day 1310-1312

“Today I have begotten You” (Heb. 1:5, NKJV)

We are discussing the last summaries of the reign of peace. In the previous teaching we pointed out that “today” is a telescoping of the end if you are obedient (today). Thus, if you are obedient today, it is also the Sabbath, or the concluding of all things. This is because God is only in today. The chronos time is thus alleviated when one enters this rest, and the mechanism for having this happen, is obedience today. This is the core of standing secure in your position in Christ, the Day of Shalom, the Head.

In order to deepen this concept of the reign of peace today, it is important to look at these similar Scriptures:

 

  • “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’” (Ps. 2:7)
  • “As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’” (Acts 13:33)
  • “For to which of the angels did He ever say: ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You?’ And again: ‘I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son’”? (Heb. 1:5)
  • “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’” (Heb. 5:5)

 

This Scripture, and a number of others that are repeated in the Bible, are of great importance in the understanding of generation (or to “procreate, beget, born of, bring forth, be delivered of, birth, give being”) of Jesus. The originating of Jesus is not a historically determined time – it is today, the eternal temporal space of shalom, within which His head becomes manifested, and from which all things came to be.

In pictorial Hebrew the concept today is presented as two juxtaposed symbols, namely firstly a hand and secondly moving waters (represented through a wave). The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible aptly refers to it as “working water”. 2 Pet. 3:5 explains it as follows: “that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water”. This creative eternal womb is the origin of all things, and is filled with primordial water, as Heb. 11:3 explicitly makes clear: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” The only indication in Scripture in 2 Pet. 3:5 that the Logos is there, but in Heb. 11:3 the word rhema is used. The Logos (=Jesus) then already existed from the rhema-words (the Body of Christ). Selah!

This Hebrew word for ‘today’ thus actually indicates so many other terms that are NOT today (in a temporal sense), that it to a great extent alleviated the measured, time-based notion of today! According to Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions “today” can mean the following:

  • “day (as opposed to night)”
  • “a 24 hour period”, as defined by the concepts ‘evening’ and ‘morning’ (as in Gen. 1, which, up until the sun was created on Day 4, was not a 24-hour period);
  • “as a division of time”
  • “a working day, a day’s journey”
  • “lifetime”
  • “a period (general)”
  • “a year”

 

In the King James Concordance the Hebrew word for “today” (yôm) is translated a total of 2239 times, with such widely diverse translations as “day, days, daily, time, chronicles, (for) ever, long, continually, fulle, when, while, year, years, yearly, age, time, always, always, now, life, whole, required, season, space, evermore, live, old, perpetually, presently, afternoon, midday, ago, birthday, continuance, elder, livest, liveth, outlived, overlived, remaineth, require, then, trouble, weather, young, younger”.

Clearly the Middle-Eastern use of the term differs immensely from the Western use thereof. Even the equivalent word for ‘today’ in Greek, sēmeron, is not used merely for delineated periods of 24-hour hours. Renn‘s Expository Dictionary of Bible Words notes that “‘Time’ in both Old and New Testaments is not to be regarded as merely a ‘quantitative’ phenomenon (i.e. a measurement of duration), but rather a fully ‘qualitative’ one, partaking of particular characteristics such as purpose, rationale, redemptive-historical significance, and, most importantly, implemented by God himself, the Creator of time.” (p. 976, my emphasis).

This understanding of the concept ‘today’ thus also provides linguistic weight to the argument in the previous teaching that ‘today’ is not necessarily a temporal term, but rather a telescoping of the end when you are obedient (today). Thus if you are obedient today, it is also the Sabbath, or then, the concluding of all things, the consummation with the Head, the fulness of Christ.

Below we will quote a number of Old Testament examples that contribute to a completely different understanding of the use ‘today’. See if you can notice it:

 

  • “And Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord Has Seen; that they might say today, In the mount the Lord was seen.” (Gen. 22:14, CAB)
  • “And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.’” (Ex. 14:13)
  • “Then Moses said, ‘Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.’” (Ex. 16:25)
  • “Then Moses said, ‘Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother.’” (Ex. 32:29)
  • “’The LORD our God truly has displayed his glory and power, for we heard him from out of the fire today. We have witnessed how God spoke to human beings, yet they lived.” (Deut. 5:24, ISV)
  • “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse …” (Deut. 11:26)
  • “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live …” (Deut. 30:19)

 

But it is especially in the New Testament that this wider meaning of the term ‘today’ holds an important key. Look at the following three examples:

 

  • “give us to-day our needed bread” (Matt. 6:11, Darbey)
  • “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’” (Matt. 21:28)
  • “but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Heb. 3:13)

 

It is however especially Luke 23:43 that points out how immensely important the correct understanding of the term ‘today’ is: “And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” There is so much inaccurate dogma built into the misunderstanding of ‘today’ in this verse.

Back to the beginning of this teaching where the four repetitive Scriptures were quoted, where God notes every time that He generated His Son today. Read Prov. 8:23 along with this, where Jesus (personified as Wisdom – 1 Cor. 1:24) is speaking: “I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth.” Here an explicit link is thus drawn between the concepts “eternity,” “the beginning,” “before time” (or “other reality”). This means that the “time” and/or “place” where Jesus was formed, that ROSH or HEAD, is the eternity/other reality, but Scriptures refers to it as “Today” in four instances! Thus: the other reality (or before time) or eternity is telescoped in TODAY!

With this framework it is then easier to understand what Paul means when he says the following in Acts 17:28: “for in Him we live and move and have our being” One could thus also refer to these concepts of eternity/another reality/today as “in Him”!

In the section in Heb. 3, where the focus is placed on us hearing His voice today (verse 7), the main reason for deception is noted as a hardened or embittered or disobedient heart (verse 10), which means that they cannot enter the sabbath rest TODAY (verse 11), and have thus “depart[ed] from the living God” (verse 12). Here, according to The Complete WordStudy Dictionary to depart means “to withdraw, remove oneself, forsake, desert, retire, cease from something”, specifically in terms of your calling and identity IN HIM. Therefore verse 13 then makes very clear that we have a particular responsibility concerning each other, as “partakers of the heavenly calling” (verse 1), to encourage each other today, “to call near” (Strong): “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end” (verse 14), as long as it is called today!

The Body of Christ must come to a completely new way of thinking (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10), which will make manifest this other reality in which we are actually living. Immense power and creative potential is nestled in the consciousness of TODAY, which is largely regulated through our diachronic-psychological limits of past, present and future. You cannot find yourself by sifting through the past or projecting into the future. Start looking for the power of today; bring the sacrament of now.

 

  • Selah: Is your life dictated by yesterday and tomorrow?
  • Read: 2 Sam. 17-24.
  • Memorise: 2 Sam. 24:14.