THE ARRIVAL OF THE SON OF DAVID
JESUS THE MESSIAH
THE GOSPELS: PART II, JESUS AND HIS WORK
CHAPTER 10
THE ARRIVAL OF THE SON OF DAVID
THE GOSPELS: PART II, JESUS AND HIS WORK
When Jesus finishes His dialogue with the Samaritan woman, His disciples arrive at the scene and marvel that He speaks with a woman. They encourage Him to partake of the food they had brought. Jesus declares,
I have food to eat of which you are not aware. . . . My food is that I should be doing [producing] the will of Him Who sends Me, and should be perfecting His work. (John 4:32-34 CV)
The work of Jesus is to perfect, complete, fulfill the work of
Yahweh His Father. He refers to the work of Yahweh begun in Genesis, chapter 1,
and continued through Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and
David. In relation to the Samaritan woman, Jesus carries on His work as the Messiah,
the Anointed Servant of Yahweh, the Son of David promised in the holy scriptures.
He asks this Samaritan woman to draw water from the well in order that He might
drink. She surprisingly responds, “How
are you, being a Jew, requesting a drink from me, being a Samaritan woman?”
(Jn. 4:9a CV). The text then explains that “the
Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (Jn. 4:9b KJV). The Jews
identified the Samaritans as a mixed race with a heathen core. The Samaritans
accepted as sacred only the Pentateuch (the Torah, the first five books of
Moses) and
Jesus testifies to her,
Everyone who is drinking of this water will be thirsting again, yet whoever may be drinking of the water which I shall be giving him, shall under no circumstances be thirsting for [into] the eon, but the water which I shall be giving him will become in him a spring of water, welling up into life eonian. (John 4:13-14 CV)
The woman misses the covenantal implication of these words,
believing Jesus can provide her with water which will quench her thirst once
for all. After Jesus reveals the fact that she has had five husbands, and the
man she is currently with is not her husband, implying the judgment of the law
regarding adultery, she proclaims, “Lord,
I behold [perceive] that thou art a
prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you [plural, Jews] say that in
In response to this acknowledgment of and reference to the contrary beliefs of the Samaritan and the Jew, Jesus reveals,
Believe Me, woman, that, coming is an hour when neither
in this mountain nor in
The Samaritans, according to Jesus, worship Yahweh
erroneously. The Jews are correct in their exaltation of
However, coming is an hour when worship of Yahweh will not take place in sacred space associated with either mountains or cities. Worship according to the elements of the world (Earth, Fire, Water, Air [heaven]) will become obsolete. Such worship will be transcended. That hour had now become a reality with the arrival of Jesus, the Word made flesh, the glory of Yahweh tabernacling in the midst of His people (Jn. 1:14).
Jesus, the Only-Begotten (only-generated) of the Father, Yahweh, the only One Who is into the bosom of the Father, unfolds, manifests, reveals His Father Yahweh as no other being in the cosmos is capable. He accomplishes this as The Only-Generated Son, figuratively depicted as lying close to His Father at table while intimately facing toward Him, into the bosom (see Jn. 1:18b CV) conveying close, intimate fellowship, intimate likeness of interest and concern, oneness of purpose, oneness of character.
Now that Jesus has arrived, an eschatological transition has begun. The last days of the Mosaic Eon have arrived. The powers of the coming eon have begun to be displayed. The old worship according to the flesh, according to sacred objects, sacred places, sacred times, sacred rituals and ceremonies, and sacred cultic sacrifices is coming to an end.
Yahweh is now seeking true worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth. God is spirit, breath, life. He is not in sacred objects or places. He is like the wind (Jn. 3:8), sovereign, free to be Who He shall be. Those true worshipers will worship Him in true, authentic, genuine spirit, which worship is in accord with the truth of the coming eon, the truth of the coming New Covenant, the truth of the eschatological Messiah.
Such worshipers in spirit and truth will no longer have confidence in flesh, confidence in the efficaciousness of sacred objects, places, times, rituals and ceremonies, sacred sacrifices; shadows, rather than the substance, Jesus the Messiah, the true spirit of Yahweh revealed in He Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (see Jn. 14:6) unfolding the Yahweh hidden, covered, veiled from humanity and Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Such worshipers will be those who hear and obey the sound of Yahweh’s voice as carried by the wind, the spirit, the breath of life, whenever He speaks, through whomever He speaks, and in whatever He speaks. These will truly be the children of Abraham as identified in THE SEED of Abraham, Jesus the Messiah. These, like Abraham, will be faithful to the end to all that Yahweh’s voice speaks during the last days of the Mosaic Eon.
The Samaritan woman, finally grasping the eschatological implications of the teaching of Jesus, declares, “We are aware that Messiah is coming, Who is termed ‘Christ.’ Whenever He should be coming, He will be informing us of all things” (Jn. 4:25 CV). At this point, Jesus announces, “I am He, Who am speaking to you” (Jn. 4:26 CV). He reveals Himself to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Coming One. His presence signifies the transition from worship in flesh to worship in spirit and truth. His presence signifies the unfolding, the manifestation, the revelation of Yahweh in substance rather than in shadows. The Son has come. The Son has been commissioned to produce the will of the Father, to perfect, fulfill, the work of the Father. But what is the work of the Father?
Jesus provides the answer to this question after He heals on
a sabbath an impotent man suffering under an infirmity he had endured for
38 years. The Jews, hearing of this healing and the fact that the man on a
sabbath had picked up his pallet, first, pronounce judgment on this man, “It is a sabbath, and it is not allowed you
to pick up your pallet!” (Jn. 5:10b CV). They, then, upon hearing that
it had been Jesus who had healed and instructed the man, “persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, . . .” (Jn. 5:16b CV). Knowing
this, Jesus informs them, “My Father
is working hitherto [even until now], and I am working” (Jn.
They conclude, “He not only annulled the sabbath, but said His own Father also is God [Yahweh], making Himself equal [equivalent] to [the interest of] God” (Jn. 5:18b CV). In this case, the Jews clearly understand the implication, the significance of Jesus’ claim. He did not say our Father, as would be typical of the Jew’s reference to God as their Father. He is thus claiming a personal, a unique, an intimate relationship with Yahweh as His Father.
The Jews do not conclude Jesus is claiming to be God. He is claiming to be the Son of God. He is claiming, as this unique Son, to be one with Yahweh in purpose and work. In verse 18, the words “to God” are in the dative case, the case of interest. The genitive case (the case of source or origination) is not used. Jesus is not claiming to be equal to God in His own origin, but equivalent in relation to the interest of His Father’s work.
Jesus then continues,
The Son can not be doing [producing] anything of Himself if it is not what He should be observing the Father doing [producing], for whatever He [Yahweh His Father] may be doing [producing], this [plural, these things] the Son also is doing [producing] likewise. For the Father is fond of the Son and is showing Him all that He is doing [producing]. (John 5:19-20 CV)
The work of Jesus is to continue the work of His Father, Yahweh, which work Jesus the Son observes the Father producing. Jesus, thus, follows the example of His Father, Yahweh. He does not originate any work or activity. All that He does or produces is modeled after the work, the activity, the attitude, the character of His Father. All His work proceeds out of the demonstrated example of the Father recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures exemplifying the purpose and intent of the Father.
The will of Jesus is to produce the will of the Father as recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures. Within these revelational writings, the word, the activity, and the purpose of Yahweh are manifested. Jesus imitates creatively the activity of Yahweh, continuing that work to its intended conclusion.
The Father instructs the Son concerning His most intimate
purpose hidden in the holy texts recording His word and activity related to
humanity. He reveals to the Son His mind, His heart, His most secret thoughts,
intentions, and purposes in relation to His work begun in Genesis, chapter 1. He
prepares the Son for His (Jesus’) commissioned work. The work of the Son is to
become the consummation of the eons, the fulfillment of the Father’s intended
purpose for humanity (
This instruction had been going on from the Son’s birth and continues through His ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and royal kingship. The Son is the only being intimately acquainted with the Father. This intimate acquaintance is initiated at His birth, continuing into His manhood. He has access to the Father denied any other being in the cosmos. He understands the depths of the holy scriptures because He has access to the mind and heart of their Author, His Father, Yahweh Elohim, the Creator of the heavens and earth, the Creator of man, the Author of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures graciously, compassionately deposited into the hands of men in order that they might know Him, becoming acquainted with Him so as to be able, in like manner as the Son, and together with the Son, to creatively imitate Him (Yahweh, through the example and power of The Son) in transforming their habitation and metamorphosing themselves into the perfected image of Yahweh Elohim, the Father of all human beings.
The Father’s fondness for the Son results in the Father’s opening up, the Father’s unsealing for the eyes of the Son, the Father’s master-plan, His master-schemata revealing His grand design for humanity and humanity’s habitat. This master-plan, master-schemata, provides the Son with the knowledge, the wisdom, and the insight necessary to grasp the significance and meaning of the holy scriptures, allowing Him to produce the work of the Father in His (Jesus’) ministry. Thus, the Son observes the Father’s work as this work is recorded in the holy scriptures which contain within them, though hidden beneath the surface, the master-plan, the master-schemata of the Father. Through these holy scriptures and the personal instruction of the Father, Jesus produces the work of the Father which He is commissioned to accomplish.
The work referred to by Jesus concerns His earthly ministry in relation to the Sinatic Covenant and the fulfilling of the Law and the Prophets. He later reveals, “I must be working the works of Him Who sends Me while it is day. Coming is the night, when no one can work” (Jn. 9:4 CV). The “night” spoken of refers to His coming death and burial. He must work the works of His Father until these works are completed, resulting in His death.
Just prior to His death, Jesus prays to His Father,
I glorified You on the earth having finished the work which you have given Me in order that I should be producing it. And now glorify Thou Me, Father, alongside You, to the interest of the glory which I was in the process of having alongside You before the accomplishment of the work You gave Me on behalf of the world-order. (John 17:4-5 my translation)
The Greek text of this passage is difficult to translate. Most translations assume the text is treating the subject of Jesus’ preexistence. But this ignores the continued theme in this Gospel of the work of Jesus. These translations choose to leave untranslated the definite article tou in the neuter gender. This article modifies an elliptic noun. The translator needs to discover within the context the missing noun in the neuter gender.
This noun is found in the fourth verse of chapter 17. Jesus
makes it clear that His subject pertains to the “work” (neuter) the Father commissioned Him to accomplish. Thus,
the glory Jesus is requesting from the Father has to do with the glory bestowed
upon Him by the Father in order to accomplish the work assigned Him. That glory
was His from the beginning of His ministry: “His
glory, a glory as of an only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”
(Jn. 1:14b CV), “This beginning of the
signs Jesus does in Cana of
Added to this glory is the glory He shall receive from the Father having finished the work assigned Him, this work culminating in His obedience unto death. The glory of Jesus had been bestowed by the Father in order for Him to glorify the Father. This He has now accomplished according to this prayer, “I glorified You on the earth having consummated the work which You have given Me” (Jn. 17:4 my translation). Consequently, the obedient, faithful Son now requests that the Father glorify Him in relation to His coming obedience to the Father’s command to lay down His life on behalf of His people. This impending glory is to be to the interest of, in accord with, the purpose of the glory associated with His accomplished work on behalf of the world-order of the Sinatic Covenant.
The work of Jesus continues and perfects, completes, the work
of Yahweh depicted in Yahweh’s activities associated with the creation of
Genesis, chapter 1, His activities associated with Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel;
His activities associated with Noah and his three sons: Shem, Japheth, Ham; His
activities associated with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; His activities associated
with Moses and Joshua; His activities associated with Aaron, the Aaronic Priesthood,
and the Levitical Priesthood; His activities associated with the Judges of
Israel; His activities associated with Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, and the
kings of both Judah and Israel; His activities associated with the prophets. As
the last (eschatos) and second (deuteros) Adam, Jesus delivers Adamic
humanity from the death common to all men and women and takes His place as the
head of humanity. As The Seed of the Woman, The Seed of Abraham,
Jesus fulfills Yahweh’s promises to the faithful ones among those favored by Yahweh’s
elective purposes. As the Seed of Abraham,
Jesus makes the promises sure to all the seed of Abraham, the circumcised seed
(the nation
The work of Jesus is to produce the work of the Father. But the work of the Father consists of a variety of works, activities through which Yahweh accomplishes His will. When Philip asks Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficing us” (Jn. 14:8 CV), Jesus answers,
So much time I am with you [plural, all of you, His disciples], and you [singular] do not know Me, Philip! He who has seen [penetratingly discerned] Me has seen [penetratingly discerned] the Father, and how are you saying, “Show us the Father”? Are you not believing that I am in [the sphere of the interest of, dative case] the Father and the Father is in [the sphere of the interest of, dative case] Me? The declarations [ramata] which I am speaking to you [plural, all of you] I am not speaking from Myself. Now the Father, remaining in [the sphere of the interest of, dative case] Me, He is doing [producing] His works. (John 14:9-10 CV)
Jesus explains to His disciples that He unfolds, manifests, reveals, the substance of the Father. To penetratingly discern the character, teaching (declarations), and works of Jesus is to penetratingly discern the Father, Yahweh. Jesus comes in the interest of the Father. His interest, therefore, is to perfect, complete the interest of the Father, Yahweh. As such, the Father is and remains in the interest of the Son.
There is, thus, only one interest, the interest of the Father. The Son conforms His interest to the interest of the Father, thus, becoming one with the Father in purpose and intent. The Son teaches what the Father instructs Him to teach, in accord with Deuteronomy 18:18, “A Prophet shall I raise up to them from among their brothers, like you [Moses], and I will put My words in His mouth, and He will speak to them all that I shall instruct Him” (CV). The Son is producing, performing the works, the activities of the Father with the authorization and power of the Father. Thus, the Father honors the Son with His (the Father’s) glory. The Son, in turn, honors the Father by manifesting this glory as His own in the performance of the works of the Father. To know the Son is to know the Father. To dishonor the Son is to dishonor the Father.
The works of the Father which Jesus performs consist of
teaching, deportment (manifestation of the characteristics of the Father),
signs, miracles, and baptism. Thus, the ministry of Jesus to
The Baptist is the last in the line of the prophets who bare witness to the coming Anointed One. Thus, the Law and the Prophets were until John the Baptist (Lk. 16:16). John is the last to bear witness of the Messiah. The testimony of the Law and the Prophets ends with John the Baptist. This is why Jesus testifies, “Not among those born of women has there been roused a greater than John the baptist. Yet he who is smaller [than the Baptist], in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he” (Matt. 11:11 CV). Because the Baptist bears witness to the Messiah as His contemporary, John the Baptist is considered by Jesus the greatest of the prophets commissioned by Yahweh. The Baptist, as the last of the prophets testifying of the Messiah, does not, during his lifetime, enter into the restored Davidic Kingdom of Jesus the Son of David. Those who are shortly to enter into this kingdom are considered greater than John the Baptist. Jesus, as the Son of David, has not yet ascended the throne of His father David.
Jesus comes as the prophet like unto Moses. His ministry, therefore, is greater than the ministry of the Baptist. It ushers in the power of the Kingdom of the Heavens. Jesus declares,
For even as the Father is rousing [waking up] the dead and vivifying [making them alive], thus the Son also is vivifying [making alive] whom He will. For neither
is the Father judging anyone, but has given all [the] judging [of
Jesus, acting on behalf of His Father, has been appointed by
His Father to act as the Judge over all
As the Father through His commissioned servants has roused (awakened) the dead both physically and covenantally as a result of giving the dead both physical and covenantal life, so, presently, through John the Baptist, He is rousing (awakening) the covenantally dead as the result of restoring to them covenantal life. Believing into the name of John imparts the right to be making oneself (resurrecting, standing oneself up as a result of restored covenantal life) a child of God (Jn. 1:12), thus, rousing the covenantally dead to covenantal life, that is, the life of the Mosaic Covenant. These covenantally roused Jews are directed by John the Baptist to Jesus the Messiah.
Identification with Jesus is a sign of one’s restored status as a child of God under the Sinatic Covenant. These newly roused children of Yahweh must submit to the Judgeship of Jesus. The covenantal life restored by the Baptist is maintained only by believing into Jesus.
John the Baptist arouses
John’s ministry ends with his death as a martyred prophet. He faithfully accomplishes his mission. John the Baptist had to decrease while Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, had to increase. The Baptist made ready a people for Yahweh’s Messiah. As a result of the Baptist’s death, the ministry of Jesus is magnified.
Jesus is now the sole giver and maintainer of covenantal life.
As the Father through John the Baptist had been rousing the covenantally dead
to covenantal life to the honor of the Son, so, also, the Son is rousing and
vivifying the covenantally dead to covenantal life to the honor of the Father
(Jn. 5:21). John the Baptist was a lamp through which the light of Yahweh’s Law,
Yahweh’s Sinatic word, shone (Jn. 5:35). Jesus is the light of Yahweh’s Law,
Yahweh’s Sinatic word, Yahweh’s sovereign voice. Jesus is both the light and
the word. He is the WORD of Yahweh manifesting its light over
Yet it will come to be that the man [in
Jesus, in John, chapter 5, continuing His discourse with the Jews concerning His work, proclaims somberly,
Verily, verily, I am saying to you that he who is hearing My word and believing Him Who sends Me, has life eonian and is not coming into judging, but has proceeded out of the death into the life. (John 5:24 CV)
What is His word? Repent and be baptized for the pardon of sins! This is the very same proclamation of John the Baptist. The faithful ones obeying, submitting to this word of renewed covenantal life are those believing Yahweh commissioned both John the Baptist and Jesus. They reveal themselves to be children of Abraham. They honor Yahweh by believing the word of His messengers, even though they may not understand its implications. These already possess eonian life, that is, the life flowing from the Mosaic Covenant during the Mosaic Eon, the covenantal life breathed into the nostrils of Jacob/Israel at Sinai giving him a living acquaintance with Yahweh denied the nations.
Yahweh has been restoring this living acquaintance to
The definite article is used before the words death and life. The death is the
covenantal death that came upon
Continuing His solemn instruction, Jesus warns,
Verily, verily, I am saying to you that coming is an hour, and now is, when the dead shall be hearing the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall be living. For even as the Father has life in [the sphere of the interest of] Himself, thus to the Son also He gives to have life in [the sphere of the interest of] Himself. (John 5:25-26 CV)
The dead referred to are those Israelites sitting and walking in the darkness of The Adversary, those Israelites who either worship Yahweh according to the false teaching and tradition of men or, those, who, having become discouraged as a result of the heavy burden placed upon them by the false shepherds, have given up trying to worship Yahweh according to such teaching and tradition. The latter have been forced to the circumference of religious life by the rulers, being branded “sinners” and, thus, being treated as “sinners of the nations” (Gal. 2:15). The hour has already arrived during which these covenantally dead Israelites shall be hearing the voice of the Son of Yahweh, that is, hearing His voice, which voice is the voice of His Father, Yahweh.
Those hearing and obeying, believing, shall be awakened to the
life of the Mosaic Covenant. They shall be restored to the life-giving
acquaintance with Yahweh authorized by the Mosaic Covenant. Thus, they shall be
restored to the covenantal life associated with the Mosaic Eon. This life is in
the sphere of the interest of Yahweh’s covenantal relationship with
This same interest is the interest of the Son. As the Father gave covenantal life at Sinai, so the Son also has been given the authority and power to restore this life to those from whom it had been taken by national disobedience (the national exile beginning with the Babylonian captivity). Believing into Jesus places them in Him (Jesus), that is, in the sphere of His interest, as believing into Moses had placed Israelites in Moses, identifying them with both the blessing and cursing of the Mosaic Covenant. In Jesus, they would presently be identified with the covenantal life He is restoring, but in the imminent future, they would be identified with His death executed under the Sinatic Covenant. This death would terminate the Sinatic Covenant, annulling its authority to give a life-giving covenantal acquaintance with Yahweh.
The implied imminent future identification in Jesus is elaborated in the further warning of Jesus:
And He [the Father] gives Him [the Son] authority to do [produce] judging, seeing that He is a son of mankind. Marvel not at this, for coming is the hour in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His [Jesus’] voice, and those who do [produce] good [things] shall go out into a resurrection of life, yet those who commit bad things [the foul things], into a resurrection of judging. (John 5:27-29 CV)
In this passage, Jesus warns of an hour yet to come. In this coming hour, all those in the tombs shall hear His voice. This reference to tombs is figurative. Jesus is not referring to the physically dead. All those in the tombs identify all those in Him, that is, identified with Him in His death to the Sinatic Covenant. These are those figuratively associated with Him in His death and burial (entombment, see Rom. 6:4 CV, NGEINT). Their belief into Him identifies them metaphorically in His crucifixion death, burial (covenantal entombment), and resurrection.
In Him, they also die to the Sinatic Covenant. In Him they also are buried in His tomb. His tomb becomes the tombs of all those believing into Him. In Him, they hear His resurrection voice, sharing in His resurrection to the life of the New Covenant consecrated with His sacrificial blood, the new life of the age to come. This is the metaphorical, covenantal resurrection written about by Paul in the sixth chapter of his Letter to the Romans:
We, then, were entombed together with Him through this baptism [baptized into Messiah Jesus, v. 3] into this death [His death, v. 3], [in order] that, even as Christ was roused from among the dead through the glory of the Father, thus we also should be walking in newness of life. (Romans 6:4 CV)
These all receive the spirit of Yahweh which began to be poured out by the Son at the celebration of the first Festival of Pentecost after His resurrection.
This covenantal resurrection necessitates faithfulness to the
end of the age. All those resurrected in Christ who walk in newness of life
producing the good things, the deeds, the works of the spirit fulfilling the
just requirement of the Law of Christ to the end of the age or the end of each
individual’s mortal life, participate in the resurrection to the life of the
New Covenant associated with the resurrected and ascended Christ. In contrast,
all those in Christ (thus participating in His resurrection life) who become
apostate, turning back to the old covenant, walk according to the flesh. They have
chosen to practice the foul things associated with the teaching and tradition
of men, thus, returning to the Mosaic Covenant for covenantal life. They
participate in a resurrection culminating in the judgment of Gehenna, the judgment of the Second Death, the judgment against
the
In the passage under discussion (Jn. 5:27-29), Jesus speaks of only one resurrection. This resurrection is His resurrection. In this resurrection, two groups are identified. The first group consists of the faithful ones who remain in Him to the end of the age. The second group consists of the unfaithful ones, who though they believe into Him, fail to remain in Him to the end of the age. They become offended by Him, preferring the comfort of the terrestrial things to the persecution and suffering of the celestial things. They abandon the cross of Christ, placing their confidence once again in the flesh, in the life promised by the Sinatic Covenant. Forsaking identification with Jesus the Messiah, they are no longer protected from the harm, the destruction, brought about by the Second Death, the indignation (wrath) of Yahweh coming upon Apostate Israel terminating the Mosaic Eon and the Sinatic Covenant. This judgment had been announced by the Baptist at the beginning of his ministry, “Who intimates to you to be fleeing from the impending indignation?” (Lk. 3:7b CV). It is also referred to by Paul as “the impending judgment” (Acts 24:25 CV).
This resurrection associated with the death of Jesus is alluded to by Jesus when He warns Andrew and Philip:
Come has the hour that the Son [Jesus] of the Man [Adam] should be glorified. Verily, verily, I am saying to you, If a kernel of the grain, falling into the earth, should not be dying, it is remaining alone, yet if it should be dying, it is bringing forth much fruit. He who is fond of his soul is destroying it, and he who is hating his soul in this the world [the world-order of the man Adam and the world-order of the man Moses] shall be guarding it for life eonian. (John 12:23-25 CV)
By analogy, Jesus refers to Himself as a kernel, a seed belonging to the grain classified as humanity, man. Unless the kernel of this grain is buried in the earth and dies, it remains alone. However, if it should be dying, it is bringing forth much fruit.
Jesus is the kernel, the seed, the Son of the man Adam. As the only kernel not participating in the common death of all men brought into the world-order of mankind (the Adamic race), His dying will result in the bringing forth of much fruit. In relation to all Adamic humanity, His death and resurrection would result in the resurrection to immortal life of all human beings generated by Adam. The death common to all men would no longer be the last word of Yahweh in relation to humanity. The verdict of death stamped upon the race by Yahweh as a result of Adam’s sin (his missing the mark of Edenic life) would now be superseded by Yahweh’s verdict of life stamped upon the same race as under the headship of the Second Man, Jesus the Christ, the Son of Adam, the Son of Yahweh.
As the circumcised kernel (the seed of the grain distinguished at Sinai), His death in the earth of the Sinatic Covenant (His death to the Sinatic Covenant) means the resurrection of Israel from the Death of the Mosaic Covenant, from the curse of the Mosaic Law. All those identified with the entombment death of Jesus the Messiah, by their believing into Him, share, participate with Him, in His resurrection life. This life is the life of the New Covenant superseding the covenantal life of the old Sinatic/Mosaic Covenant, which old covenant could no longer give covenantal life, covenantal living acquaintance with Yahweh.
Now, the old covenant could only render destruction to all
those clinging to it for covenantal acquaintance with Yahweh. Only in Christ
could each Israelite, each Jew, escape the coming indignation of Yahweh, the
coming termination of the Sinatic Covenant in its death first pronounced at
Sinai but now about to be conclusively executed with the covenantal destruction
of the nation. The writers of the Greek Scriptures describe this execution as the Second Death, the
Those sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah are the “much fruit” of John 12:24b. Of this “much fruit,” those who are fond of their souls, seeking to avoid the sufferings of the cross of Christ, seeking to escape being persecuted on account of the righteousness of the Kingdom of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, will be destroying their souls. These are those who ultimately return to the Sinatic Covenant, becoming apostate, “crucifying for themselves the Son of God again and holding Him up to infamy” (Heb. 6:6b CV). These are those participating in a resurrection of judgment, committing themselves to the practice of the foul things, those things that deny the honor and the glory of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of Yahweh, given him by the Father.
Those, however, who are hating their souls in this world-order of Adamic and Mosaic humanity, faithfully enduring the sufferings of the cross of the Messiah, faithfully enduring the persecution on account of the righteousness of the Kingdom of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, will be guarding, protecting, maintaining their souls into eonian life, the life of the coming eon prepared for them in the Celestial Realm by Jesus their Lord and their Savior. These are those participating in a resurrection of life, producing the good things of the New Covenant, those walking in newness of life associated with the death and resurrection of Christ. These continue to honor and glorify Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of the Father, Yahweh.
The warning of Jesus to Andrew and Philip continues:
If anyone should be serving Me, let him be following Me, and where I am, there My servant also shall be. And if anyone should be serving Me, the Father shall be honoring him. Now is My soul disturbed. And what may I be saying? “Father, save Me out of this hour”? But therefore came I into this hour. Father, glorify Thy name! (John 12:26-28a CV)
At the conclusion of these words, a voice comes out of heaven, testifying, “I glorify [glorified] it also, and shall be glorifying it again!” (Jn. 12:28b CV). This former glorification alludes to that manifested at Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. This glory given to the Son by the Father is associated with the Son’s work. At His baptism a voice is heard coming out of heaven, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in Whom I delight” (Matt. 3:17b CV), referring to His former glory. The latter glorification of Jesus points forward to the Son’s resurrection out from among the dead and His ascension to the throne of His Father,
Wherefore, also, God highly exalts Him, and graces Him with the name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should be bowing, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean, and every tongue should be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God, the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 CV)
When the Son completes His work, His hour arrives. This hour is the hour of His death. The Father has commanded Him to lay down His soul for His brethren,
Therefore the Father is loving Me, seeing that I am laying [placing] down My soul [in order] that I may be getting [taking] it again. No one is taking it away [literal Greek, lifting it up away] from Me, but I am laying [placing] it down of Myself. I have the right [authority] to lay [place] it down, and I have the right [authority] to get [take] it again. This precept [commandment] I got [received] from My Father. (John 10:17‑18 CV)
This is the new commandment alluded to in John 13:34:
A new precept [commandment] am I giving to you, that [Greek: hina, in order that] you might, [subjunctive mood] be loving one another; according as I loved you, [in order] that you also might be loving one another. (CV modified)
The new commandment of Jesus is not love, but the commandment given Him by the Father to lay or place down His soul, His life, on behalf of his brethren.
This commandment is associated with identification into His death and resurrection. It is associated with “the sufferings of the current era” (Rom. 8:18 CV); being “persecuted for the cross of Christ Jesus” (Gal. 6:12 CV); being “persecuted on account of righteousness” (Matt. 5:10 CV); sharing in “the sufferings of Christ . . . in us” (2 Cor. 1:5 CV); “participants of the [these] sufferings . . .” (2 Cor. 1:7 CV). If anyone is serving Jesus, he of necessity must be following Him in obeying this new commandment which will be manifesting his love for the other, and thus be manifesting the love of the Father. He who serves Jesus faithfully will be honored by the Father, thus, sharing in the glory of the Son. To share in the Son’s suffering is to share in His honor.
When Jesus says, “Where I am, there my servant also shall be”
(John 12:26 CV), He is speaking metaphorically. Jesus Himself shall be in the Celestial
Realm ruling over the
The arrival of His hour disturbs His soul. The suffering about to be endured will painfully be impressed upon His soul, His physical and mental sensations. In spite of this suffering, Jesus declares He must go through this hour, rather than petition the Father for a way of escape. The Father has commissioned Him for this hour. The Father has commanded Him to obediently endure this hour. It is this hour, obediently endured, which will bring great glory to the Father. To seek escape from this hour would be to seek the Father’s dishonor, the Father’s shame. Consequently, obedience to the Father’s will concerning this predetermined hour results in the glorification of the Father’s name.
Thus, though the Son’s work manifests the Father’s glory, the Son’s suffering-hour of death has the effect of crowning the Father’s glory. The success of the Son’s work necessitates His death. To share in the suffering-death of Jesus is to share in the death, the termination of the Sinatic Covenant. It is to participate in the cross of Jesus the Messiah. It is to glory in the significance of this cross (deliverance from the curse of the law by being made a curse). It is, thus, to lay down one’s soul for one’s brethren, to suffer the death of the Sinatic Covenant on their behalf, thereby delivering many from the curse of the law by being made a curse. The positive side of this association is the sharing in the resurrection life of Christ by which one fulfills the requirement of the Law of the Christ, the Law of Yahweh as empowered and interpreted by the spirit of the New Covenant, the spirit of the Father and the Son (cf. Rom. 8:5-9).
The voice out of heaven recorded in John 12:28b is not understood by the crowd. Some hear only a clap of thunder; others hear what they believe to be a heavenly messenger speaking to Jesus (Jn. 12:29). Jesus responds to this lack of understanding by declaring the voice was not on His behalf, but on their behalf. The glory about to be given by the Father is on behalf of the deliverance, the salvation of these very people who do not decipher the message conveyed by this voice. Jesus then instructs,
Now is the judging of this world [the world-order of Adamic humanity]. Now shall the Chief of this world [Jesus the Son of Adam, the Son of Yahweh] be cast out. And I, if I should be exalted [lifted up] out of the earth, shall be drawing all to Myself. (John 12:31-32 CV)
An editorial explanation immediately follows, “Now this He said, signifying by what death
He was about to be dying” (Jn.
This truth, of course, is concealed at this time from the crowd and the disciples of Jesus. Even His being the Chief of this Adamic world-order is concealed from humanity. For humanity is unaware of the true lineage of Jesus. He is the only legitimate Son of Adam. He alone is generated apart from the activated Law of Death passed on by Adam to all his generated children. As the Only-Begotten Son of Yahweh and Only-Begotten legitimate Son of Adam, Jesus is the legitimate Chief, Ruler, Royal King over Adamic humanity, the Adamic world-order. The casting out of the Chief by His blind and ignorant subjects is transformed by Yahweh into the drawing of all humanity, all His subjects, toward the exalted glorious life of the resurrected Son.
Jesus continues His instruction of the crowd:
Still a little time the light is among you. Be walking while you have the light, lest the darkness may be overtaking you. And he who is walking in the darkness is not aware whither he is going. As you have the light, be believing into the light, that you may be becoming sons of light. (John 12:35b-36a CV)
Jesus is the light of Yahweh’s Law.
Presently, those believing in Jesus are authorized to be
making themselves, once again, children of Yahweh, thus being restored to a
living acquaintance with Yahweh according to the stipulations of the Mosaic Covenant.
However, the ultimate goal for
The light refers, of course, to Jesus Himself. Those who become “sons of light” (Jn. 12:36) take on the character of this light. Thus, putting on Christ (Rom. 13:14), they are “putting on the implements of the light” (Rom. 13:12b CV). Jesus the Messiah, as the light of Yahweh’s Law, Yahweh’s word of life, manifests, reveals, unfolds, interprets the spirit, the essence, the message, the instruction, the application of what is right in the eyes of Yahweh in all the various situations and circumstances experienced in human relations with one another and with the objective world of Yahweh’s creation. A son of God [Yahweh] creatively responds to each situation, circumstance, relationship in such a way as to produce the will of God in that specific situation, circumstance, relationship. It is not a matter of the letter of the law, but a matter of the spirit of the law. This is precisely what is revealed in the works of Jesus. Sons of God are therefore characterized as manifesting the light of Yahweh’s word of life as exemplified by Jesus the Messiah, the Son of Yahweh. Sons of God are imitators of Jesus the Messiah, as Paul exhorts, “Become imitators of me, according as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1 CV).
The Gospel of John concludes the public ministry of Jesus with a judgment against the Jews, the apostate rulers. These false shepherds have misled the sheep, leaving them blind and ignorant. Of these sheep (the crowd, the nation as a corporate whole), the writer of this Gospel concludes,
Yet, after His [Jesus’] having done so many signs in front of them, they believed not in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet, which he said, may be being fulfilled, “Lord, who believes our tidings? And the arm of the Lord, to whom was it revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, seeing that Isaiah said again that He has blinded their eyes and callouses their heart, lest they may be perceiving with their eyes, and should be apprehending with their heart, and may be turning about, and I shall be healing them. These things Isaiah said, seeing that he perceived His glory, and speaks concerning Him. (John 12:37-41 CV)
This prophecy of Isaiah is made on the basis of the false teaching of the apostate rulers. These traditions and commandments of men have blinded the nation to the truth of Yahweh. When Jesus arrives and proclaims the word, the teaching of Yahweh, the sheep, the crowd, the people cannot understand His teaching as a result of the conceptual spectacles foisted on them by the apostate shepherds. The nation, having apostatized from the truth of Yahweh due to the distorted lenses of false teachings, had been given up by Yahweh to these false teachings and their destructive consequences (thus maintaining the nation’s blindness and callousness until the appointed time determined by Yahweh).
Thus, as Isaiah had prophesied, Yahweh had formed a cataractic
film upon their eyes veiling their covenantal sight. This resulted in a
calloused heart, a heart unable to sensitively respond to the call of Jesus. But
Yahweh had been working among them, removing the cataract from over the eyes of
those He was calling. Thus, many in
Later, Yahweh would remove the blinding cataract from a vast multitude of Israelites belonging to this final generation of the Mosaic Eon. But, remember, the Jews (the apostate rulers) had denied being blind. Jesus could only heal the blind. Those with sight revealed themselves to be the seed of the Serpent, the sons of Cain, the children of The Adversary. Isaiah had prophesied concerning Yahweh’s act of blinding, having perceived Yahweh’s glory, and so, spoke of Yahweh’s reaction to the nation’s rejection of His glory. Thus, unless Yahweh opens their eyes, the people are unable to recognize and believe into Jesus, the glory of Yahweh.
Upon receiving their sight, those having a circumcised heart will perceive with their eyes and apprehend with their heart. They will turn around, that is, repent, and Yahweh will heal them through His Son, Jesus the Messiah, the glory of Yahweh. Those having an uncircumcised heart, claiming to be not blind, inevitably rebel against Yahweh and His Son, becoming committed enemies, clinging to the Sinatic Covenant in opposition to the New Covenant established by Jesus the Messiah.
Thus, Isaiah perceived Yahweh’s glory and spoke concerning
Yahweh’s response to the rejection of His glory. Yahweh would blind the eyes
and callous the hearts of all
The author of the Gospel of John continues his evaluation of the conclusion of the public ministry of Jesus. He now turns his attention to many among the chiefs or rulers, the very ones who had led the sheep astray. He concludes,
Howbeit, likewise, of the chiefs [rulers] also many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not avow [advocate, confess publicly] it, lest they may be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the glory of men rather than even the glory of God. (John 12:42-43 CV)
Here is another example of the powerful affect of the traditions and commandments of men and the false shepherds of the nation. Many of the rulers believed into Jesus. But, loving the glory associated with the elite aristocracy, they denied the glory they believed to be associated with Yahweh. The influence of their social and religious culture was very difficult to oppose, to escape. The personal dishonor and public shame resulting from expulsion from the synagogue was compelling enough to keep them imprisoned within the status-quo.
There was still, however, time enough to turn away from the glory of these men to the glory of Yahweh. For those, however, who loved the glory of these men with hearts uncircumcised, time would make no difference. These are those referred to by Jesus in John 5:39-47:
Search the scriptures, for in them you are supposing you have life eonian, and those are they which are testifying concerning Me, and not willing are you to come to Me that you may have life. Glory from men I am not getting [receiving]. But I know you, that you have not the love of God in yourselves. I have come in the name of My Father, and you are not getting [receiving] Me. If another should be coming in his own name, him you will get [receive]. How can you believe, getting [receiving] glory from one another, and are not seeking the glory which is from God alone? Be not supposing that I shall be accusing you to the Father. He who is accusing you to the Father is Moses, on whom you rely. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he writes concerning Me. Now if you are not believing his writings, how shall you be believing My declarations? (CV)
Jesus here characterizes the children of The Adversary, the sons of Cain, the apostate nation. Ironically, He advises them to search the holy scriptures, full well knowing how committed they are to this task. They meticulously search, study the scriptures, placing their confidence in this honorable effort. So sacred are these scriptures in their eyes, they mistakenly exalt them to the place of an idol, worshiping these documents, rather than searching to understand the will of Yahweh, rather than reading to hear the voice of Yahweh in order to obediently implement what is right in His eyes.
Merely having these scriptures and handling them as sacred objects led them to believe that this sacred attitude qualified them for eonian life in the present Mosaic Eon, as well as the life of the coming eon when the Davidic Kingdom would be restored. What they fail to attain is an acquaintance with the testimony of these holy scriptures concerning Jesus as the prophet like unto Moses, as the Servant of Yahweh, as the Messiah, as the Glory of Yahweh. Failing to attain this knowledge, they are not willing to come to Jesus in order to receive life in the current eon and the more abundant life of the coming eon. They count the glory they bestow on one another as greater than the only true glory, that coming from Yahweh.
This judgment of theirs is the consequence of hearts having no place for the love of Yahweh. They love men rather than love Yahweh. They trust in themselves rather than in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Jesus. They trust in their privileged elective position and their possession of the statutes and judgments of Yahweh given them alone among all nations.
Jesus comes in the name of Yahweh His Father, and they refuse to receive him, but will not hesitate to receive another man coming in his own name, that is, his own reputation, honor, and glory bestowed upon him by his fellow men. This glory bestowed by men, they honor and respect. The glory bestowed by Yahweh they denigrate and mock. Characteristically, these men do not seek the glory coming from Yahweh. They seek only the glory coming from men. Thus, they reject Jesus, since He bears the glory of Yahweh, not the glory bestowed by men. They reject Jesus with opened eyes. They claim sight, not blindness. They, therefore, openly and knowingly (reflectively) oppose Jesus and Yahweh His Father. In this, they reveal themselves to be sons of Cain.
Jesus will not accuse them before the Father. It is Moses who will accuse them before Yahweh. They claim to rely on Moses. They claim to honor and exalt the Law of Moses. They claim to believe Moses, keeping his commandments and instructions. Jesus claims they do not believe Moses. For if they believed Moses, they would believe Him, for Moses wrote concerning Jesus and the glory bestowed upon Him by Yahweh. Jesus Himself expounds and teaches the Law of Moses as it is meant to be interpreted and applied. Thus, the words of Moses will judge them.
Since they do not believe the writings of Moses, how can they possibly believe Jesus’ declarations, His teaching! How can they possibly be receiving His glory! Thus, they are doomed to endure the impending indignation proclaimed by John the Baptist, and before him, the Prophets, and Moses himself. They will die in their sins. They will be cut off from their people. They will forfeit the promised blessings given to Abraham and David on behalf of all the faithful ones among those favored with Yahweh’s elective call.
Many Israelites, however, believed into Jesus, along with Nicodemus and the rulers referred to in John 8:31. But their ignorance of the scriptures and fear of social and religious repercussions hindered them from committing themselves openly to Jesus and the truth of Yahweh He was revealing. The signs which Jesus performs, all part of His work, are for their sake. Those whose hearts are circumcised would not be able to deny these signs as the work of Yahweh. The scriptures had proclaimed the Messiah would perform such signs. This much they knew and understood.
The account of Jesus feeding the multitudes, He and His disciples
having only five loaves of bread and two fish, is recorded by John in order to
establish this very point. Many people in Judea and the surrounding territories
followed Jesus unhindered by His lack of conventional credentials, His lack of
respect by the ruling elite, His lack of the glory bestowed by the educated
political and religious aristocracy of
Jesus, beholding the vast number (due to the nearness of the Passover Festival) of people coming toward Him, proceeds to feed this vast multitude though He has only five loaves of bread and two fish. The throng recognizes this miraculous sign, “The men, then, perceiving the sign which Jesus did, said that ‘This truly is the Prophet Who is coming into the world!’” (Jn. 6:14 CV). The men referred to here are not the rulers. They are those of social and religious reputation and standing among the people gathered to celebrate the Passover. These men, recognizing this sign as the work of Yahweh their Elohim, conclude that Jesus is the Prophet foretold of by Moses (Deut. 18:15, 18-19). This is He Whom the prophets declared would come into the world-order of the Sinatic Covenant, the world-order of the Mosaic Eon, in order to deliver Israel from her enemies, in order to restore the Davidic Kingdom.
Jesus, knowing these men are convening together in order to come to an agreement concerning the drafting of Him as the promised King, removes Himself from the scene, retiring alone into the mountain. These men have a false conception of the coming eschatological kingdom. They do not understand that the restored Kingdom of David will not be of the world-order of Moses, the world-order of the Sinatic Covenant. It would be of the new world-order of Jesus, the world-order of the New Covenant established by the shedding of His own blood as the Lamb of Yahweh which takes away the sin of the Sinatic world-order. “My kingdom is not of this world [the world-order of Adam, the world-order of Adamic humanity, and as such, the world-order of Moses, the Sinatic world-order]” (Jn. 18:36a CV), Jesus later declares to Pilate.
These men read the sign correctly. Jesus is the Prophet like
unto Moses. Jesus is the Son of David promised by Yahweh through the prophet
Nathan. It is their misperception of the promised Davidic Kingdom which leads
them to imitate (though without Yahweh’s approval) the ancient men of Judah, “And the men of Judah came, and there [in
Hebron] they anointed David king over the
house of Judah” (2 Sam. 2:4a KJV). Jesus rejects their misconceived
conclusion. It is not
The restored Kingdom of David would be a new world-order. It
would usher in the
Jesus, thus, understands the nature of
Verily, verily, I am saying to you, You are seeking Me, not that you perceived signs, but that you ate of the bread and are satisfied. Do not work for the food which is perishing, but for the food which is remaining into life eonian, which the Son of the Man [Adam] will be giving to you, for this One, God, the Father, seals. (John 6:26-27 CV modified)
These people are seeking Jesus in order to obtain the
miraculous food which will satisfy their bellies. They had perceived His signs.
However, they misconceived their significance. Jesus warns them not to work, to
act, to behave religiously for the food that perishes with the eating, but to
work, to act, to behave faithfully for the spiritual food which remains into
the life of the coming eon. This spiritual food Jesus, the Son of the Man Adam,
will be giving to them when His work is accomplished. This food is the very
food Jesus has been partaking of: “My
food is that I should be doing [producing] the will of Him Who sends Me, and should be perfecting His work”
(Jn.
After His death and resurrection, Jesus will pour out the spirit of Yahweh upon those believing into Him, and the spirit will provide the spiritual nourishment energizing them with the power to produce the will of the Father, Yahweh, to produce the work of Yahweh until it is perfected at the end of the Mosaic Eon, “having this same confidence, that He [God, Yahweh] Who undertakes a good work among you, will be performing [perfecting] it until the day of Jesus Christ: . . .” (Phil. 1:6 CV), “Now may the God of peace, Who is leading up our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, from among the dead by the blood of the eonian covenant, be adapting [preparing] you to every good work to do His will, doing in us what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, . . .” (Heb. 13:20-21 CV). Jesus is authorized to provide this food, because He is the One upon Whom the Father has placed His seal of approval. He is the only legitimate heir of Adam.
The multitude responds, “What may we be doing [producing] that we may be working the works of God [Yahweh]?” (Jn. 6:28 CV). If their present religious behavior is inadequate, they ask Jesus what they should be producing, how they should be behaving in order to be working the works of Yahweh. They still misconceive His meaning. They believe He is suggesting another kind of religious behavior which, if produced, will ingratiate them with Yahweh, resulting in Jesus’ provision of continual access to a miraculous food of even greater quality and quantity than that which they had already been given the previous day.
Jesus, then, attempting to correct their misconception,
explains, “This is the work of God [Yahweh], that you may be believing in that One Whom
He commissions” (Jn.
The multitude, however, fails to either perceive or conceive
the corrective explanation of Jesus. They innocently ask, “What sign, then, are you doing [producing], that we may be perceiving and should be believing you? What are you
working? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, according as it is
written, Bread out of heaven He gives them to eat” (Jn.
Verily, verily, I am saying to you, not Moses has given you the bread out of heaven, but My Father is giving you the Bread out of heaven, the true [Bread], for the Bread of God [Yahweh] is He Who is descending out of heaven and giving life to the world [the world-order of Moses, the Sinatic world-order]. (John 6:32-33 CV)
Jesus refers here to Himself. He is THE BREAD of Yahweh. Moses gave them manna. But the Father, Yahweh, is giving them the real, the true, the substantial, the spiritual Bread out of heaven. Moses gave their fathers only a shadow, only an inferior heavenly food. Jesus is the substance, the superior heavenly food.
The manna in the wilderness which remained until the morning “bred worms, and stank” (Ex.
Jesus patiently continues His instruction,
I am the Bread of life. He who is coming to Me should under no circumstances be hungering, and he who is believing in Me will under no circumstances ever be thirsting. But I said to you that you have also seen [discerned clearly] Me and you are not believing Me. All that [Everything, singular, neuter] which the Father is giving to Me [His work] shall be arriving [coming, returning] toward Me, and he who is coming toward Me [as a result of His works] I should under no circumstances be casting out, for I have descended from heaven, not that I should be doing [producing] My will, but the will of Him Who sends Me. Now this is the will of Him Who sends Me [that I lay down my soul for the brethren], [in order] that all [everything, singular, neuter] which He has given to Me [the work which He would accomplish with the body prepared for Him], of it [His work in His body] I should be losing nothing, but I shall [should, subjunctive mood] be raising it [His body, His work] in the last day. For this is the will of My Father [that I raise up My Body, My work], [in order] that everyone who is beholding [discerning clearly] the Son and believing in Him may have life eonian, and I shall be raising him in the last day. (John 6:35-40 CV)
Jesus directly declares that He is the Bread of the Life. He is the true, spiritual Bread that the Father sends to His people. Those who eat of this Bread will never more experience hunger. He speaks, of course, figuratively. Metaphorically, He is the Bread out of Heaven which when eaten (received in faith as the Son of Yahweh) will satisfy one’s spiritual hunger once for all. Correspondingly, he who believes into Jesus, as his faithful forefathers believed into Moses, will never again experience thirst. Jesus is the Bread of the New Covenant which when eaten and digested will provide spiritual nourishment satisfying the hunger and thirst for righteousness.
This Bread sent by Yahweh from heaven will pass on the life of
the coming age, the life of the New Covenant when it penetrates the heart and
mind. Thus, coming to Jesus is believing into Him, believing He is sent by Yahweh,
believing He is Yahweh’s Son, believing He bears the honor bestowed by Yahweh,
believing He honors the Father and produces the
work of the Father, believing He speaks the truth which the Father gives
Him to speak to
As the obedient and faithful Son, Jesus cares for the welfare of the Father’s sheep:
I am the Shepherd ideal [the good, the skillful shepherd]. The ideal shepherd is laying down his soul for the sake of the sheep. (John 10:11 CV)
But the sheep have been confused as a result of the insufficient and harmful care of the hirelings (the rulers and teachers of the nation):
Yet the hireling, not also being shepherd [not being a legitimate shepherd], whose own the sheep are not, is beholding the wolf [The Adversary, Satan] coming, and is leaving the sheep and fleeing. And the wolf is snatching them and is scattering the sheep. Yet the hireling is fleeing for he is a hireling and he is not caring concerning the sheep. (John 10:12-13 CV)
The sheep have been led astray and scattered. They have become blind and deaf to the true, the ideal, the good, the skillful, the authentic Shepherd, the Son of the Father Whose sheep they are (see Zechariah, chapter 11, and the commentary on this passage in chapter 8 of this literary journey).
The Father had sent the Baptist to gather the scattered sheep and reacquaint them with the voice of the Father Whose voice is echoed by the Son. The Baptist then pointed the sheep to the Son, the true Shepherd. Jesus, as the Son of Yahweh sent by the Father to gather His sheep and lead them into the life of the New Covenant and the new eon, is in the process of gathering the sheep and feeding them. He must produce the work which will return the scattered sheep to His Father, their rightful owner. This He is doing according to the instruction of His Father.
The sheep need to learn to recognize the voice of the Father and the Son. The Son, the ideal Shepherd, needs to overcome the harm inflicted by the hirelings and The Adversary, the enemies of the sheep. His ministry reacquaints the sheep with the voice of the Father, though the sheep still remain ignorant of the Father’s teaching, the Father’s word, the Father’s work. This will change after the death and resurrection of the Son, the ideal Shepherd:
I am the Shepherd ideal, and I know Mine and Mine know Me, according as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father. And My soul am I laying down for the sake of the sheep. (John 10:14-15 CV)
The sons of The Adversary, the sons of Cain, the sons of the apostate nation are not Yahweh’s sheep: “A schism came again among the Jews because of these words. Now many of them said, ‘A demon has he, and is mad. Why are you hearing him?’ Yet others said, ‘These declarations are not those of a demoniac. No demon can open the eyes of the blind!’” (Jn. 10:19-21 CV). The apostate Jews then demand, “If you are the Christ, tell us with boldness” (Jn. 10:24b CV). Jesus answers,
I told you, and you are not believing. The works which I am doing [producing] in the name of My Father, these are testifying concerning Me. But you are not believing, seeing that you are not of My sheep, according as I said to you. “My sheep are hearing My voice, and I know them, and they are following Me. And I am giving them life eonian, and they should by no means be perishing for the eon, and no one shall be snatching them out of My hand. My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to be snatching them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father, We are one [in work, in purpose, in interest, in concern].” (John 10:25-30 CV)
The apostate Jews cannot hear because they are not of Yahweh’s sheep.
Many Jews, however, listen to Jesus, hearing Him, though not understanding Him. They recognize and acknowledge Him as producing the work of Yahweh. Thus, they receive the testimony of the works which He is producing. They are becoming reacquainted with the voice of Yahweh. These are His sheep. They hear His voice and follow Him. He is giving them life in the present eon (the life of the Mosaic Covenant) and will be giving them the abundant life of the coming eon, the life of the New Covenant: “I came that they may have life eonian, and have it superabundantly” (Jn. 10:10b CV).
These sheep are those who have seen, discerned clearly, the
work of Jesus but do not believe His words, since they do not understand His
teaching (Jn.
so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11 KJV)
All His work, all that He does “shall be arriving [coming, returning] toward” Him (Jn.
Presently, they do not understand and so do not believe Him. But this condition is temporary. It shall soon change. For He descended from heaven not to do His own will, but to do the will of the Father, and the Father wills the salvation of all His sheep. This is the mission of the Son, “you shall be calling His name Jesus, for He shall be saving His people [His sheep] from their sins” (Matt. 1:21b CV). He shall accomplish this by laying down His soul, His life, for the sheep, His brethren.
Thus, the will of the Father necessitates, guarantees that all His work done in the Body prepared for Him will successfully accomplish the Father’s will. Neither the Son nor the Father will lose anything which the work done in His body seeks to accomplish (Jn. 6:39). For the Son will be raising His body which He lays down for the sake of His sheep, His brethren. As a result of the resurrection of His body, His work also will be raised up, stood up in its proper place of successful victory over His enemies. This is the significance of Hebrews 10:5-7:
Therefore entering into the world [the Sinatic/Mosaic world-order] He [the Christ] says, Sacrifice and offering You did not desire. But a body You prepared Me. . . . Then I said, “Behold I have come (in the scroll of the book it has been written concerning Me) to produce your will, O Yahweh.” (my translation)
This passage quotes Psalms 40:6-8. This psalm concerns the
coming, the arrival of the Messiah into the midst of
The text of John, chapter 6, indicates Jesus will raise His body, in the last day. He does not raise His body at or during the last day, but in the sphere of the interest of (dative case) the last day. For the last day refers to the end of the Mosaic Eon, which would not arrive until some time in or about the year 70 a.d. In raising His body in the interest of the last day of the Mosaic Eon, He is raising in His body all those sheep coming toward Him, believing into Him, identifying with His death and resurrection, all those faithful sheep following Him to the end of the Mosaic Eon. For the will of the Father that He lay down His life and that He raise it up (thus, standing up honorably and gloriously His work) is in order that everyone who is clearly discerning Him (the Son and, thus, the Father) and believing into Him might be given the life of the coming eon based upon the establishment of the New Covenant.
Those sheep receiving this new eonian life associated with the blood of the New Covenant will be participating in His death and resurrection (Romans, chapter 6), thus, becoming members of His figurative metaphorical Body. This figurative metaphorical body becomes possible as a result of His physical body having gone through death and resurrection. Metaphorically and covenantally speaking, these are those who, being entombed together with Him, become baptized into His death in order to share in the likeness of His resurrection (Rom. 6:2‑11). First, they shall be raised figuratively, metaphorically, covenantally together with Him (participating in the counter-alteration of the spirit, cf. Rom. 5:10-11 and chapter 6) in the interest of the last day. Finally, with the arrival of the last day, they shall participate in the completion of the literal resurrection or metamorphosis of their own physical bodies (cf. 1 Cor. 15:50-53; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rom. 12:1-2).
In response to Jesus’ claim that He is the Bread which descended out of heaven, the Jews (the sons of The Adversary, the sons of Cain, the sons of the apostate nation) murmur among themselves, critically reasoning, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, with whose father and mother we are acquainted? How, then, is he saying that ‘Out of heaven have I descended’?” (Jn. 6:42 CV). From their point of view, Jesus could not have been descended from heaven. They are acquainted with His parents. He is, like all men, born of a woman. His father, Joseph, has been among them.
Their knowledge, however, is incomplete. Their judgment is according to flesh. It is insufficient. They are ignorant of the details concerning His conception. But this judgment springs from an uncircumcised heart. It agrees with their desire, their worldview, their heart. They do not want the teaching of Jesus to be true. His teaching contradicts, opposes their own.
Jesus testifies concerning the opposition of the Jews:
Do not murmur with one another. No one can come to Me if ever the Father Who sends Me should not be drawing him. And I shall be raising him in the last day. . . . Verily, verily, I am saying to you that he who is believing in Me has life eonian. I am the Bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the Bread which is descending out of heaven [in order] that anyone may be eating of it and may not be dying. I am the living Bread which descends out of heaven. If anyone should be eating of this Bread, he shall be living for the eon. Now the Bread also, which I shall be giving for the sake of the life of the world [the Sinatic/Mosaic world-order], is My flesh. (John 6:43-51 CV)
The Father will draw to the Son those whose hearts are circumcised. He will accomplish this by opening the eyes of their understanding, revealing the Son to them, as later demonstrated in His drawing of Saul of Tarsus to the Son. Saul had opposed bitterly the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ and the scriptural argument of Stephen. But he had done this in unbelief due to ignorance. His heart was circumcised. He was zealous for Yahweh, but ignorantly zealous. When his eyes are opened, when the Son is revealed to him, he immediately submits to His authority. The Father had drawn him to the Son in the Father’s own time. Saul of Tarsus, then, in the interest of the last day, is metaphorically, covenantally raised out from among the dead of the Mosaic Covenant into the eonian life of the New Covenant, having also the near-future hope of either physical resurrection or physical metamorphosis at the actual arrival of the last day.
Jesus declares to these murmuring Jews that those who believe
into Him presently have the life of the Mosaic Covenant, but will be receiving
the life of the New Covenant. Their Fathers ate the manna in the wilderness,
but died the death common to all humanity. He is the Bread which descends out
of heaven in order to make possible an eating which can provide an escape from
the death common to all humanity: “This
is the Bread which is descending out of heaven that anyone may be eating of it
and may not be dying” (Jn. 6:50 CV). There will be those who, eating this
Bread, escape the death common to humanity. They will live, survive into the
coming eon, into the last day. Those dying before the end of the eon will be
resurrected, thus, also “living into the
eon” (Jn.
This Bread which will provide the life of the coming eon when
eaten is the Bread which Jesus shall be giving for the sake of the Mosaic
world-order, for the sake of
This He can do because He is the only legitimate Son of the man Adam. He is free from the death common to all humanity. The death common to all humanity is not activated within His body of flesh, since He is not generated by a man of the seed of Adam. For Jesus is the only Son of Adam generated by Yahweh Himself. He is literally sired by Yahweh. As such, He is the Bread which descended out of heaven. He was generated by a sperm of Yahweh delivered by the spirit of Yahweh descending out of heaven to impregnate the seed of the woman Eve within the womb of Mary, wife of Joseph.
These Jews, hearing this word concerning the necessity of eating His flesh, begin angrily disputing among themselves, saying, “How then can this one give us his flesh to eat? [!]” (Jn. 6:52 CV). They gloatingly misunderstand the meaning of Jesus’ words. Jesus, then, compounds their righteous anger, declaring,
Verily, verily, I am saying to you, If you should not be eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood, you have no eonian life in yourselves. He who is masticating [feeding continually on] My flesh and drinking My blood has life eonian, and I shall be raising him in [to the interest of] the last day, for My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who is masticating [feeding continually on] My flesh and drinking My blood is remaining in Me, and I in him. According as the living Father commissions Me, I, also, am living because of the Father. And he who is masticating Me, he also will be living because of Me. This is the Bread which descends out of heaven. Not according as the fathers ate and died; he who is masticating this Bread shall be living into the eon. (John 6:53-58 CV)
The Mosaic Law forbids the drinking of blood. This reference to “drinking His blood” is blasphemy to the ears of the Jews. Their rejection and opposition to Jesus in their thinking is both vindicated and strengthened in the process. Their conviction concerning Jesus is justifiably confirmed. He must be put to death as a lawless blasphemer.
However, Jesus is speaking figuratively. Eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood refer to participating in the affect of His death and resurrection and the cleansing from sins through His shed blood. This calls for believing into Him and remaining in Him. Identification with Him in His death and resurrection mean identification with His crucifixion death. Eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood is an act of faith/faithfulness, believing into Him, committing oneself completely to Him and His teaching. This eating and drinking provides eonian life, the life of the New Covenant.
As Jesus is living because of His relationship to the living Father, so those believing into Him, those eating and drinking of His flesh and blood, those identifying with His death and resurrection, those faithfully related to Him as the living Son of the Father, possess eonian life, becoming living sons of Yahweh. This can only occur after His death and resurrection. Thus, the Bread of the life descending out of heaven which provides the abundant life of the New Covenant refers to the resurrected body of Jesus which after ascending to the Father descends out of heaven as the living Bread, which having been eaten and then continually feeding on provides abundant life continuing into the coming eon, thereby conquering the death common to all humanity. The fathers, while in the wilderness, ate the manna descending out of heaven and died the death common to all humanity, but those eating the Bread descending out of heaven after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the Father “shall be living into the eon” (Jn. 6:58b CV). Jesus truly is THE BREAD OF THE LIFE. Once one is properly related to Jesus the Messiah after His resurrection, it becomes necessary to be masticating, continually feeding on and drinking of the affect of His death and resurrection.
This continual participation in the suffering of Jesus the Messiah associated with His cross, His crucifixion death and resurrection, means a continual participation in His covenantal death and covenantal resurrection. This is what Jesus means when he says, “I shall be raising him in [to the interest of] the last day,” (Jn. 6:54 CV). The first phase of the resurrection process is a covenantal resurrection associated with the counter-alteration of the spirit, the life of the new soulish/spiritual man in Christ. The second phase of the resurrection process is associated with the completion of the resurrection process, the resurrection of the Ecclesiastical Body of Christ to the Celestial Life of the Celestial Allotment signified by the metamorphosis of the physical bodies of those faithful to Christ to the end. Paul writes of the phases of this resurrection process as follows,
But things which were gain to me [a Jew under the Mosaic Covenant], these I have deemed a forfeit because of Christ. But, to be sure, I am also deeming all to be a forfeit because of the superiority of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, because of Whom I forfeited all this [the advantage of the Mosaic Covenant], and am deeming it to be refuse, [in order] that I should be gaining Christ, and may be found in Him [as a result of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, believing into Him in His death and resurrection], not having my righteousness [as a Jew under the righteousness of the law, the Mosaic Covenant], which is of law, but that which is through the faithfulness of Christ [as a Jew under the New Covenant], the righteousness which is from God [Yahweh] [based upon] [this] faithfulness [of Christ]: to know Him, and the power of His resurrection [masticating, feeding continually on and drinking continually of His flesh and His blood], and the fellowship of His sufferings [the glory of His cross], conforming to His death [crucifixion and burial], if somehow I should be attaining to the out-resurrection [covenantal resurrection, at the consummation of the Parousia of Christ, out from the dead ones under the Sinatic Covenant] that is out from among the dead [apostate Jews and apostate Messianic Jews and Gentiles under the condemnation of the Second Death associated with the termination of the Mosaic Covenant]. Not that I already obtained, or am already perfected [since it is necessary to remain faithful to the end of the eon]. Yet I am pursuing, if I may be grasping also that for which I was grasped also by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7-12 CV modified)
The second phase of the resurrection process is a physical resurrection (metamorphosis of the soulish/spiritual man into the Celestial man) occurring at the consummation of the Parousia of Christ during the last day.
The Jews, the sons of the apostate nation, perceive their rejection of and opposition to Jesus as vindicated in His claim to be the Bread descending out of heaven. But many of His disciples, those believing in Him, also find this teaching most difficult to understand and integrate into their belief system, “Hard is this saying! Who can hear [understand and obey] it?” (Jn. 6:60 CV). How can one eat of His flesh and drink of His blood? Jesus, aware of this murmuring among His disciples, prophetically addresses this foreseen reaction, “This is snaring [scandalizing, troubling] you? What if, then, you should be beholding [discerning clearly] the Son of the Man ascending where He was before, [will you, then, not be convinced]?!” (Jn. 6:62 my translation). Jesus understands their condition, their problem with His present teaching. His words are meant to comfort those whose hearts are circumcised, but whose minds are troubled. The time is coming when they will discern with spiritual sight, and thus believe and understand His present enigmatic teaching as a result of His ascension to the Father shortly after His resurrection, His following descension into the terrestrial realm (to where He had been before) for a period of about 40 days and His ascension just prior to the Festival of Pentecost, during which festival He would pour out the spirit of Yahweh upon those believing into Him.
Shortly after His resurrection, Jesus ascends to His Father
(see Jn.
At the time of His teaching concerning the Bread descending out of heaven, however, many of His disciples went away, no longer walking with Him (Jn. 6:66). But the Father would draw them back to the Son after His resurrection and ascension: “But there are some of you who are not believing,” declares Jesus. “Therefore have I declared to you that no one can be coming to Me if it should not be given him of the Father” (Jn. 6:65 CV). Jesus declares these words because He had perceived from the beginning “who those are who are not believing, and who it is that gives Him up” (Jn. 6:64 CV). Jesus knew how to distinguish between the children of Yahweh and the children of The Adversary. The children of Yahweh, though being offended and scandalized for a time, would be drawn to the Son by the Father, even as exemplified by the case of Saul of Tarsus.
After the departure of many of His disciples (Jn. 6:66), Jesus asks the twelve whether they also will depart. Peter, answering for the group, confesses, “Lord, to whom shall we come [go] away? Declarations of life eonian hast Thou! And we believe and know that Thou art the Holy One of God [Yahweh]” (Jn. 6:68-69 CV). In spite of this strong conviction, even His apostles go through a period of doubt, unbelief, after Jesus is taken by the authorities and crucified. Peter, himself, denies Jesus three times. Such denial, such unbelief, such doubt does not warrant the conclusion that those doubters are not children of Yahweh, but children of The Adversary. Jesus understands the blindness of His sheep.
At the proper time, the eyes of their understanding would be
opened, that is, the eyes of those whose hearts are circumcised. At that time,
Yahweh would give them a new heart and a new spirit in accord with the New
Covenant He would make with the house of
The work of Jesus,
therefore, is to prepare His sheep for the life of the New Covenant which would
be made available after His resurrection from the dead. His work would first
restore the sheep to the life of the Mosaic Covenant. This is a covenantal
resurrection. But this resurrection necessitated death—the Second Death, the
death of the Sinatic Covenant. This death would be either experienced in or
outside Jesus the Messiah. If experienced outside the Messiah, it meant being
harmed of the Second Death, coming under the curse of the law. If experienced
in Christ, it meant dying with Christ and rising with Christ—the resurrection
to newness of life, the life of the New Covenant, the life of the resurrected
Jesus the Messiah. But Jesus had already declared in the present tense, “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
(Jn.
After Lazarus dies, Jesus arrives in
Jesus responds, “Your brother will be rising” (Jn. 11:23 CV), referring to the resurrection of the dead promised in the Law and the Prophets. Martha, understanding His answer, immediately replies, “I am aware that he will be rising in the resurrection in [the interest of] the last day” (Jn. 11:24 CV). She is impatient. She does not want to wait for the last day. She requests that He restore her brother to life during that very same day. Jesus then announces,
I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who is believing into Me, even if he should be dying, shall be living. And everyone who is living and believing into Me, should by no means be dying into the eon. Are you believing this? (John 11:25-26 CV modified)
Martha answers, “Yes,
Lord, I have believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God [Yahweh], Who is coming into the world [the
Sinatic/Mosaic world-order]” (Jn.
Jesus had declared, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He is already the resurrection and the life because He produces the work of the Father. He has been resurrecting the covenantally dead (of those under the Mosaic Covenant) and the physically dead. He will soon be resurrecting all those in Him to the life of the New Covenant. Those believing into Him, even if dying before the end of the Mosaic Eon, will be living when the resurrection of the last day occurs. Everyone, however, who is believing into Him and living faithfully to the end of the eon will not experience the death common to all humanity, entering directly into the immortal life of the new eon.
The success of the work of His ministry is near at hand. The Mosaic Eon is near its conclusion. The fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets is only about 40 years away. Truly, elective time is short for this elect nation, as Peter is soon to declare, quoting Joel, “But this [the pouring out of Yahweh’s spirit] is that which has been declared through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ (God is saying) ‘I shall be pouring out from My spirit on all [Israelites] flesh, . . .’” (Acts 2:16-17a CV). The last days of the elect nation had already begun with the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus. They would be brought to their conclusion by the ministry (the work) of the Apostles of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of Adam, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Son of Yahweh.