Arise from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you - rise to a new life! Shine, be radiant with the glory of the Lord, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! The sun shall no more be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you, but the Lord shall be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory and your beauty. Your sun shall no more go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.
Isaiah 60:1,19,20

God will often speak to us and teach us spiritual things through natural things He has created and also through circumstances He places us into. The following is a recent example which occurred when we were visiting a farm. A group of about ten of us were outside talking and admiring a sunset. We were all looking at the sky above a house which we were only ten feet away from. I noticed that one person had gone off alone to the side of the house and was looking at the sunset from there. I realised that of course the view would be much better from there, away from the house, so I decided to go and look at it from there too. 

When I got there I saw that the view was far more spectacular and beautiful than where I had been so I called out to the other people to come and see.  But nobody heard me even though I was only a few feet away from them, everybody was busy talking to each other. So I called again, louder this time and as I did so, I felt the Holy Spirit clearly impressing upon me that I was to pay close attention to what was happening because He was going to teach and show me something important through it.

Again, although I had called louder, nobody heard or paid any attention to me.  So I decided to try calling a person by their name. This person heard and responded and came over. She too saw how much better the view was with the house out of the way and she then called the others who came over and appreciated the much-expanded view.

What God showed me later was that the whole scenario is symbolic of what He has done and is doing with us.  Initially we saw some of the glory of the sun but could only see it in part because a man-made structure (house) was very effectively blocking a good deal of our view of the glory of the heavenlies. 

Not many (only two of us) had realised that there was more to be seen of the glorious sunset.  When we moved position and got the house out of our focus, we saw the fuller picture of the glory of the sunset!  We saw different colours and shades of colour that could not be seen before, we saw it in all the glory of GOD'S creation instead of man's creation in view.  His creation is diverse, creative and organic, like a large tree which was silhouetted against the sunset.  The tree wasn't blocking the view because it could be seen through and only added to the beauty of the picture instead of blocking it.  In His creation God's unspoken truth is spoken everywhere!

Here is a photo I took of the sunset which of course doesn't do it justice but is still a reminder: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork. Psalm 19:1 

The house represents man-made institutional church structures. The farm house was made of bricks, which are not the living stones that God builds with; bricks are made by man for conformity, each one the same so WE can fit them together easily and build with them. It is man's way and not God's, it is the way of the world and Babylon (the tower of Babel was built with bricks) but the new Jerusalem is built from "living" stones - otherwise known as jewels (1 Peter 2:5 Isaiah 54:11,12 Rev 21:11,18,19). If we are bricks instead of living jewels, we will be earthly and conformed to one another instead of being heavenly and transformed into the image of God, from glory to glory. Only God can build with jewels which transmit His Light and Glory, He has created them and has shaped them for His purposes. He creates them to be fitted together and places them beside other living stones exactly where He knows they belong in His House which HE is building.

Above the house we had seen some of the effects of the Son - some colours in the heavenlies - but we did not see the fuller picture of the Son or the heavenlies in their splendour and glory until we had moved position. The structure made with man-made materials was very effectively obstructing the more excellent view; the glory of the heavenlies was encroached upon by the structure. Obviously the house was not going to move so that more of the glory of the heavenlies was revealed, and bricks, unlike jewels, are not transparent so the glory could not be seen through them. It required those who heard the call to move position so that they could see more.

God called us away from the man-made structures of organised religion because He had something more and different that He wanted us to see and be part of.  It was not until I saw more of the glory of the Son (sunset) that I realized what we had been missing out on when the man-made house had blocked our view!  I called out to the others to come on over so they too could share in and enjoy God's glory and see the fuller and more glorious picture.Those who were inside the house, were oblivious to what was outside it, artificial lights were switched on instead.  Those already outside had to have eyes to see and ears to hear in order to move, but not many want to hear or see let alone move position...  Unfortunately we are often too preoccupied with what is immediately in front of us and are too busy talking and listening to one another and so cannot hear or see anything else or even comprehend that God may have more to reveal to us. Sometimes it will be only one that will hear and see and the hearing may happen because of our personal relationship with them as opposed to preaching/calling to the masses.

"Even if our Gospel also be hidden, obscured and covered up with a veil that hinders the knowledge of God, it is hidden only to those who are perishing and obscured only to those who are spiritually dying and veiled only to those who are lost. For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds that they should not discern the truth, preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ Who is the Image and Likeness of God. For what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves merely as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as to beam forth the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).

Whatever we are most occupied with becomes the thing which veils our eyes because it is right in front of us, it is our primary focus and consequently blinds us to anything else.  Only when we see the Son and He is our focus and is the One Thing that occupies us are our eyes progressively unveiled as He reveals more and more of Himself and His glory to us and this unveiling and revealing of Himself in all His glory is going to go on throughout eternity!

I saw no temple (man-made structure) in the city (the new Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ), for the Lord God Omnipotent Himself and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to give light to it, for the splendor and radiance and glory of God illuminate it and the Lamb is its lamp. And there shall be no more night; they have no need for lamplight or sunlight, for the Lord God will illuminate them and be their light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Revelation 21:22,23 22:5

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