THE LAMP

THE OIL IN THE LAMP IS TORAH,  WHICH IS THE MIND OF THE SPIRIT

LAMP OF THE BODY:  THE EYE  (A SUPERFICIAL, FLESHLY VIEWPOINT)  

This implies there is another kind of lamp, an inner lamp, because we are made up of two parts: body and spirit (Mt. 10:28, Jas 2:26).  Our inner lamp (spirit, also called heart) can store-up beliefs that are passing away, because they are merely man-made traditions. 

Long ago, Yahuah’s bride (Yisharal) went after “strange alahim” by adding false worship and customs to their ways.  They put the wrong oil into their “lamps” (hearts);  oil that does not last because it is of human origin. 

We must fill our inner lamp with oil that endures forever, and Yahuah’s Word is that oil: TORAH. 
TORAH IS THE MIND OF THE SPIRIT OF YAHUAH, WHICH TEACHES US KASID (lovingkindness). 

 THE LIGHT IS TORAH  IT SHINES IN US

Pro 6:23, 24: “For the Command is a Lamp, and the Torah a Light, and reproofs of discipline a Way of Life, to guard you against an evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a strange woman.”  See also Ps 119:105, Is 8:20

Joh 8:31, 32:  "So Yahusha said to those Yahudim who believed in Him, 'If you stay in My Word, you are truly My taught ones, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'" 

The Torah is also a treasure, the power of Yahuah stored in earthen vessels:
 2Co 4:7  "And we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the excellence of the power might be of Alahim, and not of us – "

 

Luk 12:34-36: “For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also.  Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men waiting for their master, when he shall return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they open to him immediately.”
Yahusha went on to say to those who would not believe in Him that His Word had no place IN THEM.  Yahusha's life is manifested in us because we have treasured His Words in our hearts.

 2Co 4:5,6:  "For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Mashiak Yahusha the Master, and ourselves your servants for the sake of Yahusha.  For Alahim, Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone in our hearts for the enlightening of the knowledge of the esteem of Alahim in the face of Yahusha Mashiak."

 

 STRANGE FIRE OFFERED TO YAHUAH?

 Lev 10:1:  “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aharon, each took his fire holder and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and brought strange fire before Yahuah which He had not commanded them.”    

   We cannot invent our own methods of serving Yahuah, but diligently follow and live by every Word that proceeds from His mouth.  Otherwise, a lake of fire will one day consume His adversaries (those who choose to neglect His Torah, and serve Him their own way).  Yahusha is doing everything short of forcing people to avoid this outcome.  He is the only doorway of escape.   

   The denominations (sects) exist because the LIVING WORDS (eternal lamp oil) have been rejected or watered-down by so many teachers. 
The body is divided, and the enemy has used this old tactic to keep us ineffective.  The “Jews” (Yahudim, or “House of Yahudah”) have been a very popular target; but this is because we (the Natsarim) haven’t been doing our job in a united way.  This has been our failure in the past, but we know that in the end this “vexing” will cease when the two divided houses are re-gathered into one:   

Isa 11:12, 13:  “And He shall raise a banner for the nations, and gather the outcasts of Yisharal, and assemble the dispersed of Yahudah from the four corners of the Earth.  And the envy of Afrayim shall turn aside, and the adversaries of Yahudah be cut off. Afrayim shall not envy Yahudah, and Yahudah not trouble Afrayim.”

TRADITIONS AND THE TEN MAIDENS  

   The “oil” we see stored in many “lamps” amounts to traditions that will not continue to illuminate the spiritual lamps of those “unwise” maidens in the world-to-come.  We have to develop discernment, and filter out the human elements and keep the Words that will keep our lamps lit, Yahusha’s Torah:

Mat 24:35:  “The Heaven and the Earth shall pass away, but My Words shall by no means pass away.”  

   Realizing that so many people have been taught “instructions” that are not of Yahuah, it is not surprising that the “lamps” containing no lasting “oil” will be going out when they are called-forth to meet the Bridegroom on the Day of Yahuah;  their oil: the mind of the FLESH.

  TORAH:  THE ONLY THING YOU’LL TAKE WITH YOU  

   What is in our inner “lamp” can be discerned by what “fruit” we bear, most especially by observing how we are “loving our brother” (or lost Yisharalite “sibling”).  From 1st Jn/Yahuchanon we discern that our remaining helpful and patient toward other lost Yisharalites as they struggle and wrestle over the Truth (Torah) reflects how the “Light” abides in us.  When we hate and tear-down our siblings, we abide in darkness.  Many people in Christendom are lost Yisharalites, living on another “oil” than Yahuah’s Torah (Sun-day, Christmas, Easter, trees, wreaths, eggs, steeples, etc.,).  These are “unwise maidens” with their diverse ways of living (lamps filled with the oil of men’s traditions).  Such “oil” will not work (illuminate) in the coming world, because only the oil (Word) that will never pass away will light our lamps in that day.

THE TORAH IS A LIGHT, ALIVE IN US: WE ARE THE LIVING, BREATHING TORAH

The Commandments are a lamp, and from their instruction light is the result:

Pro 6:23, 24: “For the COMMAND is a LAMP, and the TORAH a light, and reproofs of discipline a WAY of life, to guard you against an evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a strange woman.”  See Ps 119:105, Is 8:20

Mat 25:1:  “Then the reign of the heavens shall be compared to ten maidens who took their LAMPS* and went out to meet the bridegroom.”   
*CONTAINING DIVERSE WAYS OF LIVING?  Lamps and their contents (OIL) are apparently not all alike.   

   The human creation is made up of two components:  body, and nephesh (spirit).  The “lamp” of the body is the eye;  but the object of Yahusha’s teachings are focused on the REAL (inner) lamp of each person.  What we put into our inner lamp will either remain and light our way eternally, or flicker-out because we poured darkness into ourselves instead.  A person who does not love their “brother” (fellow lost Yisharalite) lives in darkness.  Each of us must struggle to discern whether we are filled with darkness, or have allowed the true Light to dispel the darkness (hatred of our fellow lost Yisharalites).  We all must help people become free from what is keeping them from developing love for Yahuah and love for their neighbor.  The fruit is how we discern what kind of tree we are viewing, but it’s best to refrain from all judgment of one another even if we think we have identified bad fruit.  Love is patient, kind, enduring, and forgiving, not keeping score.  Often, those who wound us are closest to us, and in the end there is a stronger bond. 

1Jn 2:10:   “The one who loves his brother (Yisharalite sibling) stays in the light, and there is no stumbling-block in him.” 

1Jn 3:14:  “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.  The one not loving his brother stays in death.”

1Jn 4:20:  “If someone says, ‘I love Alahim,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.  For the one not loving his brother whom he has seen, how is he able to love Alahim whom he has not seen?” 

1Jn 4:21:  “And we have this command from Him, that the one loving Alahim should love his brother too.”  

In the last days, we know this:

Mat 24:10: “And then many shall stumble, and they shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another.” 

Mat 18:14-17:  “Thus it is not the desire of your Father who is in the heavens that one of these little ones should be lost.  And if your brother sins against you, go and reprove him, between you and him alone.  If he hears you, you have gained your brother.  But if he does not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word might be established.’  And if he refuses to hear them, say it to the assembly.   And if he refuses even to hear the assembly, let him be to you like a gentile and a tax collector.”  

Psa 119:160: “The sum of Your Word is Truth, and all Your righteous right-rulings are forever.” 
(Yahuah’s TORAH is eternal  -  notice that “Word” is synonymous with “Torah”).

Psa 119:162: “I rejoice at Your Word as one who finds great treasure.”

Joh 17:17: “Set them apart in Your Truth – Your Word is Truth.” 

Ps. 1:1-3:  “Blessed is the man who shall not walk in the counsel of the wrong, and shall not stand in the path of sinners, and shall not sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the Torah of Yahuah and he meditates in His Torah day and night.  For he shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither, and whatever he does prospers.” 

OUR LAMPLIGHT DEPENDS ON THE OIL IN OUR LAMP 

Yahusha called the everlasting oil: “My Words”  Yahusha said, “My Words shall by no means pass away.”

His Light will last, but men’s traditions will flicker-out.   The true “oil” will have lasting value, but all other oil is worthless and will not stay with us.  His Name is as sweet perfume (oil) poured-forth to us, but to those who do not love His Name, we are a stench in their nostrils.  See 2 Co. 2:16 

Son 1:3  “For fragrance your oils are good.  Your Name is oil poured forth,  therefore the maidens love you.” 
The “maidens” (virgins) remind us of the 10 maidens and their lamps.

Ecc 7:1  “A good name is better than precious oil, and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.” 
Notice that the “oil” in both of these verses suggest “perfume”, essential oil. 

Mat 24:35: “The Heaven and the Earth shall pass away, but My Words shall by no means pass away.”    

As you may have suspected, Yahusha is the same Being that met with Mosheh on Sinai.He wanted us to remember this during the Great Distress, since that is the context of this verse! 

METAPHORS  (figures of speech used to conceal the Truth from those who are rebellious)

 LAMP  =  our heart;  our spiritual component upon which Yahusha writes a love for His Covenant.

OIL      =  teachings (eternal Words) we hold in our heart (spirit). 
This is what Yahusha called “My Words” quoted above!  The lamps that won’t illuminate don’t contain the eternal OIL, only the “words” of men’s traditions  -  not Yahusha’s eternal Words). 

Here are other metaphors: 

 WINESKINS  =  our heart  (same as our lamp, spirit)

NEW WINE   =  Torah (teachings, eternal Words, what Yahusha called “My Words”)

OLD WINE    =   men’s teachings 

Mat 5:16-19:  “Let your light so shine before men, so that they see your good works and praise your Father who is in the heavens.  Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to complete.  For truly, I say to you, till the Heaven and the Earth pass away, one jot (YOD)* or one tittle* shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.  Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these Commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the Heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.”  
*weakest Hebrew vowel, and tittle thought of as any small embellishing part of a letter's shape. Even if these were taken away, the basic meaning of the Hebrew would remain.
Rom 6:16:  “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants for obedience, you are servants of the one whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?” 
There is no middle-ground;  either we are obedient, or we fail as our first parents did in Gan Eden.  The final outcome for those who reject Torah will be catastrophic! 

Deu 5:29 “‘Oh, that they* had such a heart in them, to fear Me and to guard all My commands always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever!’”  
* (Yisharal)  

The Torah (Covenant) is a SIGN (OR MARK) upon the seed of Yisharal forever:

Dt 28:46: “And they shall be upon you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed, forever.” 

   Gentiles must engraft into the Covenant, and join Yisharal.  There is to be one flock, and one Shepherd.   Yisharalites aren’t to become “Christian Torah-breakers”. Yahuah has consistently said (on many occasions) the following:

Jer/YirmeYahu 9:13,14:  “And Yahuah says, ‘Because they have forsaken My Torah which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it (see 7:23), but they have walked according to the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Ba’alim, which their fathers had taught them.’”  

   He scattered the tribes of Yisharal; then, over many generations, increased their numbers among the Gentiles, and will ultimately re-gather them to have a wedding supper (for those wise maidens who awaken with sufficient oil in their lamps).   Yisharal is His bride.
GENTILES MUST ENGRAFT INTO THE COVENANT, SINCE MANY ARE NATURAL BRANCHES BROKEN-OFF LONG AGO.OTHERS WHO ARE NOT NATURAL BRANCHES MAY ALSO PARTAKE OF THE ROOT, AND JOIN TO Yisharal THROUGH THE COVENANT.  

   Stumbling blocks, strongholds of thought, and false expectations are more the norm among people of faith.  Understanding is hampered because Wisdom and Knowledge are kept from people.  The whole of “Ezekiel” is about the scattering and ultimate re-gathering of Yisharal;  it’s not about Christianity.  The letter to the Galatians is all about circumcision, a ceremonial “law” that was settled for adult male Gentiles by the council of elders (see Acts 15).    For most of the past 1900 years, a conscious diversion has been implemented AWAY from obeying the Ten Commandments, called in Hebrew, Asereth ha’Dabarim (the Ten Words).  Without this “Light”, we will lose the “Way”;  our walk will be in “darkness”, and we will be found “outside” because our Creator will have never known us.  The Ten Words have been molested, re-written, and barely understood.  As Stephen was explaining to the leaders of Yisharal how the nation had rebelled and not kept the Covenant, he said something most interesting at Acts 7:37-40: 

“This is the Mosheh who said to the children of YYisharal, ‘Yahuah your Alahim shall raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear.’  This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the Messenger who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the LIVING WORDS to give to us, unto whom our fathers would not become obedient, but thrust away, and in their hearts they turned back to Mitsrayim, saying to Aharon, ‘Make us mighty ones to go before us, for this Mosheh who led us out of the land of Mitsrayim, we do not know what has become of him.’"  

   Yahusha is the One that guides us into His Covenant, because He is the Mediator of it.  Above, Stephen was inspired by the Ruach ha’Qodesh to refer to the Covenant as the LIVING WORDS, which brings to mind Hebrews 4:12.  When we observe the Ten Words as written, some people will hiss at us, and certain religious leaders become furious over the very THOUGHT of obeying them. 
The Ten Commandments is the core of the Torah, our instruction from Yahuah to live by, teaching us how to love.  Our reputation (good name) is better than sweet perfume (Ecc 7:1 calls it precious oil).  
The WISE maidens are more prepared, having been drawn by the fragrance of the Name of their Husband:  Yahuah
Yahuah is a more accurate transliteratin than “Yahweh” since the letters V & W are both derived from the letter U; please investigate this Name. 

Little flock, keep your lamp oil ready; what Stephen called the LIVING WORDS.THE OIL REPRESENTS DOCTRINE; 
IT IS EITHER TORAH OR MEN’S TRADITION.
THE OIL IS THE MIND (PERSPECTIVE) OF THE SPIRIT, YAHUAH’S TORAH.  

The Torah is the only thing you will take with you from this life  — treasure it in your heart (lamp). Read Psalm 1, then Psalm 80. 

   The “Renewed Covenant” is clearly explained at Jer. 31:1-40, Hebrews 8:8-13, and Hebrews 10:15-17.  Be a LIGHT to the nations; share Yahuah’s mind with them.    Yahusha spent His time among those who needed deliverance, and they didn’t feel shunned by Him.  He offered His sincere friendship.  He ate and drank with them, and was available to help and guide them by the same Light He wants to shine in us.  He reached out to them, and they could feel the genuine love that burned in Him for them. 
The Light is LOVE (KASID), shown by obedience.  We must strive to walk as He walked, and allow His love for them to be felt through us.  After all, the lesson to be learned is love.   Many have the impression it is our duty to judge every thing and every one; but it is our failure to love the lost that is our greatest stumbling block to overcome. 

   The Ten Words are called “LIVING WORDS” by Stephen at Acts 7:37-40.  The word oil is another metaphor (or figure of speech, allegory) used to refer to the Ten Commandments which those who observe them also understand as the Covenant.  To those who live in them and teach them, Yahusha will declare “Well done,” and these will be redeemed by Him (on the Day of Yahuah). If these LIVING WORDS are not in your lamp (heart, spirit), you will be found walking in darkness, because they are a light for our path. 
We stumble unless they are written upon our hearts.

TURNED ASIDE TO MYTHS 
2Ti 4:2-5:  “Proclaim the Word!  Be urgent in season and out of season.  Reprove, warn, appeal, with all patience and teaching, for there shall be a time when they shall not bear sound teaching, but according to their own desires, they shall heap up for themselves teachers tickling the ear, and they shall indeed turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to MYTHS.  But you be sober in all matters, suffer hardships,
do the work of an evangelist, accomplish your service completely.”
 
HAS SOCIETY TURNED ASIDE TO MYTHS?
If you “do” the Word, it will only upset people, especially religious ones. 
Try to imagine Yahusha condemning you for keeping His Commandments  — that can’t happen! 
When we obey His Commandments, it is evident that we know Him, and are known by Him.   See 1 Yn. 2:3,4 

Look at what Yahusha said in the following texts, which I did not have room enough to include in the tract form for this topic on THE LAMP:

Luk 12:34-48:

“‘For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also.

Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men waiting for their master, when he shall return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they open to him immediately.

Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, shall find watching.

Truly, I say to you that he shall gird himself and make them sit down to eat, and shall come and serve them.

And if he comes in the second watch, or in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

And know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief comes, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

And you, then, be ready, for the Son of Adam is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

 

What follows seems to imply the 10 virgins are managers or teachers of Yahusha’s Word, because the term wise manager is used, as well as the idea of feeding the household, or other servants:

 

And Kĕpha said to Him, ‘Master, do You speak this parable to us, or also to all?’

And the Master said, ‘Who then is the trustworthy and wise manager, whom his master shall appoint over his household, to give the portion of food in due season?

Blessed is that servant whom his master shall find so doing when he comes.

Truly, I say to you that he shall appoint him over all his possessions.

But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male servants and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant shall come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour that he does not know, and shall cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unbelievers.

And that servant who knew his master’s desire, and did not prepare, nor did according to his desire, shall be beaten with many stripes.  (the managers  -  or teachers  -  are held to a higher standard)

But he who did not know, yet did what deserved flogging, shall be beaten with few. And everyone to whom much is given, from him much shall be demanded. And to whom much has been entrusted, from him much more shall be asked.’ ”