“… have the light of life …”
(John 8:12, NKJV)
We now thoroughly understand that the Beginnings are not a linear starting point in time and space. Jesus, the Origin’s Name, has various other Names, which describe and define his history (His story), including the lesser known Name Amen. In the faith tradition, we’ve learnt that Amen is merely a way of agreeing with the person if what they testify of, preach or speak is truthful. But within this understanding Amen is not a word that concludes a prayer; it is by right rather an endorsement of the fact that God, in Jesus Christ, is confirming His Being.
In 2 Cor. 1:20 Paul makes this truth clear: “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us …”
The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon Bible describes the word Amen in pictorial language: “The pictograph m is a picture of water or other liquid such as blood, the n is a picture of a seed representing continuance. Combined these mean ‘blood continues’. Each species (kind) continues by passing its blood to the following generation, which comes from the parent. Also the idea of strength through the blood.”
Strong enlarges the sphere of meaning in which we should understand Amen, when it explains that the root word of amen is ‘âman, and this Hebrew word means “to build up or support; to foster as a parent or nurse … to go to the right hand … nurse, (-ing father)”. God is a cherishing, nurturing, tending Father, and this specific characteristic nature is perfectly, and completely, manifested in Jesus, the Amen. Figuratively the spiritual blood of God flows in Jesus the Amen – He duplicates and confirms exactly this characteristic nature in His descendants through the specific care He offers them. In this way, He ensures that “blood continues”. The only difference is now that the blood that continues in spiritual sons is not the contaminated blood of man and the transmitted mortality of the underworld, but in reality the light of life – “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4).
The book of Job (33:28-30) strikingly explains this, the awe of the speaker evident: “He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit [= realm of the dead], and his life shall see the light. ‘Behold, God works all these things, twice, in fact, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.’” (Specifically note the reference to the soul!) In this light (!) one truly understands Ps. 36:9 for the first time: “In Your light we see light,” in other words, outside of Him there cannot be any light or insight or enlightenment. Therefore, David prays in Ps. 56:13: “For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God in the light of the living?”
When Jesus tries to explain this mystery to His followers, He presents it unambiguously: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” This mystery is the germ cell of the gospel of Christ, and the primary life principle the Bride lost when they fell from before time. Selah! With the coming of the Blueprint Son in whose Image we need to be restored, He, the Amen, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15) an entire dynamic restoration process of eternal (lost) identity becomes possible once again, as in Him we too become Yes and Amen! It is a restoration of “the integrity (= wholeness) of our original design” (2 Tim. 1:9, MB).
Strictly speaking this is what the sheep or sons of His right hand receive: “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world …’” (Matt. 25:34). This is – symbolically speaking – the seed of Benjamin, the sons of the right hand.
When the high priest in Mark 14:61 asks Jesus the million-dollar question (“Are You the Christ?”) He answers in no uncertain terms: “I am.” [Do not miss the historical reference to God’s (completed uncompleted) Name as “I am” (Ex. 3:14) in this.] And then He explains, in very explicit terms, the new dispensation that will follow, in which the I AM will be manifested in the kingdom of Christ: “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power [= Christ – 1 Cor. 1:24], and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (We’ve written much about this in these teachings, and our current discussion should be read within that exegetic context – read the teachings of Day 87, 500, 575–577, 578-580, 1095 and 1157–1158 again.)
If Paul writes to Timothy, his spiritual son in the faith, in 2 Tim. 1:8 about “the gospel according to the power of God,” he is certainly referring to the gospel of Christ (1 Cor. 1: 24). He makes it clear that one should not be ashamed for this particular (personal/private) gospel, exactly as He spelled out in Rom. 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” In the verses following this, in 2 Tim. 1:9-10, it is specified why this gospel of Christ is particular, and not a grey general gospel: “the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel …” From this Scripture, we need to emphasize the following:
- The gospel of Christ obviously includes the gospels of the other two dimensions. The gospel of salvation and the gospel of the kingdom of God has unfolded and been unlocked within the gospel of Christ. Jesus did not just come to save us, but also to call us (Rom. 9:11; Eph. 1:18; 2 Tim. 1:9; 2 Pet. 1:10). We are thus saved and
- Our calling is exclusively His call, and in His perspective it is already set, although we still need to come to grips with it ourselves (2 Pet. 1:10).
- Even though our being chosen, and our calling, has been set from eternity, it is not part of the grey timelessness that we defined in this way. The BBE evocatively defines it as “This life was made certain before eternal time.”
- Now is a key word in this periscope – the manifestation that is referred to here is not in the past or necessarily in the future, but NOW (The Message for instance wrongly translates it as “But we know it now.”) Jesus hasn’t only appeared since we’ve been knowledgeable about it. There were after all appearances that Jesus made since He arose from the dead (Acts 1:3), but even for that Jesus appeared in His pre-incarnation state as the Angel of the Lord (Acts 7:30). Now can also be translated as “henceforth”, but the “has now been revealed” is important.
- The entire spectrum of God’s purpose is now made public through the appearances(s) of our Saviour. This obviously means that each person’s experience of Jesus’s appearances toDAY will transform him/her in glory, to the same Image of the Prototype Son (2 Cor. 3;18). Jesus is indeed “a light … and the glory” (Luke 2:32). In truth, this process of tuning between you and your Saviour becomes the foundation of that which we call sanctification. Sanctification (“to be set apart for God’s purposes”) is thus firstly individually determined, although it also has a corporate function.
- The Greek word for purpose is the word prothesis, which also means showbread! In the teachings of Days 73-111 we had an extensive look at the typological meaning and application of the table with showbreads in the tabernacle. There are various aspects that we can link to this topic, but it is not necessary now, and will enter the conversation again at a later point. These showbreads are called “the bread of presence” (Ex. 25:30), “bread of ordering” (1 Chr. 9:32), “holy bread” (1 Sam. 21:1-6) or “the continual bread” (Num. 4:7). In metaphoric terms the showbread points to Jesus as the Bread of Life (John 6:48), but He is represented by the twelve showbreads, that in turn symbolically point to the perfect spiritual authority (represented by, for instance, the twelve sons of Jacob, the twelve tribes, the twelve fountains of Elim, the twelve disciples, the twelve apostles, the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem, etc.) Within these God-ordained groups the presence of God is ensured! Ponder this for a moment – Jesus divided himself in many preconceived (chosen) parts, of which the totality guarantees His presence! But more than this –in the formation of the collective a unique identity is ascribed to each individual part, which illustrates God’s purpose. This purpose testifies of the fact that it has been ordained according to God’s perfect will, and is set for perfection, and when it manifests in this way, His presence is necessarily in their midst (Matt. 18:20; Mark 3:3; Luke 24:36; also see the teaching of Days 1567-1569).
- The appearance(s) of Jesus the Christ has an immensely important function – it renders death moot. Please selah about this important truth! Although Jesus triumphed over death when He arose from the dead, the last enemy that needs to be destroyed for the fallen, but saved man, is death (1 Cor. 15:26). In verse 54 Paul notes it as such: “So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” Thus: Jesus has absolutely triumphed over death, but you and I, through the appearance Jesus makes in our life, render death moot, “according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus …” (2 Tim. 1:1).
- Through the gospel of Christ life and immortality are brought to light WITHIN us. In this way, the light increases WITHIN us, so that Eph. 5:8 can come into being: “For you were once darkness, but now you arelight in the Lord.”
Jesus was indeed “the light of the world,” but this has been transmitted to the Bride – they now gain “the light of the life” (John 8:12). Now Matt. 5:8 is true, in Jesus’s own words: “You are the light of the world.” This mystery is the germ cell of the gospel of Christ, and the primary life principle that the Bride lost when they fell from before time.
- Selah: Do you experience the appearances of the Lord Jesus?
- Read: 3-6; Eph. 1-2
- Memorise: 1:4 (how apt!)
