In this engaging discussion, discover how God uses adversity and darkness as instruments for growth and revelation. Through compelling examples from biblical texts, we are reminded of the profound purpose behind life’s challenges. Reflect on how God employs these adversities to foster resilience and spiritual maturity, turning trials into opportunities for deeper connection and empowerment. Let’s explore the significance of overcoming resistance as a path to embodying the image of His Son.
00:00:01 The Mystery of Creation and God’s Multidimensional Nature
Today, if something bad happens, no one wants to say that God could be responsible for that. But you and I have to understand that God uses even the darkness to accomplish his own purposes. Baruch Hashem, blessed be the name of the Lord. I’m excited to get back into the book of Bereshit, which is the Hebrew word for Genesis, with you as we continue in this study called The Mystery of Creation. This is now the third episode, and the truth, beloved, that I’m revealing is truth that is not often taught, and it’s really fundamental, really cutting-edge truth that can help you get into a path of power in your relationship with your Creator. After all, if we want to know who we are and why we’re here, we should go back to the owner’s manual. And the owner’s manual, beloved, is the book of Genesis in which the Lord tells us how he made us and why he made us. a little bit of review today. Out of respect for those that have been tuning in for every episode, I’m going to keep my review quick, but I do want to just touch on a few key points. Let’s go to the first verse, Genesis 1, verse 1. In the beginning. What beginning? It’s not the beginning of God, because He is unlimited. He’s without beginning. He’s without end. He is beyond fully ever knowing. He’s that big. He’s that grand. He’s that majestic. He’s always more. He’s beyond naming. When Moses asked Him His name, He said, I am that I am and I will be who I will be. God is so great. And this is why we’re in awe of him. We can’t ever fully describe God. He’s that big, beloved. He’s limitless. And so when we read in the beginning, this is not the beginning of God’s history. He has no beginning. This is the beginning of our history. In the beginning, Elohim, God, created the heavens and the earth. The fact that the word here is Elohim, which is God plural, speaks of His multidimensional nature. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Within Him, there’s both the male and female attributes. He’s one God, and yet within Him, there’s a multidimensional aspect. You can’t expect to understand this. God is spirit, even as you can’t understand how he has always been and didn’t come from anywhere. Let’s continue on. In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void. When it says here in verse 2, the earth was formless and void, He’s not speaking here about what you would see from outer space. When you look down from outer space onto the earth, you see a globe, right? You see a round sphere with blue for the water and brown or green from the dry land. But in verse number two, when it says the earth was formless and void, you couldn’t see a globe yet. You couldn’t see dry land separated from the waters. This is just a primordial state. The earth was formless. It didn’t have a form yet. It didn’t have a shape yet. It hadn’t been created yet. The scripture says it was formless and void. It was empty. and like a wasteland. And darkness was over the surface of the deep. Now let’s go back once again a verse earlier. Hear the word of God. In the beginning, God created. So we’re talking about the creation story. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void. Now get it. And darkness… was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Beloved, listen to something that’s important to understand. God takes responsibility for creating even the darkness. We’re listening to the creation story. As God reveals the creation story, we find that he created even the darkness. Listen what the Lord said in the book of Isaiah, chapter 45, verses number five through seven. Beginning with verse number five, he said, I am the Lord. And when we see the word Lord there once again, that’s the Hebrew name of God composed of the four Hebrew letters, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, and it means the eternal one. I am that I am. I will be whom I will be. God alone is a creator. Everything else that exists, beloved one, things both visible and invisible, everything else has been created by him. I am the Lord and there is no other. Besides me, there is no God. Then the Lord says this, there is no one besides me. There is no other, verse 7, the one forming light and creating darkness. Look again. God takes responsibility for the darkness. He said, the one forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being, and creating calamity. The King James actually translates that verse, that word calamity for evil. Listen again, I am the Lord, there is no other. The one forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. You see, one of the benefits of studying the Hebrew Bible is we get such a broader picture of God’s nature, personality, and the ways that he operates. And church, when we study the Hebrew Bible, what we find is that God takes responsibility for bringing hard times into people’s life as well as from bringing times of refreshing and blessing. Let me give you some examples for this. What about when Israel sinned and God caused thousands of the Israelites to be bitten by serpents in the wilderness where they died there? I could go on and on. What about when Korah’s company was rebelling against Moses and the Lord caused an earthquake to open up and the earth swallowed them into the earth? You see, today, if something bad happens, no one wants to say that God could be responsible for that. But you and I have to understand that God uses even the darkness to accomplish his own purposes. God takes responsibility, church, for governing the universe. I know that there’s many questions that you would ask, but I want to delve a little bit deeper right now before we try to address some of your concerns and questions by giving you more scriptural ammunition and understanding for this truth that I’m proclaiming. Think about, for example, the Apostle Paul. I’m going now to the book of 2 Corinthians, and I’m looking at the 12th chapter, verses number 7 through 10. I want you to hear the Word of God, and I want you to listen very carefully, because when we read this remarkable section of Scripture, you’re going to see How God sent a messenger of Satan himself to torment Paul, and God did it for a purpose, and the purpose that God had was a good purpose, and it brought about fruit and life. In other words, God used evil to accomplish a higher good. Hear the word of God. Once again, book of Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7 through 10. Paul is speaking. He says this. Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, Paul is saying here, because of all the revelation that he had received, continuing on, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. So I want to stop for a second. We’ll continue on, but I want to just take a pause to put it in perspective. Paul is saying that this messenger of Satan was sent to him because of the abundance of revelation that he received to keep him from exalting himself. In other words, God sent this messenger of Satan into Paul’s life to torment him in order that Paul would stay humble and would stay dependent because God knew that if he didn’t do this, if he didn’t send this thorn in the flesh that Paul actually calls a messenger of Satan into his life, Paul would have had a tendency because of the natural humanness of the flesh to begin to become prideful.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider. He’s gonna be right back. But first I wanna let you know that you can watch full episodes of Discovering the Jewish Jesus on Roku Television. We have episodes that are filmed in the Holy Land and outreach events from Nigeria and Gulu, Uganda, all sorts of places. Every episode is available to help deepen your understanding of scripture and the Jewish roots of your faith. So search for Discovering the Jewish Jesus on Roku today. In the book of Matthew, Jesus said this concerning Israel. How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Friends, God has a tender heart for the Jewish people, and therefore so do we. Help us reach Israel with the gospel through prayer and prayer. through your financial support. We’re building evangelistic efforts on the ground, in the land, and so much more. Partner with us today. Go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And now back to Rabbi.
SPEAKER 04 :
So once again, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelation, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. In other words, Paul’s saying, Father, God, take this torment away. Take this messenger of Satan out of my life. And he continues on, verse 9, and he has said to me, in other words, God said back to him, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. In other words, God was saying to Paul, Paul, listen, I’m not going to take it away. My grace is going to get you through this. And Paul, I want to tell you a mystery. As this messenger of Satan is hurting you and you become more and more dependent on me, as this messenger of Satan weakens you and in your weakness, you have to depend more on me. God says, Paul, I’m going to use that to bring empowerment to your life by my spirit. Listen again. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, Paul continues, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. So, beloved one, you can see here That God is using darkness. He’s using persecution. He’s using distress. He’s using weaknesses. He’s using this messenger of Satan to make Paul weak so that Paul would become more dependent upon the Lord. And in Paul’s dependency out of his weakness, the power of God is perfected in his life. Consider this. The first thing that the Father did in Jesus’ life after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, right after the Spirit of the Lord descended on Jesus as He came out of the Jordan River and the voice spoke from heaven saying, you are my beloved Son and in you I’m well pleased. The very next thing we read about, beloved children of God, in the biblical narrative is that the Spirit of God, not the devil, but listen, but the Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness where Jesus was tempted by the devils as he fasted and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus, listen now, he’s doing battle against the powers of darkness. And the scripture says that after that 40 days, Yeshua came out of the wilderness, listen now, in the power of the Spirit. Because as he did battle against the forces of darkness, depending on the Father, he was strengthened. In other words, listen, the Father knows that that in order not just for Jesus to come out of the wilderness fully empowered, but for all his sons and daughters to become fully matured and empowered, in order for that process of maturity and empowerment to take place, listen, we need Jesus. an adversary. Father created the darkness because He knew that in order for His sons and daughters to fully develop, they needed an adversary. They needed to overcome resistance. Seven times in the first several chapters of Revelation, in chapters 2 and 3, Jesus said, He that overcomes will inherit these things. God knew that in order for us to fully mature, we needed resistance. Just as athletes have to train themselves using resistance, whether it’s lifting weights, whether it’s running, they all involve resistance against the muscles because the resistance makes the muscles strong. God created the darkness, beloved ones, because he has a purpose for it. and He causes all things to work together for good to those that love Him. and are called according to His purpose, and His purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son. I want you to understand, you don’t have to make excuses for God when bad things happen. He is Adon Olam. He’s master of the world. He runs the universe. He’s got a plan that’s so much bigger than our puny minds can conceive, and He’s using it all for good, and He’s accomplishing it all for His purpose. Listen. There was a woman that we’ve read about in the Gospels, those of you that have read the Scriptures. She was a prostitute in her former life. She came to Jesus because she had been delivered. She fell in love with him. She was delivered from her bondage and her sin. And she took a bottle of perfume that was worth a whole year’s worth of wages during that time period in history. And when she poured that bottle of perfume on his feet, weeping, the people around were aghast. And they said, what is she doing? What a waste of money. That bottle of perfume was worth a whole year’s worth of wages. And she just poured it all out on his feet. And Jesus turned to those that had no understanding of what was going on. And he said, you don’t understand. He that’s been forgiven much loves much. He that’s been forgiven little loves little. You see, the point, beloved one, is that because that woman had come out of a life of such darkness, Of such bondage, her love for Jesus was greater than those that had been delivered from lives where they were fairly moral before they got saved. In other words, God used the darkness that she had once experienced to actually birth in her and create from her a greater love than from those that simply were, you know, mediocre in their former lives in terms of their immorality. God uses even the darkness to create something beautiful and something good. Out of our ashes, beloved ones, he produces joy. So I want you to know as we begin to close today’s episode, you can thank Hashem. You can thank Father God for everything that happens in your life. And the reason why, church, is He uses everything for the good. Even the darkness He uses for good. I want you to practice faith. I want you to recognize Father God runs the world. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Jesus said, not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from Him. I know there are some things that we don’t understand, but don’t let what you don’t understand keep you from believing what God has plainly revealed. He loves you and you can trust Him. You know, the truths that we’ve been proclaiming today regarding God bringing out light from the darkness, it’s powerful, it’s profound. We see in the Hebrew Bible that God takes responsibility, not just for all the good things that happen, but how he even creates difficult situations in order to bring about something better from them.
SPEAKER 02 :
That is so true. And I think anyone who’s had a deep walk in the Lord, who really knows the Lord, has seen that. So many times we start in the dark places and that’s when the light of God is revealed to us and just makes us come alive in ways we weren’t walking in prior to the darkness coming upon us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely, think about the woman that anointed Jesus’ feet with the vial of perfume. And she was weeping and she was rubbing his feet with her tears and her hair. The people were looking at it aghast, like what in the world is going on here? This extravagant love, it’s just over the top and what a waste of money. And yet what did Jesus say? You guys don’t understand. He that’s been forgiven much loves much. In other words, this woman had come from a place of total and absolute darkness, but because Jesus transformed her darkness into light and brought her out of the darkness into the light, her love was so much deeper than someone that had never been in darkness before.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, he says he takes our ashes and makes them into beauty. Who can do that but God? There might be somebody out there even right now that’s going through a very, very dark place to walk in, but God wants you to know today that he has light that he’s going to birth out of this darkness. He says to hold on through the darkness, search me out, and I will reveal the light at the end of this tunnel that’s up ahead of you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Amen. Even as there was darkness before there was light, so oftentimes in our life, we experience darkness. It’s just a preparation for the great work that God’s gonna do. You see, without darkness, we wouldn’t know what light was. We read in Scripture there was a man that was born blind. I mean, that’s a tough place to be, blind. And the disciples of Jesus said, who sinned, this man or his parents, that this man should be born blind? I mean, he was literally in the dark. But Jesus said, it was neither this man or his parents that sinned, but this man was born blind for the glory of God. God brought him out of that blindness. He brought him out of that darkness into the light. And what a testimony it was in that man’s life and for the entire world, even up to this day. God’s gonna transform your darkness into light as you hold on to him. In 2 Samuel 24, verse 24, we read about David wanting to offer up to Father God an extravagant offering showing his love. When he got to the place that he wanted to offer his offering from, he went there to purchase the threshing floor as the altar for it. When the owner of the threshing floor saw David and heard what David wanted to do, he offered to give the threshing floor to David that David could offer up his sacrifice from. David said, far be it from me to make an offering to Father God that cost me nothing. David insisted on purchasing the threshing floor, even though someone had offered to give it to him. David then proceeded to pay for it, and he offered to Father God an extravagant offering offering, showing his love. The next part of the text says this. It says, the Lord’s heart was moved. When you and I present our offerings to the Lord out of love, you know what, beloved one? It moves God’s heart. I want to encourage you. Let’s love him today by presenting to him an offering that will move his heart because it comes from a pure place.
SPEAKER 01 :
You can respond to Rabbi Schneider today by giving a gift of any amount. Just give us a call. Our number is 800-777-7835. And if it’s easier for you, go on over to our website, discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And as a token of our appreciation when you give, we want to send you Rabbi Schneider’s exclusive monthly teaching booklet. We’ll also send you our engaging and insightful newsletter, and we’ll make sure that they both arrive in your mailbox each month. And for listeners who decide to support us through a monthly partnership, we’ll also add another special gift in the mail. an authentic, handcrafted shofar straight from Israel. The shofar, it’s used to announce God’s eternal kingdom. And as we get ready to wrap up the fall holy days tonight at Nightfall, we just want to say thank you so much for your generous support. You know, your financial gifts and your prayers, they really mean so much to us. And your gifts, they help us continue to share the gospel on radio stations all across America. and all around the world. So thank you so much for supporting this ministry. And if you haven’t yet, and you’d like to give a special Fall Holy Day offering, give us a call at 800-777-7835. That’s 800-777-7835. Or visit us at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And now here’s Rabbi with God’s sacred and special blessing.
SPEAKER 04 :
What I love about the Aaronic blessing is that it did not originate with man. The words actually proceeded from the very essence of God himself. The blessing comes from the book of Numbers, chapter six. So listen to these words and receive the blessing of the Lord into your life today.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’m your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again next time when Rabbi Schneider explains why an all-sufficient and self-existent God would create man. That’s coming up Tuesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
