Just Out Back Ministries

Maybe you have heard this before and maybe you have quoted it not knowing its source. "There is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 19. I want to know what the mountains have seen in the time since Man's creation.

We think we are so clever when we "discover" things. Let me help, the earth was created one time and all of it was created together in six days. There was nothing taken away from it, nor anymore added to it after the Creation was complete. After all, God did say it was good.

The Genesis account in chapter 2 we read, "For the Lord had not caused it to rain on the earth, and no man to till the ground, but mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground." What was the purpose of the mist? To water the ground. Where did it come from? The earth. As I read that, I had to find out about the mist. Well, the word is only used one other time the Bible and Job pens this phrase somewhere between the years 540 and 330 BC, "For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist" (ēḏ, in Hebrew).

In 1580, Bernard Palissy discovered the water cycle that Job wrote about 2000 years prior, and Genesis speaks about another 900 years earlier still. How could Job know? There is nothing new under the sun. Who revealed the secret to Moses, the author of Genesis? God. Why would we say someone else discovered it? Because we want God's glory for our own.

I do not know who Palissy is nor can I judge his relationship with Christ, but I can tell you all of man's understanding is minuscule to the work done by God at Creation. Man craves the glory and the enemy of God, Satan, wants him to believe that he can be like God. It is the very phrase he uses to convince Eve to take the fruit and eat it "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God," (Gen 3:5). The very concept of claiming godhood was the cause of the fall of Man.

Man wants to be like God and replace Him with himself. God gave us the choice to allow Him to be God and thereby dependent on Him or to create our own way as we seek to be God ourselves. I encourage you to place God, the source, at the center of your thinking and let Him reveal to you His knowledge.

Have you ever driven from the country where there is a limited population and limited lights towards a city of moderate size with significant population and the glow of the city is seen for miles before you see any lights? It is the reason you do not see stars in the city very well. The glow of the city lights acts like the sun to shine a brighter light than the lights in the sky.

Matthew 5 is where Christ tells us to let your light shine before men. Your light is brighter than the stars, the city lights, and even the sun. Your light exposes the darkness (Ephesians 5). You can put a bucket over the top of it and deny your authority in Christ Jesus, but then how are you impacting the world with he gospel?

This is not in any way a condemnation, but Genesis 2 states that God sanctified the seventh day, what we call the Sabbath. Another term to define this could be consecrated. He purposely made that day for us. Christ says the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Why? Because we have been appointed, another use of the Hebrew word qāḏaš. The day was set apart as His people are set apart. He created the day to an appointed people. In other words, He designed a day, a people, and later, a nation to be set apart from the world to bring the light of the gospel to it and subdue it. Adam and Eve's instruction was to fill the earth and subdue it. What was there to subdue? The enemy's of God had been cast to earth where they ruled and reigned. We do not have time to go into all of that, but I want to make one more point.

Genesis 2 is the first time the term qāḏaš is used and it is not used again until Exodus when the Law is given. Exodus and Leviticus comprise 59 uses of the word, specifically regarding His people and their actions. Only 2 Chronicles comes close to the quantity of use in either of these books and what was its use there? The dedication of the Temple of Solomon. Sanctification is very important to the LORD. He places us in environments where there is darkness all around. I have several friends on mission in several locations where this is reality to them right now. One light penetrates the darkness and exposes the hidden things of this world. One person set apart, consecrated, appointed, changes the scenery because God has imprinted His light into them.

Let your light shine before all men and do not fear the darkness that has no power to diminish light.