The New Testament is written in Greek, a language much more expressive than English. Where in English the same word is used, different words are used in Greek that uncover a deeper layer of what is being said.
For example, in Bible texts relating to the return of Christ, in many English translations only 2 words are used where in Greek six different words are used in the same Bible texts.
The words used in the original Greek text to explain how and when to expect the second coming of Jesus Christ are these 6 words:
αποκαλυψις
φανεροω
επιφανεια
ηκω
παρουσια
ερχομαι
strongs 602
strongs 5319
strongs 2015
strongs 2240
strongs 3952
strongs 2064
to reveal / uncover
to make clear / to make known
to appear
to come (in a certain place)
presence
coming (a coming that is happening)
Apokalupsis
The word Apokalupsis comes from apokalupto. The word consists of 2 words: apo and kalupto. Apo means ‘away’ and kalupto means ‘to cover’. Apokalupsis thus means ‘the removal of a covering’. The word means to reveal, to unveil. It indicates how something present but hidden becomes visible.
Peter also uses the word.
Most Bible translations have translated his text like this:
1 Peter 1:13 (NASB)
Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit,
fix your hope completely on the grace
to be brought to you at the revelation (the Apokalupsis) of Jesus Christ.
The suffering and death of Jesus has been a fact and made known to us from the beginning of creation, but it only became visible, so revealed, 2000 years ago, when Christ Jesus was born of Mary, died on the cross at 33 and rose from the grave 3 days later.
1 Peter 1:20 (NASB)
For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world,
but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.
The last times, also often called the last days, started with Jesus Christ 2000 years ago.
Therefore, when God gave us the Holy Spirit, the last days had already begun.
Acts 2:16-17 (NKJV)
this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
and it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh.
The last days have already started 2000 years ago. 2000 years ago Christ was revealed to us.
Before that time, His death and resurrection were a fact, before the foundation of the world, and much had been prophesied about Him, but He was still a mystery yet to be revealed.
1 Peter 1:10-11 (NKJV)
Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully,
who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
searching what, or what manner of time,
the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating
when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ
and the glories that would follow.
Jesus Christ was revealed 2000 years ago, but we are living now and not 2000 years ago.
That is why Christ has yet to be revealed to us!
For this reason God has given us the Holy Spirit and the Bible.
The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us through the Bible.
The Book of Revelation is therefore not the revelation of the antichrist, or of the beast, or of great tribulation, although all these things are mentioned.
The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ!
This is also how the book begins:
Revelation 1:1 (NKJV)
The Revelation of Jesus Christ…
The Apokalupsis, the unveiling, of Jesus Christ.
Throughout the book of Revelation, Christ is revealed to us and with Him the Father is revealed, for Jesus said:
John 14:9 (NKJV)
He who has seen Me has seen the Father!
But Christ also reveals our identity, because Jesus is the Son of God and:
Romans 8:16 (NASB)
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit
that we are children of God!
In Christ Jesus, our identity as son of God is revealed!
Phaneroo
The word Phaneroo also denotes a disclosure, but it means ‘to make more clear’ or ‘to make known’.
Jesus says:
John 17:6 (NKJV)
I have manifested (phaneroo) Your name
to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.
The Good News Translation gives a translation closer to the original text:
John 17:6 (GNT)
I have made you known (phaneroo) to those you gave me out of the world.
Paul explains in the letter to the Colossians that he also did nothing but make Christ known.
He reveals to us…
Colossians 1:26 (NKJV)
…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations,
but now has been revealed to His saints.
Which is:
Colossians 1:27b (NKJV)
Christ in you, the hope of glory!
Epiphaneia
Epiphaneia (επιφανεια) is derived from a verb meaning ‘to shine’ or ‘to appear’, like, for example, a star that is always there, but becomes visible at night.
The word is used in reference to the glory and majesty of the Lord who has always been there and who at some point appears, thus becomes visible.
Titus 2:13 (NASB)
We are looking for the blessed hope and the appearing (epiphaneia)
of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
We have just read where that glory will appear: in you!
Colossians 1:27b (NKJV)
Christ in you, the hope of glory!
For example, Revelation 2 says:
Revelation 2:25 (NLT)
Hold tightly to what you have until I come.
The blessed hope and appearance of the glory
of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, we therefore expect within us.
Throughout the Bible, Jesus is revealed to us.
And in Jesus we get to know God the Father and we get to know the Son.
Our identity as son of God is thus revealed throughout the Bible.
As believers, we often hold each other accountable for our behavior.
But behavior is on the outside.
We behave according to who we think we are.
So our behavior stems from our identity.
When we get to know our true identity, we therefore naturally start to behave differently.
This is why Jesus says to the Pharisees:
Matthew 23:26 (NLT)
First wash the inside of the cup and the dish,
and then the outside will become clean, too.
With this new knowledge of identity and behavior and of the word Epiphaneia, we can also better understand the following words of Paul.
1 Timothy 6:11,13-14 (NASB)
Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.
I charge you in the presence of God, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach
until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul is saying here:
Pursue everything that comes from God, for therein lies your true identity.
And when you have found your identity as a son of God, Christ will appear in you.
So pursue everything that comes from God, until Christ appears in you, until other people begin to see Christ in you.
Then Christ, who has always been present in you, has become visible.
heko
Heko means coming, but it emphasizes more the place of His coming.
For example, Revelation 2 says:
Revelation 2:25 (NLT)
Hold tightly to what you have until I come.
When we just read on from here, 24 verses further we come across the answer where He will come, which is in your heart.
Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
The word heko can therefore be read in Revelation 2:25 as follows:
Revelation 2:25
Hold tightly to what you have until I come in your heart.
Luke also shows us a good example of the meaning of the word heko.
Luke 13:29 (NKJV)
They will come (heko) from the east and the west,
from the north and the south,
and sit down in the kingdom of God.
Here again the word heko is used and the place of coming is made known, namely, the kingdom of God.
And here too it is about a coming within ourselves.
Luke 17:21 (NKJV)
For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you!
The heko of Christ is within you!
Parousia
The word Parousia is derived from the verb paremi.
Although it’s often translated coming or to come, it does not indicate the arrival of someone, but someone who is already there, so; presence.
The literal translation of Parousia is ‘presence’.
The word is used 24 times in the New Testament, also in this well-known text in Matthew 24:
Matthew 24:27 (NKJV)
For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west,
so also will the coming (Parousia) of the Son of Man be.
The translation of this text suggests that the Lord comes unexpectedly, suddenly, as in a flash of lightning from east to west.
The Greek word used here for coming is parousia.
It does not mean a sudden coming, but it indicates a growing presence.
The word translated lightning is the Greek word astrape.
It doesn’t mean lightning, but bright light.
In Luke 11 it is translated shining.
Luke 11:36 (NKJV)
…as when the bright shining (astrape) of a lamp gives you light.
What bright light always comes from the east and shines to the west?
Lightning?
No! It’s the sun, the light of the day!
The path of the sun is always from east to west, everywhere on Earth.
Such is also the coming of the true Light and therefore also the spiritual way of a person who does not try to justify himself, but accepts the righteousness, the grace, of God.
Proverbs 4:18 (NLT)
The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.
So a good translation of Matthew 24:27 would be:
Matthew 24:27
For as the sun comes from the east and shines to the west,
so also is the presence of the Son of Man.
If Jesus can dawn in you as the True Light, He will shine brighter and brighter in you.
Then we experience more and more under His wings and we grow towards Him in all respects (Mal.4:2, Eph.4:15).
Thus the corruptible shall be clothed with incorruption and the mortal with immortality (1Cor.15:51-53).
And so our inner man becomes more and more new from day to day (2Cor.4:16, Eph.4:24).
So the coming of the Son of Man is not like a thunderbolt, but like a rising sun. He does not come suddenly for the children of light (1Thes.5:1-6). When He merges into our hearts, we are transformed into His image from glory to greater and greater glory (2Cor.3:18).
If you have never read Matthew 24:27 in this way before, it may come to you as a shock
and you may choose to close your heart to it and say it is not true.
However, I want to ask and encourage you to investigate for yourself whether what I show here is correct.
At the same time, it is therefore very important to examine
whether it is correct what others have taught you, in Bible studies, in videos or in church.
I pray that in a deep relationship with God you will hear His voice
so that He can lead you in your search for the Truth.
The path of the sun is always from east to west, everywhere on Earth.
If we go with the Light, from east to west, we walk in obedience the holy, narrow, ascending road to life.
If we go against the Light, from west to east, we are on the way of the disobedient flesh, of your own self.
You see this throughout the Bible, even with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:24), but even more clearly with Cain and Abel.
Cain kills his brother Abel.
Genesis 4:16 (NASB)
Cain went out from the presence of the LORD,
and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden
and he built a city.
Cain went east. He went his own way.
He went from the west to the east, against the Light, further and further away from the blessing presence of God.
Nod means to roam.
Cain’s life became one great wandering.
In that land of restlessness he builds a city.
The Hebrew word for city is ir.
It is derived from a verb meaning to watch or to guard.
Cain had to protect himself, for he had strayed from God the protector.
Cain shows us building without God, building in our own strength, from the flesh.
But…
Psalms 127:1 (NKJV)
Unless the Lord builds the house,
they labor in vain who build it.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
Not much later we see the same thing happening to Nimrod and Babel, as well as to countless others to this very day.
Jude 1:11 (NASB)
Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain
It is the road from west to east, against the light.
It’s the direction…
Ephesians 2:2 (NASB)
…in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Even today we build spiritual walled cities for ourselves.
You can be very religious there and still not experience the presence of God.
They are cities of religion, but the relationship with our heavenly Father is missing.
If you follow the Way of Jesus, the light of Christ will rise in you like the sun.
Matthew 24:27
For as the sun comes from the east and shines to the west,
so also is the presence of the Son of Man.
Than…
1 Peter 2:5 ( NASB)
…you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.
This spiritual house, in which you and God dwell together, is in the city that you did not build yourself, but which was built by God; the New Jerusalem.
Adam and Eve went from the west to the east from paradise. Cain also traveled from west to east. But Abram traveled from east to west, following the Light, to the promised land.
Genesis 12:7-8 (NKJV)
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said,
to your descendants I will give this land.
And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel,
and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.
Abram pitched his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east.
Bethel means house of God.
Ai means heap of ruins.
Abram turned to the house of God and turned his back on Ai, the ruins of the city in the east which he build out of the strength of the flesh.
The tabernacle in the desert and later the temple in Jerusalem were also set up in a specific way.
They were built with the entrance on the east side (Ex.27:13-16, Eze.8:16).
The only way to enter the sanctuary was from east to west, along with the Light.
That way is a way of spiritual growth; from outside God’s House, ignorant and darkened in our minds, into the most holy place, heaven, where the throne of God is.
At the birth of Jesus we see a number of wise men move from the east to the west.
They went west, like Abram, with the sun, and when they arrived in Jerusalem, they asked:
Matthew 2:2 (NKJV)
Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?
For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.
The wise had gained earthly wisdom in the east, but they turned their backs on that human wisdom and set out for…
…Christ; the power of God and the wisdom of God.
(1 Corinthians 1:24 (NKJV))
How about you?
Are you going from east to west, following God’s Spirit to meet the King in spirit, to worship Him?
Are you just as pleasantly surprised with the appearance of the king star in your life?
Are you willing to leave all earthly wisdom behind you to get to know Him, so that you can say later, or perhaps already now:
For his sake I have discarded everything else,
counting it all as garbage,
so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.
(Philippians 3:8-9 (NLT))
The Lord Jesus said His coming, His parousia, His presence would be like a bright light shining from east to west.
God says to you:
Malachi 4:2 (NLT)
for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings!
Isaiah 60:1 (NKJV)
Arise, shine; For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you!
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and deep darkness the people
but the Lord will arise over you,
and His glory will be seen upon you!
His coming from east to west is a process in secret, within you.
But the Light of that new day will not stay hidden (Matt.5:14).
The coming of His light will be seen in all glory. It shines in us already (1John 2:8).
The day of the Lord has already arrived!
And in the great day of the Lord it will be revealed and seen everywhere (Rev.21:24).
It will eventually enlighten every person! (John 1:9).
Numbers 14:21 (NKJV)
All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord!
Follow Jesus on the path to the glory of God.
Proverbs 4:18 (NKJV)
The path of the just is like the shining sun,
that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
Matthew 24:27
For as the light comes from the east and shines to the west,
so also is the coming of the Son of Man.
ERCHOMAI
The sixth word used, when speaking of the coming of Christ, is the word Erchomai.
Jesus uses the word in Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:30 (NKJV)
They will see the Son of Man
coming (Erchomai) on the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory.
Chapter 24 in the book of Matthew teaches us much about the coming of Christ.
Many terms that occur in nature are used in that chapter, such as clouds, lightning, and trumpet blast.
When Jesus says of Himself that He is a door, we understand very well that He is not a real door, but that He means that He is the doorway to the Father.
Even when He talks about sheep, we immediately understand that he is talking about the believers, the people who follow him.
Although not literally, He is after all the Good Shepherd.
When He speaks of clouds, lightning, and trumpet blast, however we often take it literally. If He meant one literally and the other spiritual, wouldn’t it be very confusing? Then we really get mixed up with a lot of texts, like for example the last verse of the chapter:
Matthew 24:51 (NASB)
He will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites.
In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
First of all, it is difficult for a person to gnash his teeth when he is chopped into pieces. And second, this doesn’t sound like an act of a loving Father if this would happen in the natural.
No, we are not allowed to choose for ourselves what we interpret literally and what we interpret spiritually.
Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Jesus still communicates the same as He always did, which is by using natural things to teach us the spiritual
So let’s follow the Holy Spirit and pray that we may hear what He is telling us…
Revelation 3:18 (NKJV)
…. and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
Revelation 2:17 (NKJV)
He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Jesus uses the clouds, which are visible to us in the natural, so that we could understand the spiritual, the invisible.
God often makes His glorious presence known through a cloud throughout the Bible.
This already happened when Israel started the exodus from Egypt:
Exodus 13:21 (NKJV)
The Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud to lead the way.
Later, Moses is instructed by God to build the tabernacle. This tabernacle is a picture of you.
You can learn a lot about your identity as a child of God through this tabernacle.
If you want to learn more about this, please read my study on ‘a new heaven and a new earth‘ and don’t forget to subscribe. 😉
God had said to Moses:
Exodus 25:8 (NLT)
Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.
All the parts of this sanctuary, the tabernacle, were made by different people and eventually the tabernacle was set up and furnished.
Exodus 40:34 (NLT)
Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle.
The cloud bears witness to God’s presence in all glory.
He is always protectively present; from the Exodus from Egypt to forever in the Promised Land!
This still applies today, also for us.
Jesus has rescued us from Egypt; from the bondage of sin. The glory of God, Christ in us, leads us to the promised land to conquer and inherit it.
God shows this to us through visible objects and events throughout the Bible.
On the 1st of Nisan, the first day of the first month (Exodus 40:17), the tabernacle was put up for the first time.
The people of Israel, who lived in tents around the tabernacle, were commanded by God to remain where they were as long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle. On the 20th of iar, the 20th day of the second month according to the Jewish calendar, the cloud, and with it the entire nation, starts moving (Numbers 10:11).
This is exactly fifty days after the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God, was built.
But…
Acts 17:24 (NLT)
…the God who made the world and everything in it doesn’t live in man-made temples!
God lives in the temple that He Himself made.
That’s you!
You are the tabernacle where God lives.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?
The natural images of the tabernacle and the cloud therefore have a deep spiritual meaning.
Jesus said:
John 2:19-21 (NKJV)
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Then the Jews said, it has taken forty-six years to build this temple,
and will You raise it up in three days?
But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
Remember that these are also natural images to show us the spiritual!
1 Corinthians 12:27 (NLT)
All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
So you are the body of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit.
This new temple was built through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You are this new temple, the temple where God lives, the body of Christ. God does not live in temples made with hands, God lives in you, the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Exactly 50 days after Moses built the tabernacle, the temple that was made by human hands, the cloud, containing the presence and glory of God, began to move.
Now that the cloud was moving, the people were also allowed to move.
The cloud led the people to the promised land and the people followed the cloud.
In the New Testament we see the spiritual fulfilment of this image. Just before Jesus is lifted up to heaven, He tells His disciples to stay in Jerusalem.
Acts 1:4 (NLT)
Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before.
They do what Jesus commanded and…
Acts 2:1 (GWT)
…when Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Passover, came,
all the believers were together in one place.
Suddenly, a sound like a violently blowing wind came from the sky
and filled the whole house where they were staying.
Exactly fifty days after the temple that was not made by man was built, the Holy Spirit, the glory of God, came upon man.
Man, as the tabernacle of God, was covered by the cloud of God and filled with His glory!
Exactly fifty days after Moses set up the tabernacle, the cloud moved and only then were the people allowed to move.
(Exodus 40:34 the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle)
Jesus personally instructed His disciples not to move until God moved. Fifty days after the temple was erected, which was not man-made, they were allowed to move. Just as the cloud led the people of God to the promised land, so the Holy Spirit leads you to the promised land.
Hebrews 1:1-3 (NASB)
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things.
And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.
The glory of God in His Son became visible in Jesus when He took Peter, John and James up a mountain.
Matthew 17:2,3,5 (NLT)
Jesus’ appearance changed in front of them.
His face became as bright as the sun and his clothes as white as light.
Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them and were talking with Jesus.
He was still speaking when a bright cloud overshadowed them.
Then a voice came out of the cloud and said,
this is my Son, whom I love and with whom I am pleased. Listen to him!
On Mount Sinai, God had spoken to Moses from the cloud.
Exodus 24:15 (NKJV)
Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.
Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai.
And now God has spoken to us through the Son, who is the radiance of His glory.
We see the cloud again later when Jesus is lifted up to heaven.
Acts 1:9-11 (NASB)
He was lifted up while they were looking on,
and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going,
behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.
They also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?
This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven,
will come (Erchomai) in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.
Jesus is glorified. He is completely absorbed in the cloud, in the cloud of the full glory of the Father.
About 60 years later, the apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos.
There, on that island, the Holy Spirit shows him what those men in white clothing meant by “you shall see Him coming in just the same way as you have seen Him go to heaven.”
And as the visions began to unfold, John cried out in great amazement and with great joy:
Revelation 1:7 (NKJV)
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him!
(Ιδου) idou is the Greek word here translated ‘behold’. The word means that we must pay close attention, along the lines of: Pay attention!, Listen carefully! Idou is used when an event is described that seems impossible, but will happen anyway. “Behold, He is coming…..”.
He is coming, the Greek erchomai, here, is present participle, so it is a coming that is already happening. So the two men in white said to the disciples, “As you have now seen Him go to heaven, likewise He coming right now!”
The general thinking is that Christ came 2,000 years ago and that He will come again later, at the end of the world.
But His coming is in the eternal now.
His coming is in you, as the temple of the Spirit of Christ, wherein He comes from glory to glory (2Cor.3:18).
Erchomai means that He makes Himself known in us and clearly visible to everyone around us.
Erchomai means: coming in the sense of appearing to the general public.
Thus Jesus appeared to Israel 2,000 years ago.
Thus He now appears as the fullness of Christ in His own body; the church.
So first the Son reveals Himself in secret, within you. As with Paul:
Galatians 1:16
It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.
In this way you get to know God, the Father, and in this way you get to know the Son; yourself.
It’s…
Ephesians 4:12-13 (YLT)
…for a building up of the body of the Christ,
till we may all come to the unity of the faith
and of the recognition of the Son of God,
to a perfect man,
to a measure of stature of the fulness of the Christ.
These sons of God are then revealed as the fullness of Christ to the general public, to all creation.
This revelation so affected John that he exclaimed:
Behold, Idou! He is coming….! Erchomai! And every eye will see Him!
Romans 8:19 (NASB)
For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly
for the revealing of the sons of God.
CLOUDS & RAIN
The clouds in the Bible have a deep meaning.
In the clouds dwells the glory and majesty of the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
The secret of the meaning of the clouds lies in their function:
Clouds retain water and distribute it over the earth.
Now throughout the Bible you see one as opposed to another.
For example the goats against the sheep, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil against the tree of life and Babylon against the New Jerusalem.
It is the earthly, earthly wisdom, the mind of the flesh versus the heavenly, the wisdom of God.
With the clouds and also the water you see this same image.
Already on the second day of creation, God separates water from water.
Genesis 1:6-10 (NKJV)
God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters
and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Thus God made the firmament
and divided the waters which were under the firmament
from the waters which were above the firmament.
And God called the firmament Heaven.
Then God said, let the waters under the heavens
be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.
And God called the dry land Earth,
and the gathering together of the waters He called Sea.
The second day of creation is the only day that does not say that God saw that it was good.
On that day, God separates water from water by placing a firmament between them.
This firmament He calls heaven.
On the fourth day, God makes the sun, moon, and stars and places them in this firmament.
We now see the image emerging of water above the heavens and water on the earth, below the heavens.
This water on earth He calls sea.
Water is an image of the Word. It is a picture of what is being said.
The water above the firmament is the Word of God; the Wisdom of God.
The water under the firmament is what man says; earthly wisdom.
Jesus is the water from above the firmament.
He came to the earth to make the water under the firmament the same water as the water above the firmament.
Look:
John 1:1,4,14 (NKJV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 4:14 (NKJV)
Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst!
But the water that I shall give him
will become in him a fountain of water
springing up into everlasting life.
Jesus is the Word of God, the Wisdom of God, the water from above the firmament.
He came to earth as a man so that we can see the glory of God in the only begotten son of God.
This only begotten son of God is the Christ. Jesus is the head of the Christ and we are the body of the Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:27 (NLT)
All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it!
Jesus came to tell us the truth of God.
When you drink this truth, it will become a well within you. Then, everything that is in Him is also formed in you; His body.
In this way it will be on earth as it is in heaven.
In this way we are being equipped for the work of ministry…
Ephesians 4:12-13 (YLT)
…for a building up of the body of the Christ,
till we may all come to the unity of the faith
and of the recognition of the Son of God,
to a perfect man,
to a measure of stature of the fulness of the Christ.
In this way the whole earth is filled with the glory of the Lord.
Numbers 14:21 (NKJV)
All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord!
In this way arises what John had already seen in the spirit:
Revelation 21:1 (NKJV)
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
Also there was no more sea.
The sea, the water under the firmament, the earthly wisdom, is no longer there.
It has become one with the water above the firmament, the truth of God.
Of course there are those who do not accept the truth from God or twist the truth into a lie.
2 Peter 2:17 (NKJV)
These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest.
These people are clouds that fall short of their goal.
They do not retain water and do not irrigate the earth so that it can bear fruit.
Be therefore irrigated with the water from above the firmament so that this water becomes a source of living water within you.
You then become a cloud filled with the water of truth. A cloud on which Christ has come to earth.
Revelation 1:7 (NKJV)
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him!
You, along with all believers, are the clouds on which Jesus comes.
Our hope therefore is not that Jesus will some day return, Christ within you is the hope of glory!
Colossians 1:27b (NKJV)
Christ in you, the hope of glory!
Matthew 24:23 (NKJV)
Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it!
For every eye will see Him…
2 Thessalonians 1:10-11 (TMB)
…when He shall come on that Day to be glorified in His saints
and to be admired in all those who believe.
Therefore also we pray always for you,
that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you,
and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 22:20 (NASB)
He who testifies to these things says,
yes, I am coming quickly!
Come, Lord Jesus!
