In-depth Study
Starters
Popular Topics
General
|
Sermons Series 3:63, 4 November 2006
The Last Hour
John, the Anointing and the Revelation of Yahweh
Main Themes: Plenary vs. Conceptual revelation
Minor Themes:
This week our family has been studying the First Letter of John the Apostle as we have sought to catch something of the vision of the firstborn work to which we have been called. We are seeking to better understand how it is to walk in the Ruach or Spirit of Torah rather than, as so many do, in the dead letter (Rom.7:5). But before we do that, I want to ask you an important question: how does Yahweh communicate with you when for instance, you are in prayer? How do you hear His voice? I think this is probably one of the most often asked questions I get because all those who are seeking after the righteousness of Yahweh desire, above all, to know Him, hear Him, and be close to Him. We read the Scriptures - the testimony of others - and yet we want to have the original experience ourselves. We want to be touched by what they were touched by, to see what they saw, and to be edified in the same way as we were. We rejoice in the testimonies of those who were, and are, close to Yahweh - we want to draw near to them and touch what they are touching. But like someone coming to you and telling you how delicious a piece of chocolate cake is, and watering at the mouth as we try to visualise and capture the taste by translating the words of the person making the description into something we can relate to, what we really want is to eat the cake ourselves. And that is precisely what Yahweh wants you to do. He says:
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to Me; hear Me, that your soul may live" (Isa.55:1-3, NIV).
What is it that the people Yahweh is talking to here are missing? They want food and drink but they go spending their money on what they think is bread, but isn't, and what they think is drink, but isn't. They invest in 'religion' and hope for a dividend. What is this 'money'? What does it represent? We get money from our labour - from the work we do - our jobs - and then we buy food and drink with it. To work means to give of your life - your time and your energy. Here money is the life of the labourer in the world. When you invest your life in 'getting' or purchasing religion, you don't get the real thing. I know one man here in Sweden who spends hours every day minutely dissecting the Torah. He knows it inside out, he runs computer programs trying to find codes as he tries, by his own efforts, to discern the mind of Yahweh. In fact, his intellectual study has become a substitute for the Ruach. He is one of the most spiritually destitute and lost men who claims to be a follower of Yahweh that I know. He has, in fact, missed the whole point of what the letter of the Torah is for. He has missed the mark. He spends his time arguing and quibbling over details and misses the most important thing of all: a living relationship with Yahweh and with His people.
As we read through the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament in chronological order, we are at once struck by a truth about revelation: Yahweh reveals Himself line upon line, precept upon precept (Is.28:10,13), through a whole line of revelators, each revelator building upon the foundation of the ones before him. There are, as it were, sudden bursts of new light and truth and then a gradual expansion for a period of time. The revelation to Abraham is not, for instance, the same as the revelation to Isaiah or the revelation to John. Notice also how they quote each other, showing that they have immersed themselves in the words of their prophetic forefathers - the Council of Yah's elohim - and are using them as stepping stones into yet deeper light and truth. Yah'shua does the same, taking the concepts revealed to those who were before Him and giving them new meaning. Indeed, as we saw last week, the people were astonished at His teaching, for His doctrine was more vital and alive than anything that had been revealed previously. And yet He never denied what had been revealed before - He merely amplified it and gave that which appeared small a cosmic dimension that made it even more glorious and approachable. He made abstract theology personal and real. He took a small mustard seed and made it into a great tree, and a piece of leaven and transformed it into a load of bread. He revealed the new truths - the deeper truths - in pictures, in parables, in allegories so that people could grasp the reality that lay behind words and embrace it as something intensely familiar to them which had somehow before eluded them.
We see this ability in John the Apostle, and though it is in all the apostles, he has a grasp, and a depth, and a height, quite unlike the other apostles. His vocabulary is unique, and though the same Ruach haQodesh is animating his heart and mind as all the prophets before him, he is expressing truth with new words, new images, new concepts that take us further than we have ever been before. And as he does so, he invites us to dip our finger into his waters and taste. "My children" (1 Jn.2:18), he addresses his disciples, just as Yah'shua said to His (Jn.13:33), and tells them that this is the "last hour". And it is the last hour in which many antichrists or anti-messiahs have appeared, just as they were warned that the Antichrist or Anti-messiah was to come. It is impossible to say how many tens of thousands of antichrists there have been since John penned those words two millennia ago. Today we live in the time when that Antichrist, the total spiritual reverse of Yah'shua the Messiah, has actually come and is waiting his time to reveal himself. From the day that John penned those words, to our day, is then the "last hour". This is what he says:
"My children, this is the last hour! You were told that Antichrist was to come, and now many antichrists have appeared; which proves to us that this is indeed the last hour" (1 Jn.2:18, NEB).
If the last hour was in John's time, and the last hour is in ours, then what is the "last hour"? The "last hour" spans the period of time denoted in this verse - from the appearance of "antichrists" to the time of the Antichrist. The whole period of 2,000 years is the "last hour". But what is the last hour before? When the Antichrist appears, then we know it is the last hour of this world system, the last hour before the true Christ or Messiah returns visibly and physically. But how can two thousand years ago also be the "last hour"? What was it the "last hour" before?
To understand the answer to this question depends what your spiritual locus is. Where are you standing spiritually? From what position are you looking at these things? I can go to the top of our lane here and look at this house or I can climb aboard an aeroplane and look at it down from above. Or I can go to the back or the sides, or any number of different positions, and I can get a different view of the same thing. Yahweh, however, does not need to chop and change positions in order to see the whole of this house. He can see the front, back, sides, and aerial view - and yes - even under this house, and see it from every angle, at the same time. Not only that but He can see through it all, and see everything in it, down to the last physical molecule, psychic particle, and spiritual element. There is nothing that He cannot see or discern. A visitor to our house could spend weeks or months living in or around it and come only to a fraction of the knowledge that Yahweh has of it. He is unlikely to see it from above and will never see it from beneath. Moreover, if he is spiritually disconnected to us, he will never really 'see' the people who live in it either. He may view them on the outside but never see the inside.
Now you and I know that 2,000 years ago was not the last temporal hour. An "hour" here is not physical time but spiritual time. Yahweh, who does not dwell in time as we do, is able to sees the beginning and the end simultaneously, and everything in-between, and every now and then He gives His prophets flashes of that 'knowing' in revelation - He shows them a bit of the future. As you read through the Bible you meet men of Elohim who were shown the future, but not until you get to the end of the Bible - to the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation do you find a prophet who can see so much more - the vision of the apostle John there is quite unlike anything that has been seen before. There are 22 chapters of open vision and hearing the voice of Yah'shua or His angelic representative. When John sees the "last hour", as he does in the Book of Revelation, then he is in that "last hour" and seeing it as Yahweh sees it. The last hour 2,000 years on becomes the "last hour" in his own time. Because when you are in the Ruach Elohim - in the Spirit of the Most High - time contracts and everything becomes one. When you read the apostle John, you are reading the words of a man who is both in the present and the future. I should point out here that though we have placed the Book of Revelation after John's three letters in the New Testament, the three letters were in fact written last and chronologically should appear at the end of the Bible. Thus when John writes in his epistles he writing from the viewpoint of the man who has already seen the Apocalypse. He's been there already. He has experienced and witnessed it.
You can't understand a man like John until you have understood where he has been and where he is in his spirit. Thus, having spoken of antichrists and the Antichrist to come, he goes on to write:
"They (the heretics) went out from our company, but never really belonged to us; if they had, they would have stayed with us. They went out, so that it might be clear that not all in our company, truly belong to it" (v.19, NEB).
Yes, they were physically a part of the Messianic Assembly - and presumably he's talking about the Assembly at Ephesus where he was based - but they were never a part of it spiritually. They never truly belonged. And they left "so that it might be clear (to the true disciples) that not all ... belong". In other words, the physical action of departing is a sign - a means of identifying - those who are not spiritually connected whom we thought were. We see here the importance of physical events to clarify spiritual realities. How is it, then, that we can be so deceived? How is it that Satan is able to slip enemies in the Assemblies without them being detected? Or is there a purpose for them being amongst us for a while? John says that the purpose of their departure is so that they can be "made manifest" (ISRV) or "revealed". But then he goes on to say:
"And you have an anointing from the Set-apart One, and you know all" (v.20, ISRV)
Know all what?
"I did not write it to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and no falsehood is of the truth" (v.21, ISRV).
Now this word 'anointing' translates the Greek word meaning 'chrism'. When a soul is 'anointed', whether it is with the Ruach or it's symbol, olive oil, by which kings and priests were anciently consecrated to Yahweh's service, that person is 'christed' or 'messiah-ed'. That does not mean that he becomes a Saviour or Deliverer like Yah'shua, but it does mean that, with that anointing, as it is retained and used, he becomes like Yah'shua. He becomes a little 'messiah' or 'deliverer' as prophesied in Obadiah (Ob.21). As Yah'shua is the Messiah with a a capital 'M', so those who receive this anointing become messiahs with a little 'm'. The anointed-ones becomes reflections of the One giving the anointing. And when you get this anointing - this chrism - which we confer symbolically in the ordinance of confirmation or Chrism to indicate that this has happened spiritually - you obtain the vision and revelation that all others - like John - have received - to the degree that you have separated yourself from the world and have adhered to the Messiah. Of course, a person does not arise into the stature of a John in a day. He must first go through his trials and temptations, even as Yah'shua did. He must undergo purification, going from one level or degree of sanctification to another, from one Ruach to another until he has attained to the Sukkot anointing I have spoken of. And when he has, signs that he has will accompany him. The issue, John says, is truth versus falsehood.
"It is not because you are ignorant of the truth that I have written to you, but because you know it, and because lies, one and all, are alien to the truth" (v.21, NEB).
Our war cry in recent weeks has been 'All truth!'. And it is that because we know how vitally important the truth is to maintain the anointing that John speaks of. He then says:
"Who is the liar? Who but he that denies that Yah'shua is the Messiah? He is Antichrist, for he denies both the Father and the Son: to deny the Son is to be without the Father; to acknowledge the Son is to have the Father too" (v.22-23, NEB).
Is John here saying that the way to separate a heretic out from genuine believers who are true a matter of 'theological correctness'? Is it sufficient to confess with your mouth that Yah'shua is the Messiah to make you one of the company who 'belongs'? Catholics make this confession, so do Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and a score of other people who most definitely do not have the anointing! So how, then, do we truly distinguish an anointed one from one who is not? How can one deny the Son whilst confessing Him with our mouths? Quite simply, by not doing what He says, because confession, like true faith, also implies works; by disobeying the commandments - by following false ruachs - demons - counterfeit spirits. As my wife said on Thursday morning: "Doing what is right is wiser than being right". How do you know that you are right? By doing right. By doing right you walk in the Ruach; by being right - being absorbed with being right - you walk in your own ego, your own psyche, your own self. You walk in selfishness. John continues:
"You must therefore keep in your hearts that which you heard at the beginning; if when you heard then still dwells in you, you yourself will dwell in the Son and also in the Father" (v.24, NEB).
You must keep in your hearts what the Ruach revealed to you the first time this knowledge of truth was given. You must retain it! If you do, Yah'shua is still in you. If you don't hold to that original revelation from the Father, then you have departed from Yah'shua and the truth and must repent, and return to it, or perish spiritually.
"So much for those who would mislead you. But as for you, the anointing which you received from Him stays with you; you need no other teacher, but learn all you need to know from his anointing, which is real and no illusion. As He taught you, then, dwell in Him" (v.26-27, NEB).
It is surprisingly easy to pass from that which is real into that which is illusion. It's as easy as denying the first revelation Yahweh gave to you of Him and deciding that it wasn't true after all. It's as easy as trusting a demonic lie, as Eve did, or listening to your own ego. It's as easy as forgetting to serve and seeking to be served. It's as easy as worrying about being right instead of doing right. It's as easy as getting absorbed in the dead letter instead of the living Ruach to which the letter points - the Ruach that brings eternal life:
"And this is the promise that He Himself gave us, the promise of eternal life" (v.25, NEB).
Which brings me to a point of controversy that I wish to settle up here, namely, the nature of revelation - of Yahweh revealing himself to us individually and as a body of believers. I have already touched on this but I would like now to expand it further. We have seen how this anointing is free - it is a spiritual meal for us, it costs nothing, it's a free gift from the Father. It isn't something we've purchased with our intellect or with our efforts at being good. It can't be obtained without complete surrender to All Truth, and it's price is the relinquishing of selfishness, egotism and pride. All these have to be removed before it will come. And thereafter it must be retained. It can only be retained by not denying the original truth given to us - Yahweh's original self-disclosure to ourself. If we depart from it, we must return to it immediately, or lose the anointing until we have swallowed our pride and repented. There then remains this important question: how does Yahweh disclose Himself to us?
To begin with we must have a correct mental foundation. And that foundation is that Yahweh is Sovereign Lord and Elohim and what He speaks is absolute Truth. There is not a particle of untruth in Him that could ever lead us to doubt Him on those ground. Indeed, there are no grounds for doubting Him at all. Yahweh is speaking to us - revealing Himself to us - all the time - everyone, believer and unbeliever alike. The problem is, are we listening to Him? And if not, why not? And how, if we want to hear Him, should we listen to Him? How can we ensure that all the channels of communication are open?
It is an important part of Yahweh's nature to reveal Himself. That is His desire. He does not wish not to reveal Himself. He wishes to be known, even as He knows us, and according to our ability and readiness to know. The earnest believer listens and hears. But are we listening rightly? And if we aren't listening rightly, how can we hear rightly? I want to suggest to you today that our understanding of what experiencing revelation is affects our perception of the Truth with a capital 'T'. For those of us who believe in revelation - and that's not all Christians - whether in the recesses of the past or as an ongoing process in the present, how do we understand that revelation to be given and perceived? How do we as humans make contact with the Truth with a big 'T' and how can we avoid that Truth being distorted or diluted? To put it another way, do we believe in what scholars call 'plenary' or 'conceptual' revelation? Or both? For those of you unfamiliar with the terms, let me spend a few moments explaining them.
Plenary revelation has Yahweh and the prophet transcribing Yahweh's revelation word for word rather like a secretary writing down the words dictated to her by her boss. The prophet, then, acts a bit like a stenographer recording spoken words. In the conceptual model of revelation, the prophet and Yahweh share this encounter. The prophet interacts with the source of the revelation in the spiritual, it is conveyed to him in pictures or concepts, which he then translates using his own language, vocabulary, syntax and style. In this prophetic encounter, both Yahweh and the prophet gain from it. In it, immortality meets mortality, and man meets Elohim. There is a human-divine encounter. And what is the living example of this? Yah'shua Himself! He is Elohim made flesh - the divine in human form, a celestial being in a terrestrial body. In Yah'shua there is the perfect combining of the two. In His life - the life of Yah'shua - we have the perfect encounter of the divine and the human, and it was shared with humanity so that we could learn to encounter the divine too. We encounter the divine by receiving the free gift of eternal life through trusting, we retain it by obeying, and in retaining it we are sanctified by it until we become like Him (1 Jn.3:2), as we shall see John testifying of in a moment.
Now when we study our Bibles we can, and do, have our own individual revelatory experiences, but what is written in the Scriptures is not revelation itself. What is written in our Bibles is what one man calls 'a compiling of the inferences', profound and sacred, that our forebears drew from their own revelatory encounters. It is my belief - and the belief of this Mishpachah - that the plenary approach to revelation sells the experience short. Now I challenge any of you hearing me today to deny the truth that no amount of 'testifying' with words can ever adequately convey the reality and wholeness of a personal encounter with Yahweh-Elohim. Just consider how inadequate you feel when trying to explain, in human language, a divine encounter between a man (or woman) and Elohim! I have shared my testimony of my spiritual rebirth in the Ruach haRishon hundreds of times and no two accounts are identical. Indeed, the deeper I move into Yahweh's reality, the more I see of that original experience that enables me to expand and amplify my original words. And not just that: as my use of the English language improves, so I am able to convey this revelation more precisely. Yet even were I to try and write a whole book on it, I could never convey the experience fully, especially not to someone who has not had a similar experience.
Every one of you who has met Yah'shua has born your testimony in some way or another, written or oral, and on every occasion, your words have always been less than the experience itself.
Let's just pick an example so that you can see what I mean. I take an example from John's own Apocalypse at the moment he saw Yah'shua face to face:
"His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters" (Rev.1:14-15, NIV).
Now, unless you are from another planet, when you read a passage like this, you form a picture in your head and try to conjure up what the "sound of rushing waters" is like. And were I to gain intimate access to all your minds and hearts, what I would see and hear in each of you would be different from everyone else. Not unless you have seen this same vision as John will you see and hear the same thing. Now I don't know what anointing John had here. I'm guessing when I say it is all the seven Ruachs together - I think there's a good chance this was so. Some of you may have seen Yah'shua in different or similar anointings. I know most of you here have heard His voice, many of you have seen Him inside, and maybe one or two outside. When we read these words of John as He describes His experience with the resurrected Messiah, it connects us to our own experiences with Him and we can identify with parts or all of his description. What John presents to us is a revelation in words describing a concept - it's a picture, a vision. All visions and prophetic dreams are by definition conceptual. One picture can contain a thousand words and this is how Yahweh conveys compact and dense truth in a rapid manner. Yah'shua did not dictate the words which John used. However, there are times when words form very clearly in our minds as Yahweh implants them there, words which are crystal clear. I have had people recite words to me that Yah'shua has told them that are from the Scriptures which they have never read or heard before. I have looked the scripture up and shared it with them and they have been amazed. The wording, moreover, has not necessarily been identical to a particular Bible translation but the meaning has been the same. Last September, Yahweh spoke audibly to one of our members and said to me:
"Your enemies will perish and those who love you will be like the sun when it rises in its strength."
This was given to a 13 year old girl who really knows little about the scriptures, being a recent convert. When I showed her a passage from the Bible she was astounded (and so was I, I might add):
"So may all your enemies perish, O Yahweh! But may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength" (Judg.5:31, NIV).
This passage is taken from a song by Deborah and Barak after a great military victory against the pagan Canaanites. Here Yahweh gave Mary nearly the same words for myself after I had gone into mighty prayer against the devil-worshipping covens. As I war praying she saw and felt things happening in the heavenlies and said it was like the angels were standing to attention, listening intently. Then she heard the words from Yahweh that I shared with you, but didn't know what they meant until I searched the Scriptures and found the passage from Judges.
Two people can receive the same revelation from Yahweh. Sometimes the words can be identical and sometimes they may be different but having the same meaning. Yahweh can give the same words twice as when, for example, a scroll written by Ezra was burned by an angry king. Ezra just rewrote the same scroll, word for word, under the inspiration of the Ruach. There have been times when I have been reading through the Olive Branch when I have thought to myself: "Oh, there's something missing here" as some words have come into my head, only to discover that I had indeed written them down in the revelation a little further on. Many of the revelations came to me in what I call a 'package' which simply needed 'unwrapping' by sitting down and writing. The 'package' was, as it were, a concentrated form of the revelation as a single concept. Sometimes they have been expressible in a few words, other times I have felt the need to clarify and elaborate as I have entered into 'expansion' mode. The same truth could have been said a dozen ways and, being the kind of person who likes to look at a truth from many angles, I often find myself led to express the same concept in different ways. Yah'shua did much the same with His parables of the Kingdom using different illustrations.
It bothers some people that the testimonies of the writers of the Gospels do not always match word for word., especially those committed to an exclusively plenary mode of revelation. When a past event is being recorded, the anointing of the Ruach fulfils the prophecy Yah'shua made:
"The Counsellor, the Ruach haQodesh, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you" (John 14:26-27, NIV).
The promise is here given that the apostles will have recall of all His words as the occasion requires it whether witnessing or writing gospel accounts. He particularly promises to fill our mouths when we are accused by our enemies.
Those who receive the anointing of which John speaks become "Elohim's children" because we then enter His dimension, which is timeless, and experience Him much as a new-born child experiences the world at birth. We become His children, not because we earned the right to be, but by spiritual birth, or as John puts it:
"We were called Elohim's children, and such we are, and the reason why the godless world does not recognise us is that it has not known Him" (1 Jn.3:1, NEB).
A person who is Yahweh's child can't be known, can't be seen, can't be understood, until that person knows the Father himself. It's another world, another dimension - and I was about to say 'another reality', but the truth is that it is the Reality. Those who know Yahweh dwell in Yahweh, and those who do not, do not know Him or His children.
What, then, are we, that makes us 'different'? John says:
"Here and now, dear friends, we are Elohim's children; what we shall be has not yet been disclosed, but we know that when it is disclosed (when He appears) we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is" (v.2, NEB).
Do we then not see Him as He is now? Well, we see Him in part now, for John clearly states that we shall not view or comprehend His complete reality until He returns. Does that mean we should just be content to "see through a glass darkly" (1 Cor.13:12, KJV) or should we be striving to be able to see more of Him? John says:
"Everyone who has this hope before him purifies himself, even as Messiah is pure" (v.3, NEB).
Now unfortunately there are a lot of people who do not have this hope. They do not believe they can or should try to be pure or perfect even though Yah'shua has commanded it (Mt.5:48; 19:21). Moreover, He has said that this perfection cannot be attained alone - it must be attained together with the fathers - with the Council of Yah's elohim (Heb.11:40). If we have this hope then we cease to be private Christians and seek the echad oneness of the fathers who went before us and strive for oneness with the overcoming believers of today:
"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears" (1 Cor.13:8-11, NIV).
Our knowledge, our prophecy, our revelation is partial. It is incomplete until love is perfected in us. Have you ever asked yourselves what it means to "prophesy in part"? What is 'partial prophecy'? It is prophecy that does not see the whole picture. Indeed, it is prophetic knowledge seen as it were through a 'darkened glass':
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Cor.13:11-12, NIV).
We are the children of Elohim. We walk by faith and we see by faith. We seek revelation and knowledge, but it's all incomplete - it's all partial. Yahweh may have revealed great things to you but it remains darkened until you have seen Him face-to-face. Tongues, Paul says, will be stilled - people won't talk any more. Knowledge will pass away - the kind of knowing through the intellectual, inductive or logical method. The kind of 'knowing' that Yah'shua, the prophets and apostles are speaking of is that of intimate spiritual union - of hearts and minds meeting in that "last hour" reality I spoke of earlier. It is the knowing that comes through looking into someone's eyes, face-to-face, without so much as opening your mouth.
I often hear my wife talking to me while she is asleep. I may be awake praying and I can hear her talking to me inside. These aren't 'voices in my head' but they come from deep in the soul, from within the heart, in the Garden. Sometimes when I awake her and repeat what I heard her say, she confirms this was what she was dreaming or mediating quietly on inside. I suppose you could call it a form of telepathy. Hearing that voice is not the same as hearing a voice on the outside - words are formed differently on the inside. You hear them as they are spoken in the heart, before they are translated in the brain and then transmitted to the mouth and larynx. Moreover, this kind of heart-speech is much more compressed than physical speech: sometimes a word can contain vast amounts of information.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was with Elohim in the beginning" (John 1:1-2, NIV).
Yah'shua is described as one 'word' - logos in Greek, dabar in Hebrew. And yet that single word is also all his words, hence one translation renders this passage: "In the beginning was the Torah" (RSTNE) or "teaching". This 'word' is the entire revelation of Yahweh, and that is why this 'word' is Elohim. It is the entire self-disclosure of the Godhead. It was with the Godhead, it was the Godhead. In short, this word is 'all truth'. This is probably the most difficult passage in the Bible to translate, apart from Genesis 1:1. Hence another version renders it:
"When all things began (the Creation), the Word already was. The Word dwelt with Elohim, and what Elohim was, the Word was. The Word, then, was with Elohim at the beginning, and through Him all things came to be; no single thing was created without Him. All that came to be was alive with His life (because no created thing came into being without Him, because there was life in Him), and that life was the light of men" (Jn.1:1-4, NEB).
We are not capable of receiving 100% pure revelation - even studying the prologue of the Gospel of John, as we have been doing, reveals our ignorance. The revelation is just too big and we are too small. So we see through a glass darkly, or a poor reflection in a mirror, but we continue to strain so that we can see more. That is why we search, and Yahweh gives us this hunger because He wants to be known. But to know Him, you have to put in the footwork - you have to go to Him; you have to do the spade work, you have to dig into this vast Word which knows no end. But in human terms this is impossible - how can the finite grasp the infinite? And the answer is through the 'anointing' which some versions call an 'initiation' (e.g. NEB). The crucial point of faith is, of course, that Yah'shua Himself is first of all the Anointed One - the Initiated One - the Messiah - the Christ. Only the Anointed One anoints, the Initiated One initiates, the Messiah messiah's, the Christ christ's. Thus opponents of Yah'shua - the antichristoi - are the unanointed, the uninitiated, the unmessiahed, the unchristed. Paul expresses the same concept in a passage we have discussed already:
"Now it is Elohim who makes both us and you stand firm in Messiah. He anointed (initiated, christed, messiahed) us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put His Ruach in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come" (2 Cor.1:21-22, NIV).
The anointing or chrism is also, then, a seal of ownership - we no longer belong to ourselves! To be anointed means to surrender all such rights. If we retain a part of ourselves for ourselves to 'do our own thing', to rule ourselves, manage ourselves, or control ourselves, then we cannot by definition be owned and cannot therefore be anointed. We are not, then, in the Sukkot anointing and the Third Wave has washed us away and taken us back to where we started. A person running around tooting his own horn, following his own agenda, seeking personal glory, recognition or whatever is not anointed. He has missed the boat and must, after his repentance, make an attempt at returning.
We have now come to see what the 'anointing' is in several of its aspects. What may surprise us to learn is that it is also an 'initiation', the word preferred by the New English Bible (NEB) translation. Now if this word pushes panic buttons and makes you think of the occult or the mystery religions with their many secret 'initiation ceremonies', recall that we spoke recently about Yahweh's law of secrecy two weeks' ago. We have already seen today that there is a veil separating the anointed from the unanointed, the latter not being able to comprehend the other, because of relative darkness. John said in the prologue of his gospel:
"The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it" (John 1:5, NIV).
Now this 'darkness' does not just mean the darkest satanic forces but can be any degree of darkness, even in believers. Until you have been initiated into Yahweh's mysteries, you cannot understand us. We should not be surprised, then, that we are all in the dark to some degree, as we have already seen, and that there are those who 'see' because they have been anointed ahead of us. We should not resent that but rejoice, for it means that we too have hope of seeing if we press on. The initiation is not, in any case, a rite or a ceremony such as the occult uses but, as John himself says, the reception of divine seed:
"No one who is born of Elohim will continue to sin, because Elohim's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of Elohim" (1 John 3:9, NIV).
Now it becomes more interesting. We are seeded when we are born of Elohim by the Ruach haRishon, just as the formless earth was seeded with light by Her at the Creation. This is not, then, a rite but a verbal scheme which arises from the conviction that Yah'shua is the Messiah. This anointing is, as it were, 'cashed' in terms or doctrine or teaching - in other words, Torah - not just the five books of Moses, but the Logos, the Dabar, the complete revelation of Yahweh manifested line upon line, precept upon precept, and Ruach upon Ruach and revealed in the Seven Festivals. In short, the anointed receive a doctrine! They receive a truth - truth upon truth, light upon light - they receive it because they believe it, and accept it, and allow it to take root in their hearts. It brings forth fruit because it is truth from the Truth with a big 'T'. How do we know this is the correct interpretation? Because this same usage is found in Ignatius' Epistle to the Ephesians (xvii) when the sub-apostolic father says:
"You must never let yourselves be anointed with the malodorous chrism of the prince of this world's doctrines".
When you accept false doctrine, or lies, you become 'anti-christed' or 'anti-messiahed' - you become initiated into darkness. The truth is our initiation into Life - the Life of Yah'shua - which sets us free (Jn.8:32). The truth is divine seed which fertilises the heart and makes it grow in love - the love of the Father which is in the Son. Authentic teaching which leavens the soul is one of the arms of true authority in the Ruach. Those who bring forth this authentic doctrine are Yahweh's ministers or leaders who should be imitated - not because of the flesh but because of the teaching, because it is evidence of the anointing. Thus authentic teaching, being as it is the truth, gives the one endowed with it, authority over the demonic, since it is truth that exposes the demonic.
"My children", said John, "do not be misled: it is the man who does right who is righteous, as Elohim is righteous; the man who sins is a child of the devil, for the devil has been a sinner from the first; and the Son of Elohim appeared for the very purpose of undoing the devil's work" (1 Jn.3:7-8, NEB).
The Apostle James echoes the same thought:
"Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one Elohim. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder" (James 2:18-19, NIV).
The anointing, then is revealed in what you do. Focus, then on the doing, according to purity and truth, and you will walk with the Elohim. Amen.
Author: Lev-Tsiyon
Glossary of MLT Hebraic, Greek and English Terms For other terms and full details please see the Micropedia
A
Adon(ai) = Master, a pagan fertility god, Adonis; used by many Messianics but not MLT
(a)eon(ian) = 7 dispensation- or age-long time periods, not forever (see le-olam-va-ed)
Alef-Tav = Alpha-Omega, A-Z, first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet = Yah'shua
Amen = truly, let it be so, written Amein by some Messianics
Apocrypha = Hebraic Scriptures not a part of the Protestant canon (e.g. Baruch)
Anti-Messiah = Hebraic term for the end-time Antichrist or anyone opposed to the Messiah
antinomian = lawless Christian who disregards all or part of Torah/commandments
Ashkenazi Jew = East European Jew descended from the Turkic-Japhethite Khazars
Assembly = church, congregation, ekklesia, community, fellowship, koinonia, gathering
Azazel = the Yom Kippur scapegoat
B
Baal, Ba'al = any other master than Yahweh, usually demonic in MLT terminology
Bachor(im) = firstborn son(s)
Bar/Bat Mitzvah = Son/Daughter of Commandment, covenant to obey Torah at age 12
being = soul, the whole person (spirit and body), e.g. "my whole being"
Beit, bet, beth = house, e.g. Beit Yisrael (House of Israel), Beth Lechem (House of Bread)
Beit haMikdash = Yahweh's Temple in Yerushalayim
B'rit Chadashah = the New Covenant; B'rit Chadashah Scriptures = New Testament
B'rit Milah = circumcision - abolished in the B'rit Chadashah, replaced by Mikvah
C
canon = authoritative Scripture (Heb. qaneh, Gk. kanôn = measuring instrument)
Catechumen = a serious, covenanted investigator seeking Mikvah or Baptism in MLT
Chag haMatzah = Feast of Unleavened Bread, second of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Chavurat Bekorot = MLT's Priesthood Order, Holy Order and Assembly of the Firstborn
Cohen = priest; Cohen Gadol = High Priest (also spelled Kohen)
Council of Yah's elohim = the heavenly Assembly of the Firstborn or Chavurat Bekorot
D
demon = fallen malek or angel in rebellion against Yahweh (Heb. shad; see Êl-Shaddai)
derech = the Way, Path or Road - Yah'shua and the Gospel are the Way
Drash = moral or homiletic interpretation of Scripture - see PaRDeS
E
Echad = One, Union of two or more in one (as opposed to Yachid) - see Elohim
Echad Godhead Doctrine = Father Yahweh, Son Yah'shua and Sevenfold Ruach (Mother)
Êl, Eloah, Elah = God the Father, Yahweh
Êl-Elyon = Most High God, Yahweh
Êl-Shaddai = Master/Lord over all shads or demons
Elohim = God, the Godhead (Father, Son & Holy Spirit), lit. 'Mighty One(s)', 'Ruler(s)'
elohim = Israelite judges, rulers, angels or gods (false deities, idols, demons)
emunah = faith, actively trusting, clinging or adhering to (especially Yahweh or Yah'shua)
emet = truth, Yah'shua is the Emet
Ephraimite = descendant of the patriarch Ephraim and head of Messsianic Israel
F
Feasts of Yahweh = the 7 annual Moedim (Pesach, Chag haMatzah, Yom haBikkurim, Shavu'ot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot)
G
Gan-Eden = Garden of Eden, Paradise and state of the purified heart in Messiah
goy(im) = nation(s), Israelites or gentiles not born in or converted to the Covenant
H
hallelu-Yah = praise Yah(weh)!
Heylel = proper name of Satan or haSatan = the Adversary, the devil
Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone)
Hochmah = Wisdom, title of the 7-fold Ruach haQodesh
I
IDL = International Date Line, false man-made time division in Pacific Ocean
IDL Zone = Area between the true Divine Date Line (Lake Van/Eden) and the false one
Israeli = citizen of the modern Edomite-Khazar Republic of Israel (not Biblical Israel)
Israelite = citizen of biblical state of Israel or a modern follower of the Messiah
J
Jew = post-biblical term describing descendants of Edomite and Khazar converts to Judaism
Johannine = pertaining to the Apostle Yochanan (e.g. Gospel of John)
Josephite = descendant of the patriarch Joseph, the head of Messianic Israel
Judahite = a person in direct descent from the patriarch Judah, forefather of the Messiah
Judaism = a Talmudic-based religion rejecting Yah'shua the Messiah
Judean = a citizen of the Kingdom or Province of Judah until the 2nd Century diaspora
K
Kadosh la Yahweh = set-apart or dedicated to Yahweh, 'Holiness to the Lord', MLT motto
Karaites = Jews (from 700 AD) who reject the Talmud and accept only the Tanakh
kashrut = keeping kosher, food laws of Yahweh and correspinding lifestyle
Ketuvim = Writings or Hagiographa of the Tanakh
Khazar = a Turkic convert to Judaism ~700 AD forming the Ashkenazi Jewish community
kosher = clean foods authorised by Yahweh for human consumption
L
Lashon Hara = evil-speaking, gossip or slander
legalism = false route to salvation through works (self-salvation)
le-olam-va-ed = dispensation- or age-long, aeonian, not eternal, forever or for eternity
Lev = heart, as in Lev-Tsiyon = heart of Zion
Lev-Tsiyon = Heart of the Fortress [of Yahweh], Hebrew name of MLT's founder
M
Master = Lord, Sir, Adon(ai) - (one in authority, a ruler - a king, husband, prophet, judge)
Malak(im) = Angel(s), heavenly supernatural messenger(s)
manna = wafers of honey, bread from heaven (lit. 'what is this?')
matzah = unleavened bread, see Chag haMatzah
Menorah = 7-armed candlearbra = the 7 annual Moedim and 7-fold Ruach haQodesh
Messiah = Christ; Anti-Messiah = Antichrist
Messianic Community = Body of Christ, sum total of all true believers; all true fellowships
Messianic Israel = all who worship Yahweh, trust in Yah'shua, obey Torah and overcome
Messianic Jew = Messianic convert from Judaism still clinging to Talmudic traditions
Midrash = aggadic interpretation of scripture viâ Drash, a scriptural discussion
Mikvah = baptism by immersion of convert into Yah'shua or of wife into husband
Mishpachah = family: nuclear, congregational, tribal or the whole of Messianic Israel
MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon = family of the heart of the fortress [of Yahweh]
Mishpat = right-ruling or judgement
mitzvah/mitzvot = commandment(s)
moed(im) = appointment(s) of Yahweh, 7 Annual Feasts, Sabbath and Rosh Chodesh
N
Nefilim, Nephilim = giant offspring of materialised demons and human women
Nevi'im = prophetic writings of the Old Testament or Tanakh
New Birth = spiritual conversion in the Ruach haRishon, being 'born again' with new heart
Nidah = a woman's menstruation period during which no intercourse is permitted
O
Olive Branch = collection of revelations, prophecies and visions published by MLT
P
Paraclete = Comforter, Advocate (NEB), Counsellor, Ruach haQodesh (Gk. paraklêtos)
PaRDeS = method of textual interpretation (homiletics) - see P'shat, Remez, Drash, Sod
Patriarch = a father who is head of his family, clan or tribe (lit. 'father-ruler')
Pentateuch = first five books of the Tanakh (Genesis-Deuteronomy), also called Torah
peribolaion = headcovering worn by daughters/wives in submission to fathers/husbands
Pesach = Passover, first of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Peshitta = an Aramaic version of the Bible
Prototrinitarianism = early, simplified MLT formulation of the Echad Godhead Doctrine
Prush(im) = Pharisee(s)
Pseudepigrapha = Non-canonical Hebrew writings additional to the Apocrypha
P'shat = literal, contextual, philological, exoteric, outer meaning of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Q
Qadosh Qadoshim = Holy of Holies, most sacred set-apart room of the Beit haMikdash
Qodesh, Kodesh = set-apart, holy (see Ruach haQodesh)
R
Rabbi = Teacher, term used by Messianic Jews and some Messianic Israelites = Pastor
Refuge, the 12 Cities of = divinely protected MLT fortresses during the 7-year Tribulation
Remez = hint or allegorical level of Hebraic understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Rosh Chodesh = monthly New Moon appointment of Yahweh
ruach = spirit of a person (lit.'breath')
Ruach Elohim = Spirit of God (the Spirit of the collective Godhead or Elohim)
Ruach haChamashee = 5th Ruach presides over Yom Teruah and Yom Chamashee
Ruach haQodesh = the Sevenfold Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost (lit. 'Set-Apart Breath')
Ruach haRevee = 4th Ruach presides over Shavu'ot, Yom Revee and Bar Mitzvah
Ruach haRishon = 1st Ruach presides over Pesach, Yom Rishon and the New Birth
Ruach haShanee = 2nd Ruach presides over Chag haMatzah and Yom Shanee
Ruach haSheshi = 6th Ruach presides over Yom Kippur and Yom Sheshi
Ruach haShleshi = 3rd Ruach presides over Yom haBikkurim, Yom Shleshi and Mikvah
S
Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone)
Satan = rebel archangel Heylel, father of lies, devil, chief demon (lit.'Adversary')
Sephardic Jew = West European Jew of mixed blood containing many Judahites
Septuagint = Greek translation of the Tanakh, LXX
Shegal haShabbat = 7th Ruach (Sabbath Queen) presides over Sukkot and Yom Shabbat
Shekinah = Divine Presence and Glory of Yahweh-Elohim
Set-apart = holy, sanctified, consecrated, dedicated, separated (to and by Yahweh)
Shabbat-Shabbaton = High Sabbath (e.g. Yom Kippur)
Shalom = heavenly peace, standard Hebraic greeting invoking Yahweh's peace
Shamash(im) = servant(s), deacon(s), attendant(s)
Shavu'ot = Pentecost or Weeks, fourth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Sheol = grave or pit, euphamism for Hades or hell - also see Tartarus
shofar = ram's horn, blown during Yahweh's Moedim
simcha = joy, keynote of Sukkot
Sod = mystical, anagogic, inner or esoteric understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Sukkot = Tabernacles or Booths, seventh of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Synagogue = Greek word used by Jews and Messianics (but not MLT) for a meeting house
T
talmid(a) = male/female disciple or student
Talmud = scriptures, teachings and commentaries belonging to non-Messianic Judaism
Tanakh = acronym for Old Testament Scriptures - Torah, Nevi'im & Ketuvim
Tartarus = place of imprisonment under the earth for rebellious angels and Nephilim
teshuvah = repentance, remorse and contrition leading back to Torah obedience
Torah = Yahweh's teachings or Law; New Covenant Torah includes Yah'shua's teachings
Tribulation, the Great = the final 7 years of the present aeon when Anti-Messiah rules
Trinity = Catholic Godhead formula - see Echad Godhead Doctrine and Prototrinitarianism
Tsiyon = Zion, a fortress, a name of Jerusalem and a prominent hill
Tzitzit/Tizitziyot = tassel(s) worn by men in remembrance of Torah
U
Universalism = salvation of all at the cosmic Yovel, with different rewards and punishments
Y
Yachid = one, single person or item, as opposed to Echad (many in one, unity)
Yah'shua the Messiah = Jesus Christ (the Son)
Yahudah = Judah - see Judahite
Yahweh, Yah, YHWH = the true Name of our Heavenly Father, also carried by Yah'shua
Yahweh-Elohim = LORD God (the Father, Yahweh as Head of the Godhead or Elohim)
Yahweh haQatan = the sent Yahweh = Yah(weh)'shua, Malak of Yahweh's Presence
Yam Suf = Sea of Reeds, the true Israelite Exodus water crossing, not the Red Sea
Yarden = Jordan River (lit. 'meanderer')
Yerushalayim = Jerusalem
Yisrael = Israel (lit. 'ruling with Êl') = true believers under the New Covenant
Yom Chamashee = 5th day of the week (Thursday, Friday in IDL Zone)
Yom Din, Yom haDin = (the) Day of Judgement
Yom haBikkurim = Feast of Firstfruits, third of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yom Revee = 4th day of the week (Wednesday, Thursday in IDL Zone)
Yom Rishon = 1st day of the week (Sunday, Monday in IDL Zone)
Yom Kippur = Day of Atonement, sixth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yom Shabbat = 7th day of the week and Sabbath Rest (Saturday, Sunday in IDL Zone)
Yom Shanee = 2nd day of the week (Monday, Tuesday in IDL Zone)
Yom Sheshi = 6th day of the week (Friday, Saturday in IDL Zone)
Yom Shleshi = 3rd day of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday in IDL Zone)
Yom Teruah = Day of Trumpets, fifth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yosef = Joseph - see Josephite
Yovel = Jubilee or Year of Jubilee
Z
Zaqen(im) = elder(s) of an assembly or congregation, or senior members of a community
Zoë Life = Greek term for spiritual life in the Messiah
Commonly Used MLT Abbreviations
For additional abbreviations and explanations, please see the Micropedia
A
Amp.V(er). = Amplified Version of the Bible
Aram. = Aramaic
AV = Authorised Version of the Bible - see KJV
B
BCAY = B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh - see NCCG
BoA = Books of Abraham (e.g. 1Abr., 2Abr., etc.)
C
cp, cf = compare with
CB(Q) = Chavurat Bekorot
CEV = Contemporary English Version of the Bible
ch. = chapter
CJB = Complete Jewish Bible
CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament
CYe = Council of Yah's elohim
E
Eng. = English
F
ff. = and onwards/forwards
fn = footnote
G
Gk. = Greek
GNB = Good News Bible - see TEV
H
Heb. = Hebrew, Hebraic
HEM = Holy Echad Marriage, eternal marriage
HO = Holy Order - see Chavurat Bekorot
HOC = Holy Order Collection of revelations - see OB
HRV = Hebraic-Roots Version of the Bible
I
ibid. = ibidem (lit. 'in the same place'), referring to a book previously cited
ICJC = Independent Church of Jesus Christ, earlier name of NCCF
ISRV = Institute for Scripture Research Version of the Bible
J
JB = Jerusalem Bible
JBP/Phillips = J.B.Phillips translation of the New Testament
JNT = Jewish New Testament
K
KJV = King James Version of the Bible - see AV
L
LB = Living Bible
lit. = literally or literature
LXX = Septuagint, Greek translation of the OT
M
MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon
Moff. = Moffatt translation of the Bible
MRC = Messianic Renewed Covenant Version of the NT
MS(S) = Manuscript(s)
N
NASB, NASV = New American Standard Bible/Version
NC&C = New Covenants & Commandments - see OB
NCCF = New Covenant Christian Fellowship, earlier name of NCCG
NCCG = New Covenant Church of God, earlier name of MLT - see BCAY
NCP = New Covenant Press, publishing arm of MLT
NCW = New Covenant Witness, MLT magazine
NEB = New English Bible
NIV = New International Version of the Bible
NKJV = New King James Version of the Bible
Nor. = Norwegian
NT = New Testament, B'rit Chadashah
NWT = New World Translation of the Bible, unreliable Jehovah's Witness version
O
OB = Olive Branch - see NC&C
op.cit. = opere citato (lit. in the work cited)
OT = Old Testament, Tanakh
P
p(p). = page(s)
pl. = plural - see s.
PWNC = Prophetic Words of the New Covenant, revelation cataloging system - see OB
Q
QED = quod erat demonstrandum (lit. which was shown to be proved)
R
RCF = Restoration Christian Fellowship, earlier name of ICJC
RhQ = Ruach haQodesh, Holy Spirit
RSTNE = Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition of the Bible
RSV = Revised Standard Version of the Bible
RV = Revised Version of the Bible
S
s. = singular - see pl.
S&G = Smith & Goodspeed Version of the Bible
T
TEV = Today's English Version of the Bible - see GNB
V
Vulg. = Biblia Vulgata, Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible
W
WEB = World English Bible
Glossary Copyright ©2007 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved
|
This page was first created on 19 March 2007
Last updated on 19 March 2007
Copyright ©2006 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved
|
|