is the true light of the heaven. As the eternal light. Inside this history, we existed as the light which witnesses, reveals, and passes on Jesus by the help of the Holy Spirit, but now we will no longer need to do that and will be united to the true light. We will in the infinite revelation. This is being said in the book of Revelation.
Once the seven bowls are poured out, all disasters are done and it is the end. It says history will be rolled up like a scroll and taken up. Being rolled up like a scroll means history is a scroll being unrolled in time as the infinite revelation is unfolded, doesn’t it? History later being rolled up and taken up means history is the infinite revelation being unfolded. Right? Then, let’s see. Jesus Christ gave birth to the church and ascended into heaven. And He sent God the Holy Spirit. And God the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. So, the Spirit of Christ came down to earth and witnesses, explains, and teaches Christ and the work done by Christ.
John 15:26
But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
So what must those who are anointed by the Holy Spirit and living in this world as the light, as the seven lamp stands with the Holy Spirit, do? They must witness Jesus. They are not to prove and boast themselves or take in certain worth or pride of their own, but they are to witness Jesus. That is why Jesus says you are the light of the world, the cosmos. But, we do not like living as the light. We want to witness and boast ourselves but because Jesus had stated “you are the light of the world”, our own will is not granted. So the statement ‘you are the light of the world’ means ‘you are dead’ and it does not mean ‘I will reward you if you live well as the light’.
The light of the world is the existence of the saints who are to judge all of the Adams of the twelve tribes under the law as they keep the gospel of grace, the word of Jesus. Living as the light is not doing many kind deeds and making those who are in the shade enjoy happiness, peace, and joy by shining the warm light to them. But it is attesting that we are garbage without Jesus. ‘You are the light of the world’.
The book of John says the word is the spirit and life, right? Didn’t it say the word is the spirit and life, the Holy Spirit is life. We realize and know by the spirit, by the word, that we are nothing if not by Jesus Christ and that is having the light. And we are used as a tool to attest to this and pass on. The entire world superficially interprets the word of God as decrees and laws in the perspective of the territory of darkness. On the other hand, the true church receives the word of God as the spirit and exclusively shines the word as Jesus.
The oil was continuously being supplied from the olive tree next to the lamp stand. And that was the Holy Spirit, the oil of the Holy Spirit. It is describing that not only the church is born by the Holy Spirit coming down but it exists by the continuous illumination, guidance, and fulfillment of the Holy Spirit. But how is that oil being supplied? By the word since it said ‘my word is the spirit and life’. So what word? The word that concludes with Jesus and grace. It’s no other kind of word. If not, that is like fake gasoline that ruins the lamp stand. The Holy Spirit is the word and the church without correct understanding of the Bible and declaration of the correct word does not exist. Because it is a church with no oil being poured on, it is called a fake church, a pseudo church. What was the word? It is the word of life that concludes with Jesus. So any sermon, no matter how eloquent, good to the ear, and splendid it may sound, if it does not conclude with Jesus, grace, and the cross, it is nothing, like the sound of a gong.
If so, who supplied the oil that the five wise virgins had in the parable of the ten virgins? God supplied it. That is why they are shown as falling asleep like the others. It is showing through the appearance of them asleep that they did not prepare the oil by their own qualification and personal character nor by their own diligence and effort. Salvation is the Holy Spirit pouring down the oil, pulling inside the door only those who have been poured oil on, and closing the door. But we take this parable as ‘let’s be like the wise virgins. Let’s prepare the oil’. Look at it. The message of the heavenly New Jerusalem, the true temple, is given and that is again received as the law, like “Let’s prepare the oil. Let’s not fall asleep. Let’s stay awake.” Once the oil from the Holy Spirit is stopped, it is death. That is why only those who have the oil are saved.
What parable is attached after that? The parable of those who received one, two, and five talents comes out after the parable of the five virgins who prepared the oil. The lamp stand in the temple is made of one talent of gold. What is the talent in the parable of the talents? One talent of gold comes out there. That is how it is continued. A lamp, a lamp stand comes out in the story and after it is concluded with “God gave you that by grace”. It is being fortified even more by adding the parable of the talents. In Exodus 25, the instruction of making the lamp stand comes out and it has to be made by hammering a talent of gold. At the time, pure gold represented the light so it had to be made of pure gold. The lamp stand, which is the light, had to be made of gold to explain this is the light. And this lamp stand always had to have oil added 24 hours a day, during 365 days of the year as the light could not be put out.
Leviticus 24:1-4
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp (The oil is acquired from beating the olives so it is the oil supplied by the cross of Jesus, by Him being beaten to death. So it is the oil of the Holy Spirit), that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall arrange the lamps on the lamp stand of pure gold[a] before the Lord regularly.
In the old days, the priest had to continuously pour over the oil, but now is the time of grace, where Jesus died and the oil of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, is being continuously supplied to us. If so, how should we take it when Jesus in the Jerusalem of the flesh, the city on Mount Zion, said you are the light of the world? We should receive it as, “We, who are the temple, being saved is not done by our power and might but it is freely given to us by the oil of the Holy Spirit poured onto us by Jesus Christ dying. So Jesus must be praised and before Him, our own potential and whatever self-worth or individual self-ego must be denied like this.” This is living as the light.
Legalists and humanists say, “That is not right. We CAN do this. We can contribute to our own salvation.” But the light in the cosmos says, “No~No~ we are saved and came alive because Jesus the light, the mystery of infinity just penetrated and was inserted into us and it is never that our own power, potential, diligence, efforts, qualifications, conditions, and characters contributed to it.” We are to confess this first and are to pass this on to others by words or through life by the mechanism of ‘He is strong when I am weak’. That is why we hate to live like this. That is why the lamp stand in this history is pictured as it being put out, trampled on, and dying in the cosmos, instead of burning brightly in Revelation. Please look at Revelation 11:3-8.
Revelation 11:3-8
And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”4 These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
(If the seven churches and the seven lamp stands are the church, the kingdom of God, which is now completed in the infinite revelation of heaven, the two lamp stands here is the church as the witnesses in this history who pass on the Gospel. That is why there are two. In the Hebrew law, witnesses always must be two. So there are two lamp stands..) 5 And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit[a] will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically[b] is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
In the world, the cosmos, Jesus, who came as the light, was beaten to death by the law and legalism –Golgotha is in Jerusalem on Mount Zion. So when looking inside history, right in that place of Jerusalem on Mount Zion, the Jerusalem of the flesh and the old temple, you will be put out in the same way and beaten to death. And Jesus, who worked inside you, will be revealed when you die like that –This is what 'you are the light of the world' means. Do you understand? Thus, it is not something nice to say. It is a scary thing to say ‘you are the light of the world.’ So now the parable of the one talent will be easy to understand. As He leaves, the Lord gave five talents to represent the law or Moses’ five books (Pentateuch). And the two talents represent what Jesus abbreviates the law into when He was on earth – this is before He took the cross and it is still the age of the Old Testament. He abbreviates the law into ‘love your God and love your neighbors like yourself’. And by Jesus dying on the cross, even those two are completed and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is being given to us as one. So this is the one talent. So the parable of five, two, and one talent is a story of us being made into a lamp stand of one talent.
Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Look, people. It says ‘Love the Lord your God and love your neighbors as yourself. All the law depends on this.’ In the original text, it means if you pull up these two, all the laws are hanging on them. We cannot keep all 613 laws or the laws even more segmented than these which represent Moses’ five books, can we? Of course we cannot. Even in the Bible, it is said we cannot. Then, who completes the law? We will study this next week but Jesus completes the law. So, five talents must leave the harvest of five talents. Why does the law have to be achieved? Somebody must keep them and completes them. That is why there is no good and faithful servant in this world, not even one. Only Jesus is the good and faithful servant. A good and faithful servant comes out and with five talents given, achieves and makes five talents. Jesus came. He pulled up the law and the two commandments of ‘love your God and love your neighbors’ are hanging there. These also have to be kept since it is still the time of the Old Testament. That is why Jesus said you must tithe before bearing the cross even though He will complete the tithe Himself on the cross. Because He came to the law, because He is to die as the old temple, Jesus before the cross is not yet qualified to be our groom. He is to die as the old temple. He said to the Samarian woman that she had five husbands- these are the five books of Moses- but they were not her husbands and even Himself who is ‘one’ is not her husband yet. But, He is saying the time of harvest is coming and when I die and become the living water, you can be my bride then. It is the same thing. Jesus compressed the law into two commandments during the time of His public ministry. We cannot keep these. Finity cannot love finity. People, how can we the creatures in the phenomenal world of finity love the infinite God? Is it possible? People say we love God by loving our neighbors in this world and I will explain this in detail next week. Who kept these? Jesus, who came to earth as the only son, ‘monogenes’ because He loves God, Jesus who had that ‘one’ love that contained the love of God, kept these. We have seen this in the parable of the Good Samaritan. They said, “Who is my neighbor? I will go and love him.” That’s when Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan and asked, “Who is the neighbor of the man who fell by a robber?” The parable means that Jesus is the only true neighbor who loved the neighbor who met and fell by a robber. Jesus, who loved God and the neighbors, completed the two talents also. That is why a good and faithful servant left two talents. And the one talent came into us as the light.
However, we have the flesh. The light is the light inside the cosmos, the light of the world. So we are still an incomplete being who has the light in the flesh, although we are completed in the infinite revelation. We must witness the light and this is a scary thing. And this flesh keeps taking us back to darkness. And we keep failing at it even though we understand it. That is why we keep trying to hide the light, that one talent. Aren’t we like this? How bad is it that a person like me wants to go into a remote mountain and live in there? I want to hide in it. Only if there is no internet! I can live in peace if it weren’t for it, really. The internet should be gone and I want to be with only nice people. Why is there an internet and I should be bad mouthed by people on the net? I want to hide and I want to keep it a secret.
But Jesus said you are the light of the world. What does that mean? It means He won’t let you hide it. ‘I will make the one who hides it grind his teeth’ means there is no way that the people of God will be kicked out like that. It means He won’t let you do that. That is why you must pass on and witness the light, the Holy Spirit who came inside us, Jesus, and the life in this history. God, Jesus who is love, the main body of love being passed onto others though our lips and life- this is the act of love. You are the light of the world and that is why things don’t work out the way you want.
You want to hide it and be hidden unnoticed, living peacefully in the world and absorbed into the world a little. But God keeps taking the cover off so you cannot hide it. What does Jesus say? “Hey, if you were gonna hide it like that, at least bring me some interest.” It means if you cannot pass it on yourself, at least bring them so they can hear. You are the light. That is why you are dying like this every day. You are dying every moment. Why do you say, “I wish I could just die belly up like this but the Holy Spirit keeps fueling and He is not even letting the light go out.” You must keep on shining. Shining is dying.
But, there will be a day when the seven bowls of wrath will be poured out. That is when the phenomenal world, the earth, and heaven will be rolled up like a scroll and taken up. That is when you will be completed. Until then, you must witness only Jesus. It is right that you are living strenuously, difficult, and painfully. People, please strive and go on. I am also still alive. Aren’t I striving to go on? Please stay alive. Let’s pray.