Consecrated

Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.


In the Old Testament, the word "consecrated" is very prominent, appearing 80 times. Under the Jewish law, anything that was to be used in the service of God...anything that was to come close to God...had to be consecrated, or made holy by purification. There was a process of consecration for each type of vessel that was to be used, a recipe for making the anointing oil, a way to consecrate a tent, or a sheep, or a bowl, or a man.


God required that anything close to Him be set apart and consecrated, not because God can't be around sin, but because sin can't be around God. God's bright holiness is powerful to destroy darkness. When light meets dark, dark ALWAYS loses. Try taking a small flashlight into a completely dark room. The stronger the darkness, the more powerful even a small amount of light becomes. God IS light...and the brightest light there is. God is the source of light. Sin, or evil, or darkness isn't a force of it's own, it is just the absence of light...the absence of God, or agreement with God.


John 1:1-9 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 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. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.


People who don't know God accuse Him of all sorts of evil, but God chose love. Love requires a choice to love back, or it doesn't qualify as love at all. Because God so values freedom and love, God allows the world to make a choice to reject Him...to say "no" to love. This is the birth of evil. This is the origin of sin. Sin and evil aren't opposing forces to God, they are the fruit of the absence of God...the resulting consequence of free will used to say "no" to God...."no" to love.


When Adam and Eve said no to God's way, darkness came into their frame. The Holy Spirit..the spark of God in their most-inner man, left, and shame (darkness) filled their spirit:


Genesis 3:6-7 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.


God told Adam and Eve they would die if they ate the fruit. He wasn't lying. Their spirit died as soon as they ate the fruit. Death is darkness...death is the absence of God. Over time, the choices in mankind led the race of men further and further from God. Every person was created triune in the image of God...each one body, soul (mind, will, and emotions), and spirit. Just as Adam's spirit died that day in the garden, his soul...choice by choice...step by step...marched further away from perfection toward corruption...walking slowly from the light it was created in to the darkness. His body followed soon after.


This is how man was made: soul leading the heart, with the body sure to follow. If your spirit can't lead, your mind, will, and emotions (soul) certainly will...when your soul gets dark enough, your body (your physical appetites) takes over and you are but an animal, a dark spot in society.


In His mercy, God gave the law to one family to show them a discipline to stem the turning to darkness. The law was just a candle to keep Israel's soul from wandering into complete darkness. The law could never reverse death, unless it was perfectly obeyed, which, because of darkness, it couldn't be. But then came the light! Jesus, the light that originally brought mankind into being, the light that always desired to be with man He created, veiled His gloriously and dangerously bright holiness in flesh, and came to meet darkness. Every time light meets darkness, darkness loses. Darkness tried to overcome the light and lost it's very power.


Colossians 2:14-15 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.


Not only did Jesus disarm and expose darkness, Jesus gave us a way back. But Jesus did not violate or void love. God has no second thoughts about love. Love requires a choice. Jesus made a way back into the light. Jesus made a way back into life, but it requires a choice. First a choice to turn from dark into light, to accept that Jesus' defeat of darkness applies to me. A verbal confession: Jesus, Son of God, you paid the price for MY sin. This is the fruit I ate that brought life back to my spirit.


As soon as a person accepts Jesus, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in their formerly dark spirit. Life enters mans inner-most man first:


John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.


But step by step, there are more choices to make. Choices to walk back toward (agree with) light, to have my soul made newer and newer. The new "living way" of consecration. The Old testament has 80 verses about consecration, but Jesus changed everything...the New Testament has only 1 verse about consecration:


Hebrews 10:19-20 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,


Consecration is up to me. Because of love, I can go after more light, or I can stay on the edge of the light. Right now, the consequence of that choice isn't so obvious, because I am still living in a dark place. A small amount of light is powerful in a dark room, but when you flip on the lights you no longer see the light of a flashlight. Soon, I am going to live in the city where the source of light is. The more I agree with the light now... the more I allow my spirit, the Holy Spirit, to lead my soul... the brighter and brighter I become. The brighter I allow God to make me here in the 70 or 80 years I have (at best), the brighter I will shine with Him....forever!


Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.


I want to be close to the source of all light...the source of life!

Psalms 24:3-6 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord ? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord , And righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. Selah