Difference between revisions of "In the beginning"

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While John’s prologue is unique among the gospels, the first five verses of the book of Acts is comparable John's prologue. Also, the opening verse of 1 John, or the book of Hebrews where have similar prologues.  But in these 18 verses, John compresses the Gospel into a condensed form.  He gives the setting; he states the theme; he introduces the main character and he relates the elements of conflict.  Every good novel must have conflict to make a plot.  And here the conflict is between belief and unbelief.   
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While John’s prologue is unique among the gospels, the first five verses of the book of Acts is comparable John's prologue. Also, the opening verse of 1 John, or the book of Hebrews have similar prologues.  But in these 18 verses, John compresses the Gospel into a condensed form.  He gives the setting; he states the theme; he introduces the main character and he relates the elements of conflict.  Every good novel must have conflict to make a plot.  And here the conflict is between belief and unbelief.   
  
 
We find that the language of these opening eight verses is more formal than is true in the rest of the book.  And there are some scholars that feel these verses are an adaptation of some early Christian hymn. Reading through these 18 verses, we note the pattern that is involved.  Verses 1-5 talk about “the Word.”  Verses 6-8 speak about John the Baptist.  Verse 9-14 again underscore “the Word.”  Verse 15 refers back to John.  And then the concluding verses 16-18, come back to “the Word.”  So, it’s the word, and John and the word, and John, and then the Word.  That is the pattern, or the structure of these opening verses.   
 
We find that the language of these opening eight verses is more formal than is true in the rest of the book.  And there are some scholars that feel these verses are an adaptation of some early Christian hymn. Reading through these 18 verses, we note the pattern that is involved.  Verses 1-5 talk about “the Word.”  Verses 6-8 speak about John the Baptist.  Verse 9-14 again underscore “the Word.”  Verse 15 refers back to John.  And then the concluding verses 16-18, come back to “the Word.”  So, it’s the word, and John and the word, and John, and then the Word.  That is the pattern, or the structure of these opening verses.   

Revision as of 10:40, 8 August 2019

While John’s prologue is unique among the gospels, the first five verses of the book of Acts is comparable John's prologue. Also, the opening verse of 1 John, or the book of Hebrews have similar prologues. But in these 18 verses, John compresses the Gospel into a condensed form. He gives the setting; he states the theme; he introduces the main character and he relates the elements of conflict. Every good novel must have conflict to make a plot. And here the conflict is between belief and unbelief.

We find that the language of these opening eight verses is more formal than is true in the rest of the book. And there are some scholars that feel these verses are an adaptation of some early Christian hymn. Reading through these 18 verses, we note the pattern that is involved. Verses 1-5 talk about “the Word.” Verses 6-8 speak about John the Baptist. Verse 9-14 again underscore “the Word.” Verse 15 refers back to John. And then the concluding verses 16-18, come back to “the Word.” So, it’s the word, and John and the word, and John, and then the Word. That is the pattern, or the structure of these opening verses.

It is very possible that John may have written he narrative of his gospel first, and then came back to summarize all of it in these opening verses. But he very clearly in these opening verses, shows the mission of the word—who he is, referring to him as word, and light and life. Telling why he came—to make known the Father; to reveal God. How he was received—there were twofold responses of either belief, or unbelief. What he did in terms of giving light and giving life, and coming with grace and truth. What he revealed—all focusing around the mission of the Word.

What is the meaning of this term ‘Logos’ or word. The scripture makes a distinction between the Word of God written—which of course refers to holy Scripture—and the Word of God incarnate, which refers to Jesus Christ. It interesting that John holds back in his use of the name Jesus Christ in this prologue. Instead he gives him a different title. And what an unusual name for Christ—"The Logos”—the Word. Apparently, he did not coin the term. He did not make-up a new word. Instead he gave a new meaning to a word that was already in use. There is wide spread speculation among the theologians as to the roots as to the origin of this term. Where did it come from? There are some who say that it comes as a carryover from Greek philosophy, the philosophy of Philo the Jew. He was an Alexandrian, allegorizing, philosopher in the first century who used this word logos about 1300 times in his writings. And yet it is never clear whether Philo meant an abstract impersonal force, or whether he meant the divine thought behind the universe. It is unclear as to his meaning even though he uses the term so frequently.

Unique to the autoptic gospel is John’s use of repetition (arguably a poetic device) early in his Gospel narrative. From the beginning, his provocative anaphoric use of use of “word” serves to conjoin the notions of the term ‘logos’ (λόγος) (Greek for ‘word’) and the repetition serves to “underline the thought he would communicate.” John’s penchant for Hebrew parallelism is a prominent hallmark of style in the first ten lines of his gospel narrative. This parallelism whether meant to capture the attention of Hellenized Jews, or simply be thought provoking to any audience also serves to set John’s narrative apart from its synoptic cousins which share more provincial openings. Beasley-Murray (1987) posits the “poetic quality of the prologue is observable, even in translation.” And, in fact, C.F. Burney (1922) maintains John’s poetic style is indicative of an “Aramaic original.”

Adding to the provocative nature of John’s opening, Ernst Haenchen (1984) adds John’s parallel structure to Genesis 1 is no coincidence and “tells of something that was in existence already in time primeval” which is in fact the “Logos”—whatever this ‘Logos’ is—as it defies definition in most any modern language. This “elevated” state of “Logos” reaches such “heights that it almost becomes offensive.”

Additionally, Raymond Brown (1966) suggests that that hymn like structure of John’s opening can be divided into three strophes where the first strophe is verses 1-2; the second strophe is verses 3-9; the third strophe is verses 10-12; and the fourth strophe consists of verses 14-18. While the poetic nature (hymn-like quality) maintains its obvious parallel to Genesis 1, it “does not necessarily give us the original meaning intended by the author of Genesis.”

What is clear, as Merril C. Tenney (1976) instructs, is that while both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist and are both mentioned, the “latter is treated only in relation to the former, and is of subordinate importance.” Further, while confirming the poetic nature of John’s literary structure, Tenney also asserts that “the term ‘Logos’ implies the intelligence behind the idea, the idea itself, and the transmissible expression of it.” Finally, he advances the notion that John’s theological agenda “commences a presentation of the person of Jesus Christ which is quite different from that of the other Gospels.”



Bibliography

Beasley-Murray, George R. John (Word Biblical Commentary). Word Book Publishers, Waco, 1987.

Burney, Rev. C. F. Burney. The Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel. Oxford University Press, 1922.

Brown, Raymond. The Gospel of John. The Anchor Bible. Double Day and Company, New York, 1966.

Haenchen, Ernst. John (Hermeneia). Fortress Press, Philadelphia 1984.

Tenney, Merril C. John, The Gospel of Belief. William. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1976.

Scroggie, Graham. A Guide to the Gospels. Kregel Publishing, Grand Rapids, 1995.

The Gospels capture the teaching of the apostles over time. Mark wrote first when the study of the mystery was still new. At that point, the apostles were teaching that the story of Christ began with the preaching of John the Baptist [1] . That was in the forefront of their memories; some of them having been disciples of John.

When Matthew wrote 10 or 15 years later, their ability to understand the mystery had progressed. We should not assume that the authors wrote in isolation. Apart from those who disappeared into the far reaches, like Thomas who probably went went to India, most were in communication with each other such that a council could be called in Jerusalem [2]. Matthew was able to push the beginning of the story of Christ back to Abraham [3]. We can identify the hermeneutical tools that Matthew had learned that Mark did not have available from the differences in the way they handle Old Testament scriptures or added material from their memory about things Jesus did.

Luke had even more tools available, and another 10-15 years of study, to push the beginning of the story back to Adam [4].

John was the master of the mystery. In the book of Revelation he uses the symbols of the mystery to tell the story of the cross as it is told throughout the Old Testament. In his letter he expounds on the meaning of the letters in the words 'heaven' and 'earth.' Though there are many speculations where he got the idea of the Logos or the 'Word' in John 1:1, now that the mystery can be read, it is plain that he got it from Genesis 1:1 and from the Hebrew words themselves. Some of the tools he used to exegete his doctrine are still used by rabbis today, though they twist them to hide Christ. Our chapter on the dietary law instructed us that the rabbis do not make good teachers. Some will turn to them because of curiosity, or scholarly research to validate claims made here. Do so with care. Do not apply any method that they teach which you do not find practiced by the New Testament authors. They have perverted the teaching. Rabbi Blech [5] provides several examples:

Blech examines the name Israel ישראל. He says it is an anagram for the names of the three patriarchs and four matriarchs of the nation of Israel. The yod יis for Jacob and Isaac. The shin is for Sarah. The rosh ר is for Rebekah and Rachel. The aleph א is for Abraham. And the lamed ל is for Leah.

So far this type of Anagram is not found in the New Testament. And it really is a bad anagram. Five letters represent seven people. What is there to constrain it to seven, can we add more people to make it twelve? They are not in any kind of order. Men and women are mixed; Sarah comes before Abraham. This has all the red flags of a free for all.

Blech notices that Israel starts with the smallest letter and ends in the largest letter signifying "the humble beginnings and a glorious destiny" for the nation of Israel. Jesus said that all the scriptures spoke of him. Blech has the wrong focus.

Blech calls out that the word for 'honesty' is yashar ישר , using the first three letters of Israel. Now he is doing it right. Words derive their meaning from the meaning of the roots, gates and letters within. A root is a three letter combination which gets it's meaning from the gates and letters. A gate is a two letter combination which gets it's meaning from the letters. Israel is the 'integrity of God'; yashar-el. We don't rely solely upon the meaning derived this way. It is validated in other scripture as when Moses intercedes for Israel.

Moses made the appeal to God's integrity before the Egyptians, when God was about to destroy Israel for worshiping the golden calf. [6] Though Israel deserved to be destroyed, God had made a promise to Abraham. The reality of the situation is that God could have fulfilled (and did fulfill) his promise without the nation of Israel. But he honored Moses appeal because Moses was concerned about what it would look like to the Egyptians of his day who would not see the ultimate fulfillment.

Blech's most egregious violation is by scrambling the letters to לי ראש meaning 'I have a head.' This is pure nonsense. The order of letters is important when the meaning is combined to form a word. In the two-letter gate, if the order is reversed, there is a reversal in the sense of the meaning. Ab אב for father means 'After he created the heavens and the earth א he revealed himself to man ב.' God took the initiative to introduce himself. If the letters are reversed to form ba בא it means 'come'. Now it is an invitation. The sense has been reversed. Blech violates the very principle of Hebrew word formation.

Following the teaching of the rabbis, who refuse to acknowledge Christ, will assuredly lead to confusion. Only use those tools demonstrated by the New Testament authors [7].

John's doctrine

Joh 1:1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Like Paul, John taught from the Old Testament [8] Without knowing John's methods of interpretation, it is nearly impossible to discover his source for his unique teachings.

First we will examine the individual letters within the first three words of Genesis 1:1, then we will unpack the doctrine of John from those same three words, using the tools demonstrated in other articles.

Letters: The foundation of meaning

Mt 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Yod י: the jot

The yod is conceptually an infinitesimally small dot. That is difficult to draw and even harder to see, so the yod is used to represent it. To the Greeks it is the iota. In English we call it a jot. It represents the first idea that God had for creation. It is pronounced yah;one of the names of God, and is a vowel, using only breath to form the sound. It signifies that God is 'spirit'; the same word as breath.

As a metaphor, the yod can be used as a subject when referring to God; the one who created. It can be used as the completed action of creating, or as the subject of creation. It can even be used as an adjective to describe something new.

Vav ו: the tittle

The vav ו looks like an extended yod י. It is. It is like the first words God spoke to create the universe. It is the action which created, where the yod is the person who created. The rabbis say that the vav looks like a horn. It is the horn of revelation declaring that God alone is God. The horns in the Bible are declarations of God.

As a prefix, the vav is translated 'and'. Like the word 'and', the vav divides two things and joins them in order to clarify or makes things more understandable. It tears them apart and puts them together.

It also is a vowel, pronounced waw. All the other letters of the Hebrew alphabet are formed with yods and vavs. It is said that Hebrew has no vowels. This is patent nonsense. You cannot pronounce words without vowels. Every letter, is formed by yods and vavs, and consonants are formed by interrupting breath, so every letter has embedded vowels. Other conventions indicate if the vowel should be pronounced before or after the consonant [9]

Since the vav clarifies things, it can be 'translated' as ' a certain' or a 'distinct' something.

Aleph א

The aleph א is a silent letter. The proper answer to an ancient riddle says that Genesis 1 starts with an invisible aleph, it being the first letter of the alphabet.

It is formed with a yod-vav-yod where the vav separates two yods or 'creations.' Since there is only one creation, this is interpreted as separating two aspects or views of the one creation. This thought is expressed in multiple ways:

God spoke and created the heavens and the earth
The waters above were separated from the waters below
The Spirit hovered between the waters
The firmament was between the waters
There was war between heaven and earth

The aleph can be translated as 'I.' Hidden in the aleph is the name of God he gave himself before creation. Because the aleph is a silent letter, you cannot say his name. If we try to pronounce the yod-vav-yod which form the aleph, it would sound something like 'ee-oo-ee' which is very similar to Yahweh. It is a matter of myth that we can't say 'Yahweh'. This is the name God told Moses to call him. We really can't say his name in the aleph, because the aleph is silent.

Shin ש

The shin ש is formed with a vav ו descending on the right, and a zayin ז returning on the left. Attached is a second zayin ז returning with the first. As a metaphor is speaks of the word of God coming to earth, and then returning with an increase [10].

This metaphor can be expressed in several ways:

It is Christ (the Word) returning with his bride which is like him [11].
It is the Spirit giving the bride life enabling her to return with Christ [12]
It is an expression of the marriage of Christ and his bride.

Dalet ד and rosh ר

These letters (the dalet and rosh) represent a communication from God. You can tell them apart by the top right corner. Notice the top right corner of the dalet ד is a right angle, and it is rounded for the rosh ר. The rosh is a communication with personality. It is God walking in the garden with Adam, or the three visitors to Abraham. You can ask questions to a rosh kind of communication. In these writings the word 'revelation' is used as a technical term to express the idea of the rosh.

The dalet, with the square corner, is less than this. It is a command. It expresses the idea of God speaking the world into existence or of giving the law. There is no dialog with a dalet kind of experience. Yes, in the general usage, there are revelations. For clarity sake, 'command' is used for a dalet kind of experience.

He ה

The he ה is formed with a dalet and a vav returning part way up the left side. It represents 'hearing' as in the sheep hearing his voice [13] Though the sheep hear his voice, the do not understand the words. The short vav returning on the left signifies only a partial response.

Rosh ר

The difference between a dalet ד and a rosh ר is that the top right corner is square for the dalet ד and rounded for the rosh ר. They both represent a communication from God, but the dalet with the square corner is like a command; God spoke and formed the universe, or he gave the commandments to Moses. The rosh is like a personal communication with dialog; God walking with Adam in the garden. In these writings 'commandment' will be used for the dalet and 'revelation' will be used for the rosh.

Bet ב

The Hebrew letters are formed using a square template. They are called the square text letters. There are other forms of Hebrew writing used in common discourse, but the square text letters are the sacred letters. They are the letters which were formed on the tablets of Genesis and the scrolls of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. They were only seen by a few since the writings were kept by a few men and eventually hidden in the temple. They only show up late in archeology when Israel went into captivity and their captors defiled the holy implements of the temple by using them in parties. The defiled the language by using it for common discourse.

The strokes obtain their meaning from the location within the square template. The upper horizontal stroke re-presents heavenly things which can be known about God. The lower horizontal represent earthly things. The right vertical comes down from heaven to earth. The left vertical returns to God. In the letter he it only returns part way up, signifying that there is only a partial return or response, since the commandment is not understood.

The bet ב is a rosh ר which connects to a lower horizontal. The rosh is 'a revelation' and the bet is 'a revelation to man'. The focus of the revelation is now upon the one receiving it.

Tov ת

The tov is the last letter of the phonetic alphabet. The phonetic alphabet has 22 letters. But five letters have final forms as mentioned above. The final forms sound like their natural forms, so we say they are the same letter. When placed in phonetic order, the final form is included with the natural form. But the strokes forming them are different, so they have a different metaphoric meaning.

Each letter is also a number. The final forms are a different number than the normal forms. When placed in numerical order, the final forms follow the tov. Generally, the tov is considered the last letter of the alphabet where even the Greek 'alpha and omega' is equivalent to the Hebrew 'aleph tov'.

The tov represents the finished work of God, being the last letter, as well as by the meaning of the strokes. The revelation of the rosh ר now has a new life spontaneously returning to God, represented by the vav on the right. This is the finished work of God; his people genuinely love him.

Genesis 1:1

Ge 1:1 In the beginning God... Bereshith bara elohim בראשית ברא אלהים

These three words are the source of John's unique teachings. John declares Jesus to be the Word; a title steeped in mystery. His is the only gospel to call Jesus the 'Lamb of God', which he also uses in Revelation. John is the only one to identify Jesus as the Light. And though others identify bread as a symbol of the body of Christ, which Jesus taught at the last supper, John is the only one who identifies him as the 'bread from heaven'.

Some attribute these 'new' teachings to an unidentified older source; a writing which has been lost. Since Jesus said that not a stroke or dot would be lost from his word, it is inconceivable that a whole document, which is more authoritative than John, has been lost.

Some attribute these teachings to the influence of Greek culture on the growing Gentile church. Many claim the "Word" or Logos came from a Greek philosopher named Philo. And that other ideas came from Gnostic influences. Though it is true that while the apostles were still alive, other teachers were so influenced. But to believe the same about the apostles, who were taught by Jesus, and led by the Holy Spirit; that they turned to the teachings of this world to better explain the teachings of Christ; God incarnate, is an affront to the main purpose of all creation, teaching, and revelation; that God is holy. Apart from God showing himself to man, he cannot be discovered by philosophy, science, religion, or divination.

bara the Word

The Hebrew word bara ברא is translated here as 'created'. But it is a word with meaning derived from the meaning of the letters within.

bar בר - a א

Bar בר means 'son' [14] so the metaphor 'create' includes the idea, and is derived from the idea, that the son בר 'spoke and created the heavens and earth' א [15].

When God created the heavens and the earth, the record shows he spoke ten times. He spoke creation into existence. It is by his word, that creation was formed. As a metaphor, bara speaks of the act of creation, but also the one who created (the son). It was formed by the Word of God and by the Son of God, therefore the Son of God IS the Word of God.

This may seem tenuous, or a stretch if left in isolation. But the rest of the word play, using the first three words, will demonstrate that this method of interpretation is part and parcel to the nature of prophetic riddle, which John uses.

In the beginning was the Word

John begins his gospel with Hebrew word-play. Even though you may not read Hebrew, you can see that the first three letters of 'In the beginning' bereshith בראשית (read right to left) are the letters in 'created' bara ברא.

Now role play being the child. In the word bereshith is the word bara. Can you see it. Can you see the Word in the beginning? 'In the beginning was the Word." Did it make you chuckle? Did you have a moment of joy? Did your eyes roll back in their sockets like when you hear a 'dad joke?' Hold on to that moment of wonder, there's more.

and the Word was with God

The Hebrew word bara for 'created' is next to 'God' Elohim. Bara is the second word of the sentence and Elohim is the third word. John declares the Word was with God.

and the Word was God.

Earlier we saw that 'created' bara ברא was the Son who created. If the Son is the Word, and the Son and Word created, then the Son and Word ARE God, the creator.

the same was in the beginning with God

This statement is not just a redundancy; it is not just poetry. It is part of the riddle. 'The same' refers to the Word or the Son (who is God). John found the Son and God in 'the beginning'; in the Hebrew word bereshith. Looking closer we see the Son bar בר as the first two letters of bereshit and the aleph א as the third.

The aleph is the silent name for God 'ee-oo-ee'. It has a numeric value of 1, but it has three parts: yod-vav-yod יוי. Aleph means 'I' just as it's parts mean 'Jehovah'. Jehovah is the 'I am. The two yods represent the Father and the Son, who are one (the same letter) [16].

Both God and the Son or Word are in bereshith.

all things were made by him...

John changes the focus off of the Word as the Son onto the Word and the Son being God, the creator. So we shift our focus on to 'God' Elohim אלהים.

God

John finds 'life' in the word for 'God' Elohim אלהים. He is using another type of word-play that Matthew introduced to us: the pun.

Matthew says that Jesus was named Yeshua to fulfill the prophecy he would be called Emmanuel. These two names are different. Their meanings are different. In what way is the prophecy fulfilled? The first way it is fulfilled uses the methods we have used here. Yeshua is Yahweh with a 'sh' ש 'marriage' in his heart. How much more 'with us' can he get than the intimacy of marriage?

The second method Matthew uses is that of pun; words which sound similar. The pun to Yeshua is Ya shuach which is 'God humbled' speaking of his humiliation in his incarnation. God became flesh to be 'with us.'

The pun that John found in 'God' Elohim is alo khoom or not אל dark חום ;the light. Just to be sure we know that he intends to find the pun... he finds another: 'el chaim' - אל הים God's life.... and another: 'lechem' - לחם bread. The unique teachings of John are derived from the first three words of Genesis 1 using chidish word-play.

1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

More foolishness

To ensure that the wise are unable to dispute the foolish things that He uses, he packs even more foolishness into the first word of Genesis: bereshit.

In the beginning, he created six

The first chapter of Genesis continues the account of how God spoke creation into existence in six days. He uses the first word 'In the beginning' bereshit בראשית to introduce it;

created bara ברא
six shith שית [17] The addition of the yod to the word indicates each of the six was something new.

Son totally devoted

From the beginning, the son was totally devoted to the will of the Father as indicated in bereshit

son bar בר
burned ashi אשי as in the burnt offering, the Son was totally consumed.
tov ת makes it an object

Creation was in the authority of the Creator

Creation did not happen by chance, but by the will of God.

In ב
the authority רשי (heads of)
the creator א
tov ת makes it an object

The Man at the center

Since all of scripture speaks of Christ, when 'bereshith' speaks of a covenant with man at the center, the covenant is between God and the man, Christ Jesus. The bride is a gift from the Father to the Son.

A covenant bᵉriyth ברית
with the man at the center ‘iysh אש

The appointed time

It is appointed unto [the] man once to die [18] The time of the cross was fixed from the beginning. Had it been delayed, 'no flesh would have been saved'. [19] This is why Jesus was rushed through his tribulation.

the son bar בר
created א
an appointment shith שית

The house loves Christ

The church is the family or house of God. With Christ a the head of the church, the woman is depicted as having her head in her heart.

the house (family/church) bet ב*ת
head (authority) by position * in the heart of the house roshi ראשי

Letter by letter

A revelation to man ב. it is revealed ר that God created the heavens and the earth א. His word did not return void ש. what he desired to do י, he accomplished ת.

A bit more foolishness

As mentioned previously, there is an ancient riddle asking why Genesis starts with the second letter of the alphabet, the bet ב rather than the first letter; aleph א. The rabbis cannot answer it without acknowledging Christ so they personify the letter and suggest the aleph was the most humble letter, being silent and all.

But the real answer, and we know this by the results when we plug in an invisible aleph at the beginning, is that being invisible and silent, it says that before the beginning, when God spoke and created the heavens and the earth, there was no one there to see or hear him do it.

Every word must have two or three witnesses, which are made clear as it is examined closer.

With an invisible aleph, the first two letters of Genesis 1 are ab אב meaning 'Father'. But from the beginning, no man has seen the Father [20]. Why? Because the aleph is invisible.

The first two visible letters are bar בר meaning 'Son'. We first see the Son, who makes the Father known because we ask why does it start with the second letter of the alphabet.

The alphabet

Each letter of the alphabet is also a number. Since there is an order by design, we might also expect the alphabet to have a message in it.

God spoke and created the heavens and the earth א. He revealed to man ב .. that he pursued them ג with a .. command ד .. which they heard (but did not understand) ה.. and it distinguished them ו.. as the bride ז. When they understood ח.. they became the bride ט; .. a new creation י. The Son of God כ.. taught ל.. the promise of the Father מ. .. The Son of Man נ.. fulfilled the promise ס.. in love spoke of holiness ע. .. He spoke in parables and riddles פ. .. Holiness and grace were reconciled in his flesh צ. .. The Son of God died ק.. revealing ר.. that his word does not return void ש. He completed his work resulting in a new life spontaneously responding to him ת. The Son of God died ך... and finished his declared works ם. .. The Son of Man died ן. .. The prophecy was fulfilled ף . .. The judgement was ended ץ.

Incontrovertible

At what point does the foolishness of this world, the puns and riddles and word play of children, become the incontrovertible evidence that intended to speak of Christ in all the scriptures? At what point does it become statistically impossible to observe these things in the text if they are not actually there by design?

As we dig into the scriptures using these methods, where a metaphor always has to be the same; where symbols are reusable everywhere, the probability of it being by chance or human invention falls dramatically, particularly when it all speaks of Christ in theologically important ways, in agreement with the literal New Testament.


References

  1. ↑ Mr 1:1 ¶ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; Mr 1:2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
  2. ↑ Acts 15:4-6
  3. ↑ Mt 1:1 ¶ The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
  4. ↑ Lu 3:38 Which was [the son] of Enos, which was [the son] of Seth, which was [the son] of Adam, which was [the son] of God.
  5. ↑ The Secrets of Hebrew Words, Benjamin Blech, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2004
  6. ↑ Ex 32:10-13
  7. ↑ Many well-intention-ed Christians trust the rabbis too much in their zeal to understand Hebrew
  8. ↑ Ac 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
  9. ↑ There is no reason to give any authority to the modern pronunciation of words since Hebrew was a dead language until talk of reforming Israel as a nation. The language had to be reinvented.
  10. ↑ Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.
  11. ↑ 1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
  12. ↑ Ro 8:10 ¶ And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness.
  13. ↑ Joh 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
  14. ↑ 01247
  15. ↑ see 'aleph' above
  16. ↑ Joh 10:30 I and [my] Father are one.
  17. ↑ 08353 שת
  18. ↑ Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
  19. ↑ Mt 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
  20. ↑ Joh 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].
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