Bible Correction: Mark 1:1-3, 14-15, The Greek Word Euaggelion Means THE REWARD THE RECEIVERS OF A MESSAGE GIVE THE MESSENGER WHO DELIVERS THE MESSAGE TO THEM--John The Baptist Was An Old Testament Prophecy, The Destiny Of The New Testament Messenger

I have been striving to understand the Gospel According to Mark a little better. I am pretty sure we have misjudged Mark's perspective. I have, anyway. For instance, the first word in the Greek text of Mark is apo, a preposition meaning "motion forth FROM, or away FROM, the surface of an object" (Bullinger, Companion Bible app. 104 iv; emphasis mine). It seems to me that in "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God," we automatically think of the beginning of the message about Jesus Christ, that the story is going toward the formation of the gospel, not developing from it. Mark is speaking of a departure FROM an object, and that object was the subject of certain prophecies as a unit, the Old Testament prophecies of the messenger: "As it was written by Isaiah the Prophet, that, 'Behold, I shall send my messenger before your face, to lay out your path. The voice that cries in the wilderness, "Consecrate the path of the Lord, and lay down his avenues"'" (v. 2-3 Alexander).

Interesting to me is that the Greek apo, the first word, is translated as "beginning." Victor Alexander translates Mark 1:1 from the Aramaic as, "The beginning of the Revelation of the Anointed Life-giver, Son of God." That beginning is the Old Testament prophecies; THEY are the beginning of the Revelation of the Anointed Life-giver, the Son of God. John 1:1 identifies the Anointed Life-giver as the Milta (Miltha), "In the beginning was the Milta (the Manifestation of God), and that Milta (Manifestation) was with God, and God was t[he embodiment of ] that Milta (Manifestation)." And Moses in Genesis 1:1, "As the beginning the Son of God creates the heavens and the earth" (Alexander).

Alexander's note on Mark 1:1 intimates that the Aramaic begins not with apo but the Aramaic awon-galee-yoon, or, "He Reveals." I think Mark 1:1 from the Aramaic would read: "He reveals the Anointed Life-giver, Son of God. As it was written by Isaiah the prophet, that, 'Behold, I shall send my messenger before your face, to lay out your path.'" Could it be we miss that Mark means both John the Baptist AND Jesus are messengers? John the Baptist was a summation of the Old Testament, a type, and Jesus was its fulfillment. John as a messenger laid out Jesus' path. They were a unit: "He must increase, and I must decrease," said John; and Jesus proclaimed, "The Age of the Old Testament is over" (v. 15 Alexander). The point: "Daniel 9:24 is here."

But my interest here is the Greek word euaggellion in Mark 1:14 and 15. For up until the writing of the New Testament, the word euaggelion had meant the REWARD given to the messenger who brought a message. It wasn't the message; it was the reward for giving the message. Look above at that beginning, "He Reveals." "He reveals" is also the meaning of the last word of John 1:18, "No human ever saw God, except for the only born God, He who existed in the bosom of his Father, [Whom] He Reveals" (my take on Alexander with literal meaning of the last Greek word in John 1:18).  I.e., the bringer of the message from God, the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the Messenger, IS the message itself, and for this giving forth he deserves a reward.

Keep ahold of this idea, that Jesus was the Messenger fulfilling the prophecies, destined to reveal God. According to the Scriptures and Irenaeus, Jesus as the Second Adam recapitulated (think spoke again) the life and failings of the First Adam, of whom we have been, and slaves to sin. In recapitulating man's failings to follow God's will, Jesus at every point adhered to God's will--even to the shame and sufferings of the cross. In Mark 15:34, Jesus cried out, "My God, My God (in the sense of My Supreme Provider), this was my destiny." For he was fulfilling the prophecies and the path laid out by John the Baptist. In John 19:30, Jesus according to Alexander said, "'It is adhered to.' He bowed his head and commended his spirit." THE RECAPITULATION WAS COMPLETE, GOD'S WILL HAD BEEN PERFECTLY ADHERED TO. The price had been paid, the punishment fulfilled, there was a new federal head to whom we could adhere, who had just happened to reveal God, because he was God. The eternal righteousness (Daniel 9:24) was here for you and for me.

So, how are we to reward the Messenger, when we haven't got a thing? The euaggelion is our only hope.

Mark 1:14. After John was betrayed, Jesus came to Galilee, and preached the Hope of the Kingdom of God,
15. And he said, "The Age has ended,* and the Kingdom of God has arrived. Repent and BELIEVE IN THE HOPE [OF SALVATION]" (Alexander).

"My Highest Provider*, My Highest Provider, This Was My Destiny!" (--To Recapitulate Man And To Reveal You To The World; I.E., To Be The Manifestation Of The Savior YOU Are) (Mark 15:34)

'*Illiy Strong's Concordance Hebrew Dictionary #5927, 5942-5946 -- to ascend, be high, supreme, lofty, (most) high. The Lord God Almighty. Reflects Jesus' humility before His Father. Jesus cried out in a loud voice (v. 37), "Behold, it is adhered to!" (John 19:30, literal Aramaic idiom). What was adhered to? The Law of God is His own nature, which Jesus came to fulfill. The first Adam blew it. He had doubted God's words. The second Adam believed them, recapitulating the first's failings. They were adhered to -- the perfect life had been lived. "What ya going to do with it, Jesus?" "I'm going to give it for . . . "

The Essential Connotation of the Ineffable is to Manifest!!

The essential connotation of the Ineffable is to manifest. That is why there are so many of us! God is expanding, growing, stretching, maturing. He has assumed Himself the completion of everything. Now He has to give birth to them. God is operating on an infinite and eternal basis; there are so many things He CAN be, and He is going to be them all. God wants to manifest, to be manifestING. The whole thing of Eternity is it is the ACT of Manifestation of the Ineffable Being. It isn't for nothing that this blog is named The Becoming God. We are all little bits of this act, of His becoming.

God Takes The Blame

There is only God. In Jesus Christ's taking our punishment for our sin in his death on the cross, he also took the CREDIT for our sin. He made us = He made our sin. In His birth, death, and resurrection He was and is saying, "There is nothing but Me. Points 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all ME(!)."

There is only God, and He the Consciousness of the Ineffable-Mystery-Beyond-The-Nothingness AND THAT CONSCIOUSNESS'S MANIFESTATION. The two are one thing. In Jesus Christ's--the Manifestation of God's--taking our punishment for our sin in his death on the cross, he also took the CREDIT for our sin. He makes us to make Himself = He makes our sin to make us into Himself. He was and is saying, "There is nothing but the Ineffable-Mystery-Beyond-The-Nothingness, which includes Me, the Manifestation of Its essential connotation. What the Ineffable did to become Itself, I do, too, to become Me, for I am It."

By Its actions the Ineffable-Mystery-Beyond-The-Nothingness says to us, "I am." By Its action, Its Manifestation, the Milta, says to us, "I am that 'I am.'"

Think It Now Answer Continues

I recently purchased The Return Of Glory, 1969 Lectures (Vol. 7) by Neville (Trafford Publishing). I got the book specifically for the July 25th, 1969 lecture "Test Him and See." It turns out that lecture is not in the book, which is apparently a selection, but not all, of Neville's lectures from 1969 (at over a thousand pages long, though, it is enough). I noticed among the included lectures "Revelation of the Word Within Us" (pages 512-522). This lecture answers very neatly the questions raised concerning my post "Think It Now":

"'It was loyalty to THAT world 24/7, regardless of whatever was happening in this world. The Jews were to be focused on THAT world, be keyed up for it, believing they received it NOW, not just when they went to sleep.'
This above part....does this mean dwelling in the past?.... what is "that world"?....is it the imaginal or the past/old world?"

Okay, I just put an emphasis on the word 'now.' And I digress here to T. L. Osborn's outline of the Gospel:

1) God created everything great, wonderful, beautiful, pleasant, in harmony, loving, open, connected, and man and Him mono y mono.

2) Satan deceived Eve and Adam, "He didn't mean it," introducing sin, sickness, and death to man and his world. Man became guilty and separated from conscious awareness of God.

3) The Milta, the Manifestation of God, became manifest in Jesus and in his purity offered himself a substitutionary--and complete--sacrifice for man.

4) With repentance of self-lordship, humility in surrender, submission to God's will, and accepting Jesus the Manifestation of God as Messiah, MAN IS RESTORED TO POINT 1.

Point 1. THAT is the world we are to be loyal to.

As for receiving it now, there is a double-down on that. When we remember all God's faithful works of old, of his mercy and deliverance, of his care and grace and by faith receive those things as ours now, we generate those things in our future. And as we imagine the wonderful things to come in the future AS RECEIVED and remember them with gratitude, we generate those things in our future.

The Word, the Milta, the Manifestation of God--God Himself--is within us, sleeping. Wake Him (and yourself) up to point 4!

July 12th, Minnie Riperton Day, is coming. Sad irony that even angels die.

Think It Now: Past Present, and Future Present

There is advice around that says to imagine what you want as you lie down to sleep. I think it is better advice to practice in advance what you are going to think then. I.e., imagine now, so you draw on a vivid repertoire of familiar sensations in your imagination rather than an empty slate. Be ready to really pray. The stories in the Bible have an association with this. In my post Think It Now, I managed to make it confusing. I wrote:

"Neville took all this as being part of the process of prayer. "When ye pray, believe ye receive, and ye will," Jesus says in Mark 11:24. But it is a heap of stuff to come up with when you are going to sleep. In the Bible, the Jews were to center their lives around the Law, their experiences. They were to remember their history, the Exodus, God's voice at Mount Sinai, the giving of the Law--how they are supposed to act and think about the world that is supposed to be. It was loyalty to THAT world 24/7, regardless of whatever was happening in this world. The Jews were to be focused on THAT world, be keyed up for it, believing they received it now, not just when they went to sleep."

Someone asked, "I loved the way you connected NG and Jewish teaching.
But couldn’t understand . . .
. . . 'It was loyalty to THAT world 24/7, regardless of whatever was happening in this world. The Jews were to be focused on THAT world, be keyed up for it, believing they received it now, not just when they went to sleep.'
This above part....does this mean dwelling in the past?.... what is "that world"?....is it the imaginal or the past/old world?

Thank you.
PS: you can publish the reply/question, but without my name."

To whom I thank for the questions and the opportunity to clarify my train of thought.

(To my present readers:) My original post was inspired by Brian Scott's discussion on Frank Channing Haddock's Power of Will. I was interested in the exercises in the second half of the book. I realized that the Jew's life is much like that: write the Law on your doorposts; wear the Law on your body; make the Law your topic of conversation; keep the Law in these ceremonies; and on and on. Night and day the Jews are to remember and rehearse the introduction to the nature of God, the nature we all will live in in the end of the Manifestation. Knowing God from the past as though it were present is key to believing we are in the Kingdom of the future in the present. The Jews are to be in that future world NOW, for the Milta, the Manifestation of God who is the Messiah IS its existence, and they are to be in Him. That is why He said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life." If we are in Him, we are in it.

(This is how I answered the questions:) My post was intentionally confusing a) to make readers wrestle with it, and b) because the matter is confusing. No, it is not dwelling on the past that the Jews/ we are to engage in, it is dwelling on the future as though it were the past: "Live in the future in remembrance of Me." -- Live your present life believing you have already received the future situation you desire, confident due to your past interaction with the Milta that it is true in His being, i.e., as He will be in the end.

I suppose this is confusing because there seems to be two Miltas, which would imply three Gods. There is in my view one ineffable Being who is at once a) unmanifest, b) ASSUMED-BY-THE-UNMANIFEST-TO-BE-FULLY-MANIFEST, and c) that assumed Manifestation becoming the fulfillment of the Ineffable's manifestation. It is kind of like if you were all the qualities of a cake, and you wanted to BE a cake, so you imagined you were a cake. To you, that cake--you--exists. So, over there, YOU exist. But that existence is an assumption BELIEVED to be material, but not really material YET. The imagined-to-be-material cake has the power to make itself into the real cake--i.e., become literal and fulfilled--over time. The assumed cake will be real in the future, but it has to make itself, first.

The question is, are we part of the cake's fixings, or not? The Law is, "You are supposed to be like this." So we learn the Law, what the finished Cake is like (here are our past experiences), and act like the Cake, believe in the Cake, imagine we are included in the ingredients of the Cake, AND LEAVE THE BAKING TO THE BECOMING CAKE.

The Torah tells us what the unmanifest Mystery-Beyond-the-Endlessness is like attitudinally, in Its values, and in Its manifestation. We are to think and act like It. We obviously are not there yet, but the Milta is a bakin'. We are to be loyal to the Milta's END STATE, to the Ineffable's full manifestation, THAT world, 24/7, believing we have RECEIVED the future.

It came to mind after I wrote the above that you might not know my view of the "Gospel." Messiah Jesus came preaching, "The season (of the Old Testament) is fulfilled. Repent and believe the Gospel." The Gospel cannot be the message or report of his substitutionary sacrifice for us. The Greek word euaggelion meant the reward that was given the the deliverer of the message or report. Jesus revealed the Father to us: "'Hello. I, by being His Manifestation, am He." We give him a reward for it--ourselves in complete surrender to Him, like an ephah of fine flour in the Temple sacrifices: "Here, bake your cake with this." When He accepts us as Milta material He enlivens our spirit with the power of His Holy Ghost, making us citizens NOW of the New Jerusalem that will be the capital of the world in the end. Christians tell one another "Keep looking down, for ye are seated in heavenly places with Christ."

One last thing, if any of this has made sense; Neville always said not to force what is to be. The Milta does it. We are here for His purposes, not ours. HE is to be satisfied, not us, though we certainly will be in the end.

Thank you for reading and for the excellent question. I hope I haven't confused you further.
Dan Steele

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PS: I do not by what I have written mean to endorse Brian Scott. I am not really familiar with him, except I was in kindergarten occult before I was saved, and he reminds me of those times. Power of will is dangerous if ours is not submitted to God's will. I think Neville walked a fine line in wisdom, because he knew his Bible and the Milta. He found a real good place to stand, and he let God be the doer of the verb part.