Speaking the Father’s Words
At the time of the Feast of Dedication, Jesus, in the temple, was asked by the Jews, ‘“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly’” (John 10:24). But Jesus did not then even speak to His own disciples plainly. On the Preparation Day, the day of His crucifixion, Jesus said to His disciples, ‘“I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf’” (John 16:25-26). So that day was not the Preparation Day as His disciples then thought (v. 29); for the period when the first disciples would ask the Father directly in Jesus’ name did not begin until after Calvary, until after they were born of Spirit through receipt of the divine Breath of God.
After Jesus told the crowd that followed Him a series of parables, Matthew records, “All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables; / I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world’” (Matt 13:34-35; cf. Ps 78:2-3 — note Ps 78:4. The dark things of God will not be forever hidden from Israel, but will be made known to children).
However, when Jesus’ disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables, He answered, ‘“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [the gathered crowd] it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand’” (Matt 13:11-13). Yet still, Jesus spoke to His disciples in figures of speech until He was with them following His resurrection—even when His disciples were hearing Jesus’ explanation of the parables, they were hearing explanations given in figures of speech.
How does a person recognize a figure of speech when the language used seems straightforward as in Jesus’ explanation of His parables? Jesus told Nicodemus that being twice born (being born of water and born of Spirit, with Spirit/Pneuma being like wind [same Greek word]) was an earthly thing; then asked Nicodemus how, if Nicodemus could not understand a metaphor, could Nicodemus under heavenly things (John 3:12). The answer is that Nicodemus could not, and neither could anyone in Israel, including His disciples. Including the tens of thousands of theologians who have since spent their lives wrestling with the figures of speech recorded in the Gospels. Only to those to whom understanding has been given is understanding available. And this understanding is not from human intellect, but from “hearing” the quiet voice of Christ Jesus.
The “credentials” for hearing the voice of Jesus do not come from letters behind one’s name, but from simple Election. The sealed and secret visions of Daniel would be unsealed in the generic time of the end (Dan 12:4, 9; 8:17, 26). Likewise, all things must be restored. And someone or ones will be the voice of Jesus as He does the endtime work of preparing a people to harvest what was planted two millennia ago.
Many will come (and have come) claiming to have been sent by God—the test of those who have come is threefold: (1) does the “thing” they say come to pass; (2) do they teach Israel to obey God, keeping His commandments; and (3) do they give freely what they have been given, asking men for neither the tithes or offerings to which they are entitled. If they ask for money, they are to be rejected. If they teach lawlessness, they are disguised ministers of Satan. If what they say does not happen, they have not heard the voice of Jesus, but speak their own words. And if they add to Scripture, such as inserting Rome and the Roman Empire into the visions of Daniel, they are false prophets who have taken upon themselves the curse for blasphemy against the Spirit.
To understand figures of speech, a few basic concepts must be grasped. First, words do not have inherent meaning, but must be assigned meaning by every reader. If in the assignment of meaning, a word stands as a representation of a “real” thing or action, the word is said to be used mimetically (from the same root as “mimic”); the word seeks to mimic the thing or action. And this word usage is not usually employed in figures of speech. So because Jesus only spoke to His disciples in figures of speech, it should be understood that so-called “literal” meanings cannot properly be assigned to Jesus’ recorded words.
The most familiar figure of speech used is that of a metaphor, where one thing is said to be another thing. A thing that would not be recognized or understood is described in words which the audience can comprehend. The essence of typology is that this visible, physical world reveals the invisible things of God (Rom 1:20), and precede the things of God (1 Cor 15:46); thus, this creation functions as a metaphor for, not language, but of heavenly things themselves. And language now that describes the things of this world becomes metaphoric language by extension—it was this concept that Nicodemus could not understand. To Nicodemus, being born meant exiting the womb. In Jesus’ use of the earthly example, being born equates with receiving life, not exiting a womb. Thus, receiving spiritual life is a metaphoric expression for a heavenly happening that can only be comprehended by human beings through a figure of speech: “receiving spiritual life” is a figure of speech to which no mimetic thing or action can properly be assigned.
Because Jesus only spoke the Father’s words, which were not about earthly things, Jesus could only speak to His disciples in figures of speech. Assignment of ‘”literal meanings” is, again, not possible; for Paul wrote that the “man” caught up to the third heaven heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter [or cannot utter] (2 Cor 12:4), for human languages have no words [signifiers] for things in heaven, where flesh and blood cannot go.
Words come from the modulated breath of a person. Unless inscribed, they quickly dissipate in the air, returning to being indistinct movements of atoms bouncing into one another. The words of God come from the “Breath” of God, or the Holy Spirit, which both created “what is” and renews the face of the earth (Ps 104:30). Thus, the utterances of the Father delivered through the Holy Spirit are not limited to the movement of air in sound waves—and Jesus, when speaking the words of the Father, does not merely utter sound waves in figures of speech. Rather, the words of the Father are speech-acts that cause the renewal of even the face of the earth. These speech-acts “renew” or make whole human beings. They are the miracles that Jesus performed … since Jesus did not speak any of His words, but only the words and speech-acts of the Father, all that Jesus did become the renewing speech-acts of the Father, becoming the sending forth of the Breath of God.
* * *
"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
After Jesus told the crowd that followed Him a series of parables, Matthew records, “All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables; / I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world’” (Matt 13:34-35; cf. Ps 78:2-3 — note Ps 78:4. The dark things of God will not be forever hidden from Israel, but will be made known to children).
However, when Jesus’ disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables, He answered, ‘“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [the gathered crowd] it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand’” (Matt 13:11-13). Yet still, Jesus spoke to His disciples in figures of speech until He was with them following His resurrection—even when His disciples were hearing Jesus’ explanation of the parables, they were hearing explanations given in figures of speech.
How does a person recognize a figure of speech when the language used seems straightforward as in Jesus’ explanation of His parables? Jesus told Nicodemus that being twice born (being born of water and born of Spirit, with Spirit/Pneuma being like wind [same Greek word]) was an earthly thing; then asked Nicodemus how, if Nicodemus could not understand a metaphor, could Nicodemus under heavenly things (John 3:12). The answer is that Nicodemus could not, and neither could anyone in Israel, including His disciples. Including the tens of thousands of theologians who have since spent their lives wrestling with the figures of speech recorded in the Gospels. Only to those to whom understanding has been given is understanding available. And this understanding is not from human intellect, but from “hearing” the quiet voice of Christ Jesus.
The “credentials” for hearing the voice of Jesus do not come from letters behind one’s name, but from simple Election. The sealed and secret visions of Daniel would be unsealed in the generic time of the end (Dan 12:4, 9; 8:17, 26). Likewise, all things must be restored. And someone or ones will be the voice of Jesus as He does the endtime work of preparing a people to harvest what was planted two millennia ago.
Many will come (and have come) claiming to have been sent by God—the test of those who have come is threefold: (1) does the “thing” they say come to pass; (2) do they teach Israel to obey God, keeping His commandments; and (3) do they give freely what they have been given, asking men for neither the tithes or offerings to which they are entitled. If they ask for money, they are to be rejected. If they teach lawlessness, they are disguised ministers of Satan. If what they say does not happen, they have not heard the voice of Jesus, but speak their own words. And if they add to Scripture, such as inserting Rome and the Roman Empire into the visions of Daniel, they are false prophets who have taken upon themselves the curse for blasphemy against the Spirit.
To understand figures of speech, a few basic concepts must be grasped. First, words do not have inherent meaning, but must be assigned meaning by every reader. If in the assignment of meaning, a word stands as a representation of a “real” thing or action, the word is said to be used mimetically (from the same root as “mimic”); the word seeks to mimic the thing or action. And this word usage is not usually employed in figures of speech. So because Jesus only spoke to His disciples in figures of speech, it should be understood that so-called “literal” meanings cannot properly be assigned to Jesus’ recorded words.
The most familiar figure of speech used is that of a metaphor, where one thing is said to be another thing. A thing that would not be recognized or understood is described in words which the audience can comprehend. The essence of typology is that this visible, physical world reveals the invisible things of God (Rom 1:20), and precede the things of God (1 Cor 15:46); thus, this creation functions as a metaphor for, not language, but of heavenly things themselves. And language now that describes the things of this world becomes metaphoric language by extension—it was this concept that Nicodemus could not understand. To Nicodemus, being born meant exiting the womb. In Jesus’ use of the earthly example, being born equates with receiving life, not exiting a womb. Thus, receiving spiritual life is a metaphoric expression for a heavenly happening that can only be comprehended by human beings through a figure of speech: “receiving spiritual life” is a figure of speech to which no mimetic thing or action can properly be assigned.
Because Jesus only spoke the Father’s words, which were not about earthly things, Jesus could only speak to His disciples in figures of speech. Assignment of ‘”literal meanings” is, again, not possible; for Paul wrote that the “man” caught up to the third heaven heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter [or cannot utter] (2 Cor 12:4), for human languages have no words [signifiers] for things in heaven, where flesh and blood cannot go.
Words come from the modulated breath of a person. Unless inscribed, they quickly dissipate in the air, returning to being indistinct movements of atoms bouncing into one another. The words of God come from the “Breath” of God, or the Holy Spirit, which both created “what is” and renews the face of the earth (Ps 104:30). Thus, the utterances of the Father delivered through the Holy Spirit are not limited to the movement of air in sound waves—and Jesus, when speaking the words of the Father, does not merely utter sound waves in figures of speech. Rather, the words of the Father are speech-acts that cause the renewal of even the face of the earth. These speech-acts “renew” or make whole human beings. They are the miracles that Jesus performed … since Jesus did not speak any of His words, but only the words and speech-acts of the Father, all that Jesus did become the renewing speech-acts of the Father, becoming the sending forth of the Breath of God.
"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
Labels: Father's words, metaphors, miracles, parables, speech acts
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