“… a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages …”
(Ecc. 3:11, AMP)
In the previous teaching we discussed Rev. 1:3’s assertion that “Blessed is he that readeth …” We pointed out how immensely important it is for God that His sons gain knowledge, so that it could be said of them, as of David, that “(they) served the purpose of God in … (their) own generation” (Acts 13:36, ESV). This revelatory knowledge is absolutely imperative for the transformation that lies ahead, and which needs to happen in and through the Bride. Without “the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col. 1:9) this transition has no way of taking place.
The word read in Rev. 1:3 is a very specific word in Greek: anaginōskō. Here the preposition ana means again, and ginōsko means to know intimately. The deeper meaning of the original word is, within its context, thus: Blessed are those who remember through again reading spiritually, and having a deeper understanding of the true meaning of the intimate message of this prophetic word (which is contained in the book of Revelation). I believe that this encoded message in the Book of Revelation is also already coded into every born-again believer’s spirit, but it has to be read, or decoded, before it becomes meaningful for you and me.
A Scripture that encapsulates this mystery is Ecc. 3:11: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” Sadly this verse is often the site of problematic translation, and thus appears to us as saying the opposite of what the original purports. Have a look at these conflicting translations:
- “He has made everything right in its time; but he has made their hearts without knowledge, so that man is unable to see the works of God, from the first to the last.” (BBE)
- “All the things which he has made are beautiful in his time: he has also set the whole world in their heart, that man might not find out the work which God has wrought from the beginning even to the end.” (Brenton)
- “He has made everything suited to its time; also, he has given human beings an awareness of eternity; but in such a way that they can’t fully comprehend, from beginning to end, the things God does.” (CJB)
- “God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives.” (NET)
One specific word seems to be a stumbling block for the translators here, the word olam, which is either translated as the whole world, or eternity, or ignorance/without knowledge. We couldn’t find a wider range of meanings! Although Strong notes that all these meanings, and a range more, are possible, I would argue that our starting point here would have to be the fact that one of God’s Names is El Olam. The latter is translated as The Everlasting God, The God of Eternity, The God of the Universe, or The God of Ancient Days. Within the framework of meaning of this overarching concept the meaning can never be a limited one. Therefore, perhaps, the AMP’s paraphrasing translation is the best one on the table: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” Here eternity/olam is explained as “a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages”. The reason these translators would probably offer is that the original features two words, namely hath set (in Hebrew the word nâthan), which can further be translated as “set, appoint, assign, designate, to make” (BDB), and the word thing (in Hebrew ma‛ăśeh), which points, in etymological terms, to “making, wrought, handiwork, workmanship”, as well as “purpose” (King James Concordance). Strong then spells it out beautifully: “by implication a product (specifically a poem)”! The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon Bible then rightfully also refers to it as “art, deed”. The latter neatly corresponds with what we understand of the concept of the rhema word, and thus the Scripture from Ecclesiastes earlier can be directly linked to someone’s calling and purpose that is engraved in his heart and mind. Indeed – you are a word in God’s poem (Eph. 2:10), a piece of handiwork, or poiēma.
BUT – this needs to be uncovered, or meaningfully read. In the AHLB this word’s pictogram consists of two symbols, “a picture of water representing might”, “(and a picture) representing the side. Combined these mean ‘mighty sides’”. Literally this means: water from the side! We’re immediately reminded of John 19:34 – “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” Clearly, as Yahshua was taken from Yahweh’s side, and Woman from the side of Man, the Bride, the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9) is taken from the side of the Lamb, and the manifestation of this is water and blood. 1 John 5:6 makes this very clear: “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.”
The Old Testament version of this is found in Ezek. 47:1-2: “Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side.” These are the waters that Ezek. 43:2 speaks of: “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.” The release of the gospel of glory and the knowledge of the kingdom of Christ, the sixth kingdom, starts through the flowing of the rhema words from Jesus the Christ. This progression is beautifully indicated in the next few verses – the waters first rise to the ankles, then to the hips, and then: “… it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed” (Ezek. 47:5).
As we noted above – the encripted message in the Book of Revelation, about your calling and purpose, is already encoded within you as a born-again believer, but you need to read it or decode it before it can present you with any direction or meaning. You must understand what exactly it means that “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). In Rom. 8:29 (NLT) we read: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son …”
- Selah: How does your predestination bring about the restoration of all things?
- Read: 12-16; 1 Cor. 1
Memorise: Rom. 12:4-5 (very important for this teaching)
