The God You Don’t Want To Know.

Hidden God.

You want to know God, right? If you want to know God infinite, there is more of God hidden, than what is revealed, even if you are capable of understanding the small revealed portion. So, I invite you to look at a portion of what is hidden.  
Scripture needs to be thought through: O LORD, why dost thou make us err from thy ways and harden our heart, so that we fear thee not? Return for the sake of thy servants, the tribes of thy heritage… along with hardening the heart of Pharaoh.Isa 63:17; 
I state at the outset, God shrouds himself, his will, his purpose and plans in mystery. Truly, you are a God who hides himself… he has hidden his face;[1] God intentionally hides in darkness that cloaks him.[2] Mystery in Greek as we have previously seen is Mysterion which has at its base, onomatopoeic, Muo, the closed mouth. God does not allow the logos to be uttered; a closed mouth speaking mysteries, possibility unmanifested. This does not mean it is not there. It is the zero, 0, in our row of numbers. It has no value but our sums will not work without it. Our desire is… despite the danger, to explore the irresistible, hidden. What’s out there? We live on the earth; feet on the ground, heads in the air. We live at the interface between the ethereal and the terrestrial. We instinctually know that there is something more than we know. So metaphysically we examine the edge, chaos of darkness. We want our feet in the known but at the same time to explore the unknown… This search changes us and our view of God. We love the security of the box but at the same time want to escape its straightjacket. This is impossible.[3] Every manmade structure, all of our institutions are death veiled,[4] hidden, crouching,[5] waiting to destroy the sparks of life; entropy guaranteed. Culture, tradition, normality, has to be visionless to remain unchanged. The hidden is veiled.[6] Inherent in man’s institutions, is willful blindness. They have to be blind to change in order to remain the same, corrupt; in order to exist. This is in essence living death. This body of death meets with the yet unrevealed, the hidden. This produces disturbing currents and dissonance. Lives, our life, has to encounter the hidden of God to be given life, to be born from above. So, we need to stand on the tradition of our culture but at the same time have the freshness of chaos pumping fresh doses of life into us. The hidden of God enters our world ready or not. Having said this, it must then follow that God wants to reveal to you and me. This is theory, but not what we find in scripture or life. At many points in this study, I mention Christians who believe a lie that they have a ‘Gentle Jesus’, God, divorced from Almighty God. They believe in the God of the NT, God is one. When they encounter God of darkness they rebel.    Isa 45:15;
I find new Christians, those searching for stability, crying out to God: ‘if only you would give me a miracle to prove your existence’, but meet ‘Muo’. and say, Why dost thou hold back thy hand, why dost thou keep thy right hand in thy bosom?          Psa 74:11;
What we are dealing with here is the unmapped, unknown, hiding possibility and risk. God hides in various ways.[7] This statement will shock many, so I explain. 
Very seldom does God actually speak plainly to mankind.[8] Scripture abounds with examples of God using allegories, metaphors, types, symbols, parables, figures, dark sayings, dark speech, and representations, where plain language would suffice.[9] There is deliberate twisting of words to make them obscure. This forces contemplation and meditation on what is said in order to arrive at the solution to the riddle, incompressible fragments assembled into a whole by few. Dark speech sorts men. Why do you think Jesus spoke only in parables?[10] Scattering seed from the dark side, chips of truth hidden in obscurity; darkness from the hidden whole. Why was his speech bound up in a shroud of pictures and folktales? The kingdom of heaven is like…[11] Why did he not tell it like it is? Why all the metaphors? People ask, if the message is so important; why hide it? His family said the same thing to him… show yourself to the world.”  Jesus was in secret and hid himself from men.[12] God hides his message to man,[13] hides himself, his truth from even the elect.[14] I don’t expect you to believe what I say, so, please check what I say against scripture; that is why I give you footnotes. Read how Jesus Christ hides from those who are desperate for light and hope.[15] He does not pitch up, ‘here folks, this is what it is all about’. He reveals himself to those who are seeking and not to the masses.[16] He finds those who have given up all hope who are on their way home to do their own thing. Those who have put up the sign, ‘Gone Fishing’.[17] Why do you think this is? When we realise that this is a puzzle to be solved, we enter the game.                                            Jhn 7:4;             Jhn 7:10; 

Does God deceive?

He sent darkness, and made the land dark; Bear in mind that we are not talking merely of physical light and darkness.Psa 105:28;
Lies cover truth, lies obscure; deception, a form of darkness. Where is God in this darkness?[18] You may not like it but I am going to uncover a truth to you: God uses deception,[19] lies and confusion to achieve his ends. ‘Blasphemy!’ I hear you say. ‘How can this fool say this?’ I hear my ‘familiar’ trotting out, ‘God is truth, he cannot lie’.[20] Hang in with me; don’t switch off yet. We will use scriptures as our dictionary to uncover truth. I want you to have the truth and not the idol you presently worship. Don’t accept what I say until you have done a diligent search of the scriptures I list in the column on the right as well as footnotes. I will lie to you but God’s word is true. 

God hides things from prophets.

God hides things from his prophets and trusted wise men.[21]  Prophesy is not just hidden in time and space; it is hidden in people who hear, but cannot interpret what is being said; God actually deceives prophets.[22] The LORD has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”[23] This is the great prophet Elisha talking… Elisha, who raises the dead, produces oil from nothing… God hides his purposes from him. This seems unlikely till we realize that what we see manifested is a small a part of God unlimited surrounding us. We find God prophesying darkness to the nation of Israel: be night to you, without vision, darkness … without divination. The sun shall go down upon the prophets,[24] the day black over them; No, this is not sunset, the end of the day. God blots out the future, leaving man to stumble looking for light; spiritual eyes blinded, people left to religion. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are confused with wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in giving judgment… the Lord has poured out deep sleep, closed your eyes… prophets… and seers.[25] No, not drunk, but describing clouding, prophetic insight blanketed in darkness.[26] Please make the jump from the prophets of the Old Testament to prophets in you, looking with hope for tomorrow. Again, and again we find God uses darkness to muddy waters, to cloud clear thinking. He says: I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet. Like a well choked with stones to prevent thirsty men drinking life giving water, so, God withholds the water of his word from man.[27] This is the same God that you worship on happy-clappy Sunday… do you still say that I am fibbing? This is you looking at the future, seeing only darkness. I ask the question; would God consign all men to disobedience?[28] I ask this question not to amuse myself or to annoy you, but to stimulate your curiosity. I realise that you soul like most prefer not to know. In another telling passage we find the LORD God testing the people of Israel, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.[29] This temptation to disobedience is brought by a prophet, within you, who in the past prophesied accurately, had been tested and found accurate. I realize that this is difficult to absorb and does not make sense in terms of today’s Christian thinking. However, when we consider Cyrus and Isaiah 45. this ‘prophet’ is a paradigm that you held in high esteem, but in light of new revelation, you find the faithful old prophet, (tried and tested) prophesying worship of another God? Faith is tested to see if the object of faith is true.            2Ki 4:27;                 Mic 3:6;   Isa 28:7;         Isa 29:10;                               Exo 14:9;                                   Deu 13:3;

Water dries up

Water represents life; the word, refreshing body and spirit. So, when we read, stop up all springs of water… we know God is speaking of a soul held down by stones of lies; a soul deprived of life; truth cut off from those in desperate need. A device of war; stop the wells, cut off the flow, deprive the enemy of life-giving water, starvation and thirst for the besieged.[30] I cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;[31] light hidden, men cut off from the word of God, from the secrets of the Spirit. Punishment and retribution on one level, at the same time a saving grace.[32] Thirst created, provokes a search for life-giving water that would not otherwise be dug for. (I know that you have read and not absorbed the previous sentence. Go back and read it again please.) What is it saying to you about your life? Take the time to dig down into the names of Abraham’s wells blocked by  Philistines; unstopped, their relationships with the first, second and coming temples. Do you think that God had a greater purpose than Abraham slaking his thirst? Do you think God would confuse you, your life, by introducing evil, lies and chaos? (I know you are saying to yourself, this clot does not know me, I would never lie to myself, only a deluded fool would do that.) Do you imagine that God would deliberately withhold the wisdom of wise men from you? Do you imagine that the discernment of the discerning would be stopped by God?[33] Of course not, you are more insightful than the prophet Isaiah. At the beginning of this study, I told you, I talk to myself like my mother used to do.  2Ki 3:19;                 Lam 3:8;

God uses evil angels to delude.

God uses spirits to delude,[34] lie and cover reality; to lead men into situations where they cannot extricate themselves. … ‘I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets…[35] the LORD said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go and do so.[36] Darkness is under his feet. I want you to relate this to your circumstances and ask the questions that pop up. Woe to you soul if there are no questions…[37]      Jer 33:5;   1Ki 22:22, 23;

God hides in darkness devising Rá. 

He deludes whole nations: God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false. God clearly devises evil plans (‘Rá’) for individuals and nations, luring them to destruction.  I am shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you[38]… evil (‘Rá’) it will be… a time of misery woe and affliction. When you read, I am shaping… I am devising evil… relate this to the God you serve. Surely, there are anomalies that pop up? God even warns that he is going to delude and obscure the light of clear thinking.[39] God uses darkness; he rides on the dark clouds in your skull, he is in your head, deluding.[40]  2Th 2:11;         Jer 18:11;       Mic 2:3;        

God hides behind obscure demonstrations of power.

Have you ever asked yourself the question why God hides behind a screen when talking to men? Moses and the burning bush, Elisha and the still, small, voice.[41] God is seen as smoky mirror, a lens giving a partial image, unclear, dark, distorted… through a glass darkly, is all we see, at best.[42] We don’t see God as he is; we don’t see God face to face like Moses. For many of us, God is a figment of our own twisted interpretation of scripture. We see the God we want. God‘s demonstrations of power are all sheathed in layers of obscurity. God could have said to Pharaoh, ‘Either let my people go or I will break you.’ ‘Here is a sample of what I will do to you’. ‘Poof’, Pharaoh’s arms turn to dust and fall to the ground. Pharaoh would have listened first time round. Why go through the song and dance of the 10 plagues? Why not just appear to Pharaoh, terrify the pants off him; tell him what he wanted.[43] Why harden Pharaoh’s heart repeatedly?[44] Believe me, Almighty God is able to put the fear of God into a man like Abimelech in one night.[45] This God that you serve is able to write on the wall and make Daniel’s knees turn to jelly in a second. I know that you are saying to yourself. But this guy doesn’t know that Jesus is the manifestation of the Father. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Hold that thought for a minute. Ever wondered why God speaks through parables? Think of parables as pebbles thrown into mind’s pond; ripples spread outward; wrinkles bouncing off experience and circumstance in the hearer’s time and space. Not the same for any two individuals, never the same in succeeding generations, never boring, each pond with its own geometry, interprets the pebble in its own way. The black stone disappears under the surface, leaving ripples of effect. As you read this; what is your pond saying? Has a black pebble of darkness plopped in your still clear pond? Ezekiel lies on the one side for over a year, half-starved, eating his food cooked over a dung fire and then turns over and does the same thing on the other side, all the time facing an iron plate. All this is to show that Jerusalem is going to be besieged. Really? There is a simpler way surely? Read the book of Hosea and see the lengths that God goes to, to bring a message. Hosea, told to marry a whore, then over a period of years he names his children, Jezreel, Not-pitied, and Not-my-people as living prophetic expositions to those observing his humiliating life. Sit, think for a while, leave shaking your head. Surely there was a more efficient way of getting the message to people? Hosea must have seemed like a lunatic to those who saw this parable played out over a number of years. Yet this method chosen was by God. Why not just have him wander through the streets like a town crier? Jonah did that and it worked. The ripples from the pebble echo through the NT to us today. He is crying against Sodom, within us.[46] Do you honestly think God is speaking to Pharisees back in the 1st century? Do you think he is speaking to cities back when Jesus walked the earth? Do you really and honestly believe God is not addressing you when he speaks woe to the nations?[47] Isaiah wanders around starkers for three years to bring a message that Israel is going to go into exile carrying the baggage of a misspent life. Why does God hide behind this spectacle?[48] Look at the nakedness all round you and ask; is our present age going into exile; bound with bronze fetters, lips pierced by hooks, led into bondage like fish on a long-line into perdition? We find Micah wandering round naked; barking like a dog, howling like a jackal.[49] Come on. Look at yourself and those around us; mad dogs we protect the guilty and abort innocents; we stand naked and exposed. I can go on and on giving you examples of God obscuring his message and himself from men that he wants to communicate with. One has to ask, why? The God that you worship is a rational God; God that you invited into your life, God you say, you are inside of, God that inhabits your very core. Your little invented god? Surely, you are asking yourself why he behaves this way in scripture and yet you believe he is ‘Gentle Jesus meek and mild’… somewhere there is a dissonance. Has he changed his character to fit with your theology? That thought you so patiently stand holding. If Jesus is God in flesh; why devise a death that is so patently designed for the lowest of the low? Why hide the best in groveling suffering?                                                                      Jhn 14:9;                        
God reveals himself and his nature through plagues.
Something you have seen me wrestle with before; why the song and dance with God? Why the hidden, delayed, provocative, toying with Pharaoh?  I said earlier that God knows how to touch men in a way that is unequivocal and final,[50] so why do we see pharaoh and the Egyptians having to go through 10 plagues? 
God reveals himself and his nature to men through acts of destruction and defilement.[51] Repeatedly he says, I will do that you might know, that they might know…[52] this gradual revelation over millennia is for the good and righteous but is not confined to them.[53] God reveals himself to the base and wicked through acts of power that they cannot attribute to anything other than the divine. Continuously repeating the same phrase, ‘That they might know that I am the Lord…’[54] clear indication that God is reaching out to men through Rá. There is no way to sidestep the phrase, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants…” Here God hardens Pharoah’s heart so that it cannot change, then plagues Egypt. This seems unfair and unjust.[55] God is obviously doing something that is counter intuitive and revolting to our sense of right.                    Exo 10:1;  
Revelation of Jehovah, Almighty God to Egypt is explicit.[56] Egypt is a type for what indwells us, Egypt an architype of bondage and hard labour. If we accept that Egypt is more than a nice story 4500 years ago, we are forced to ask who else is spoken to? Are we to confront Egypt in ourselves? So. what was being revealed? “Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Egypt, Pharaoh and the rulers elevated themselves in opposition to God, essentially making themselves gods, so, had to be taken down;[57] “that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”[58] They had no idea that the gods they worshipped were any different to Jehovah. Have you perhaps mixed up your idols with Almighty God? The great I AM is to be feared.[59] Why was this instruction applied over time through plague? It could not be achieved in one fell swoop: I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God.”, it was a gradual increase in pressure exerted through plague, power and might… to… make them know that my name is the LORD.” Gradual revelation of his name to men… is this what he is doing for you? He does it for his name’s sake.[60] We see the plagues as physical manifestations, but we are given insight; God says that they are also plagues of the heart.[61] Plagues have parallels in the heart. When the Egyptians are seen as spiritual types in us it becomes interesting. God was revealing himself progressively to both Egypt and Israel in us.[62] He was teaching Egypt that the Lord Jehovah God is different, that the earth is the LORD’s. He is the creator of heaven and earth not part of creation that can be bowed to. The earth is his to command and rule. He is in the midst of the earth, your earth. He was instructing Israel too.[63] That they were from Egypt but not of Egypt. They were a chosen people set apart.[64] Instruction not just for the generation that came out of Egypt but for successive generations and that includes us, the sons of Abraham by faith.[65] God is the one that frees from slavery and addiction. It was to be repeated to teach; that I am LORD.[66] The plagues were designed to teach; there is no one like the LORD our God.[67]                    Exo 10:3;                           Jer 16:21;                                       Exo 9:29;                               Exo 8:10;
The Lord was bringing distinction between Egypt and Israel:[68] 
What becomes apparent is that in the midst of the darkness that hides and surrounds him, God is reaching out to men, rather than sitting down and talking as Jesus did, he teaches through repeated acts of power and destruction. In the case of Pharaoh, it seems that we are to see Pharaoh as a type of the ruler of our enslave heart. A stubborn ruler who will not change. One that has to be repeatedly be taught the same lesson by various acts of Rá. Pharaoh is the heart hardened. that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.[69]                  Exo 8:10;  
Would God hide healing?
Read this passage: Mat 15:22-28; you tell me. It is almost as though Jesus toys with the woman in her desperation looking how far he can push her. This is a passage of scripture I don’t understand but nevertheless accept. 
Would God hide his truth, his salvation from men?
Why would God say something like, “Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes,[70] and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”? An objective reader would be stunned by the callousness of essentially, denying light to those in darkness,[71] blinding them to salvation, “so that they may indeed see but not perceive,[72] and may indeed hear but not understand;[73] consigning them to eternal darkness… (inside /outside principle) lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.”[74] It is so un-Christian. I hear you saying, this is not the God I know. You will note that your argument; ‘this is a God of the OT‘, has no force, because this quote is from Mark. This is the same God we find in Isaiah.[75] He has not changed, he has not morphed into a soppy, goopy, saccharine sweet, candy floss figment of our imagination… This is God wrapping his word in a veil of darkness.[76] But if you read on in Matthew, Jesus goes on to say: For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. There are consequences for rejecting revelation. I don’t want you to miss the point. Jesus was not talking to Pharisees or sinners when he hid truth. He was not talking to the Scribes or the religious bigots when he concealed the logos of life. He was hiding the truth from those who had come out hungry for words of life.[77] Read Jhn 14:22; and see if I am lying to you. What is accepted in faith governs what is seen. We have just seen God in darkness and obscurity. One has to ask, is this the same God that we worship today? One has to ask, is this ‘Jesus-God’ that we call Gentle Jesus? Is this Abba Father that the prosperity, faith churches promote on bill boards?  Mar 4:12;                 Isa 6:10;                               Mat 13:12;
We are made in the image of God; this image is not merely physical. He hid the vanishing point, eternity, in the heart of man. Most of who we are is hidden, we see a portion of the whole. We hide who we are from God, man and ourselves. Most of who we are needs to be uncovered. Daylight reveals what darkness of night hides. 

Manufactured versus real God.

I sometimes think that we of the modern church, have a plastic, manufactured, sanitized image of God; religion of our own making. A god that conforms to our ideas of reality, god explainable, god boxed, packaged; god without mystery, god explained in a 20-minute sermon; anything outside of this ignored. This god is low resolution, a line drawing, a caricature that strips God down to comic book hero. ‘Why didn’t God heal me?’ ‘Why didn’t God find me a parking spot when I asked; he knew I was in a rush?’ People want a ‘slot god’, a god they put their token into and out pops their candy. Banging on the machine; ‘I don’t believe in you anymore; you did not deliver.’ ‘I rubbed the lamp and the genie didn’t appear; he didn’t say, ‘master what is your wish’. ‘I don’t believe he exists.’ This is not the God of the bible. But to confuse you still more; it is the God of the bible. This is the lucky-packet Jesus who heals the blind man, the genie that heals the woman with an issue of blood who believed that simply touching his garment would do the trick, supernatural God-Jesus who raises the already stinking dead. I know that you are saying, ‘hey Mark, if the other side exists, why are you highlighting the dark side?’ ‘Why even mention this other side to the Lord Jesus Christ? The reason is simply this: This is not the God I know. I think it fair to explain that what is punted, is not what always happens. You don’t need to be faithless to read the words: Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it… if you ask anything in my name, I will do it, to realise this does not mean what most assume it does.  It is also evident to me that many reject Christianity because their experience does not fit the box of Pentecostal, Evangelical, demand economic Christianity.                                                                                          Jhn 14:13, 14;
At this point I ask a question of you, soul; consider before answering because I want an honest, measured answer to what has troubled me for a long while. I have demonstrated that God does not play by the rules and yet he expects man to… and punishes him when he misses the mark. How can it be that he plays both sides of darkness and light and yet is always at pains to usher men into light? I honestly want to have an answer soul, because I don’t know. 
At different points in this little study, I point out that what we profess to believe is not what we actually believe. If you scratch through the ash of what Christianity is today, you find the Easter bunny and the Christmas tree baubles. But this is too obvious and does the argument no good. Men need the church not just for God. Any fool can tell you that God doesn’t live in a church, but still, that is what men believe. The church is a place of community that gives structure and comfort. It is a place of the reliability of sameness, free of change. The church that men need and therefor create; is not God moving and shaking. We prefer a place where God is essentially dead, but where traditions and practices live. We want a church that will baptize our babies, (blow the scriptures that point to adult baptism) marry our sons and daughters and bury our dead. Tradition and ritual is comforting. We sheep, cannot think, need a shepherd, any herder will do, a priest and pastor to call on; we are buyers of insurance policies… it matters little if it makes sense… as long as we are not alone. I have my mask on… virtue signalling, the mask strains nothing, yet brings comfort of structure, formality, the rhythm of the church calendar, walls of constraint and formality, not wild wilderness. Let’s look at the God that people in the bible knew. 
There are a number of incidents that occur in scripture that stretch our preconceptions of God: The case of Uzziah.[78] Israel going to battle with the Benjaminites, twice defeated.[79] Sincere men, earnestly and honestly seeking God; wanting to do right; God gives them death and destruction for their trouble. Have you ever read the story of Balaam and asked yourself, what did Balaam do that the Lord had not instructed him to do?[80] Ask yourself why the tragic tale of Job had to be worked through?[81] Have you ever tried to make sense of the parable of the ‘wise’ servant cancelling debt?[82] It still baffles me how worldly mammon can be traded for eternal habitations.[83] I find God using his word to confuse and darken man’s wisdom. Far from finding scripture illuminating and simplifying my image of Almighty God; I find it confuses. I find myself saying, why don’t you just say what you mean? Why do I have to go and look at the ‘Ites’ of the land to understand my sin? I know that you don’t talk to God in the irreverent way I do, but, think… what am I dealing with here? this God won’t fit into my little box; what can I do with this piece, that won’t fit; the portion bulging like a dam wall about to burst on my head of faith? This is good. The dam wall has burst, now is rebuilding time.                                     
I present scripture to myself, interpret it as wisdom to be applied, truth for now; then find that I don’t have courage to see myself in its light. I want to point to someone else, to apply it there. The reason I see this clearly? Because of their reaction… they too revert to tradition, superstition, handed down, unappropriated fables that they heard, then included into their vocabulary, as I do. Confronted by the harsh reality that God hands out in his word, it is easier to believe candyfloss nonsense without substance. The conclusion I have come to is this: unless God presents truth along with suffering, I simply don’t hear. I, me, my, mine is the idol I worship till I, me, my, mine is empirically demonstrated to be not mine. This happens with destruction. Your comments about grief and mourning being like an earthquake shaking your world are incisive. What makes them poignant is that you mourn the living dead, those souls who have died inside. 
What I have attempted to show you; God is not boxed. He is God of darkness as well as light; God understood yet never deciphered; God operating in the mysterious. 
Despite all the examples I gave you in scripture, I can hear you saying again; ‘But Mark, this is an OT God of vengeance you are describing. This is not the God of the NT. Washed in the blood, saved, regenerated Christians are not treated like this; or as Paul my friend from beautiful NZ said recently; ‘There is no more darkness for me or for those born again; born from above.’ He continued: ‘Any darkness you experience is subjective, meaning of yourself’… his unwritten subtext was, ‘this is for you, degenerate sinner, heading for hellfire and brimstone.’ I agree with you Paul my dear friend, but scripture and history don’t. Paul, the great apostle, (not from New Zealand) gives us a glimpse into his life since he met the Lord Jesus Christ: greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Weak, …exhibited… like men sentenced to death; …a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. fools for Christ’s sake, weak, in disrepute. we hunger and thirst, are ill-clad, buffeted and homeless, we labor, working with our own hands. …reviled, persecuted, we endure; …slandered, …the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things. Popped your bubble? Sorry, this is not a church picnic. Take a Google-search tour; see the death that the apostles suffered and then do a review of your theology. Perhaps, maybe, just a slight possibility, a faint chance; your theology is focussed on the here and now? God has a purpose beyond the immediate. How would your view of God change if half of what happened to Paul, happened in your life? Do you think. God has a message that you have not quite heard? Suffering is God’s darkness pressing into life.                                              2Co 11:23-29;                                           1Co 4:9, 13;

Satan.

You are probably tired with me and my obsession with darkness, so let’s look at someone in scripture that crops up in almost every book from Genesis to Revelations. One who is universally acknowledged as the ultimate baddie. I am talking about Satan. The prince of darkness. 
I want you to read the definitions of Satan for yourself: Dr Strong tells us, One who opposes a person in purpose or act.[84] The Hebrew for the word ‘adversary’ is pronounced ‘Satan’. Strong continues: Used by man and God, an adversary sometimes called Satan who stands to oppose, confront,[85] withstand and test men and their motives,[86] on behalf of God and to bring correction.[87] 
Thayer’s lexicon describes Satan: The title given to the prince of evil spirits who stands in inveterate opposition to God and Christ.[88] Reading on, I find that he is much more than this: Yes, he incites to apostasy from God and to sin, circumventing men by stratagems, the worshippers of idols are said to be under his control.[89] Yes, he and his demons enter bodies of men to take control and by means of his demons take possession to afflict men,[90] but, Satan means so much more. 
Satan is identified as the Devil, associated with the beast, Leviathan,[91] the subtle, beguiling serpent in paradise.[92] Not some passive body lying in ambush; comes in boldly and argues his case with Almighty God and man.[93] He confronts Jesus Christ and argues his case masterfully. He is assured and confident, knowing that God has opened the way into man for him. He is associated with the angelic Serafim, fiery,[94] flying,[95] monsters, swiftly moving, gliding serpent, crooked, twisting serpent,[96] dragon, devil, deceiver of the whole world,[97] snakes, and snake worship associated with Rahab Egypt.[98] Rahab means insolence and pride, arrogance that leads us to the mythical sea monster, dragon of the deep, in Job.[99] Satan is also associated with the Day Star in Isaiah 14 and in turn, leads back to Sheol and the stones of the Pit.[100] Satan is associated with the most frightening beasts, he is the sum of all fears. I hope that by this time you are saying, oh! This is touching the core of who I am, this Satan is not peripheral to me. There is a common thread that runs through our little study of Satan; he is a bottom dweller. In Genesis we are told that he is cursed to crawl on his belly and eat dust.[101] He is the metaphorical companion to crawling things of the earth.[102] He occupies the lower parts of the earth, Sheol. seen figuratively, is his home. Before you say, this has nothing to do with me: God is not one of the clowns up on the raised platform on a Sunday. He knows you! He is saying that Satan is dwelling at the bottom, in your black earth, Satan rules what you say does not exist. When you are sure, when you say, ‘Lord, I will follow you no matter what, I am unshakeable in my trust of you.’ ‘No darkness here!’ Satan is there to shake that foundation. He is the destroyer.[103] What I need you to see, Satan is more than a complex hybrid of personalities occupying a body. He is multivaried, changeable, creature of our imagination and so immortal, real in every man. 
Men are referred to as Satan when they take up the role of Satan. We are sons of Zeruiah, referred to as Satan; practical, expedient, men who wanted the best for David but who were of an opposite spirit, testing and proving David, in us. What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries (Satan) unto me?[104] Peter is Satan to Jesus, standing in opposition to the will of God for Christ.[105] Born again Christians, raised in the Pentecostal, American, transactional tradition, wanting, black/white, in/out, political, right/wrong, agreeing for the sake of unity in times of war, fail to see Gods’ good in Satan. Opposition must stand as conscience for stupidity of ‘yes men’ in times of extreme and dire existential treats.[106]            2Sa 9:22;
…give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. Here the word Satan is used of trial administered by Satan.[107] Satan is used by God to administer testing.[108] Have you considered my servant Job? Rather than the monolithic baddie, as I supposed, Satan is a multi-faceted creation of God; spanning past, present, future; there… but hidden, rejected and avoided by man, brought close by God, used as a tool to shape. 1Co 7:5;           Job 1:8;  
At the same time Satan is under the control of God, reports to God, talks to God, asking him for permission to test and afflict men. Men imagine Satan to be a loose cannon on the deck of their lives, yet he cannot overstep the boundaries God lays down.[109] Satan is limited in his actions under the control of the Lord. All that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.                Job 1:12; Job 2:3;
What gets us really; God uses Satan to sort wheat from chaff, flesh from spirit,[110] in our lives. That God would hand us over to be sieved like wheat; Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat; ‘gentle Jesus’ would know what is coming, stand and watch, not step in when you enter dark times; but I have prayed for you … thanks for nothing, Lord.        Luk 22:31;
We find Paul limited in where he can go, by Satan.[111] He finds that it is his lot to be severely afflicted by Satan. He holds out against this affliction till he can bear it no longer, then submits to Satan, the servant of God, limiting him.[112] Paul explains to the Thessalonians, no one be moved by these afflictions; saying, this is common knowledge that Satan is free to afflict and limit,[113] don’t get uptight… You yourselves know that this is to be our lot. This was not only expected, but predicted long beforehand,[114] a principal that can be banked on, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction;              1Th 3:3, 4;  
Satan not only appears before God but answers to God for his actions,[115] he is used by God; commanded and rebuked by God (not man).[116] Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.[117] Boom!; the serpent is in your Garden of Eden. The tempter allowed to seduce to the easy way out.[118] The seductress of Proverbs, standing at the parting of your ways, offering the choice to slip responsibility. This is God using the agency of Satan, darkness personified, to interrogate your heart. This is the serpent in your Tree of Knowledge, your walled garden invaded by the rebellion of Vashti.[119] God allows the serpent into your paradise.[120] This is the black eye in the yin. We don’t like the thought of Satan creeping in when we are closeted praying.[121] Yet, this is what happens. God promises us, what the whisperer says in the inner room,[122] the inner, hidden, closeted head, will be proclaimed from the rooftops.[123] ‘This is unfair’ I hear you say. Surely my head is off limits to all but God? Fact is, God puts a serpent in perfection, your Garden of Eden. Your little manicured, ordered, measured, protected space between your ears, your secluded garden, has been breached. He was and is dwelling in your Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. The invasion of your head-space is not limited to Satan, God can and does open the way for evil spirits.[124] I don’t know how you interpret, ‘evil spirits’? … madness or actual spiritual entities, God sends them into lives. Messengers of Rá, to torment, definitely not there for good, ask Saul,[125] he will tell you,[126] (paradoxically this may lead to you meeting the spirit of David.) the demonic from the Lord, entered him. It is worth noting that where I create a walled garden of culture and tradition; that place I consider safe, the safe space of certainty; the Tree of Knowledge; the church; the serpent is there, testing separating head from heart. He asks questions, probing, trying superficial learned unappropriated faith.[127] Satan that ancient accuser within you, sifting your wheat,[128] destroying flesh.[129]            Job 1:6;
God created Satan, an angelic being like every other… By God’s assistance he is overcome.[130] An eternal being with internal access and eternal life. On Christ’s return he will be bound with chains for a thousand years, then returned to power, only to be delivered to eternal punishment in the lake of fire.[131] 

A digression.

Forgive me as I digress, I want to share a personal journey that I set out on about twenty years ago: I am from a faith-based background. We would not be so crude as to have labelled ourselves, ‘name it and claim it Christians’ but, that’s what we were. We believed that faith demanded a belief in healing on demand. When I got MND I pressed the default button repeatedly. If it was not so tragic at the time, I would have laughed as I do now. I ‘commanded’ healing in Jesus name, (who I was commanding remains a mystery till today) then when nothing happened, I prayed and fasted, beseeched, pleaded, stamped my feet, pulled my beard, had a frothy and did it all again in a different order, in case I had the wrong liturgical order. I kept this up for months, calling on the name of Jesus repeatedly without ceasing for hours, crying and mourning my sins. Fine tooth combing my past, repenting repeatedly over what popped up and believe me I had a lot emerged that was imbedded. I had elders pray, lay hands on and anoint me with oil. I even went to the ‘great men of God’, miracle healers at megachurches; had them lay hands on me and mutter in unintelligible languages and sing over me. Denying the disease, rebuking death, disease, demons and the devil in Jesus name. (I can hear you laughing along with me as I write this.) Slowly it dawned on me; nothing was happening, instead of getting better I was progressively worse. During this time friends that had been supportive for years, also had the epiphany that I was not getting better despite their prayers and moved on. I started to accuse myself, question my faith as others did. I was visited by Job’s comforters in the night for months. They were armed with barbs which they plunged into me. Perhaps it was my faith that was weak or perhaps the sin in my life was preventing healing? Was I saved? Did the baptism I received count; was it kosher? This analysis went on for years…   I don’t want to try and minimise the heart-wrenching my disease caused me and my family. It was pitiable. Looking from rare breaks in the clouds, brief periods when light would break through darkness, I would shake my head and say, ‘this is so tragic, it must be a Hollywood dream.’ The only thing I did not do is doubt God. I knew him. The thought of being ‘out there’ sans my Lord was a fate worse than death. Finally, I turned to what I should have begun with. I turned to the word and did a diligent search in the book that all tribulants resort to sooner or later. I read the book of Job. What stood out for me was this: Job was righteous and yet God allowed him to suffer loss and endure suffering. More than this, God actually instigated his suffering and initiated Job’s trial by Satan. Try and reconcile this with your theology. 
Before I did a bit of work on Satan, I had a limited picture. Constrained to the box of what I wanted to believe, unable to process truth. Soul, I want to share what I found: 

More than meets the eye.

If you are anything like me, I have vision of God; an image governed and limited by my understanding. I perceive God as operating on my little, flat chess board. A white king with his white army, Satan the black king with his minions on the other side. Is this also your perception? What I find in scripture cuts through my preconceived simplistic chess board metaphor. My two-dimensional chess board with black and white squares and pieces is actually multi-dimensional. What I see as pieces operating on a single plain are actually pieces appearing, reappearing from different unseen parallel plains each with their own space-time. Rather than it being white king versus black king; God is over all, on all levels at the same time, using both sides, dark, light and shades of grey that I have not realized exist; exploring, probing on levels I cannot conceive of because they are not of this world. My revelation of God’s vastness, I relate to a person suddenly realising light in the infrared spectrum, gamma rays, light on such a low frequency it is perceived as sound. Now suddenly… this is just part of the picture: there are parallel spectrums above and beyond what is apparent to science and theology. Not only is the chessboard limitless, but God plays beyond the bounds. I operate in a world of 1 to 10. I cannot even control this little bounded world. Now, I am introduced to the idea of infinity, which I cannot comprehend or rationally explain; not only that, a number scale below ‘Zero’ running to infinity. My little mind cannot absorb the idea of infinity… To realize that this is one line counted on the ruler’s edge … beyond these, endless rulers lined up, forming a plane, unlimited, never ending, this plane in turn intersects with other planes; that in turn intersect with others; making up modules that form far more complex structures, not static; living, spawning endlessly, creation. Changing with observation, changed by applied faith; appearing out of nothing, in turn creating constantly in the unseen; never-ending. From the analogy of rulers lined up end to end and parallel to one another, appear spheres and helixes rotating and moving round each other and at the points of intersection, life generated, constantly undefined, indescribable, unlimited ‘beings’ formed. Light and darkness, created; read Isa 45:7 and realize that God has not died, has not changed just because you condescended to acknowledge his existence. At the centre of all, the ‘womb’, ‘zero’ between infinity of 1 and -1, an eternity from which everything finds its place. This nothingness is wreathed in black, darkness of inner darkness, the hidden covert of the Most High, God.[132] Caught up in my 1-10 world, I conclude that the animals never fitted into the ark… scripture makes no sense… why would God? Bear in mind that we are talking of the spiritual not geometry or physics… Knowing nothing; I am known. I realize that the word never ending, unfathomable, indescribable; God gives hints through his word as to what awaits us. God is unlimited, crosses all boundaries and is all. We see in part. 
This study opened my , prompted me to dig deeper into the word. God uses word, Torah, to describe the indescribable mythological, bringing truth to life. I found that right through scripture in both the OT and the NT God used and initiates sickness and suffering: Rá. God, active, incisive in men’s lives. Hang in with me please, there is more to come on our God wreathed in darkness. I need to take a side road for you to see. 

T/O.

As I work through scripture from Genesis to Revelations as I do every year, I found that I was looking with fresh eyes for God’s hand in my life. I find that scripture makes sense if it applies to me, here, now. I found that consistently, God gives men truth; which I labelled ‘T’. He then tests truth empirically through opposition, which I labelled ‘O’. I know that I am strange but for a year I read and marked ‘T’ and ‘O’ in my bible. I eventually came to the conclusion that the T/O principle operates without fail in scripture and in the reality of our lives. If you doubt it read the link and then believe what you will. Please don’t move on from this T/O principal till you have fallen on one side or the other as it is vital to understanding what follows. Get off the fence, at least follow the link till you make up your mind. God is not interested in what you or I believe. This is a bold statement for a man to make about God. This is blasphemy to the faith-based churches. He does not want head knowledge. He wants to see what you do with the theory you possess. He is not interested in theoretical faith; he is interested in empirical, demonstrable faith when Satan,[133]  king of Assyria is at your gate saying: On what do you rest this confidence of yours…is it without the LORD that I have come up…The LORD said to me, Go up against this land… Faith requires opposition. Truth is always opposed. Faith declared, is tested. Trial results in the weak falling by the wayside. It is a wrestling match with yourself and your nature. When the rational disappears… can you trust me, will I find faith when I return? I hear you saying within me… ‘No! cannot be, God would never send a destroyer my way. That is not the God I know; my gentle Jesus would never do this!’ God speaks to you in your confusion: I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; I have made some pretty bold statements; let’s look at examples in scripture to back up what I am trying to put across.                                                                      2Ki 18:19, 25;               Luk 18:8;   Isa 54:16;

God hides his name and nature.

If unfamiliar with the story of Jacob and his encounter with the angel of God, you can read it here. Jacob wrestles with Jehovah all night, gets his hip dislocated, hangs on to hear the name of God and what does he get? Nothing. Jacob is not after a name; he wants to know the nature of God behind the name. He wants to know and experience the character behind the sound of letters spilling off his tongue. Words and names have no meaning in themselves, squiggles and lines on pages, mouth uttered sounds, different in each language, to which we attach meaning. The name of God, a collection of letters; when written down reveal nothing of who stands behind the name. Jacob wants to know God but discovers nothing in darkness. He wants to know the nature of God. He wants to get to grips with the reality of God; prepared to wrestle all night, all he gets is a question. But you understand that this is not just ‘a night’, this is night, an experiential darkening of the soul, ‘a night, darkness’ not experienced up until this point. God reveals his nature but obscures himself. He hides from the great, reveals himself to a sleeping child. It is experience in darkness that gives meaning to the name; Jacob experiences a fight and difficulty. Now, escape from the academic bubble you are in; relate Jacob to the darkness you are experiencing and ask questions? What is given to Jacob that he didn’t have before his encounter with God? What did Jacob come away with? He came away with a message forever written in his name, his limp, for all to see. He came away having to use a staff otherwise he would have fallen. He had his independence and self-sufficiency broken. He was changed, given a new name; Israel, ‘He who wrestles with God.’ That was the substance of God’s message to Jacob. What is God speaking to Jacob within you? Is God giving you a new name too? If you are a tribulant indeed, you are wrestling and being changed.                                                       
The name discloses God hidden in Christ; Christ hidden in God; both hidden in the Holy Spirit and surprise, surprise, where do you think the Holy Spirit is hidden… in God, in Christ within you. Why tell you this story, to what purpose? I tell the story to demonstrate that you are dealing with God who is a mystery. Don’t think he is your mate who is going to sit and disclose himself to you without struggle. You are going to come out of an encounter with God limping, using a crutch to stay upright, changed. 

Would God hide his word from men?

Frequently we find Jesus healing people and then instructing them, ‘tell no man’.[134] His disciples were told to keep the transfiguration secret as well as what was revealed to them; think of the Revelation to John.[135] Ask yourself the obvious question. Why would he hide from man what they are desperate for? It is the glory of God to conceal things…[136] what are these things? We discover that the ‘things’ are actually darbar which we translate as, ‘words, something spoken, and therefore, an explanation’.[137] So, we find God concealing clarity, obscuring meaning… this is odd, because I have always understood that God is keen to be understood by men. At this point I hope that you are questioning. Don’t accept what I say unless you are prepared to move on. If you swallow what I say, I promise you are going to be led where you don’t want to go. There, I warned you.Mat 17:9;               Pro 25:2;

The crypt.

Occasionally we get a hint as to the secret nature of God. God your Father who sees in secret… your Father who is in secret… the nature of this secret place; what David refers to as the secret heart;[138] a crypt, arched, hollow, vault. This arched crypt is a treasure store, hidden from the eyes of men.[139] Bunged up, stopped like a water tank. The swollen belly pregnant with life and possibility; dark, logos covered mouth, ‘Muo’, mystery. ‘Zero between your 1 and -1’? What will emerge?Mat 6:4, 6;  
This is what happens to the all, the totality of knowledge. The sum of all wisdom and revelation, there, but hidden in peripheral shadow, not needed, unsought, which the eye is not focused on. Most of us are unable to walk and chew gum at the same time; unable to cope with even the complexity of the apparent, much less deal with the hidden unseen all. 
In arrogance we think we know all; there is no need in our minds to seek. Occasionally God allows something to appear out of darkness of the unknown into our world, we are shocked to see it was there all along.  

The Deep.

The deep, a place within us. The deep quakes when it sees God. It is able to feel fear, it has personality; the deep trembled. A place of monsters, not a place of peace and harmony. A place in us where, Deep calls to deep at the thunder of thy cataracts; all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.[140] A place of thunder, where different deeps, on various levels within us, call one to another, with sound, the roar, inundation, a waterspout. This is not a place of rest, rather a place where leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent… the dragon that [is] in the sea-: in the place of jackals, sea monsters and all deeps, dragons, serpents, sea monsters, covered with deep darkness emerge from within you.Psa 42:7;                     Psa 44:19;
Hidden in darkness, the sum of all disappears, obscured in the eternity of the great deep. Unfathomable. This is part of the all that is God. Recently a woman visited me from the MND/ALS Association and in the course of the visit I asked her, ‘so who are you?’ ‘Tell me about you.’ ‘I don’t like to open myself to someone who is going to scatter my pearls.’ She proceeded to give me her CV and then said, ‘I am transparent, what you see is what you get.’ This sounds fair to most, basically saying, I am an honest broker, I don’t have any hidden agendas, see, my hands are empty, look no weapons, you can trust me. What I wanted to say but didn’t: ‘you obviously are naive or stupid, or you don’t have any self-knowledge.’ Children of God; we are complex, filled with potential for both good and evil, more hidden in us than can be known in one lifetime. We reflect the glory of God and have his creativity bubbling in us. Each of us has the spark of the divine indwelling us. With God as co-worker, we have the responsibility and privilege of manifesting to the world what is hidden from the creation, to bring revelation into light. Out of what we imagine to be the non-existent darkness, void and chaos,[141] God reveals a portion of the hidden, to men.[142] This is described in scripture as prophesy, a dream, a vision ‘of the night’. For you who like to follow patterns in scripture, it is a fascinating study to see how often revelation is associated with darkness. I say often in this study that there are unwritten treasures that hide in scripture, hidden to those of us that will not or cannot see. So, personalise this study, look for morning, track dawn, wait for sunrise; relate it to your life. Look for what emerges from night. When we read, in the morning, a great while before day, there is a subtext; during hours of darkness, while eyes were covered by night, something appeared, revealed by dawn.                                                                                            Mar 1:35; 
Another handle for you to grasp: if we are living in control, surrounded by uncontrol; known surrounded by the unknown; ordered peace, surrounded by chaos; the insider, surrounded by Goyim cultures; we are essentially the city dweller besieged and surrounded, a city hemmed by surrounding wilderness, a city on a hill, a light in a sea of darkenss. We touched on this inner, known control and also on what is out of control, the unknown; the ark nested in the tabernacle. This is also the picture we get in looking at Jerusalem as the core, in the midst of the nations, the same thing we come across in light, darkness, and utter darkness. The pattern is repeated; the city as opposed to the surrounding wilderness; ordered walled garden surrounded by disorder, where Adam and Eve were outcast. Scripture repeats the pattern in the way it presents society; King the head, then the layers of social acceptability right out to the leper and outside of him the ‘goyim’ nations. It is significant to me that Christ operates across all strata, outcasts as well as the ‘in crowd’. Unconfined, he operates in light and darkness, both day and night belong to him,[143] he owns them he created them in their beginning, they came out of him. Christ Jesus met the whore at the well outside the city, healed the lepers outside the city, raised the dead outside the city on the way to burial.[144]  
In a sense, prophesy is a creation of your experience past; potential for the future. Life shoots grow from the seed of prophetic expectation. Prophesy and parable, light shined onto what you have lived,[145] projecting into your future, using the lens of faith or doubt; but not just these two, shape your story. It is what has gone before, experience, fears, parents, what you have been taught and lived. Our future is shaped by mental, spiritual and religious baggage.  
There is safety of the known but the explored, explained, stifles what is yet to be discovered to bondage. The unknown is exciting, enlightening, revealing monsters that will eat you. Paradoxically what is needed for fresh life might kill you. Expectation for the future guarentees failure to a certain extent. You are both predator and prey; danger and adventure, opportunity and threat, are encountered when the unknown is explored. Test prophesy.  
We confidently say, ‘the prophesy is spoken… therefor it will come to pass’. It emerges from the darkness of the crypt. We fail to see the instances where God pronounces, man reacts; God in turn changes his mind. Ahab,[146] Hezekiah,[147] and of course Abraham bargaining with God, spring to mind. In other cases, God waits; generations pass, till time is ripe.[148] Jesus had to explain parables to disciples and Pharisees dumfound because of walls of tradition.[149] Motive, ambition, belief, and volition shape what we hear and understand. All from the crypt.  
This, one of many difficulties I find with our church service structure. We have elevated sermons to the status of the word of God. Instead of reading the word itself we, hear a sermon and then apply that to our lives. The prodigal is cast in concrete in the preachers 20-minute sermon. We fail to see that the prodigal is essentially a framework, a scaffold to hold a variety of different possible narratives.  
So, the prodigal seen from the father’s viewpoint, different to what the elder brother sees, different for the father and son in 20 years from now. What is your frame of reference? Reading the word changes us and the lens we see through. God gives us prophesy and parables to move us into new areas of advantage, to instruct and prepare for the unknown future. They take the unknown out of darkness hidden and transfer it into the light. (This is often terrifying to us. We prefer the known of religion and tradition. It is frightening because it introduces us to something outside of our religious box. We have to think and decide.) The two P’s also introduce a third ‘P’, pressure, because they force choice and this involves sacrifice. This process also works in reverse.  
Control and choice.
Out of this whole description, what I find must disturbing, we don’t get to control the process or the outcome. For example: If we make a choice to accept the existence of God; it immediately sets us on a course that leads to other choices. This is disturbing. We think that we have made an informed choice, a choice made with the best knowledge at the time. What we don’t realize: we don’t know what we don’t know. Yet a chosen way; once embarked on, precludes other choices, opening up possibilities previously unknown.  
Not a choice made in isolation, choices is echo in those around us and reverberate, back in us. We are separated from others at the point where we discern a divergence in belief, from this point of divergence, choice defines God. He manifests in a ‘form’ in our thinking, this in turn forces us to define our lives in contrast or affirmation of our image of God. 
When presented with further choice, we live in accordance with our view of God, or we choose to rebel against what we have chosen; this rebellion within results in conflict of soul. What does not proceed from faith is sin. We cannot and never have controlled the snake in the garden. You go for the apple… what will emerge as a result? Quite independent of us and our conscious choices are things down the road that cannot be controlled but are dependent on our initial choices. Metaphorically, we make a choice for a mate and along with the choice come children and grandchildren whose character and nature we never anticipated. None the les we love with them.        Rom 14:23;
We are still looking at the crypt, the vaulted treasure house. I hope that I have not lost you. This is another angle on Isaiah 45, do you remember I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places?        Isa 45:3; 
God lives in the vaulted treasure house, sees in this hidden world, uncovers what man hides. Not just a hiding place for God the Father, it is a store of the unseen, the undisclosed, the hidden of men… nothing covered that will not be revealed, hidden that will not be known.[150] God is in the business of uncovering secrets long hidden in darkness, bringing them to light. If you can get your head around this; God is this crypt. In it he holds treasures of darkness that terrify.[151] This is the black hole; the root of Michmash, (can you be tempted to research, by making you curious?) ‘Zero’ lying between your +1 and -1, guarded on one hand by Bozez and on the other by Seneh that you have to pass between in order to have hidden truth revealed.          Mat 10:26;
After reading an essay on Psa 109 by C.S. Lewis. I kept returning to it through the night, I woke after 1 am and got to thinking… C.S.L. views scripture differently to the way I do. (This is an unfairly narrow view in an attempt to make a point.) We read a book like Job, dividing it according to speakers. Some bibles even have headings like ‘Eliphaz’s response to Job’ or ‘Bildad’s answer’; in bold letters. We then weight the words of Job against those of his comforters and discount what they say because in our thinking it is Job who has wisdom and not his friends. What occurred to me; these divisions are artificial, God wrote it all, a message from God to us. If we regard Job’s comforter’s speech as nonsense, we are in peril. In the same way when we read Psalm 109 and find David cursing his enemies, we have a choice of seeing it historically as C.S.L. does and so conclude that it is an anachronism that can be discarded in our enlightened NT times. I see the same thing happen when people try to explain Paul’s instructions to the church on women. We have to guard against the same emotions in ourselves that we see in the church trying to fit in with a woke world. Rather I see Psalm 109 as a struggle, wrestling against enemies within. 

Why?

Now, I am confused. If Jesus is the manifestation of God to the world, why is he so veiled to those who heard him speak? Jesus puts it plainly: “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in synagoguesand in the temple, where all Jews come together; I have said nothing secretly. So, we find a strange thing; though Jesus taught openly, his teaching was veiled. A conundrum, an enigma, a riddle; God wants the truth revealed; yet, he hides it; though he wants man to know him; he hides. He hides his best from his best. He hides in darkness. He hides light in darkness.[152] He hides in plain view. Darkness at midday.[153]        Jhn 18:20;

Hidden word.

The Bushman.
Imagine for a minute trying to tell a Bushman that has never seen a wheel, an ox-wagon, a building more substantial than a bundle of twigs and skins about New York or London. Try to explain the flight across a sea when he has never seen more water than what lies hidden in a melon. He has not seen stone in his sandy desert home. Now try and explain flying in an A380. Try to tell him about snow and the Victoria falls where water is not something found in a melon buried under the sand but a flow, never ceasing. Try to tell him in his skins, of a people far the north who live in a land of ice hunting whales; This is the way I see God trying to communicate with us about a hidden, unknown world, not only mysterious in the physical but beyond our feeling in the spiritual. He is trying to reach us across realms of time and space. All he can use is what we can grasp. ‘One day is as a thousand years… you must be born again… before Abraham was I am.’ He reaches into our world as you might do for the bushman… ‘an A380; a big bird that 500 people can fly inside…’ ‘the kingdom of heaven is likened to’. 

A place of refuge.

In this dark store he places his treasured people for protection and safekeeping in times of tribulation.[154]  God knows when we can take no more, when the heat is intense and we desperately need relief, he gives it, a way of escape. A tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, a place of refuge, a covert from storm, flood and rain.[155] This covert is where we flee to when the storms beat round our heads; the wind-storm of tongues.[156] God has a place of refuge for men in trouble,[157] a place of shelter.[158] Darkness is just such a place. We think that it is the place we don’t need but God knows better. The very darkness that we fear is the cave of Adullam that David sheltered in.[159] Yes, it is dark, uncomfortable and confining but outside is destruction. What is known: it is not pleasant… you are to be surprised… in this dark confining place you are forced to make choices that you have avoided and the choices you make affect eternity.            1Co 10:13;  
Before you go, I know that this has been heavy broken ground you feel uncomfortable dealing with, but the process does not end here. Consider the Treasures in Darkness. Darkness has purpose. 

Hiding to preserve.?

In trying to understand this hidden secret place we get ‘hits’ from scripture pointing to treasure concealed in darkness. 
she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.  Moses, a spiritual type of beauty and perfection of the hidden word in the heart of man that if nurtured and fed will grow up to guide and inspire the chosen within, leading the unwilling rebellious to the promised land. This people are a mixed multitude in us. God is taking a rebellious nation in us that wants to return to Egypt at every trial; killing off the generation of rebels in order to refine and renew this nation. There is an element of shielding from evil… hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the scheming of evildoers; keeping precious light, from destruction preserving it for revelation. he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing hidden.Exo 2:2, 3;                           Psa 64:2;       Pro 11:13;

Hiding, secret, covert.

What is this ‘secret’ place? The word ‘cether’ is used often in the OT. Translated as a secret, secretly, covert, hiding, disguised, privily and protection. It comes from a root word with similar meaning. Gesenius gives us a similar interpretation but adds: ‘a hiding’ and therefore something secret, clandestine; behind the veil. It is as if God separates himself from the masses; darkness shields him from their gaze, he pulls a shroud across understanding, withdrawing behind a covering of silence, hidden to the senses, cut off to prayer, disguised to understanding, veiled to logic, withdrawing into unapproachable impenetrable darkness. If I am describing a God you know nothing of, hang in with me, I will try to make this aspect of his being known.Psa 97:2;  

Light hidden in darkness?

It is counterintuitive to have to go through darkness in order to get to light. Why hide light in darkness? That God hides his best, in obscurity of darkness, is frightening. The people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. Abraham met with God and cut covenant in darkness,[160] Jacob wrestled in darkness. Bearing in mind that this is figurative darkness: The brave and privileged enter into the darkness where God cuts covenant. Frightening, because it is a journey through darkness to a depth of relationship not found in the crowd standing in the noonday sunlight. This is anathema to the modern-day Evangelical Church. We don’t like the thought of penetrating darkness in order to get to his secret place. Yet, again and again in scripture we see the same principle applied:[161] Only the few who will go into darkness surrounding God get to meet him. The rest on the outside are far off. Are you still with me? I don’t expect you to buy what I am saying first time round, take your time, I did. Let’s look at the idea from another angle using the bible as dictionary. I will not hit this head on as there are layers of teaching laid down that have to be stripped off to expose and lay truth bare. We come from a ‘bless me’ world of entitlement that wants everything spoon-fed in a 20-minute sermon and any digging that needs doing is done by the shmuck at the front. We have an attitude that manifests in a You Tube type of thinking. ‘Get to the bloody point or I will FF or better still select another channel.’ We want a lesson and then to go home. We don’t like the idea of being changed fundamentally from the inside out. This is an inside out lesson, a lesson in tribulation.              Deu 5:22, 23;                                
The Holy of Holies.
The Mosaic tabernacle, the Holy of Holies was totally dark with no natural light allowed to penetrate to the presence of the Lord on the mercy seat. Only the High Priest was allowed into the Holy of Holies once a year on the Day of Atonement. So, we find the Lord in splendid isolation in pitch darkness. The presence of man extremely limited. The Holy of Holies was a hiding for the ark and the presence. One man, once a year; a prophetic allegory for us to interpret. So, what is this allegory saying? Light was held outside, prevented from entering the Holy place by a curtain a hand breadth thick at the same time darkness was contained. 
The Holy Place.
Moving out to the Holy Place, the amount of natural light increases. It was totally dark apart from the seven-branched candlestick and the smouldering coals on the altar of incense. The duty priest came in alone daily to trim the wicks and replenish the oil in the lamps. As one moves further from the presence of God on the Mercy Seat; so natural light increased and the presence of man increased. Separation from God, presence of man, more light to walk by; less intimacy with God. 
The Outer Courtyard.
In the outer courtyard the priests and Levites were free to come and go. Here the priests sacrificed on a blazing bonfire, sun shines, Levites handled the skins and offal. As the distance from the Lord’s presence increased so the natural light and man’s activity increased. 
Outside of the tabernacle.
Outside of the tabernacle the masses mingled. Much coming and going, buying and selling, Yet further out they dumped and burned the offal, buried the dead and did their toilet, stoned the condemned among the lepers and outcasts. This inverse relationship between natural light and moral, ethical and spiritual light is repeated again and again in scripture in various forms. The further from God, less of God, more of man, more activity, more man, less God. 
Concentric circles of light in the NT.
A similar arrangement of the concentric circles surrounding ‘The Light of the World’: The three, Peter, James and John, the twelve, the seventy-two, the mass of disciples and in outer darkness; the world. So, we see that there is a zone of exclusion a ‘no go’ area that separates God from man. This pattern of concentric circles is repeated and we will look at it again but for now all I wanted to introduce the concept of darkness and light and its relationship to exclusion. 
We find Jesus telling us, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast [him] into utter darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let’s look together at the darkness surrounding God. Be careful soul, as you are led to a place you cannot escape. Consider what I am telling you; be sceptical, once you accept what I say, there is no coming back. You are then on a journey…Mat 22:13;

[1] Isa 30:20;

[2] Psa 10:11; 74:11; Jhn 12:36;

[3] I don’t know how to square what I saw with this scripture: I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in chaos.’ I the LORD speak the truth, I declare what is right. – Isa 45:19;

[4] 2Co 3:14-16;

[5] Gen 4:7;

[6] 2Co 4:3, 4;

[7] Luk 9:45;

[8] Num 12:8;

[9] Psa 78:2;

[10] Mat 13:34, 35; Mar 4:34;

[11] Mat 13:24, 33, 44, 45, 47, 52; 18:1, 23; 19:12, 23; 20:1; 22:2; 23:13; 25:1;

[12] Mat 6:6; Jhn 5:13;

[13] Isa 29:11, 12;

[14] Luk 18:34; 19:42; Jhn 12:36;

[15] Luk 24:13-31;

[16] Act 10:41;

[17] Jhn 21:1-7;

[18] Job 12:16;

[19] Jer 4:10;

[20] Num 23:19; Tit 1:2;

[21] Isa 44:25;

[22] Jer 20:7; 23:16-36; Eze 14:9;

[23] Job 12:20;

[24] Jer 23:11, 12;

[25] Isa 29:10; 29:14;

[26] Luk 10:24;

[27] The same word is used for the stopping of well as withholding insight into prophesy. Psa 51:6; Lam 3:8; Dan 8:26; 12:4, 9;

[28] Rom 11:32;

[29] 2Ch 32:31; Heb 3:8, 9;

[30] 2Ch 32:3, 4;

[31] Lam 3: 8, 44; Psa 80:4; Jer 14:11; 15:1; Zec 7:13;

[32] 2Ki 3:25; 2Ch 32:3, 4, 30;

[33] Isa 29:14;

[34] 2Ki 19:7;

[35] Eze 14:9;

[36] 2Ch 18:21, 22;

[37] 2Sa 24:14, 15;

[38] Deu 30:15; 2Sa 17:14; Isa 45:7; Mic 1:12;

[39] Job 12:16; Isa 19:14; Mat 24:24, 25; 2Th 2:9, 10;

[40] Deu 28:48; Jos 11:20; 1Ki 12:15; 2Ki 6:33; 2Ch 10:15; 22:7; 25:20;

[41] 1Ki 19:11, 12;

[42] 1Co 13:12;

[43] Exo 9:15, 16;

[44] Isa 63:17;

[45] Gen 20:1-18; Exo 9:15, 16;

[46] Mat 11:23, 24;

[47] Num 21:29; Isa 5:8; 33:1; Eze 13:18; Jer 13:27; 48:46; Eze 16:23; Amo 5:18; Zep 2:5; Mat 11:21; 23:13-29; Luk 6:24-26; 10:13; 11:42-52; Rev 12:12;

[48] 1Sa 19:24;

[49] For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. Mic 1:8; Isa 20:3, 4;

[50] Exo 9:15, 16;

[51] Eze 20:26;

[52] And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” Exo 7:5;

[53] Eze 20:12;

[54] Exo 7:5, 17; 8:22; 14:4, 18; 29:6;

[55] Deu 2:30;

[56] Exo 7:5; Exo 10:1, 2; Exo 14:18;

[57] Exo 34:14;

[58] Exo 11:9;

[59] Exo 9:30;

[60] Isa 48:9; 66:5; Eze 20:44; 25:17; 26:6; 28:22-26; 29:6, 9, 16, 21; 30:8, 19, 25, 26; 32:15; 33:29; 35; 34:27; 35:4, 9, 15; 36:11, 23, 38; 37:6, 13; 38:23; 39:6, 7, 22, 28; Joe 2:27; 3:17; Mat 10:22; 19:29; 24:9; Mar 13:13; Luk 21:12; 21:17; Jhn 8:28; 14:20; Rev 2:3; 2:23;

[61] Exo 9:14;

[62] Deu 29:6; Exo 29:46; 7:17; 8:10;

[63] 1Ki 20:13, 28; Psa 46:10; Isa 49:23, 26; Jer 24:7; Eze 6:7, 10-14; 7: 4, 9, 27; 11:10-12; 12:15, 16, 20; 13:9, 14, 21, 23; 14:8; 20:26, 42, 38, 44; 15:7; 16:62; 22:16; 23:49; 24:24, 27; 25:5, 7, 11;

[64] Exo 6:7;

[65] Exo 10:2; 16:12;

[66] Exo 10:2; 8:10; 11:7; 

[67] Isa 52:6; 60:16; Jhn 10:38;

[68] Exo 8:22; 11:7;

[69] Exo 9:14;

[70] Isa 43:8; 44:18;

[71] Isa 44:18;

[72] Psa 81:12; Jer 5:21; Mat 13:14, 15; Jhn 12:40; Rom 1:21, 28; 11:8, 10; 2Co 4:4;

[73] Job 17:4;

[74] Luk 8:10, 12;

[75] Deu 29:4; Pro 20:12; Isa 6:9;

[76] that same veil remains unlifted, … a veil lies over their minds; 2Co 3:14, 15;

[77] Mat 13:10, 13, 17, 34, 35; 22:1; Mar 4:11; Luk 8:10;

[78] 2Sa 6:3, 7;

[79] Jdg 20;

[80] Jdg 2;

[81] Read the book of Job.

[82] Luk 16:1-10;

[83] Luk 16:9;

[84] Num 22:22; 1Ki 5:4; 11:14, 23, 25; Mat 4:10; 16:23; Mar 1:13; 4:15; 8:33; Luk 4:8; 13:16; Act 5:3; 1Co 7:5; 2Co 2:11; 1Th 2:18; Rev 12:9;

[85] 1Sa 29:4; 1Ch 21:1; Zec 3:1;

[86] 1Ch 21:1; Luk 22:31; 1Co 5:5; 1Ti 1:20;

[87] 2Co 12:7;

[88] Mat 4:10; Mar 3:23, 26; 4:15; Luk 10:18; 13:16; 22:31; Jhn 13:27; Act 5:3; 26:18;

[89] Mat 16:23; Mar 4:15; Luk 13:16; 22:31; Act 5:3; 26:18; 1Co 7:5; 2Co 2:11; 11:14; 1Ti 5:15; Rev 12:9;

[90] Strong.

[91] Rev 20:10;

[92] Gen 3:1; 3:13

[93] Job 1;

[94] Num 21:6, 8; Deu 8:15; Isa 6:2, 6; 14:29; 30:6;

[95] Gen 1:21; Psa 148:7;

[96] Isa 27:1;

[97] Rev 12:9;

[98] Eze 29:3;

[99] Job 8:13;

[100] Job 28;

[101] Gen 3:14;

[102] Mic 7:17

[103] Exo 12:23; Job 15:21; Isa 16:4; 21:2; 33:1; Jer 4:7; 6:26; 15:8; 48:8, 15, 18, 32; 51:1, 56; Joe 2:25; 1Co 10:10; Heb 11:28;

[104] Psa 109:6;

[105] Mat 16:23; Mar 8:33;

[106] Sweden, with there lack of lockdowns, mask mandates, allowing their citizens to make their choices stood as Satan in opposition to the totalitarian tactics in almost every country and were proved right. they didn’t lock down their economy and supply chains and so thrived when others destroyed theirs. In my arrogance I want to propose this: an opposition should always take the opposite side, even when they can see that they are wrong and the ruling class is right. they are there to be an opposition to the prevailing view no matter what it is. In us Satan should and indeed stand up and challenge our sure, confirmed and secure views saying, Hath God said? If you are cock sure you are right, wake Satan.

[107] Mat 4:1-11;

[108] Recognise the similarity between the phrase, get behind me Satan and what have I to do with you sons of Zeruiah? Both are seen as adversaries, Satan, standing in the way. 2Sa 19:22;

[109] Job 2:4, 6;

[110] 1Co 5:5;

[111] 1Th 2:18;

[112] 1Th 3:1-5;

[113] 1Co 5:5;

[114] Mat 10; 1Th 3:4;

[115] Zec 3:1;

[116] Job 1:7, 8, 9; 2:2; 41:8; Zec 3:2;

[117] Job 2:1;

[118] 1Th 3:5;

[119] Est 1:5;

[120] Jer 8:17;

[121] Mat 6:6;

[122] Pro 26:22;

[123] Luk 12:3;

[124] 1Sa 16:14,15; 19:9; 1Ki 22:20-23; 2Th 2:11;

[125] 1Sa 19:9;

[126] 1Sa 16:15;

[127] Gen 3:1;

[128] Zec 3:1; Luk 22:31;

[129] 1Co 5:5;

[130] Num 22:32; Rom 16:20;

[131] Rev 20:2, 7, 10;

[132] Hos 5:15;

[133] 2Ki 18:19-27’;

[134] Mar 9:9;

[135] Mat 17:9;

[136] Jer 33:3;

[137] Mat 13:11;

[138] Psa 51:6;

[139] Dan 8:26; 12:4;

[140] Psa 148:7;

[141] Eze 6:14; 20:38; 25:11,17; 26:6; 28:23, 24, 26; 29:9, 16, 21; 30:8, 19, 26; 32:15; 33:29; 35:11, 15; 36: 11, 38; 38:23; 39:28; 49:23, 26;

[142] Gen 20:3; 31:24; 40:5; 1Ki 3:5; Job 20:8; 33:15; Dan 2:19, 7:2; Mic 3:6; Act 16:9; 18:9;

[143] Psa 74:16;

[144] Exo 32:32;

[145] 2Pe 1:19;

[146] 1Ki 21:29;

[147] 2Ki 20:5, 6;

[148] D:26; 12:4;

[149] Jhn 7:17;

[150] Mar 4:22; Luk 8:17; 12:2; 1Co 4:5;

[151] Deu 32:34;

[152] Light rises in the darkness for the upright;  Psa 112:4;

[153] Amo 4:13; 5:8; Job 5:14; Isa 13:10; 59:9, 10; Jer 15:9; Mic 3:6; Mat 24:29; Rev 6:12; 8:12;

[154] Job 14:13; Psa 83:3;

[155] Psa 91;

[156] Psa 31:20;

[157] Psa 91:1;

[158] Psa 27:5; 31:19, 20; Isa 4:6;

[159] It is worth looking at caves. The root of the word is in being made naked, stripping. There is uncovering that takes place in the cave. They are seen as places of confinement, death and shelter for fugitives. They are not pleasant places. For David Adullam was a place of hiding where debtors and discontented men gathered to him. Adullam’s cave is also referred to as the stronghold. This stronghold has at its base, a noose, snare, to