Introduction
Grant: Welcome to Torah Today Ministries. My name is Grant Luton.
Robin: And I’m Robin and we’re here for another episode of Breadcrumbs.
Grant: And Robin, why don’t you introduce our topic for today?
Robin: Well, I just want to welcome everyone to our table as we sit here in our dining room during the days of awe. During the days of awe, as we prepare ourselves to really approach the king in a very sober way, mindful on Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר).
Grant: Right. Right.
Robin: And recently you were reading something and thinking about just the world around us and people that we know. And you said, you know, Robin, sometimes I feel like we’re living in the best of times and the worst of times. And I laughed and agreed because we’ve been so aware that there is brighter light and darker dark and very little middle ground anymore, especially when it comes to individuals and where they stand and how they communicate and what they express. And it’s been shocking and it’s been enlightening and it’s been encouraging depending on where you’re looking.
Grant: Well, with me, what really brought up what we’re about to discuss, what really sparked it with me is that I’ve been in a number of conversations with people, believers, I mean, great people, and over and over and over I hear them say, “Oh, the world is just so dark. The world is so dark. The world’s just getting darker and darker.” Now, on the one hand, I can’t disagree with that.
Robin: You’re right. Yeah.
Grant: On the other hand, there’s something wrong with leaving it at that, right? Because there’s the rest of the story.
Robin: There’s the rest of the story.
Grant: I also see God more clearly than I ever have. I see righteous people, godly people, becoming more godly than ever. I see people who have always been interested in studying the word, studying it more intensely and understanding it better than they ever have. So what I’m saying is yeah, the world’s getting darker and darker. I won’t argue that, but I also see a light that is brighter than I’ve ever seen it before.
Robin: So, we’ve been talking with each other and our friends lately. Why this phenomenon? Because it seems universal. It seems that even newscasters are talking about these things. Things are different lately and there’s a sense that there is something happening.
Grant: Yeah. And I want to talk about what the word says about…
Robin: Sure.
Grant: …the Friday afternoon of our world.
Robin: Yes.
Grant: So to speak, preparation day.
Robin: Preparation day for the Messiah to return because that’s what we sense.
Grant: I think well first of all I think we all as human beings in this fallen world we have a negativity bias and being negative is always so easy whereas being positive requires an inner energy. It requires a decision to be positive and I believe that as believers, as disciples of Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ), we are to have a positivity bias.
Robin: Mhm.
Grant: You know, it’s easy to catch people being bad, but can we catch people being good? Can we see the right? Can we see the good? And so, when you go right back to the days of creation, it starts out with God saying, “Let there be light.” And then what did he do? He divided the light from the darkness. They both existed side by side from the beginning.
Robin: Yes. And but what we’re used to is you have the daytime of light and then you have the night as dark and then you have light and then you have dark. But you have those times at dawn and at dusk where there’s a mixture, right? And as you mentioned, we feel like we’re in the Friday afternoon of human history and the Shabbat (שַׁבָּת) is coming. So we live in this time of mixture and I can see the dark that’s passing, but I can see the light that’s coming.
Grant: Mhm.
Robin: But people that we know, Grant, personally and from a distance don’t seem to be on the fence anymore.
Grant: No, no, no.
Robin: Those who are are going to find the fence ripped out from under them and they’re going to have to go one way or the other. And do you think Grant that the reason that God is seemingly shaking the world as we kind of sense it’s to remove that fence from under them, under us?
Grant: Absolutely. Yes. Again, you know, living in the evening, the Friday evening before the coming Sabbath of the millennial kingdom, you know, the word for evening in Hebrew is the word erev (עֶרֶב). And the heart of erev means mixture. Mixture because at evening you’ve got the dark over here and I can see the light over here. At dawn you can see the dark over here, the light over here. And we live in that time where there’s a clear choice of darkness and light. It is more and more clear and it’s prophesied. Daniel prophesies it and John in Revelation prophesies it. So let me read…
Robin: Talk about that. Yeah.
Grant: So in Daniel 12:10, this is right near the end of the book, it says:
“Many shall be purified and be made white and be refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.” (Daniel 12:10)
So it’s like the wicked become more wicked and the righteous become more righteous.
Robin: That’s exactly what’s happening.
Grant: And Revelation 22:11:
“Let the one who does wrong still do wrong. Let the one who is filthy still be filthy. Let the one who is righteous still practice righteousness. Let the one who is holy still keep himself holy.” (Revelation 22:11)
And again, it’s this division. There’s a polarization. And there’s no middle ground anymore. And I see the righteous becoming more righteous. I see the wicked becoming more wicked.
Robin: Mhm. And some people who you thought were wicked have revealed themselves to be truly righteous people making wise decisions.
Grant: And vice versa.
Robin: Yes. Yes. And so this shaking that’s going on is really revealing hearts and this shaking is prophesied. It’s happened before. It’s happening again. The whole world is being shaken. What used to feel stable no longer feels stable. But again through all of this we as believers should be standing in faith and in truth and in great hope with great excitement and great anticipation that the best is still yet to come. Remember Messiah serves the best wine last. Things are going to get better. I believe that even though the world is getting worse and I’ve been really aware that this has nothing to do with labels. This has nothing to do with religious affiliation. You know, I love the writings of N.T. Wright. I know you do as well. And recently I read something that he wrote. He says when Jesus was resurrected, it was the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from the earth to heaven, but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.
Grant: Yes.
Robin: So he is colonizing this world really from the beginning of time and when Messiah came it was just on steroids with the light of heaven. And we sometimes because of maybe some bad theology think that we’re all just going to get snatched out of here when things get tough or you know once we have a label it’s all done and dusted. But he’s saying you need to walk as children of light so that the world will know the truth.
Grant: Well, it’s funny. People just this last weekend all thought the rapture was coming.
Robin: Oh my goodness.
Grant: And there’s a lot of embarrassment now. And there are videos floating around of people, people had made to leave behind for those who would be left behind.
Robin: Mhm.
Grant: But they were all left behind. We were all left behind. And you know, here’s the thing, folks, if you want to go up, God’s told us how to do it. Become a living sacrifice.
Robin: Yeah.
Grant: God didn’t come here to snatch our hide out of this world. He didn’t save us to save my hide. He saved us so that we can put our hide on the altar. Give it fully to him and so he can make and restore his image in us. So you want to go up, get on the altar, give yourself to him fully and completely and then just leave the future in his hands. You know, live a life of sacrifice.
Robin: I’m sitting here picturing a candle and the physical part of a candle when it’s lit will eventually diminish while the light burns. And what’s going on? The light part of a lit candle is so otherworldly. I mean, how do you define light? You know it when you see it, but it’s truly a supernatural thing. Whereas the physical part, the wax part of a candle, Grant, it just sort of is pulled downward by gravity.
Grant: By gravity.
Robin: But the flame is reaching up.
Grant: Always reaching up.
Robin: Yeah. Stretching up.
Grant: Stretching up.
Robin: And I get tears in my eyes as I really think about how I want the rest of my days to be.
Grant: Yeah. Well, you know, I think too many of us are in the business trying to save our candles so we don’t ever light them. The thing is we should be investing our candles by lighting them and letting all the physical be transformed into the spiritual, into light. And that’s what it is to be a living sacrifice, to become lights in this world. And light is so much more powerful than darkness. And that’s what we forget sometimes when we’re all moaning and groaning about how we’re just trapped in this world of darkness. Listen, if you go into a dark room and you light a candle, that darkness is dissipated. But if you go out into a bright day and you try to throw a handful of darkness out into the bright light, it doesn’t phase it.
Robin: It doesn’t work that way.
Grant: Well, let’s talk about darkness for a minute. You know, throughout the scriptures, light represents truth. Darkness represents falsehood, right? And we live in a time right now and as our friends are always saying, the world’s getting so dark. That means it’s so filled with falsehood. People are believing lies.
Robin: So many lies.
Grant: And they’re spouting lies as if they’re true, right? They’re calling good evil and evil good. And this is something that was prophesied. But here’s something I want us to keep in mind. And we go back again to Genesis chapter 1 verses 16-18. It says:
“And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:16-18)
And God saw that it was good. Here’s the point. Even in the dark, even at night, there’s still a light ruling.
Robin: Always there’s still a light ruling.
Grant: And you can say, “Well, the moon waxes and wanes and sometimes disappears.” Yeah, but there’s still the stars. There’s still light ruling the darkness. And so the world’s getting really, really dark.
Robin: Yeah.
Grant: Okay, it is. But the light is still ruling the dark. And that is good. And so let’s see the light. Let’s see the light and walk as children of light.
Robin: How is that?
Grant: And also I love the image in Exodus 14. This is where Israel has left Egypt. They’ve come to the Red Sea. And so there’s the water in front of them. So they can’t go forward. And now the Egyptian cavalry is bearing down on them from behind. So they can’t go back. They can’t retreat. They can’t go forward. They’re all panicking. Of course, we all know how God parted the Red Sea, but there’s an incident here that is so powerful, and it’s kind of where we are right now.
Robin: It’s that moment that matters. We want to move forward, but we can’t until the sea parts, but the enemy’s right on our heels.
Grant: Yeah. And God told Moses to tell the people, “Be still. Don’t be afraid. And behold the salvation of the Lord.” But here’s the thing I want us to look at. It says:
“And the Egyptians shall know that I am Adonai (יהוה) when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the angel of God, who was going before the host of Israel, moved and went behind them.” (Exodus 14:18-19)
So between Israel and the Egyptians, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them. Now get this. Coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness and it lit up the night.
So get this. The cloud, the pillar of cloud that stood behind Israel was light for Israel, right? But it was darkness for Egypt. It’s all a matter of your vantage point.
Robin: Yes. Yes.
Grant: So darkness represents the falsehood, the inability to see reality. But even in that, we’re told that God has made darkness his covering. And it says his canopy around him. His thick clouds dark with water. And that’s Psalm 18:11.
“Clouds and thick darkness are all around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.” (Psalm 97:2)
There’s no place he isn’t.
Robin: No.
Grant: And Psalm 139:12 really clinches it:
“Even the darkness is not dark to you,” speaking to God. “The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” (Psalm 139:12)
In other words, the world’s getting darker.
Robin: Yeah.
Grant: God’s still right here in the middle of it.
Robin: He is. He’s still right in the middle. He is.
Grant: And if I can, I know I’m reading a lot of passages, but I want to share one more. And it’s this. Micah 7:7-8:
“But as for me, I will look to Adonai. I will wait for the God of my salvation, my Yeshua (יְשׁוּעָה). My God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, oh my enemy. When I fall, I shall rise. And get this. When I sit in darkness, Adonai will be a light to me.” (Micah 7:7-8)
So, are we in a dark world? Yeah. But Adonai is a light to me. I can still see the light.
Robin: Yeah. So, every time we say, “Boy, the world’s getting darker.” That’s true. We’re allowed to say that it’s a dark world, but let’s always finish the phrase with, “But the light’s getting brighter all the time.” It really is. God’s brightness, his holiness, his goodness is as present and even more so in many ways than ever before.
Well, I’m a very analytical person and I process, as you painfully know.
Grant: Oh, I’ve noticed that on occasion.
Robin: Often out loud to Grant’s dismay. But I’ve really had to analyze this whole thing lately because this has come close in terms of dissension in relationships that we are, you know, experiencing. And it’s like, how do I explain this tension and this dissension and fear and anger that gets expressed toward his people for no apparent reason. And as we were talking a moment ago before we turned on the microphone, darkness is a result of lies. And the fruit of living in those lies and believing those lies is fear and anger.
Grant: Yes.
Robin: Whereas light is truth.
Grant: Yes.
Robin: And the fruit of truth is loving kindness and generosity and peace. And it doesn’t mean that you’re weak, but you’re motivated by love. And you are able to see other people…
Grant: That’s right.
Robin: …through the eyes of their being a creation of God and you understand their motivation and you don’t take everything personally and you don’t allow your ego to be the reaction to the things that people are saying and doing right now. I think it’s so important to understand, Grant, because it’s so easy to get pulled in to the chaos.
Grant: Oh yeah.
Robin: And I’m also realizing that, you know, it gets noisy. Dark, fear and anger is noisy. But God’s people have to develop an ability to hear the music beneath that noise.
Grant: Absolutely.
Robin: As Rabbi Sacks said so eloquently, and we need to develop that listening silence where we can hear what he says. Shema (שְׁמַע), my people, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is… he’s everything.
Grant: Yes.
Robin: And when we listen and hear and pay attention and understand, then we internalize what he says and you know what’s going to happen? Our deeds are going to reflect that.
Grant: Yes, that’s for sure. That’s what it means to walk as children of light.
Robin: Yeah. But the other thing I’ve been analyzing is why, why, why, why does it appear that unexpectedly people are tending to drift toward darkness? And I think the answer, I know the answer is in Matthew where the word tells us what is going on. I’m like oh my goodness.
Grant: Yeah. Well, Matthew 24, Yeshua is talking about the last days. He talks about the birth pains and he gives a number of things that are going to happen about false messiahs and so on coming. But in verse 8 he says:
“But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8)
So what comes next? Verse 9:
“Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you and you’ll be hated by all nations because of my name.” (Matthew 24:9)
So hatred towards people who walk in the light and this goes back to where the word says that where lawlessness increases the love of many…
Robin: Well, I’m getting to that.
Grant: …will grow cold. Yes, I’m getting to that. But here we’re talking about the nations, the non-believers delivering believers. Okay. Then the next verse says at that time many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
Robin: Now these are family members betraying family members.
Grant: Yeah. Yeah. It’s crazy.
Robin: And then he explains why. This is the verse you’re alluding to. He says:
“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12)
Grant: Torah (תּוֹרָה) is being tossed away. I can think of people who used to follow the Torah or just embrace it in their lives or something. They might not have even called it Torah, but just the word aside.
Robin: Yeah.
Grant: They throw it aside and they’re replacing it with innovative ideas that are being put out there by people who call themselves Christians and the love is gone.
Robin: Yeah.
Grant: The love has just died. They just don’t love one another anymore. You know, somehow we grew up with this idea that if you follow the law, you’re not going to have love because you’re going to be so legalistic. Oh, that can happen. But actually the opposite is what the word teaches. And that is if we really follow God’s commandments, that means we’re aligning our hearts with God’s heart, our mind with God’s mind, his divine instruction.
Robin: Exactly.
Grant: We’re starting to bear his image. And what does the law command us? Love God with all your heart, soul, strength.
Robin: Yeah.
Grant: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Robin: And don’t be afraid.
Grant: Yes. Don’t be afraid. And so these commandments to love come from him because he loves. So he’s commanding us to love, too. So we can be like him. We throw the Torah away. Then the command to love one another goes with it.
Robin: Well I was looking in Isaiah, actually Isaiah 5. Isaiah 5:20 says:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)
I think this goes back to what we talked about a few minutes ago, Grant. There is a greater and greater distinction now and God is shaking so that he’s making clear light is light, dark is dark and don’t be deceived.
Grant: Yes. But look at the next verse. Verse 21:
“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight.” (Isaiah 5:21)
God forbid that we should fall into that. You know, it’s funny. We, you and I and so many of our beloved friends are trying to walk in the truth the best we can and the thing we get accused of is being naive. And I’m thinking, how interesting is that? Because I’m walking in the light as best I can. And it’s like I can see pretty clearly how people are operating. And yet people walking in darkness say, “Oh, no, you’re naive. You don’t really see what’s going on. You don’t really understand.”
Robin: And we can own… right, and I’ve also, we’ve also been accused as many I’m sure have of being narrow-minded and thinking that everybody needs to look the same. But when you’re walking as children of light and you look around, there is such a beautiful diversity. I think of light in this world and how God has demonstrated that light shone through a prism is a rainbow with all those colors. You know, his people are diverse and we don’t all have to be cookie cutter. He can express his light in so many beautiful different ways and I love growing in that knowledge and appreciating that more and more every day.
Grant: Well, I know we’ve shared this illustration before. It’s from when I was in a youth group. I was very, very young. I was in grade school and the lesson was how do you tell what is what? How do you separate what’s right from wrong and light from darkness and all that? And I know we shared this before, so forgive us for repeating, but they had a big mason jar full of nuts, bolts, and washers and little corks just all mixed together in this jar. And the teacher asked the question, “How do we separate these out without even opening the jar?” And it’s like, “A magnet. What do we do?” And then finally somebody said, “Well, just shake it.” So we shook the jar, shook it a few times, and pretty soon all the corks are at the top and all the nuts, bolts, screws are down at the bottom. It separates itself.
Robin: Separates, reveals the essence and nature of the things.
Grant: God is shaking the world because the essence has to be revealed. And mostly to ourselves. We need to know for ourselves who we really are, whose we really are, and what we’re going to do about it.
Robin: And you and I are old enough to think back over our lives and people who we thought were solid and other people who we thought were a little weak, but when shaking came into their lives, they were truly revealed who they are. And some of the ones we thought were solid just washed away. They just collapsed. They had no faith. The ones we thought were just kind of weak because they didn’t quote Bible verses all the time.
Grant: Yeah.
Robin: They turned out to have strong faith in God. But the shaking revealed the essence of who they are.
Grant: Mhm. You know in Haggai 2:6-7 it says:
“For thus says Adonai of hosts, yet once more in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations.” (Haggai 2:6-7)
And why? So that the treasures of all nations shall come in. And I will fill this house with glory, says Adonai of hosts. He’s going to shake the nations. He’s going to separate who are the people who love God, whose lives are aligned with him, and whose aren’t, and those whose are will be brought into his house. It’ll be called a house of prayer for all nations. But then we think, well, that happened back then. But then the writer of Hebrews quotes this passage in Hebrews 12 and it says at that time his voice shook the earth and now he has promised and he re-quotes Haggai. Quote:
“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” (Hebrews 12:26)
Unquote. Then he explains this phrase “yet once more” indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
“Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” (Hebrews 12:28)
Robin: Mhm.
Grant: And that’s just amazing. This end time shaking is to reveal what is spiritual and therefore eternal.
Robin: Yes.
Grant: And what is merely physical and therefore passing away. And here’s the thing. Light is eternal.
Robin: This past week, we lost a dear friend who was a bright light and still is a bright light.
Grant: That’s just the point.
Robin: As life goes on, his life continues on. Though he suffered a physical heart attack and we can’t see him physically, his light remains just like a star that you see at night.
Grant: Yeah.
Robin: That star doesn’t even have to physically exist for the light to continue to be visible. So, yeah, the things I’ve learned from this man. We’ve learned… that light goes on in us and all the people who we touched.
Grant: Yes.
Robin: And we love you, Steve. And we just are so grateful for the light that you continue to shine. And that is what we’re called to be no matter how dark the world feels.
Grant: Isaiah says:
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them a light has shone,” (Isaiah 9:2)
and that light never goes out.
Robin: That’s right.
Grant: And I’m thinking of Psalm 16:8, which says:
“I have set Adonai continually before me because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8)
The right is always the spiritual. So here we are, you know, we’re believers, disciples of Messiah, living in this world. And with my, out of the left side, I can see this world’s getting darker and darker and more wicked. And I can see all of that and darkness is called light and light is called darkness by some. So here’s the pillar and over here it’s just darkness on that side. But I’ve set Adonai at my right hand.
Robin: Mhm.
Grant: And that same pillar is a light to Israel.
Robin: Yes.
Grant: And on the right hand I can see the light getting brighter and I don’t have to be shaken even though the whole world is shaken. We don’t have to be shaken with it. We don’t need to be afraid and we don’t need to be angry.
Robin: Exactly right. Yeah.
Grant: So anyways we started off with that opening sentence of the Tale of Two Cities. It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. And I think that’s where we live right now. But we as believers, it’s easy to see it’s the worst of times, but we have to be able to see also that it is the best of times because it’s purposeful.
Robin: Oh my goodness. Right around the corner. We know the end of the story.
Grant: Absolutely. Yes. So, we need to have a positivity bias in this world. I think you mentioned you had something to read to us this morning to kind of wrap this up.
Robin: I’ve been doing this study in Proverbs for probably over a year now. Eventually I’ll start doing some teachings out of Proverbs. But I came across this book called “Abiding Wisdom: Prayers Inspired by the Book of Proverbs.” And the authors are Smith and Wilt. And this is a prayer I’d like to close with that comes from Proverbs 3:13-18. It says:
“Lord God, I do not ask for pleasure, comfort, wealth, recognition. I do not seek transient pleasures or momentary fame. My deepest desire, the fervent yearning of my soul is to see as you see, love as you love, to walk in the way of wisdom.
To follow you is life. To rest in you is peace. To worship you is joy.
Your counsel is my comfort, your guidance my grounding.
I am a wisdom seeker digging in the dirt in search of buried treasure. Plumbing the ocean deep to find a pearl of great price.
Are you not the reward of all who diligently seek you? Do you not give more than we can ask or imagine? In my poverty, your presence makes me rich. In my brokenness, your mercy makes me whole.
Who am I, Lord, that you, God of wisdom, would teach me your ways? That your hand would reach for me as I reach for you. I am a wisdom seeker brushing close with death, suffering, failure, rising to life, healing, strength, growing in the knowledge of Christ that I may know as I am known, see as I am seen.”
Grant: We can’t lose.
Robin: We can’t lose. And light overcomes darkness. And during these days of awe, I pray that we can all just allow his light to reveal those little corners in our inner world that needs to be exposed and the darkness completely eradicated more and more so that we are unshakable.
Grant: That’s right. Well, the purpose of light is so we can see.
Robin: It is. And if we can see, we see there’s nothing to fear.
Grant: There’s nothing to fear.
Robin: Nothing to fear. Ah, shalom (שָׁלוֹם) everyone. I really hope that you enjoyed and are able to embrace this truth and hold your head up and your shoulders back and not be afraid during these days and be light.
Grant: That’s right. So, shalom and God bless.
Robin: Bye-bye.
Grant: Bye-bye.
AUDIO ONLY
Join Grant and Robin for a new episode of “Bread Crumbs” in which we discuss various biblical issues that arise during our personal studies and conversations.
