When He Sits on the Throne of His Glory May 22, 2010     Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”  (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)     God who Divides the Light from the Darkness     As I read the Bible and then stop to consider how the content of the passage I am reading connects with other parts of the Bible, my thoughts always end up at two particular places. First my heart turns to the book of Genesis, and then my thoughts pass on to the four gospels.     First, we read about the two harlots, who fought over a child, each claiming it was hers, and we saw how King Solomon, through the wisdom given to him by God, commanded that the baby be divided into two (see 1 Kings 3). These words proceeded from King Solomon’s lips, but they were spoken through the inspiration of God, who already knew and foresaw all things when He created the heavens and the earth. If this had not been the case, King Solomon could never have spoken such words.     The Bible says that when God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, “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” (Genesis 1:2). At first, everything was dark and without form, and clearly nothing had yet been divided. Then we read about the confusion in the midst of which each of two women claimed that the child was hers. Behind Solomon’s wisdom when he commanded, “Bring me a sword. Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other,” was the One who spoke at the beginning: “And God said …” His words are like a two-edged sword.     It was this God, who said, “‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good” (Genesis 1:3-4). He was not saying that there was something good in the formlessness and void state. The Bible says that at the same time that God said, “Let there be light,” He saw that light as being good. With the appearance of the light, the light was divided from the darkness.     The words of one of the mothers were not a lie, but the words of the other woman were. This is the case from a human moral point of view. Solomon’s judgment, however, was not meted out on the basis of accepting the words of one woman and not those of the other. It was simply that Solomon demanded the division, and his command was carried out.     This is a secret that has been accomplished within each of us. We were thinking, “This seems to be the truth,” “This doesn’t seem like the truth,” “I think I might be saved,” “I don’t think I’m saved.” Our hearts were in this confused and empty state, but the moment God’s words, “Let there be light,” entered in, a clear division arose between these two thoughts, just as the light was divided from the darkness.     From that point on, we embark on the struggle described in Romans chapter 7. The apostle Paul wrote, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (verse 24) When the words “Let there be light” are accomplished within us, we have light in one corner of our hearts, but in another corner there is darkness. Through the book of Genesis, we are presented with an image of ourselves as we live our lives in the flesh.     Also, the most precious thing within the judgment meted out by King Solomon is the heart of a mother. We may also be moved by the compassion of the mother for her child, as she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” First, however, we need to consider the words that came forth from the mouth of King Solomon even before this mother made her plea. King Solomon meted out a judgment that was extremely concise and perfect.     It is the same as the moment the seed of God’s word falls into our spirits. When this truth is implanted and takes root in the heart of an individual, he will know for sure that it is by this gift that he lives his life, regardless of his own will, purpose or past thoughts. This is what it says in the Bible.     Also, when we think about how God created the heavens and the earth, our thoughts jump straight to Jesus. The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1, 4-5). Within these verses that explain the One who came as the Word made flesh, we can see once again the collision of the light and the darkness. When we read passages from the Bible, if we do not first take into account whose words they are, we will forget even as we are reading them. This, in turn, may lead to the development of strange doctrines.     The Bible tells us clearly, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). These words, accurate and sure, came directly from the lips of Jesus Himself.     Whatever part of the Bible you open and read, whether you understand it or not, will be related to the thoughts, the death and the resurrection of the One who first created the heavens and the earth and since then has been holding history in the palm of His hand, the One who entered into the history of mankind in the body of a man, died, and then rose again from the dead. So the Bible says of Jesus, “But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head ? Christ ? from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).     The Issue of Eating that Has Been Given to Man     While you keep reading the Bible, you will find it very interesting. Let’s carefully chew over these parts of the Bible that use such poetic and refined expressions as we consider the Old and New Testaments. Let’s also think about the Creator and Savior. It is a journey for our thoughts. As we do this, however, we see how strange God’s word is. These accounts are recorded using the same words that people commonly use, but as we read them and draw close to these words, we find that they are so deep that they are like a labyrinth. As we travel through these depths, however, we find that we always come back to one Person who goes by the name of Jesus. This is what I think when I read about the man by the name of Solomon in the Bible, but what do you think?     We have already studied the life of David as it appears in Second Samuel. Now the sovereign power has passed from David to Solomon, who has begun his reign over Israel. In First Kings chapter 4, we find that when Solomon became king of Israel the first matter he had to deal with was related to eating. What is the first issue that appears in the book of Genesis? God put the one man, Adam, into the garden and the very first commandment He gave Him was, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). He also told Adam that he could eat the fruit of any of the trees, but he was not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden. The issue of eating was raised.     The fall of man began with the issue of eating. We tend to think of clothing first, and then food and shelter, but in the Bible the order is food first, and then clothing and shelter. First he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then he knew that he was naked and so he made himself garments out of fig leaves. Then, after he had been driven out of the Garden of Eden, he built a home for himself.     In First Kings chapter 3, however, we find Solomon’s judgment stating that a child was to be cut in half, and then in chapter 4, it talks about Solomon’s officials, his priests, and his scribes, and then it says that Solomon had twelve governors. The task of these governors was to take turns each month to provide the food.     In the Bible it says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on” (Matthew 6:25). We should think about the order of the events in Solomon’s life as king. It is true, of course, that it is very unfortunate that he became corrupt later in life, but this, too, is a reflection of our human nature. If he had not gone astray, would he have been able to write, as he did in the book of Ecclesiastes, that he had tried everything, but found that it was all vain?     In the Bible, we read how Solomon prepared stores of food, how there were many people at that time, and we read about the kinds of food he ate. Even when it comes to this tremendously glorious king, whose father had stored up vast riches for him, the matter of eating arises. Also, it says that the population of Israel and Judah was as numerous as the sand by the ocean, and boasts of this great population in the land of Israel, an area smaller even than South Korea.     If we examine these matters carefully, however, we can see that God’s word is living. The command to “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth” was also given to Abraham and to Jacob (see Genesis 35:11). Before that, Noah also received this command (see Genesis 9:1). This promise lives on within the nation of the Israelites. Mention of the high number of the population of Israel does not just suddenly appear out of nowhere in the Bible. It shows that even as Solomon received the sovereign power and his royal policies spread, this promise that God had made some time before was still alive and active within this family by the name of Israel. These words were definitely not recorded without thought or by chance.       “And Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month of the year. These are their names.”  (1 Kings 4:7-8)       From verse 8, we have a list of the names of these governors. And now let’s read verse 20.       “Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude.”       These words do not even make up the complete sentence; they are just mentioned in passing as part of the verse. Even a short phrase like this, however, has not been written without reason. The fact that God’s word is alive and His commands are in effect has been given to us indirectly as something that we need to study.     Even though we are saved, we still sin in the course of our lives. Even though we are saved, there are times when, inside, we are boiling over with evil thoughts. Yet, just as God’s promises pop up within the history of Israel, in the course of our lives, didn’t we one day come to know, through the words of the Bible, or while singing a hymn with brothers and sisters, that the blood that Jesus shed on the cross abides as life in our spirits? We should not treat God’s promise, which abides amongst the Israelites and is recorded as a constant testimony, as a matter that only concerns other people or even just Israel.     Let’s think about this life that we have experienced through God’s word, this thing called salvation which we have received through the blood of Jesus. We should think about this during our daily lives when we clash with a brother or a sister while having fellowship with them, or when we sing hymns like, “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins” (Hymn #190) and the words touch our hearts.     “Lord, this is true. You have washed my sins away on that hillside cross two thousand years ago.”     We often say that our sins were forgiven on the day of our salvation, but this is not strictly true. The forgiveness of sins was fully accomplished when Jesus died on the cross. It is just that we realized this much later. On the cross, Jesus made peace between God and all the people in this world. It was at that time that peace was made between God and me, and, although I had been far away from God, I have been drawn closer to Him.     In the course of our lives, we came to know God through the Bible and through Jesus. Since that day, what thoughts have we been entertaining in our hearts? This is what is in my thoughts today: even though I am ashamed of the life that I have lived as a saved Christian, two thousand years before I started living my life in this way, there was a promise that Jesus accomplished on the cross. This is why I am living this life.     This is what the Bible is talking about. It was not because there were many people in Israel that Solomon was able to live comfortably and eat well. The Bible says that the number of people in Israel would be as the sand of the sea, but whose words are these? This is a promise that God had made to Abraham. The Bible shows us that this promise is living.     Similarly, Jesus causes such thoughts to arise in our hearts through God’s word and through fellowship, as we live in this age during which the Bible has already been recorded. Also, God is continually saying to us, “Are you remembering as you are living your life that I have already done everything for you? And that the promise I made at that time is still living today?”     When we are reading the Bible, this may seem not so very important. Nevertheless, if we think about it a little more deeply, we realize in our hearts, “Lord, this is absolutely true.” If the Bible had not been recorded in this way, what would my heart be like today? This is the method God has used to control history and record the Bible. The individual books of the Bible are joined and connected to make one unified book, and because the Word became flesh

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