RELEVANCIES OF SHADOWS © {{First updated on 6th – 10th January, 2014: But reviewed}} . The Lord is always with man in Christ, and a shadow is always with man in the flesh. I have heard people say, ‘Even your shadow leaves you when you are in darkness, how much more your friends in the time of your trials’. But I tell you, friends may forsake you in your toughest times, but your shadow is always with you both in light and in darkness. . To explain that, let me separate two kinds of shadows: Natural shadow and Relevant shadow . Natural Shadow exists as a reflection of the barrier to light, instead of the reflection of the light: So natural shadows are caused by opaque objects or person, instead of a transparent object. This shadow does not reflect light; instead it reflects the barrier to light. Relevant Shadow, on the other hand, is when a natural shadow is useful. Relevant shadow is useful shadow: when a natural shadow is put to good usage, it becomes relevant shadow. The relevancies of shadows are the uses they can be applied. . The shadow of Peter healed many people just by his shadow touching the sick and the lame, in the day he walked in power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit in signs and wonders (Acts 5:15-16). Therefore, there are shadows that can heal the sick and restore the disabled of all kinds, provided the owners of the shadows walk in the power of the Holy Ghost in diverse miracles. However, even if your natural shadow cannot work miracle for you, it can also be put into other relevance. All the relevance of shadows can be grouped under four applications: • Shadow applied as shade • Shadow applied in Love. • Shadow applied as timer. • Shadow applied as mirror of self. . God does not have a natural shadow, but He has Relevant Shadow. His shadow is the best shade or shelter one can hide under, as well as the best Contact Shadow one can touch. As it is written, “He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalms 91:1) . USE OF SHADOW AS SHADE . “How excellent is your love, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings” (Psalms 36:7) . We know of the Love of God, that it is excellent; but do we know that God has wings, and do we know that the wings of God have shadow? When you see the flying insects with wings, birds with wings and angels with wings, always remember that God also has wings. For God to keep a man or woman as the apple of the eye is for Him to hide him or her under the shadow of His wings: Therefore, when God hides a person under the shadow of his wings, that person is preserved just as the apple of the eyes (Psalms 17:8). This is to tell you how safe the shadow of the wings of God can be (Psalms 57:1). . Wait a minute! Does God really have wings, as in feathers? Yes God has wings with feathers. As it is written, “He shall cover you with his feathers, and under His wings shalt you trust: His truth shall be you shield and buckler” (Psalms 91:4). Even Ruth the Moabitess, came to trust under the wings of God (Ruth 2:12). . However, God does not have literal wings like some insects, birds or like some angels; rather God has figurative wings – meaning He does what those who have winged creatures can do with their wings and much better than them. • Winged creatures can cause breeze with their wings as fan or winnow with them; God does much more with His fan and with His Spirit: Holy Spirit is also Holy Wind. • The winged creatures can fly with their wings; God flies and rides on the wings of the wind (Psalms 18:10). He also walks on the wings of the wind (Psalms 104:3), just as He walked on the sea as Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit descended as a dove on Christ once. • Winged creatures can use their wings and feathers to cover or shade their younger or weaker ones as in the shadow of their wings; God does much more than them, for God wraps us under the shadow of His wings, and He is the shade for us in Christ. . I love it when the hen gathers her chicks under wings and feathers, or when the birds sit on their hatching eggs as in brooding over them (Luke 13:34). It reminds me that one can use his shadow both in light and darkness to form a shade or wrap around someone to provide heat for the person or shelter from pestilence. Shadow means shade in relevance: It is most likely you are under a shade while reading this, which means you are under a shadow of something. It is called shadow from the perspective of the person who owns it, but it is called a shade from the perspective of the person who hides under it. Therefore, a man’s shadow is not just the dark image that copies whatever he does; rather his shadow includes all the potential shade he can give to other men, animals and things. . Even the kingdom of God understands the meaning of providing its shadow as shade for animals and birds: As it is written, “The Kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it grows up, and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.” (Mark 4:30-32). It was possible to have all the birds, all the animals and all the great nations of the world to come under the shadow of a single tree at once (Ezekiel 31:6): That is, if you have understood the meaning of the use of shadow. . When God hides man in His Hand, He hides the man in the shadow of His Hand (Isaiah 49:2). God also wants man to become a shadow of shade and care to other men. As it is written, “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (Isaiah 32:1-2) . THE SHADOW OF LOVE . LOVINA: I knew it! Before a man touches anything, his shadow must first touch that thing. What I don’t understand is, why inspite of all the brightness of the surrounding light, I cannot touch any part of my body without my shadow first touching that part? . DORCAS: Before any man touches anything, he first cast shadow on that thing; but before Christ Jesus touches anything, He first casts light on that thing. Light casts light on whatever it touches, and casts shadow on whatever it cannot touch; but non-lights cast shadow on whatever it touches. Christ is Light, as the image of God: Therefore, He casts the light of the glory of God on whomsoever or whatever He touches, because He is Light. As it is written, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6) . LOVINA: But I have seen the shadow of light such as the shadow of fire and candle light or lamb burning; why do they still have shadows even though they are lights? . DORCAS: You can only see the shadow of a light or fire, when a greater light shines on it. Lesser lights always have visible shadows in the presence of greater light, which is due to the difference in degree of brightness and glory between the two lights. Therefore, greater Light has no shadow of darkness. . LOVINA: Hmmm. So you are implying that Christ does not have shadow as the greater Light which He is? . DORCAS: Not really: Rather I am saying that Christ has no darkness as the shadow of death, in His true glory as the Light of all creation. God has shadow, but not the shadow of death, as is found with men. Christ has excellent shadow, because He is the best shade for men: The shadow of Christ can also be described as the banner of love. As it is written, “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love” (Song of Solomon 2:3-4) . LOVINA: Love! I love love. . DORCAS: Then, let us also build the shadow love over men and things, putting both the dark shadow and relevant shadow into use. Darkness is the shadow of death, but it can still be used as the shade of love from the heat of the day: God wants our shadow to be as the night at noon day for people to rest from the heat of the day (Isaiah 16:3). . Even in the manifest glory of God, man still needs a defense from such glory and a shadow to hide from the heat of the glory of God (Isaiah 4:5-6). We need to hide from the heat or plague of the glory of God, but not from the light of the glory of God. The plague is part of the glory as well as the light or revelations. Hide from the plague of God’s glory under the shadow of grace, but do not hide from revelation or light of God’s glory under veil. We need grace to stand the glory of God. . The difference between darkness as the shadow of death and darkness as the shade of love from heat lies in the eyes of men: • When darkness lies in the eyes of a man or covers the eyes, that darkness is called the shadow of death (Job 16:16) • When darkness shades a man, but does not cover his eyes, that darkness is a shade of love (Psalms 17:8). As it is written, “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light; but when your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness.” (Luke 11:34). . When no darkness is found in your eyes, every part of your body becomes light including the shadow part. Any eye that has no darkness in it will see through all forms of darkness. God does not need to remove darkness from outside for you to see, rather He removes the darkness from your eyes for you to see through it. When darkness no longer exist in one’s eyes, both the night and day will be the same; and the darkness will shine as the light before him just as it is to God (Psalms 139:12) It is when darkness blinds the eyes that it is referred to as shadow of death: darkness cannot blind the eyes under the shade of love. Therefore, it is only those who lack love for brethren in Christ that are prone to having darkness blind their eyes (1 John 2:11). . The darkness or dark shadow, which God shall cast away, is only that which is found in the eyes of men; because they cover the eyes and become shadow of death in people’s eyes. Such darkness or shadow in people’s eyes is referred to as ‘veil’ over people’s eyes. As it is written, “God has been strength to the poor, strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. You shall bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low... The Lord shall destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the LORD has spoken it” (Isaiah 25:4-8) . SHADOW AS TIMER TO MAN’S LIFE . When God added fifteen years to the man whose time was up to die, He also brought the shadow backward to ten steps or degree as a sign to him. As it is written, “Behold, I will make the shadow go back ten steps backward on the stairs of Ahaz.” And then the shadow went back ten steps.” (Isaiah 38:8) . Shadow moved ten steps backward, without the owner of the shadow moving with it. That was a sign that time was being altered or changed. The shadow could have been moved either forward or backward, but Hezekiah chose to have the shadow moved backward (2 Kings 20:8-11). . Shadow is a timer, and the degree and steps of shadow can be used to measure time. Our days or times on earth are like shadows: As it is written, “Man is like vanity: his days are as a shadow that passes away.” (Psalms 144:4) Even after a man is dead and gone, his mortal shadow still follows his corpse until his corpses shall be no more. Therefore, mortal shadows are not following the souls of the men; rather they are following the corpses of men. A man’s shadow does not commit sin, when the man commits sin; but it keeps following the man because it is following his corpse and not his soul. . If mortal shadows are following the soul of a man, it will disappear as soon as the man dies. Oh no! The man dies and his soul is gone, but the mortal shadow still follows his corpse. Therefore, mortal shadows are truly the shadows of death, not shadows of life: Since they prefer to follow the dead more than the living. “For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 6:12) When a man’s life is like the shadow, the shadow will outlive the man after his life is gone, but the shadow will perish with his remains: Such are the portion of those who do not fear God. As it is written, “But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he does not fear before God.” (Ecclesiastes 8:13) . SHADOWS AND MIRROR IMAGES . Everything around a man is a mirror to the man, because everything copies the image of the man in its own unique way at one time of the other. Now, you know what a mirror is, but allow me to call everything mirror and then group them under different kinds of mirrors. Generally, man needs light to see images formed by a mirror. I classify four kinds of mirror for the purpose of what I teach below: . 1. PLAIN MIRRORS: These are the mirrors that reflect and reveal a man’s virtual image or shadows either behind a transparent glass with opaque backing or behind a transparent liquid with non-transparent backing or generally behind any media formed with a combination of both a transparent substance and a non-transparent backing substance. People on earth seems to love this kind of mirror more than the rest, especially the women or girls who loves to stand and look at themselves in these kinds of mirrors, many times a day. Note this: The product of a Plain Mirror is called Virtual Image . 2. LEN MIRRORS: These are the mirrors that reflect and reveal a man’s pictures as a memory of his virtual image: The Lens Mirrors include the Cameras and Video Cameras, the eyes and telescope or any substance that uses lens to detect images. Note this: The product of a Len Mirror is called Pictures or Motion Pictures (Video) . 3. OPAQUE MIRRORS: These are the mirrors that reflect a man’s shadow. Opaque mirrors include everything visible in creation, and they walk together to show the shadows of one another: Even the invisible things of God are clearly seen by the visible things He made from the beginning (Romans 1:20). Note this: The product of Opaque Mirrors are called Shadow of things in terms of laws of nature or Shadow of things to come in terms of the law of Moses (Colossians 2:17, Hebrews 10:1). . 4. LIGHT OF CHRIST: This is the mirror that reveals the true reality of a person and things: As it is written, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The product of this mirror is called reality and truth. . Among all four mirrors I listed above, only the light of Christ reveals the spirit, the heart and the mind of the man or what the man is doing inside of him; every other mirror only reveals the flesh of the man or what he is doing on the body or physical things alone. Therefore, every other mirror will still produce the shadow of the corpse of the man, the virtual image of his dead body, the pictures of his dead body and video of his corpse, even after the soul and spirit of the man is gone out of the man in the day of his death. But the light and gospel of Christ manifest the spirit and truth of the man for eternity, and changes his images in other mirrors, removing the veils from his eyes. Therefore, the Light of Christ who is the image of God is the only mirror that removes veil from the eyes of men and from their blinded minds (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). . Looking into the word of God is looking into the mirror of reality (James 1:23); and the entrance of his word, gives light and understanding to the simple (Psalms 119:130). . As a shadow follows his owner on earth, so does the things he has on earth. But as his shadow does not follow his soul or spirit in the day of his death, but rather remains with his dead body on earth, so does the things he has remains on earth in the day of his death. Chasing those things is like chasing shadows, because in the day one dies, the planet on which his shadow is found is the same planet those things must remain. Therefore, follow after the things which you can take with you when you finally separate from your shadow, looking into the mirror of the gospel and light of Christ. What the soul really has is what the soul can take along after it separates from the body.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 04:02:41 +0000
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