ON LOVE; PART MDXLXV
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
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In the last essays we have been discussing the Master’s words from the twenty fourth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, words that ARE in regard to the sacking of Jerusalem, Jesus’ prediction of that historical event, which ARE seen by many doctrinal Christians as words about the end times. While there ARE some ideas from the Master’s words that could cause men to understand His words as such, the totality of them, at least in the first section that we discussed, clearly point us to the tribulations of those days, days which ARE defined later by the Master’s saying “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Matthew 24:34). That these words ARE shown to us in the three synoptic gospels however seems to be NOT enough to quell the thoughts of those that want to see the end times in Jesus’ words. We have discussed our thoughts on this and here want ONLY to reinforce the idea that those that DO believe that these verses ARE in regard to the end time clearly err. From our perspective much of the cause for this belief IS found in the Master’s words that precede the first section that we discussed; these words ARE rendered in Matthew’s Gospel as “as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).
The question here IS the result of the Master’s comment regarding the temple saying “verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2). This scene plays out for us in Mark and Luke also but the Master’s words ARE NOT as they ARE recorded in Matthew; they ARE a similar chronology of events as we discussed regarding the first section from Matthew. Only Matthew’s Gospel can be seen to portend to the end times and here we should understand that it IS ONLY in the rendering of the Greek words that this became True. In analyzing these words we noted that neither Mark nor Luke make any mention of “the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world“and while this should have left men to wonder what the reality of this encounter with the Master IS, too many eagerly concluded that the idea IS the end times. In our discussion we noted that most ALL of the translations and commentaries assign these words from Matthew’s Gospel, to the return of Jesus, despite the absence of this this idea of “the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world” in the other gospel narratives. Also, most ALL render parousia as coming, or in other terms of Jesus’ return, except for Young’s Literal Translation where we read “Tell us, when shall these be? and what [is] the sign of thy presence, and of the full end of the age?“. Regarding this idea of presence we cited Vincent’s words saying that parousia IS: Coming [παρουσιας]. Originally, presence, from pareinai, to be present 4. Can we see the point here? While the idea of presence may NOT give us a much greater understanding, it DOES surely detract from the idea of ‘the second coming of Jesus’ as IS understood in so much of the church. If we can look at this idea of presence with the Master’s words from the other gospels, perhaps we can better understand the intent. In Mark we read “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:4); Luke IS similar saying “when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?” (Luke 21:7).
The question IS clearly when and what will be the sign that the time has come in both Mark and Luke and the problem IS then how to see the idea of “the sign of thy coming presence” in these words. At a minimum, the idea of “the sign of thy coming presence” DOES cut through the doctrinal ideas regarding the return of the Master, His ‘second coming’ if you will. We should understand here that the reality of the Christ IS NOT Jesus any more that my reality is the body that I inhabit. With this in mind, and with our understanding of just what the idea of Christ represents, we should be able to see the Presence of Christ in the world IS a better view than the return of Jesus. Two posts back we spent considerable time on the idea that we too can be as the Master and in this we should try to understand that we can DO this as we come to KNOW the Truth and approach a greater understanding of the very nature of the Godhead. Using the Master’s own words we tried to show the Power of each of us as Souls in this world and in this IS the KEY; we must develop the ability to, as Souls, override the carnal mind and allow the agape and the Truth to flow through our heretofore carnal lives. In the end we should try to understand that even if the doctrinal idea of His ‘second coming’ IS a valid idea, that it will NOT be Jesus who returns but the Christ. The Master cautions us in the first section of our discussion that “many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” and here we should note that He uses the idea of Christ, “false Christs” (Matthew 24:5, 24), and NOT men pretending to be Jesus. As we previously said, the idea of “false Christs” IS a part the Master’s early teachings where He shows us the way to KNOW the “false prophets” from the True saying that “Ye shall know them by their fruits” and then repeating the idea saying “by their fruits ye shall know them“. Of course we must understand that while the Master’s words ARE in regard to “false prophets” (Matthew 7:16, 20, 15), the idea applies equally to “false Christs“.
As we discussed in our introduction to the idea of “the Son of man” from the second section the Master’s words, the idea that the Master was the Christ, or the Messiah, the anointed of God, IS ONLY found in the gospel writers’ comments and in the words of some that recognized His Power to be that of the Christ until the revelation of this by Peter after the Transfiguration. Our point was that in His referring to Himself as “the Son of man” that He was hiding the Truth that He IS the Christ, wanting that men would come to this realization on their own. Our point here then IS simply that the question by His disciples in Matthew asking “what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” can be understood as a question by disciples that better understand the Truth as they ask what will be “the sign of thy coming presence“. We understand that this DOES NOT really make sense in the context of the sacking of Jerusalem which IS the subject that Jesus IS addressing and that His answers cover and we should note here that the Master DOES NOT address this idea of His coming at all in the first section where the subject IS clearly the destruction of Jerusalem. The idea of “the end of the world” was and IS the easier part to understand as NOT pertaining to the end times at ALL. The Greek word aion which IS rendered as world here world IS defined for us as age by Strong’s, by Thayer’s and by Vincent and while there ARE instances where the idea of world may be seen in the context of its use, this IS NOT one of them. Here our conclusion IS that using age we can discern a meaning that properly coincides with the way that this IS presented in the other gospels as well as the way that aion IS rendered in other translations. This requires however that the disciples see the end of the Jewish age, the Jewish religion as it had existed for 1500 years in the Master’s description that tells them that “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down“. This makes much more sense that “the end of the world“.
As we proceed from where we left off, we should first post again both sections of Matthew’s twenty fourth chapter for clarity. Matthew writes:
“For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:5-24).
“Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:25:36).
Understanding that there IS much confusion in these words from Matthew when compared to the other synoptic gospels should NOT prevent us from understanding the whole of the ideas presented. Here again we should try to see that the doctrinal ideas related to the end times ARE NOT a part of the dialogue that we have discussed to this point. The whole of the Master’s words from ALL perspectives ARE in regard to the sacking of Jerusalem and that we may get stuck on a point or two, as in the idea of “the coming of the Son of man” from the second section, and the reference to “thy coming” in the disciples’ question, DOES NOT change this. As we move forward we should try to better ascertain the meaning of “the coming of the Son of man” as it appears in the Master’s words where we read that it will be “as the lightning“. While these words do NOT appear in Mark’s version of the Master’s words, Luke reports them as “as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day” (Luke 17:24). We should remember that in Luke’s Gospel these words ARE in a prior chapter and DO NOT seem to be directly related to the events of 70 AD. While this may be True, they DO portend to some calamity and, based on what we have come to KNOW, they can easily be related to the destruction of Jerusalem as some parts seem identical with the events noted in Matthew. Why Luke would separate these words from the actual portrayal of that destruction remains unknown.
Matthew refers to “the coming of the Son of man” will be “as the lightning” while Luke also frames the idea in regard to “the Son of man be in his day“. While the church has always seen this idea regarding “the Son of man” ONLY in regard to Jesus, let us explore some additional ideas that may help us to discern the reality of these statements. The rendering of astrape as lightning IS nearly universal in the King James Bible and in our subject verse from Matthew, it IS rendered as lightning in ALL bible version. Two things we should try to understand here as we begin; first IS that lightning as a phenomenon in this world DOES NOT “cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west” as a rule and this reality leads us to use Luke’s words to continue with our thoughts. Luke tells us that “the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven” and while this IS NO more True we should be able to understand that it often DOES light up the sky. Doctrinally this IS understood as that: this verse indicates that Jesus’s second coming will not be secret, but rather sudden, universal, and visible to everyone, leaving no doubt about his presence**. As DOES most ALL Christian literature the Google AI analysis shows us the second coming which in our view should NOT be a part of our understanding of these verses and we should note here that this same analysis IS applied to Luke’s version of this idea. The second thing we should try to see here IS that this word IS also used to describe the appearance of an angel. We read that “the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow” (Matthew 28:2-3) and that “And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments” (Luke 24:4) where the verb form, astrapto, is used in a similar story regarding the tomb of the Master. What we should see here IS that the idea behind these words can refer to the appearance of men imbued with such spiritual Power as to appear as beings with “raiment white as snow” and as being garbed in “shining garments“.
This idea of astrape IS also used in the Master’s words saying “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light” (Luke 11:34-36); here it IS rendered as shining. What we should try to see here IS that it IS NOT necessarily lightning that IS the subject of our verse; it could as well be any form of shining Light or, as in the case of one’s body being “full of light“, an analogy that shows the state of being for the man who, as Jesus tells us in Matthew, has the single eye. It IS this same idea that we should take from the scenes surrounding the Master’s tomb where either “angel of the Lord” whose raiment was “white as snow” or “two men….in shining garments” were confronted by the women at the sepulchre. We have long capitalized the word Light as we DO Truth, Wisdom and Love because of the importance of these words as spiritual terms; the possession of each of these IS a sign of one’s striving toward the goal of Transformation and Redemption. The Master shows us the importance of Light in such sayings as “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14:16).
The Apostle John, in the prologue to his gospel, shows us the idea of Light in regard to the Master and to men. John tells us, speaking first of John the Baptist, that “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:6-9). It IS here that we must try again to separate the ideas of Jesus and Christ which idea IS, as we have discussed, one of the great mysteries of Life covered under Paul’s words saying “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:25-27). While we understand that these two ideas bring to us a great KEY to understanding the Truth of our existence, we understand as well that for any who have NOT the spiritual collateral to understand, to KNOW if you will, the combination of these words will either NOT be comprehended or they will be seen in strictly doctrinal terms. Again we point to Paul’s words that tell us that this Truth of Christ in order to understand John’s which tell us of the Light “which lighteth every man that cometh into the world“; that this IS ONLY understood by “his saints” which we should understand in terms of discipleship. We should understand here that the True aspirant to discipleship will gain some measure of these Truths through his striving to keep His words. This reality IS covered for us in the first part of our trifecta which we repeat saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
If we DO believe anything from the words of the Master, we would be Wise to begin with the words of our trifecta. Let us try to see the idea of “the Son of man” through the above ideas. It IS the Truth that reveals the Light in man, it IS the Truth that dispels the fog of our vanity so that the Light can be seen. If we could incorporate this idea into the idea of “the Son of man“, we could perhaps gain some new insight into the meaning of the idea in our subject verses. While “the Son of man” IS how that the Master often refers to Himself, our ideas from the last few posts should have been able to furnish a reason why Jesus chose this appellation. From our perspective there ARE two ideas at play here; first that the Master uses “the Son of man” to refer to Himself so as to avoid claiming to be the Christ or the Messiah. As we discussed, this idea of the Christ was largely meaningless in Jesus day as the whole idea of christos had the primary meaning of Messiah and then its technical meaning of anointed. The Master DID NOT want men to see Him openly as the Messiah and often cautions others NOT to reveal this Truth….hence “the Son of man“. These things we discussed in some detail in the previous posts on the subject of the Master’s words that ARE deemed to be about the end times by most ALL of the church. Second, there IS another idea that we discussed in some detail and that was that His use of “the Son of man” was a sign to men, aspirants to discipleship if you will, that this status of being human can be combined with sufficient spiritual Truth to make of men His saints. As such we should see in this idea Paul’s words saying “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory“.
It IS in keeping His words that men can become “disciples indeed“, True disciples if you will, who “shall know the truth“; it IS to these that the mysteries ARE revealed of which a most important one IS that we come to KNOW the reality of “Christ in you“. This revelation of course must be understood to come to a man by measure, there IS NO instantaneous effect and there IS NO real ability to forsake our vanity in such quick time. It IS in this KNOWING that we should try to see ourselves as “the Son of man” according to the words of the Apostle John who tells us “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). These ARE NOT idle words; they confirm from the apostle’s view the reality that “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12). We must however understand that this idea of “believing on” IS so much more than the nebulous ideas of believing bandied about in the churches; were the churches idea of believing be a valid one, ALL Christians could then DO as He DID….this IS clearly NOT True. Vincent shows us in rather clear terms the reality of “believing on” saying that to believe on the Master IS: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4. That IS that to believe on the Master IS to keep His words. In the combination of these ideas we have the ability to become “Sons of God” and surely within this idea IS the reality of the Master’s view of “the Son of man“. Again, this John shows us saying “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12); we dissected this saying in the last essay.
The idea then of “the Son of man” can be understood as Jesus way of showing men the combination of their own humanity and the divinity that comes to us as we keep His words. Being human is the first stage of our existence in this world as Souls in form; we ARE born into vanity as we ofttimes discuss, and we ARE then nurtured and indoctrinated into the ways of the world; into conformance to the ways of the world IS perhaps the better view. We can however step out of this mold according to the words of the Apostle Paul who tells us “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). This IS our Transformation which follows upon our Repentance, our decision to change from being human to being divine, from being trapped in the vanity of Life to being freed by the Truth that comes in keeping His words. It IS in our Transformation which we can accomplish ALL through our striving to keep His words, that we can Truly move forward to our own “adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). It IS in our Repentance, Transformation and Redemption that we can stand above ourselves as the picture of “the Son of man” fully understanding John’s words saying “as he is, so are we in this world“. This IS the goal for humanity and what we should try to see here behind the words of the gospels that we ARE discussing IS that it IS this reality that Jesus holds before us in using the simple terms of “the Son of man“.
Taking these ideas then back into our subject verse saying “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” we should be able to glimpse the complexity of this rather simple phrase “the Son of man“. We should note here that it IS “the Son of man” that IS the subject that will be claimed to be “in the desert” and “in the secret chambers“. We should note as well that this phrase follows upon the idea that there will be claims of the Christ, that men will say “Lo, here is Christ, or there” and through these idea plus the warning that “there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets” there ARE two distinct possibilities. First however we should remember that the Master is speaking to His disciples here, men that DO have some measure of spiritual collateral by which to understand Him. While in past essays we saw these words as separate from the earlier warnings of the same nature where the Master says “many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many“, we should here try to see that this IS one continuous thought. We should remember as well that there ARE differences of placement of the Master’s words between the different gospels which allow for additional confusion as we try to understand the overall message. One thing however should be well understood to this point: the overall subject IS the sacking of Jerusalem and not the end times as so many believe and around which idea so much of Christian doctrine has been built.
Understanding then that the subject IS the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem we ARE faced with two distinct possibilities. One IS that the Master IS speaking in terms of men claiming to be the second coming of Christ, men who ARE NOT the Christ but who ARE mimicking the Master in their claim. This IS unlikely because the foretold events ARE to happen within the near future and while this may be the reason that some believe that the disciples expected the Master’s rather immediate return, it makes little sense for them then and, as we KNOW, it DID NOT happen. Remember Jesus words saying of these events that “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled“, words which appear a bit further on in this dialogue. The second possibility IS that the references to “the Son of man” and to the idea of the christos, the anointed in this context, ARE references to what actually happened, that some of His disciples, His saints if you will, DO flourish and ARE likely spoken about by men in those days. These ARE equally “the Son of man“; these ARE able to fulfill the idea that “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” and through this they ARE christos. We DO NOT KNOW how many disciples ARE in the Master’s audience as we ONLY read that “his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple” (Matthew 24:1). We KNOW also that there was some rivalry among His disciples; while the timelines in Matthew’s Gospel ARE NOT clear, this rivalry was exposed just before they came to Jerusalem where our current dialogue takes place. Can we see the possibility that the Master IS speaking to His disciple about those that would be able to assume the place of “the Son of man” and that it IS these, perhaps Peter and Paul of whom we read so much, that will come as “the lightning cometh….out of the east, and shineth even unto the west“.
While there IS NO clarity here in regard to “the Son of man“, there IS some degree of clarity regarding the timeline for these things as the sacking of Jerusalem IS accomplished as an historical event. While this IS True for us, this was NOT apparent to the disciples to whom the Master IS speaking; for them this IS but a prophecy that they must interpret. Moving on the Master offers more ideas and among these IS one that we previously discussed with little success. The Master says “wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” and perhaps we can now be a bit clearer on what He means by these words. We should remember the caution against believing the claims of Christ or “the Son of man” being here or there and perhaps by tying these ideas together we can understand that wherever the “the Son of man” IS rumored to be there will be those that seek to join him. Can we see the point here? If then the “false prophet” if we can use that idea here to reference the combination of “false Christs” and those falsely claiming to be “the Son of man“, we can perhaps see the Master’s intent. We should remember here that Matthew shows us the Master’s words in our selection saying “many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many“; this idea IS then repeated with more force in Jesus saying that “there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect“. As the Master combines these ideas, so should we as we attempt to understand the depth of His message; the Christ IS the Soul, the Christ Within, living through his form while the “false Christs” ARE those that pretend that they ARE Souls living through form. The “false Christs” ARE speaking as though they ARE anointed and this idea IS easily equated to the “false prophets” which idea IS defined by the lexicon as: one who, acting the part of a divinely inspired prophet, utters falsehoods under the name of divine prophecies 2.
Whether we see such imposters as those claiming to be “the Son of man“, the Christ, or a prophet should NOT matter here and we should understand that ALL have the ability to “deceive the very elect“. We should remember here that the Master also refers to Himself as a prophet saying such things as “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house” (Mark 6:4). In the definitions for prophet the lexicon and Thayer’s also tell us that the prophet in the context of Jesus, that the prophet IS the Messiah 2, 9. ALL of this should help us in understanding the idea that “wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” which idea follow upon the Master’s words on “the Son of man“.
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect | Potency | Aspect of Man | In Relation to the Great Invocation | In relation to the Christ |
| GOD, The Father | Will or Power | Spirit or Life | Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN | Life |
| Son, The Christ | Love and Wisdom | Soul or Christ Within | Heart of God | Truth |
| Holy Spirit | Light or Activity | Life Within | Mind of God | Way |
- 2 New Testament Greek lexicon on biblestudytools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- ** Google AI on Matthew 24:27 use of lightning
Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
