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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | who can explain to me? | John 1:1 | Mary01 | 120271 | ||
Hello Eveready2004, I've wondered that too. And that's why I'm here on the forum. I have a lot of questions I want answered. I just don't understand how the Bible can say in one verse that the Word was God and then in the next breath say that the Word was with God. Something's not right. Mary01 |
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2 | who can explain to me? | John 1:1 | JCrichton | 120337 | ||
Hi, Mary01! Part 1 of 2 I wonder if your problem is not accepting the Bible instead of the grammatical construct or lack thereof? If you truly are a novice in Bible study I am willing to help you learn--don’t get me wrong, I am not carrying a flag and patting myself on the back for being “some type of theo-something or another.” When I meet people who want to learn about Jesus, I am motivated to search the Scriptures! It is something akin to testing my mettle: Jesus called us to witness to the world about Him! Let’s look at something I read last night: Alpha and Omega: Revelation 1:8 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is, who was and who is to come, the Almighty. This verse is quite specific: our Lord, God Almighty, is the Alpha and the Omega! There is no confusion here! Yahweh is the Alpha and the Omega! These two words signify the beginning (alpha--first letter of the Greek alphabet) and the end (omega--the last letter). Though emphasized in Revelation, this is by no means a new idea: Isaiah 41:4 Who has acted thus, who has done this? He who calls each generation from the beginning: I, Yahweh, who am the first and till the last I shall still be there.’ Isaiah 44:6 Thus says Yahweh, Israel’s king, Yahweh Sabaoth, his redeemer: I am the first and I am the last; there is no God except me. So it is established: Yahweh God is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. If this would be all that the Bible has to say about the Alpha and the Omega this would be a very short Bible study, indeed… But there is more to it, isn’t there? When reading Revelation 1:8 all by itself there should be no question at all to our views of beginning and end… but just one verse before Revelation 1:8 we find an introduction to one who is to come: Revelation 1:7 Look, he is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. Indeed this shall be so. Amen. As clear as 1:8 is, 1:7 cannot be mistaken as speaking of anyone other than the Christ--actually the Lamb of God! This announcement about the pierced one who all the races of the world will see coming on the clouds precedes the revelation that God is the Alpha and the Omega! How can we separate the two? It is like saying that, for some strange reason, God decided to reveal something that has no bearings on anything else! Now, in Revelation 22:12-13 Jesus announces that He is coming soon and that He is the Alpha and the Omega: Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay everyone as their deeds deserve. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Some would quickly point out that we can’t really tell that it is Jesus talking or that what is said is being said about Jesus… I see two problems with that: 1. Yahweh did not promise to come to the gentiles (the non-Jewish world), He promised to come to the people of Israel (He did as Jesus Christ!: John 1:1-18). 2. Revelation 22:6 tells us that Jesus is speaking to John (at times directly, at other times through his angel): Revelation 22:6 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the sake of the churches. I am the spring from the root of David and the bright star of the morning. There is no mistaking that Jesus is the shoot or root of David, the One who was, who was pierced, and is to come (both to the Jews and gentiles) and the one who is speaking! |
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3 | who can explain to me? | John 1:1 | JCrichton | 120338 | ||
Part 2 of 2 But let‘s look at Revelation 1:12-18 I turned round to see who was speaking to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands [13] and, in the middle of them, one like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a belt of gold. [14] His head and his hair were white with the whiteness of wool, like snow, his eyes like a burning flame, [15] his feet like burnished bronze when it has been refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of the ocean. [16] In his right hand he was holding seven stars, out of his mouth came a sharp sword, double-edged, and his face was like the sun shining with all its force. [17] When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me and said, ‘Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, [18] I was dead and look--I am alive for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of Hades. In 1:13 John is describing someone he sees and he uses one of Jesus’ self-proclaimed titles, Son of man, to offer a more complete description--the Father was never identified with this title or the idea of this title. But even if we refused to see that John is speaking of the Son not the Father, verse 1:17 clearly cannot be construed as the speaker being Yahweh, God the Father! So, Jesus, the one that was dead, who is alive for ever, the Living One (see Deuteronomy 5:26; Joshua 3:10; 1 Samuel 17:26, 36; 2 Kings 19:4, 16; Psalms 42:2; 84:2; Isaiah 37:4, 17; Jeremiah 10:10; 23:36; Daniel 6:20 and Hosea 1:10--they all refer to the Living God) is the First and the Last: the Alpha and Omega. Some groups confuse the term Jesus applied to Himself as the First and the Last as meaning that Jesus is the first created--if this were true… then logic dictates that He is also the last created… and if He is the first and last created then we are living quite an error since nothing was created before Him and nothing is created after Him. Hence Creation ceased once Jesus was created! Clearly, the Bible does not teach such nonsense! Jesus is the First and Last: the Alpha and the Omega; not in some misconstrued first created, but as Yahweh’s words through the prophet: Isaiah 43:10-11 …No god was formed before me, nor will be after me. I, I am Yahweh, and there is no other Saviour but me. Since there is only One God, the One Savior, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, can say: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works. You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me… (John 14:10-11 ) LIVING IN ME!… Mary, we can go to science and philosophy and we will never discover God! We can only discover God through Faith; we must humble ourselves to the Holy Spirit, begging Him for enlightenment; only He can lead us to the Truth (John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13): Jesus is God: Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him: You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. (John 20:28-29) I’ll leave you with this final passage: …The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city; his servants will worship him, (Revelation 22:3) How can we separate God from the Lamb? Why is the God of Israel sharing His glory with Jesus? Whose servants will worship whom? Can our finite understanding define God’s infinite being? God Bless! Angel |
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