Water & Fire 2006:

 

Initially partially e-published as the Sukkot 2006 Seminar Series for the Port Austin Bible Center

Living Metaphors

“J” is to “P” as Stone is to Spirit

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 Abstract

 

Meaning is assigned to words, with this assignment of meaning restricted by an element of Thirdness; therefore, when words are inscribed in poetic discourse where the focus of the discourse is not the usual assignment of meaning but the artifice forming the discourse, the auditor [reader] must possess privileged information to take from the discourse the “intended meaning” of the author. In the case of Holy Scripture, the privileged information is obtained through the born-of-Spirit process, by which a person receives a second life that is not sustained by physical breath but by divine breath. This relationship between the creature and the divine can only be expressed in figurative language, but is most easily seen in the linguistic objects assigned to the Greek icon:B<,L:". These objects are in hierarchal order: wind [moving air], deep human breath, the creative power of the divine. Thus, when a person receives a second life, the person is metaphorically said to be born of Spirit [A<,L:"], with the creative power of God identified as the Holy Spirit [A<,L:" U(4@<] or “Breath Holy.” And as no person would assign personhood to his or her breath, personhood can only be improperly and illogically assigned to the “breath” of God although the historicity of the assignment of personhood (because of the element of Thirdness) makes it difficult for any self-identified Christian to perceive the creative power of the Divine as a “force” and not as an entity.

The man Jesus of Nazareth only spoke to His first disciples in figurative language, for He spoke the words of the Divine, which are not about the things of this world but about the things of the timeless dimension usually identified as heaven. Therefore, the Gospels are written in principally metaphoric language in which the things of heaven are “named” with the linguistic icons used for things of this world. But this use of language requires a differing set of linguistic objects to be assigned to familiar icons, with only those holding privileged knowledge able to properly make the intended assignment.

Comprehending the relationship between the usual assignment of objects to icons by Christian reading communities and the intended Divine assignment requires perceiving the Genesis 1:1 through 2:3 creation account [the so-called “P” account] as the abstract of the Divine’s plan for spiritual procreation, not as the record of the creation of the physical universe. This perception will “see” that the historical record of the Body of Christ closely mirrors [and will continue to mirror] the scriptural account of the physical body of the man Jesus between noon on the 14th of Abib when He was raised on the Cross and the hour of the Wave Sheaf Offering on the morrow after the Sabbath during Passover week. This “mirroring” will have the Body of Christ slowly dying from loss of divine Breath for a period comparable to the hours between noon and 3:00 pm, remaining visible but dead between 3:00 pm and dusk, then dead and concealed for a period equivalent to three days and three nights, then resurrected but concealed by darkness for a period equivalent to the night portion of the morrow after the Sabbath, followed by glorification and acceptance by the Father during the day portion of the first day of a new week. The “gates of hell” will not prevail against the Body of Christ, for as the physical Body was resurrected from death, so too will the spiritual Body be resurrected from death, its present status and its status until the seven endtime years begin. The translated phrase the gates of hell shall not prevail should not be understood to preclude death, but only to preclude remaining dead.

The Body of Christ was alive when public miracles—the speech acts of God—were occurring. When the Body lives again, public miracles will again occur. The age without public miracles discloses when the Body died and how long it has remained dead.

As the first Elijah lay over the son of the widow of Zarephath three times before breath returned to that Gentile child, the last Elijah will lie over and breathe into the nostrils of the dead Body of Christ three times before this child again breathes on its own. The first “lying over” occurred when Radical Reformers broke from the old church and the reformed church. The second time occurred in the Great Awakening period. The third time will occur at the second Passover when disciples are empowered by the Holy Spirit [A<,L:" U(4@<]. The Son of Man will then be revealed, Head and Body.

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