We need to learn how to be exposed to the manifest presence of the Lord. But there are other ways that we are exposed to light. And revelation is one of them; revelation is a form of light.
We need the milk of the Word, but we also need the honey.
1 SAMUEL 14:27But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened. 29 Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.
When Jonathan ate the honey, his eyes were enlightened. This was not referring to his physical eyes, as he could already see in the natural.
It was his spiritual eyes that were opened by a key part of our inheritance in the Promised Land.
In the Bible, honey is used to describe one of the attributes of the Promised Land:
EXODUS 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey;
In other words, honey is a spiritual impartation of our inheritance in the Promised Land.
It is a picture of revelation or enlightenment by the Holy Spirit.
REVELATION IS A POWER.
It is a type of light that our spirit senses; which then flows into our soul and enlightens our mind.
Revelation also carries with it faith, because faith comes by hearing the revelation.
EPHESIANS 1:16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 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: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Revelation is a form of exposure to light, to the light of God.
When we receive revelation, we are never the same again — something changes.
Revelation carries with it the faith and the power to enter in and walk in the unveiling of what was once hidden.
When our spirit receives revelation something takes place within us and something changes: the light within us increases.
If we walk in this newly-given light or revelation, our fellowship with the Lord moves up another level.
1 JOHN 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
This term “one another”, contrary to popular belief, is talking about you and the Lord.
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:
Revelation exposes to us what God is like. Jesus is the express image of the Father, and this unveiling reveals to us what Jesus is like.
The unfolding of light is not just knowledge. It is Revelation Knowledge — a form of light.
This revelation carries with it the ability for us walk in the knowledge of what Jesus is like.
A change occurs within us when we, by revelation, understand what God is like, causing that aspect of Him to be activated within us.
Exposure transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ.
THE ARMOR OF LIGHT
We are told to put on the whole armor of God.
EPHESIANS 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
In Romans 13:12 it is described as the armor of light.
Firstly, this armor has to be an inward thing. It refers to certain qualities that have been established within us.
ROMANS 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
The armor is basically the Lord Jesus Christ, it is His nature, it is the fruit of the Spirit, and these fruits shine out from within us, clothing us in an armor of light.
It is only as these changes are made within us that we can become, through revelation, the very essence of a particular fruit of the Spirit, enabling us to put on this spiritual armor.
We cannot walk in darkness and have on the armor of light protecting us:
1 JOHN 2:9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
This process of change is achieved primarily through exposure to the light of God, which activates the fruit of the Spirit as it flows into our spirit and then our soul, transforming us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
We need to protect ourselves from the darkness of the natural world we live in.
There are certain things that we have to do in order to keep the light of Christ active within us.
MATTHEW 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
The light that we expose ourselves to can be degraded (to reduce available energy, destroy the atmosphere of the Kingdom) by the subjecting of ourselves to darkness, so that transformation does not take place.
This occurs when we allow darkness to penetrate us through the various gates of the soul.
The eye gate is the prime gateway to our souls, and what we deliberately allow to enter the eye gate will either bring life and blessing or darkness and degradation.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
When our eye gate (the natural eye) and the eye of our imagination is ‘single’ or consecrated to “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report” (Phil 4:8), then the darkness is kept out.
We must position ourselves to partake of the presence of God and the revelation of the Holy Spirit and shut out the darkness which seeks to penetrate our souls.
EXPOSURE
When plants are exposed to sunlight a process occurs which we call Photosynthesis or the conversion of the sunlight into the form of energy needed to sustain life on earth.
This is a picture of how life giving energy, spiritual oxygen is produced when we are exposed to THE LIGHT, JESUS.
JOHN 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
In the realm of the spirit, life flows from Jesus, and that light becomes our life. He truly is the air that we breathe.
When you breathe, breathe in the presence of God. Breathe YHVH. Beathe in Yod, breathe out Hey, breathe in Vav, breathe out Hey. The word for spirit is breath, He is the life, the air we breathe.
Exposure to the light of Jesus begins a spiritual photosynthesis within us which causes transformation to occur, transformation into His likeness, which in turn provides life to all around us ….
MATTHEW 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
EXOSURE TO THE MANIFEST PRESENCE
Exposure to the light of God in Jesus can take many forms
Exposure to the manifest presence of the Jesus is one of the most powerful ways to be exposed to this light.
1 CHRONICLES 16:27 Glory and honor are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place.
ISAIAH 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
The Apostle Paul was very familiar with this form of power which brings transformation
2 CORINTHIANS 3:11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Under the Old Covenant there was great measure of light, or glory which Moses was exposed to; this had a transforming physical affect on Him.
DEUTERONOMY 34:7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
However, most of the people could not bear this Glory or light which necessitated in Moses covering His face.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
Even unto our day there is a veil over the hearts of the Jewish people.
However when the heart is turned to the Lord the veil is removed.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 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.
Beholding the Lord with our heart, in His manifest presence exposes us to the very life of God, God is light.
The manifest presence of God is a powerful catalyst for inner transformation.
Not only does transformation take place, but we become light in the area that transformation has occurred within us.
The prophet Malachi prophesied to this generation with the words …
MALACHI 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
The Lord will arise within us bringing healing to our whole being.
The more we are exposed to His light, the more we become light.
In the natural a plant has to only be exposed to sunlight for this transformation to begin.
Paul the Apostle was very clear in as much as he understood that this process could not happen under the law, it was achieved though the grace of the New Covenant, it is not by trying but by being, being in His presence.
GALATIANS 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Faith and Obedience are the hallmarks of the New Covenant, by faith we must position ourselves to be partakers of this life transforming light, for this was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. John 1:9