Revelation 17:14 – these shall make war with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
The conflict
In order reach a deep understanding that will produce a victory over the government of evil, we must understand how the spiritual world works, what its laws are, and how to become truly influential beings in this invisible world.
The true conflict is a confrontation between light and darkness. As the apostle John says:
John 1:4 – in him was life; and the life was the light of man. And the light shinneth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
One principle is: darkness becomes inane (lacking significance) in the light. I don’t have to shout at the darkness for 3 hours every time I turn on a light in my house. The darkness automatically disappears, upon the instantaneous manifestation of the light. Now if Jesus is the light that abides in us, why doesn’t the darkness around us disappear immediately?
The answer is that a large portion of the light is still veiled due to real, substantial structures that the devil has built through man. These veils of darkness produce the same effect as if a light bulb were to be surrounded by a solid shell. The light exists. It is real. It dwells in the believers, but it is veiled by the forces of iniquity and the mental structures we grew up with that oppose Christ. Then, one thing is the presence of the light in the lives of those we have been made sons of God, and, another thing, is its visible manifestation through the lives of the believers.
There is an important difference between the presence of the divine virtues and their open manifestation in us. By faith, a new convert has within him the presence of all the attributes and power of God. Nevertheless, they are not manifest in an immediate manner. The breaking down of the inner man and understanding the principles that produce the manifestation of the light and of the kingdom of God are needed. Then, these attributes and the power of God will be visible to the eyes of others.
John 1:5 – and the light shined in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Second Corinthians 4:6 – 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
The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom in which everything is light. The magnificent light of God illuminates God’s great city. There is no night. There is no possibility of darkness. Everything gleams; everything glistens and is extraordinary crystalline, transparent, pure, and full of his glory.
First John 1:5 – God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
It is the light that is going to allow us to know him, to know the different dimensions and mysteries of his glory, that is going to carry us to an encounter with his face, with the countenance of Jesus Christ that shines more than the sun in its zenith. It is the light that is going to permit us to manifest him in such a way that no darkness will prevail around us. This is the highest form of spiritual warfare I know, and the one that cannot be defeated.
To understand the principles of light goes much further than a positional doctrine, in which we are the light due to the simple fact that we have received salvation in Jesus Christ. If the millions of Christians that are upon the face of the earth produce the light that God designed there would not be one single demon left upon this planet.
The problem is that we are light theologically, but we must become illuminated in such a degree in the knowledge of his glory that we become one who manifests his gleaming light.
The glory of God dwells in us is Jesus himself as the apostle Paul said: Christ in us, the hope of glory. The prophet Isaiah saw the reality of the kingdom of God inside the believer. This glory is not something that will manifest in the future, Christ in all his authority and magnificence lives inside of us.
Isaiah 60:1 – arise, shine; for the light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon the. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee and the Gentiles shall come to the light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Here the Lord is not talking about a mystical light that we say that we have, but that no one can see. Here the Lord says that there is a level of light related to his glory that can be seen by all, and that the very kings will desire it, and will follow it.
The prophet Joel also saw it, in the form of a glorious army of light that rises, conquering everything in its path.
Joel 2:2 – as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like; neither shall be anymore after it, even to the years of many generations.
This is already beginning to happen. A people is being raised up all over the earth, that understands the light, God’s designs, and that moves in a power such as has never been seen before.
In many places where God allows me to travel, I’m finding people whose light goes beyond theology, people who are seeing his shining face and who are being transformed at dizzying speeds.
Light is a series of truths that manifest everything that Jesus is, in the same way in which light is diffracted into 7 colors, but, altogether, these colors produce white light. Likewise, the way in which each aspect of the light of Christ is being manifest, the light will increase in our life.
Second Corinthians 3:18 – 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.
The knowledge of his glory is reached through a real and vivid experience with the face of Jesus Christ.
We are transformed in him, in the measure in which we look at him, in the measure the Christ reveals himself to us.
From the small, fragile awareness of his presence in the beginning of our Christian life, to the glorious ecstasy of seeing him face-to-face, the experiences that we have with him are what produces the glorious changes that are going to conform us to his image.
This is light: knowing him. Light is knowing his progressive, wonderful revelation until everything is full of his kingdom and glory, as the waters cover the sea. Many say that Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with Jesus. And this is true, but the reality is that not everyone has this relationship. Relationship means when you can look at someone in their eyes, you hold their hands, and they can hold yours, to be able to give them a hug, listen to their voice, to share with them, and that they share with you, the intimate parts of their hearts. A true relationship is not an intellectual knowledge or an emotion. To know him is to experience him every day, not only knowing about him, reading the word. And what is true is that, unfortunately, many people have a religion, and not a relationship.
Everything that is revealed to us is a product of light. The nature of light is that everything is seen in lustrous clarity.
That is why Paul prayed:
Ephesians 1:17 – that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
To enlighten means to fill with light or insight. As such, we see that the revelation of Christ in us has to do with the level of light in which we move.
The word tells us that there are different levels of relationship with Christ. One was the relationship of the disciples, another, the relationship of the 3 that were at the Transfiguration, and another level, the one that the disciple John, the beloved, had. We see different levels of glory mentioned by Paul, when he talks about how the resurrection will be; what is the glory of the sun, another, the glory of the moon, and another, the glory of the stars. Likewise, when we are transformed into our incorruptible bodies.
Following the same line of thought, there are also within the body of Christ different levels of light and, as a consequence, different levels of revelation. Where does the knowledge of light come from? How can we pass from a positional light at the level of salvation, to a true level of light that dispels all darkness?
God spoke to Job, and he said:
Job 38:19 – where is the way where light dwelleth?, and as for darkness, where is the place thereof, that thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof, knowest thou it, because thou was then born? Or because the number of the days is great?
Light is truth
Jesus is the light that came to this world.
John 1:4 – in him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
The life contained in Jesus is what produces light. But it was necessary that this life is poured out as a living sacrifice, so that it would produce the effect of light.
Jesus did not conquered the devil with the anointing that was upon him, or with the miracles, or living a holy life. It was on the cross of Calvary, where he conquered the forces of evil. It was there that every victory was consummated. And it is there, too, where darkness could not prevail against the light.
The cross, one of the least preached messages in churches today, is the place of bounty, of manifestation, of fulfillment. Understanding the cross, is opening the door that is going to carry us to the hidden mysteries of God, to the most priceless treasures of his kingdom.
It is in the cross where the repositories of the most extraordinary wisdom of God are conjugated. The revelation of his infinite love is there, the culmination of the hidden truths of his humiliation, are drunk at the cross. The entrance to the highest levels of light, of resurrection, are there, too, as well as the door to the highest dimensions of his truth. There is no greater treasure than to learn to submerse ourselves in the cross, and each part of his excellent sacrifice, of his sufferings. There are rivers of living waters there, torrents of revelation, that is his shining light. Paul understood this, and that is why he gave up everything:
Philippians 3:7 – but what things were gain to me, those things I counted loss for Christ. Yay doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I’ve suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
Philippians 3:10 – that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Everything that is so carefully hidden in each drop of his shed blood, and in the water of life that comes mixed with his vital fluid, is so deep and so wonderful! Paul lived this truth, and it was his burning desire to live crucified together with Christ so that everything that Jesus was, would manifest itself through his being.
Second Corinthians 4:10 – always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Second Corinthians 4:17 – for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
How did light begin to produce itself through the cross? Jesus had to become just like us in order to be able to be our intercessor and our high priest. For that he needed to be taken to the place of disgrace and reproach. Calvary was not a glorious place, as the artists of the Renaissance pain it. It was a place of evil, a place beside the city dump, where the most slippery and disgusting criminals were executed. This is the place where he chose to die for us.
It was there that he was counted among the transgressors. This means that he was seen as one of them, one just the same as us. On the cross, he exposed sin. He carried in his body the decree that was against us. And every blow to his face, and every injury to his body, and every lash of the whip, in every wound, in the holes made by the nails, in his face scratched by thorns, are inscribed the sins of all of us.
His body, nailed to the cross, was a decree of all our transgressions, out in the open and exposed to the light of day. The cross is the exposition of sin. The cross is to come to reproach, to be stripped naked, to be exposed.
It is here where the vessel is broken, and the light begins to manifest itself. This is what destroyed the devil, the impressive humiliation of Christ. Stripped naked of his clothing, removing sin from every hidden place, he openly exposed it on the cross. Today, the church says it is light, but light cannot manifest itself in hiding. And what am I referring to when I say the church is in hiding?
The word clearly states:
First John 1:5 – this then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not do the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin.
If we see these passages in the light of the truth, we realize that something is wrong in the church today, because the greatest sin in the church around the world is precisely that there is no fellowship one with another. The divisions, the jealousy, envy, and the lack of love is what I see abound from even the heart of the local church. How then can we say that we are light?
Notice in what moment it is that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin: when we walk in the light. And, as a consequence of walking in the light, we have communion one with another.
The passage of John continues, saying:
First John 1:8 – if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sin, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
In the epistle of James, we also find this word confess:
James 5:16 – confess your faults one to another
Let’s go to the root of things and we will understand to what the Scripture is referring. When Martin Luther, the great reformer of the sixteenth century, nailed his 95 theses on the door the church, one of them said: no, to public confession of sins. Number 1, we must understand that the theses of the Reformation are not the Bible, and there are several terrible errors within them and one of them is this one.
Let’s understand that Luther came from a Catholic background, during the darkest period that the world has experienced. The abuses that were committed in that era (selling forgiveness in order to buy heaven, taking advantage of confessions in order to take people’s money) were atrocious. Luther, who received the light of salvation by grace through faith, hated the horrors that were being committed at that time, supposedly in the name of God. He reacted to his time, but this does not mean to say that he had the entire truth.
The confession of sins between one and another, as shown by James, is the genuine form of liberation and deep cleansing of our soul. The same etymology of the word confess means to speak publicly. We use the same word when someone comes to salvation and we tell them to make a public declaration of faith:
Romans 10:10 – for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
This means that he must speak before everyone about what he believes about Jesus. Why then, when the same word is used for the confession of sin, we think that it must be done in a secret manner and only before God, so that no one knows what we have done? – Obviously, there are attitudes and minor daily faults that we can confess to God. If Jesus was stripped naked of all his clothing and the sin of the world was exposed to public light, and he publicly defeated in this way principalities and powers, why do we want to have victory in hiding?
How can the sin of the church be remitted, if the sin does not come out into the light? Didn’t Jesus say, speaking about the kingdom:
John 20:22 – and when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, receive the Holy Ghost: whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted onto them; and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.
What does this mean? Why have we eliminated this from our doctrine? Why does the proverb say:
Proverbs 28:13 – he that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whosoever confesses and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Let’s be honest and let’s look at the condition of the church around the world. Isn’t it full of sin, of people who cannot prosper, of people beat up by the devil, robbed and humiliated, of people who want to reach the kingdom, but can’t, due to so much erroneous doctrine about which we have all been mistaken?
The fact is that the ministries that I’ve seen prosper, are those that in some way have someone to whom they confess their sins. They may have done it because they wanted to be free or help, or because they have burdens that they could no longer bear, or because the attack of the devil in the area of sickness or and finances was insufferable. Then they look for someone and they open their heart. It was at that moment that they could be truly cleansed, and they began to prosper.
What does history tell us? Every great revival has begun with men and women who understood this principle. Every time the glory of God is come upon a place, it is because a wave of repentance and confession of sin has preceded it.
Those who have read or heard Charles Finney speak, say that in his meetings he spoke so strongly about sin that literally the flames of hell were felt under their feet.
When Aimee Simple McPherson preached, people fell in ecstasy, some saw heaven and others felt that they were swallowed by hell, and they cried out, repenting of their sins.
Confession is the way to come to the light; it is coming to the place where the devil can no longer threaten you and where his accusations are destroyed. The devil does not have any power upon your life when you truly come to the light, when you come to reproach, as Jesus came to reproach.
When you strip yourself naked of the clothing of sin, exposing it to the light, as Jesus was stripped naked and exposed himself instead of the wicked, if he went to the place of shame, why do we want to protect ourselves, so that no one thinks badly about us?
First John 2:6 – he that saith he abided in him ought himself also to walk, even as he walked.
Philippians 2:5 – let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Why is it humiliating going to the death of the cross? It is because this is where everyone looks at you as being the basest. This was the place that Jesus chose. He preferred to be counted with the sinners, instead of with the great men of this world.
Today, if there is a fallen brother, or a misunderstood or defeated brother, and someone joins him in order to help and love him, the advice that you are given is: you’d better stay away from him. Your testimony could be tarnished if you are seen with brothers like that one. But Jesus preferred that they hide their faces from him, that they considered him beaten by God, to be considered a man without reputation, despised, and cast out by man, scorned and without esteem, but loving and walking in the truth.
Speaking the truth about ourselves, recognizing our sins, our failures, our erroneous decisions, is walking in the light. Confessing the sin to others keeps us humble, and it is highly honorable before God. He who humbles himself will be exalted, and he who exalts himself will be humbled.
We are all human. We all make mistakes. We all sin, and we can all be forgiven and redeemed by the redemptive grace of Christ. Repenting and speaking their sins was not a problem for the early church or for the men of God in the Old Testament. There was a very different understanding about what this meant. They were always aware of the preeminence of God; what God thought was the most important thing, not what man thought. Today, the reverse appears to be the case.
You do not see, for example, a tremendous fight between Peter and the authors of the Gospels, because they published, for all time, his sin when he denied Jesus. I believe they discussed it with Peter, and he must’ve said, yes, of course, write all of this. It is necessary that everything that I did remains as an example for others. Likewise, when Luke wrote about Peter, saying that he was worthy of condemnation due to his behavior with the Gentiles.
You do not see that Paul hid his sin, but he talks about himself as a castoff. You do not see David strip Samuel of his post for writing and making his sin public. David was a man after God’s own heart. Confessions of his sins and failures are seen everywhere in the Psalms. He himself wrote about it in order for his confession to be published and so everyone could read about how he felt before God.
Psalm 51:1 – have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, and thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speaketh, and be clear when thou judges. Behold, thou desirous truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shall make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted under thee.
Notice how the perspective, David’s point of view, is so different from that of the church of this century. For David, it was not important how he was seen before men, but that God were recognized as just in his word and considered pure in his judgment.
David knew that if he humbled himself and made his sin public, writing about it and allowing it to remain for all time, God would be exalted. And, as a reward, he would allow David to preach the truth, and the people would really come, repentant, to God’s feet and with conviction of sin.
At least this is what my soul longs for, to preach Jesus and that people would truly change their ways, that his presence within me would be so strong that they would desire it with all their hearts. One day God said to me, Anna, in heaven, the books are written differently than on the earth: live your life according to the books written in heaven.
Here, we can appear that we are immaculate Saints, who never commit any error. And men will put us on high and will write about us. But in heaven, we are seen and written about differently. Next to each one of us, there is an angel that writes, day and night, the book of our lives.
Revelation 20:12 – and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were open: and another book was open, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works.
Today, the calls to repentance that are made in churches are considered to be somewhat shameful. Unbelievers go up along with a few others, and the rest of the church remain seated, as if we all believe that in all of those immovable people, there is no more sin. It is more important to us for men to think we are perfect, than what God is seeing in us.
For God, there is no more wonderful moment than when we run to the altar to confess our sins. To him, it is the most beautiful party. When we confess our sins and we repent, there is a party of angels in heaven. To God, it is not shameful that we come and we repent every single day, if necessary. Every time that we do it, he is recognized as just in his word, and pure in his judgment. We sin in so many ways, oh, Saints of God! Every time we limit the spirit, we sin. Every time we put in place our religious methods, and we restrict the liberty of what God wants to do, we sin. Every time we could move by faith, but instead, we choose human methods in order to resolve things, we sin. Every time we accept any reproach against a brother, when we show preferential treatment to people, we sin. When we see our brother in need and we close our heart to him, we sin.
Every time we choose to protect our reputation instead of taking steps of love, we sin. And loving, sometimes, has a very high price. When we forget about the orphans and the windows, even those within our own churches, we sin. When our material desires in this world are our priorities, more than the work of God or remembering the poor, we sin. Then add to this list jealousy, envy, strife, division, judging others, and all the works of the flesh, together with terrible abominations.
Do you really believe, beloved reader, that someone can remain seated in their pew because really he has no more sin? Isn’t it time to please God and to speak the truth one to another, and take off our masks that, deep inside, everyone knows we are wearing?
The truth is, light dispels darkness. When you decide to stand in the light and to speak the truth, no matter the cost, when you have sin and you have made mistakes, when you have done something that, in the eyes of others, is wrong, and you decide to speak the truth anyway, then God will shine through you.
This is not easy. The whisper that is most often heard from the devil is, protect yourself. Don’t let them think poorly of you. Remember that you are a leader, and you are an example of holiness. You have better arrange things so that you look good before men. The answer of God to this is, no, get behind me Satan. I am a leader, I must teach my people the truth, honesty, and humility. I want to be the example that will make them strong before God, even though men say all kinds of bad things against me, telling lies. I choose to please God and that in my book in heaven it be written, she honored God before men, rather than to protect myself on the earth and that it be written above, she dishonored God. She chose the lion was praised by men.
As I said before, this is not easy. It requires a level of cross, of understanding that the death and the reproach of me, assists life and resurrection. Even though they reject you here, and persecute you, great is your reward in heaven, because you chose him before yourself.
This is a principle of the kingdom that has to become alive within us.
Mark 8:35 – for whoever will save his life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels, the same shall save it.
The people of the kingdom have to be a living message. It has to be true, even though we don’t like the truth about ourselves. Exposing oneself is nailing oneself with Christ to the cross; it is entering into a position of light where you cannot be defeated. And when religious spirits nail you to the cross for speaking the truth, they will be helping you to be in the only place where power is produced, and from where light arises that dispels darkness.
This is the true light, that, when it is present in the waters of the world, it attracts all the fish towards itself. It is nailed to the cross, humbling yourself, where the shining face of the beloved becomes visible. As David said,
Psalm 36:9 – for with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
It is there, when you are looking at him face-to-face, that you can see all the impurity of your being, covered by his grace and by his forgiveness, and you can proclaim like the shunamnite woman,
Song of songs 1:5 – I am black, but comely, oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. look not upon me, because I’m black, because the sun has looked upon me
When the sun of righteousness looks at you, when he makes his face shine upon you, is when you can see the clay of which we are made, and say:
Second Corinthians 4:7 – but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, not of us.
In the kingdom of darkness, the devil knows perfectly well who is light, and who is nailed to the cross, and remains nailed to the cross. He also knows those who say they are light, but their light is darkness covered by masks, that have the appearance of godliness, but deny the power thereof. For this reason there are so many wounded in spiritual warfare; not because Christ hasn’t given us the power, but because many want to go to war without having to live the cross that defeats the devil.