App
There are conditions, possibilities, uncertainty and ifs shown by this little Greek word
Fred R. Coulter—March 25, 2017
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[Transcriber's note: Current events not in transcript: Transcript begins at 20:36 of audio.]
Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! We've a good number of sermon leading up to Passover, I'm going to cover some different things.
I want to cover something today that will help us in our Bible study and help us in the Word of God and understanding it. We're going to cover some Scriptures we've covered in the past and look at them from a Greek perspective.
Daniel 10:19—this is Gabriel talking to Daniel: "And said, 'O man greatly beloved, do not fear. Peace be unto you; be strong; yea, be strong.' And when he had spoken to me, I was made stronger, and I said, 'Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.'"
Think about the power of the word of an angel. I want you to think about some of these things that are pretty fantastic.
Verse 20: "Then he said, 'Do you know why I come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I go forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come…. [but that was several hundred years later] …But I will show you that which is written in the Scripture of Truth" (vs 20-21). Where was this written? In heaven! It could also read the Scroll of Truth.
Let's think ahead a little bit. When you come to Rev. 5 you have the books, which are scrolls that are written and sealed, written in heaven! So, the Word of God is first written in heaven! When Christ talks about the prophecy of Christ, He said it is written of Me in a book 'to do your will, O God.' We need to think in greater terms concerning the Word of God, and how far off all of these so-called scholars and theologians are concerning the Word of God. If it is written in heaven and written there long before it ever occurs…
We're going to understand the Scripture here. We've read Matt. 5 how many, many times? What we're going to do is we're going to see the placement of the Greek word 'an' ('alpha' 'mu'—Greek letters 'a' 'n'). This word is placed where it's necessary to show there are conditions, possibilities and uncertainty. Some of these come in 'IF' statements. That's another version of it. Some of them come in 'may' statements like John 3:16.
Matthew 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill."
Where is this also written? In the Scripture of Truth in heaven! How many times was it in almost every case with Ezekiel? How did it start out? In every verse, something came from God; 'The Word of the Lord came to me…' With Moses? 'God said…'
Jesus said, 'I do nothing of Myself, but as I see the Father do it…' and 'The commandment of the Father that's what I do.'
All of that is written down in the Scroll of Truth in heaven!
Now, 'fulfill' does not mean to end. Fulfill means to fill to the full or complete. Let's apply this to the priesthood and all of the offerings; that's what God gave to Israel with the prophecy of the coming of Jesus (Deut. 18:15). So, when Jesus comes and replaces the sacrifices with Himself; that replaces all of the sacrifices.
He fulfilled, and after it's fulfilled does it stop? or Does it keep going? Is Jesus our High Priest that He fulfilled all function of all the priesthood and the Levites? Yes, indeed! When He did that He elevated it to a higher level. He didn't fulfill it to cause it to cease to be, which is how the Protestants explain it. This gets even deeper when we get into it.
Verse 18: "For truly I say to you, until… [right there is the Greek word 'an' (pronounced on—not translatable] …the heaven and the earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled."
Now then, you will see in v 18 there are two 'ans'—till it be fulfilled—everything! Has everything been fulfilled? Also, this Greek word for 'fulfilled' means come to pass or come in to being Now, heaven and earth are still here! Where does it show that the heaven and earth pass away? Revelation 21! What happens with every beginning? Here's a beginning: new heaven and new earth. Does that change the laws of God? No! It amplifies them!
Revelation 21:1: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea."
Verse 27: "And nothing that defiles shall ever enter into it, nor shall anyone who practices an abomination or devises a lie; but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life"—which is also another book in heaven.
What does this tell us? The commandments of God continue! So, when of the new heavens and new earth come, there's going to be another upgrade of the fulfilling of those commandments. Fulfill means to bring to the full or complete. It doesn't mean to fulfill to eliminate. So, there are two of them there: until heaven and earth, shall in no way pass until… ['an'] …everything has been fulfilled Is God going to complete his plan? Yes, indeed!
Now let's look at the words no way. This becomes important because there are two more Greek words here, "…in no way…":
- 'ou' or 'ouk'—the impossibility of it ever taking place
- 'me'—do not think; a negation of your thought process that you cannot even think the thought that it's going to be abolished
Both are negations! "…in no way…" has both of those 'ouk' and 'me' together. A double negation like that tells us the impossibility of it ever taking place! That's why he says don't even think of it!
Matthew 5:31: "It was also said in ancient times, 'Whoever… ['an'] …shall divorce his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.' But I say to you, whoever… ['an'] …shall divorce his wife…" (vs 31-32)—meaning there are conditions; this statement by itself must be looked at in the light of other statements, because we will see one of the conditions.
"…except for the cause of sexual immorality…" (v 32). That means there is a condition for divorce and remarriage if it is a transgression of God's law in a way that destroys and perverts the marriage.
"…causes her to commit adultery; and whoever shall marry her who has been divorced is committing adultery" (v 32).
This can be very interesting in relationship to prayer and this will help you have your prayers answered even more when you understand how this applies:
Matthew 6:5: "And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, in order… [the goal] …that they may be seen by men…." That is telling you the condition they pray, because they want to be seen by men rather than praying to God.
"…Truly I say to you, they have their reward…." (v 5)—that is that they been seen by men.
Verse 7: "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions…" There are repetitions necessary because they are needed all the time, but those are not vain.
"…for they think that by multiplying their words they shall be heard. Now then, do not be like them; for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him. Therefore, you are to pray after this manner…" (vs 7-9).
We're going to see several places where the particle 'an' is used in relationship to praying.
"…'Our Father, Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name; Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven'" (vs 9-10). This tells us that every prayer has to be within the realm of the will of God. How do you know what His will is?
Verse 25: "Because of this I say to you, do not be anxious about your life as to what you shall eat and what you shall drink; nor about your body as to what you shall wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?"—because your Father knows the things you have need of!
Verse 32: "For the nations seek after all these things. And your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But as for you, seek first… [keep on seeking] …the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." So, God will take care of us if we are trusting in Him; that is the whole condition for prayer.
We're going to see several instances where that Jesus says to pray, but then there is that little Greek particle 'an' that tells us there are conditions!
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Matthew 12:17: "So that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, 'Behold My Servant, Whom I have chosen; My Beloved, in Whom My soul has found delight. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He shall declare judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry out, neither shall anyone hear His voice in the streets'" (vs 17-19). That is as a rebel-rouser saying political things
Verse 20: "A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, until… ['an'] … He brings forth the judgment unto victory." How many conditions must be fulfilled with this? Considering all the time, at this point right here you've got:
- the calling of the disciples
- the beginning of the church
then you get to the book of Rev. 20 when
- the judgment comes
There are other judgments in between, but this is the final one. What are the condition? Whenever you see where there is 'an' that means that you have to think about all the condition, all the possibilities.
Verse 21: "And the Gentiles shall hope in His name.'
Verse 30: The one who is not with Me is against Me…" Then you also have where it says in another place 'those who are on our part are not against us.' So, you can take this verse and the other verse and apply it to the Protestants. There are many Protestants who are for Jesus not against Him, and then other Protestants who are against Jesus, especially those who bring in the Muslims to read the Koran in their churches. That's against Jesus!
"…and the one who does not gather with Me scatters. Because of this, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men except the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit…" (vs 30-31).
Verse 32: "And whoever speaks… [there's 'an' right there] …a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him…"
- What are the conditions for forgiveness of sin? It's not just, 'Hey, I'm just going to over look it and forgive it!
- What does a person have to do? They have to repent!
- What did Jesus say when He came and he came into Galilee preaching the Gospel? Repent and believe the Gospel!
You can look at that and think of all the conditions that are necessary.
How do you have your sins forgiven? What did we cover with that? Through the sacrifice of Christ; that's another condition. Then you have the condition that you believe! So, it's not like writing out a pink slip and saying all your all your sins are forgiven. No! There are conditions!
Verse 32: "And whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the coming age." Very interesting, indeed!
Verse 46: "But while He was still speaking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and His brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, 'Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You'" (vs 46-47).
Someone could say that Jesus dishonored His mother, but He didn't. Why? Because she fit into the category that He speaks of here!
Verse 48: "But He answered and said to him, 'Who is My mother? And who are My brothers?' And stretching out His hand to His disciples, He said, 'Behold, My mother and My brothers. For whoever… ['an'—condition] …shall do the will of My Father, Who is in heaven, that one is My brother and sister and mother.'" (vs 48-50).
So, when you understand just this one little thing, it helps you understand more of the Scriptures, and that it all has to fit together.
John 16:32: "Listen, the time is coming, and has already come, that you shall be scattered each to his own, and you shall leave Me alone; and yet, I am not alone because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. But be courageous! I have overcome the world" (vs 32-33)—showing that having our sins forgiven is also overcoming the world.
Matthew 21:22: "And everything… ['an'] …that you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive"—there are conditions:
- it has to be according to the will of God
- it has to be that God will give it to you
- you have to believe
Sometimes we pray for things that we think we want and God needs to give us, but God answers no because He knows that that wouldn't be good for us. So, those are the conditions.
Matthew 23:1: "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, 'The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on Moses' seat as judges.'" (vs 1-2).
The Pharisees took it by arrogating it to themselves, because they were not Levites—those Pharisees who were not Levites—could not sit in Moses' seat. This Scripture has caused a great deal of pain in the King James it reads: 'all therefore whatsoever that they bid you…' There is an 'an'—everything they tell you;
Verse 3: "Every judgment… ['an'] …every judgment that they tell you to observe, observe and do. But do not do according to their works; for they say and do not."
What are the conditions that the judgment is valid? Has to be based on the Word of God! Someone tells you to do something—scribe or Pharisee—and it's not in the Word of God, you're not under obligation to do it. What if they tell you some of their traditions to do? What did Jesus say right here? "…But do not do according to their works…" What were their traditions? Their works!
If you do the works of God, you're not doing your own works, but God's work! If they have their traditions that reject the commandments of God and reject the authority of God, and they would tell people to follow the tradition, then they're not under obligation to do it, because the condition is that it has to be according to the Word of God!
Verse 4: "For they bind heavy burdens and hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of men; but they will not move them with one of their own fingers."
When you come to God and you have sinned and He forgives your sins… If there's something between you and someone else that you need to make restitution for, or whatever it may be, then you do that. But God doesn't lay upon anyone heavy burdens in order to be forgiven. We have the parable of the Matt. 18 the man who had 100 talents and the one who had 10,000 talents; he forgave them both. The one who was forgiven 10,000, he was arrogant and went out and got hold one of his servants who owed him just a couple of pence and told him, 'You pay me I'm going to throw you in prison.' What happened when the master found out about it? He called the one back who it forgiven the 10,000 talents and said you didn't forgive him and you wanted to put him in jail, now I'm sending you off to jail. God has right judgments and forgiveness!
This is very interesting; I have I have a book that I have read and the author's premise was that everything in Matt. 24 was fulfilled with the fall of the temple. But we know it's not.
Matthew 24:34: "Truly I say to you, this generation shall in no wise… [double negative—'oo me'] …pass away until all…"—'an'—showing that there has to be all the conditions at the same time. What are the conditions that we are looking to be fulfilled in Matt. 24?
- not the destruction of the temple, that occurred
- not false prophets, that has occurred and continuing
All of those things come in cycles all the way down; but it says "all."
What is left a new temple with a 'Holy Place' for the abomination of desolation to stand. That didn't happen when the temple was destroyed in 70A.D. That's why I've explained that John wrote 'the one who reads let him understand.'
"…until all these things have taken place" (v 34). Jesus guarantees it by this. Why did he say this at this point? Because it would be so easy to misunderstand and misplace the prophecies of Matt. 24! What if you see 92% of them fulfilled? Jesus said:
"…all these things have taken place. The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away" (vs 34-35). That goes right back to Matt. 5.
Verse 36: "But concerning that day, and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only."
Verse 34[transcriber's correction]: "…until all…"—'an,' conditions—must take place and then only the Father knows what it's going to be. Why is that? Look at the book of Revelation!
- What happens to the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars and everything when all of those things are set in motion?
- What's going to happen when the heavens rollback back as a scroll?
- and great earthquakes take place?
- and there isn't day and there isn't night?
- Who's going to know?
- No man can know but God does!
Mark 11:20: "And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. Then Peter remembered and said to Him, 'Look, Master! The fig tree that You cursed has dried up.' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Have faith from God'" (vs 20-22).
The literal Greek here is have God's faith, because faith is also a gift, so it comes from God.
Verse 23: "For truly I say to you, whoever… ['an'—conditions] … shall say to this mountain, "Be taken away and be cast into the sea," and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said will take place, he shall have whatever he shall say."
With the 'an' there are conditions. What is the main condition of any prayer? 'Your [God's] will be done!' If it's the will of God!
I had one person come up to me and say, 'Do you believe the Scriptures?' Yes, I believe the Scriptures! 'Do you believe that they're true?' Yes, I believe that there are true! 'All right, it says here in Mark 13 that you can say to the mountain, 'Be cast into the sea, why don't you do that?' It says if you believe! You can believe, but if it's not the will of God it's not going to happen! I think mountain-moving is God's business. If it's necessary He can move a mountain, but what is harder to move than a mountain? Human nature!
This is why we need to Sabbath and the Holy Days and all of these things, and the study of God's Word and His Spirit. I mean, you think about your human mind, if it just ran wild without any control what would you be? That's what's wrong with the world today! I don't know how you're going to straighten out the millennials.
Example: when they had the baby walkers that you put the baby in and the baby could walk in the walker. Everyone thought that's a great idea, wonderful idea. Later, when they were in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades, they had learning problems. How could that relate to a walker? I thought about that the other day; a man had his son out there walking across, just a little kid in the walker, walking across the parking lot. I don't know if he allows him to do the most important thing, and that is the simplest thing possible, babies must crawl because crawling programs the mind and thinking.
Do you now they got those students to bring up their learning IQ? They put them through six weeks of crawling! They had to crawl because their brains weren't programmed. That's a condition to being able to think! No one ever thought of that.
Likewise, if we believe and it's not the will of God the answer is no!
Verse 24: "For this reason I say to you, all the things that you ask when you are praying, believe that you will receive them, and they shall be given to you."
Eventually you look back over your life as being a Christian and ask the question: How many prayers has God answered? Many, many, many! Of the prayers that He did not answer, can you look back and see that it was for your own good that the answer was no? Yes! There are all the things there. So, we'll get a little in on prayer.
Verse 25: "But when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive, so that your Father Who is in heaven may forgive you your offenses…. [you can't have hate and love dwelling together very long] …For if you do not forgive, neither will your Father Who is in heaven forgive you your offenses" (vs 25-26). Very important!
Sometimes it's very hard to forgive someone who's done something to you that really hurt you, but still do it! Why? So that it can be taken out of your mind! Erased with the washing of the water by the Word!
This is why we study the Word of God so that with the Spirit of God, God is going to change and convert the mind. That's what unleavened bread is all about; to be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
I hope you go through all these other Scriptures and just check them out. I think you'll find it very interesting; and see if you can figure out all the conditions that are necessary.
John 4:10—Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman: "Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you had known the gift of God, and Who it is that said to you, "Give Me some water to drink," you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.'"
The 'an' for that one is "…you would have asked Him…" showing that in this case the possibility if you would ask Him He would give you living water. The condition is you must ask Him! What did James say about that? There are conditions for asking and James brings it out. Now this shows the human condition and the problems that that happen here.
James 4:1: "What is the cause of quarrels and fighting among you? Is it not mainly from your own lusts that are warring within your members?"—showing that you are fighting human nature. I'm not going to ask any of you here how many of gotten rid of any temper, but is that still warring among you?
Verse 2: "You lust, and have not; you kill, and are jealous, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel, but still you do not have, because you do not ask." Then someone will say, 'I'll ask!'
Verse 3 Then you ask, and you do not receive, because you ask with evil motives, that you may consume it on your own lusts"—to satisfy your desire of hate or jealousy or whatever. If you ask, what are the conditions that you ask?
- according to the will of God
- according to your repentance
What happens right after you say according to God's will, 'give us our food this daily bread and forgive us our trespasses.'
Too many times, as James is bringing out here, we want to be forgiven, but not that one over there. I mean, this growing and overcoming helps me to appreciate even more the Passover and Unleavened Bread, because the truth is we're never going to be perfect until the resurrection.
John 4:14: "But whoever drinks… ['an'] …of the water that I will give him shall never thirst…" Water is the Holy Spirit.
- What are the conditions to receive the Holy Spirit? Repent and be baptized!
- How do you retain the Holy Spirit? By continuously growing and overcoming, asking forgiveness and having your sins wiped away, and so forth!
So, there are conditions for it!
John 14:13: "And whatever… ['an'—conditions] …you shall ask in My name, this will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it…. [Jesus gives one of the conditions right here]: …If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments." (vs 13-15). That very interesting, indeed!
John 15:16: "You yourselves did not choose Me, but I have personally chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; so that whatever…"—'an'—conditions.
What do you need to pray about? Well, it's different things at different times coming down through time. 'Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.' Very interesting, may is if it's according to the conditions! Just think how lawless we would get.
Romans 3:3: "For what if some… [Jews] …did not believe? Shall their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God?…. [NO!] …MAY IT NEVER BE! Rather, let God be true but every man a liar, exactly as it is written: 'That You might be justified in Your words, and might overcome when You are being judged by men'" (vs 3-4)—'an'—being judged! Do people judge God all the time? Yes, they do! So whatever the conditions are in judging God; look at all of the attributes of God!
Romans 10:6: "But the righteousness that comes through faith speaks after this manner: 'Do not say in your heart, "Who shall ascend up to heaven?"' (that is, to bring Christ down) 'Or, "Who shall descend into the abyss?"'(that is to bring Christ up from among the dead.) But what does it say? 'The Word is near to you, in your mouth and in your heart.'…." (vs 6-8). And that's sure true with having so many Bibles in so many different forms today.
This is the Word of faith that we are proclaiming that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved" (vs 8-9). We're going to see Paul brings it to where there is an 'an' and there are conditions.
Verse 10: "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation, because the Scripture says, 'Everyone who believes in Him shall not be ashamed.' For there is no difference between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all is rich toward all who call upon Him. For everyone… ['an'] …who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (vs 10-13)—with condition's!
This is where the Protestants fall short on it. They say if you just end up say I believe in Jesus you're automatically saved. Not true!
1-John 2:5: "On the other hand, if anyone is keeping… [that's conditional] … His Word, truly in this one the love of God is being perfected. By this means we know that we are in Him." So, there are the conditions, keeping it.
1-John 5:15—again, in prayer: "And if we know that He hears us, whatever… ['an'—conditions] …we may ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him." So, the conditions in prayer, asking according to the will of God is the overriding one.
Is it something that is that God will do for us? something that we have to do with God's help? something we need to do in conversing with another person? All of those things could be applied right there.
I know may be a little difficult to follow along, but I think it is very important to understand. When you read or Scripture and it sounds like anybody can do this, there's a little word 'an' that says there are conditions! Anyone who calls upon the Lord—'an'—will have their sins forgiven:
- if they repent
- if they believe
- if they accept the sacrifice of Christ
All of those are conditions that the rest of the Bible fills in on!
Scriptural References:
- Daniel 10:19-21
- Matthew 5:17-18
- Revelation 21:21, 27
- Matthew 5:31-32
- Matthew 6:5, 7-10, 25, 32
- Matthew 12:17-21, 30-32, 46-50
- John 16:32-33
- Matthew 21:22
- Matthew 23:1-4
- Matthew 24:34-36, 34
- Mark 11:20-26
- John 4:10
- James 4:1-3
- John 4:14
- John 14:13-15
- John 15-16
- Romans 3:3-4
- Romans 10:6-13
- 1 John 2:5
- 1 John 5:15
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Romans 5
- John 3:16
- Deuteronomy 18:15
- Revelation 20
- Matthew 18
FRC: po/bo
Transcribed: 4/11/17
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