1 In a beginning the Word was and the Word was with God and the Word was a God.
2 This one was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into existence through him, and apart from him
not even one thing came into existence.
4 In him was life, and the life was the
light of men
5
And the light,
is shining in the darkness, but the darkness
has not overpowered it. (John 1).
If only we could understand just these five verses of the bible completely, then we could begin to say that we are approaching the spiritual comprehension of the apostle John. For even though prophets in general do not understand what they are saying, Gordon believes that John did in these verses (and Gordon may well of course be wrong).
The Lords' Witnesses have tried and failed many times before with this attempt. But now, we do know. The first scriptures to consider are these:
27 For [God] subjected all things under his
feet. But when he says that 'all things have been subjected,' it is evident that it is
with the exception of the one who subjected all things to him.
28 But when all things will have been subjected to him, then the
Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to
everyone (1 Corinthians 15).
4 What is mortal man that you keep him in mind, And the son of earthling man that you take care of
him?
5 You also proceeded to make him a little less than godlike
ones, And with glory and splendour you then crowned him.
6 You make him dominate over the works of your hands. Everything you have put under his
feet (Psalm 8).
From these two it is apparent that the global phrases 'everything', or 'all
things', need to be taken in context. The reader must remember that Hebrew has
no word for 'except'. So that if everyone in a city celebrated except the
Chelsea supporters, then the bible would say: And everyone in the city
celebrated. But those in the city who supported Chelsea did not celebrate. In
other words one has to qualify the phrase 'everyone' with the surrounding
context.
Returning now to John 1:1 it is apparent for example the God did not come into existence through the Word.
Please visit I16 for an explanation of how we first deduced that Satan/Lucifer was the firstborn angel of Jehovah, his first CEO (the one who put into effect the command: Let there be light, the one who initiated the big bang).
Please also visit U315 and visit U17, for an explanation of the deal by which the firstborn angelic rights of Satan where transferred to Michael.
So now we can revisit the majestic words of John...
1
In [the] beginning [of
the world, which began with Adam's sin]
the Word [the
Angel Michael]
was
[in existence and therefore able to offer to fix
the problem with a ransom and a covenant], and the Word was with the God [In
his heart and his outlook and his actions, he was on God's side rather than
Satan's side. For he was the beginning of the Way of Jehovah according to
Proverbs 8],
and the Word was a God [Michael
was a spirit being, a son of God, and therefore a God in nature. He existed in
God's form - Philippians 2:6, but gave no consideration to a seizure to be equal
to God - as Satan did. A God here
means a spirit being. The God is Jehovah. The God, Jehovah, is an everliving everloving and
everrighteous spirit being].
2
This one was in [the] beginning
[of the way of Jehovah of Proverbs 8]
with God [All
scripture must have power so this verse has a different meaning to verse 1.
Michael entered into a covenant arrangement with God, the Everlasting Life
Covenant, whereby God promised never to kill him as an angel. God begat Satan as
his firstborn angel and all other angels came through Satan during the reign of
the 1HSC. Likewise God begat Michael eternally by covenant and all of his sons
who have everlasting life get it from Michael. So he is our eternal father. He
later became the mediator of the 2HSC and of the ARC when he agreed to ransom
Adam. For the only way Michael had to pass on his everlasting life was to give
it up. He was the only angel begotten everlastingly (by virtue of the ELC) at
the time of Adam's sin hence he is called the only begotten son of God in John
3:16. So Michael was
with God permanently and the only one with him in that sense].
3
All [beings] came into existence [all
sons of Adam came into temporary physical existence and all sons of God came
into everlasting
or permanent existence, rather than a temporary existence. the one picturing the
other. there would be no humans in physical existence were it not for the ransom
of Jesus and there would be no angels in permanent existence were it not for
that ransom]
through him, and apart from him not even one [being] came into [everlasting
or permanent]
existence.
4
In him was life [everlasting
life, permanent life, unstoppable life], and
the life [Jesus,
the way the truth and the life, and TCC4 is called the life]
was the light of men.
5
And the light
[TCC2 and Jesus, the light of the world],
is shining in the darkness [The
Roman Catholic Church and the lies, ignorance and wickedness of the world. TCC2
was shining in the RC church and Jesus is shining in the darkness of the world], but the darkness
has not overpowered it. (John 1).
The Greek says literally: the word was God (John 1:1). But Greek has no indefinite article, no word 'a'. So the translation: the word was [a] God, is a possible translation of the Greek (although the scripture could have said: The word was one God - Greek does use 'one' as the indefinite article).
Incidentally, the fact that 'was' is used everywhere in John 1:1, indicates that the status of 'the Word' has changed since the 'beginning' referred to by John. And since the status of God almighty cannot change, the Word cannot be God almighty himself.
In the literal meaning we have the Word of God, who is Jesus. 'In a beginning' he is said to be 'with God'. But what 'beginning' is John referring to here? Is it the beginning of creation by God? Is it the beginning of Genesis 1:1 in the literal meaning? Well it cannot be the beginning of creation by God or the beginning of Genesis 1:1 because 'All things' did not come into existence through Jesus after those beginnings. All things came into existence through Satan after those beginnings. The only beginning after which all things came into existence by means of Jesus was the beginning of the world.
Once Adam had sinned, then without Jesus' agreement to the Angelic Ransom covenant (ARC), everything would have ground to a halt. So after the fall of Adam, everything came into existence through Jesus. What came into existence by means of him, by means in fact of his agreement to the ARC, was life, everlasting life in fact. So now we finally understand John 1:1-5. Jesus was the way the truth and the life, and the life is the light of men today. Jesus is our light, for he is the word of God.
So to understand John 1, one has to realise that Michael is the word, that a beginning is the beginning of the world, and that the world would have ended as soon as it began were it not for the ARC. The ARC gave the world a permanent future. So everything, after the world began, came into existence through the ARC, which is through the mediation of Jesus. This is why the scripture says both that all things came into existence through him and that what came into existence by means of him was life. His giving us the opportunity for everlasting life was necessary in order that the World would have a purpose.
If you say that Jesus was the firstborn angel and everything in the whole universe came into existence through him, since he had the firstborn master covenant, then you nullify the scripture which says: What has come into existence by means of him was life. But once you realise that Satan was the firstborn, and that everything physical came into existence through him, including the whole world, but that the world only continued in existence because of Jesus' agreement to the ARC, then the scripture: What came into existence by means of him was life, is simply a correct explanation of the scripture: All things came into existence through him. Of course, what came into existence by means of Satan, was death.
12 For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and [their] marrow, and [is] able to discern thoughts and intentions of [the] heart (Hebrews 4).
The power of the bible to discern the intentions of the hearts lies in its deliberate ambiguity. It is written so that if you wish to play God, and just assign your own interpretation to a scripture, then you can. But those who love God, continually work at improving their understandings. They do not assign meanings until they have pieced together the whole jigsaw, as far as they are able.
5 And the light is shining in the darkness, but the darkness has not overpowered it (John 1) Amen.
The darkness, the evening, Satan, comes first the
Hebrew day and in the day of Genesis 1. The light, the morning star, Michael,
comes second.
Jesus was able to say to his disciples after
his resurrection:
18 And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying: All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth (Matthew 28).
Whereas before his death he said:
1 Jesus spoke these things, and, raising his eyes to
heaven, he said: Father, the hour has come; glorify your son, that your son may glorify
you
2 according as you have given him authority over all
flesh, that, as regards the whole [number] whom you have given him, he may give them everlasting
life (John 17).
Before he died he had a limited authority over all flesh, but after he died he had total authority over all creation. Satan was originally God's CEO, God's executive vice president, God did not move other than through Satan before Adam's sin. After this sin, Satan lost his firstborn right, but Michael did not gain it until after his death. At this point Jesus was God from an action point of view, hence Thomas said to him: My Lord and My God (John 20:28).
So now that we have grown up, we can understand what Michael meant when he said:
23 Be going away behind me Satan (Matthew 16)
33 Be going under behind me Satan (Mark 8)
He meant give your firstborn rights to me, like we agreed. And he meant become my follower and get saved which is a prophecy which will one day be fulfilled. Jesus not only said this to Peter in Matthew 16 but also said it directly to Satan in Matthew 4 when being tested although most translations miss it...
10 Then Jesus said to him: Go away, Satan!
[a mistranslation of Upage]
For it is written, 'It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.' (Matthew 4 NWT)
10 Then says to him the Jesus: Go thou behind of me, adversary; it is written for: Lord the God of thee thou shalt worship, and to him only thou shalt render service. (Matthew 4 ED)
10 to,te le,gei auvtw/| o` VIhsou/j {Upage Satana/\ ge,graptai ga,r Ku,rion to.n qeo,n sou proskunh,seij kai. auvtw/| mo,nw| latreu,seij (Matthew 4 WHO)
The imperative Greek verb Upage means get under me literally (i.e. accept my authority, i.e. get behind me, i.e. be my follower). It is the very same Greek verb used in Matthew 16:23...
23 But, turning his back, he said to Peter: Get behind me, Satan!
[they got it right this time] You are a stumbling block to me, because you think, not God's thoughts, but those of men. (Matthew 16 NWT)
23 He but turning said to the Peter: Go thou behind of me, adversary; a stumbling block of me thou art; for not thou regardest the (things) of the God, but those of the men. (Matthew 16 ED)
23 o` de. strafei.j ei=pen tw/| Pe,trw|
{Upage ovpi,sw mou Satana/\ ska,ndalon ei= evmou/ o[ti ouv fronei/j ta. tou/ qeou/ avlla. ta. tw/n avnqrw,pwn (Matthew 16 WHO)
So there can be no doubt. Satan will one day accept Jesus' authority and become his follower.
And now we understand the words of Bildad to Job:
13 It will eat the pieces of his skin. The firstborn of death will eat his limbs (Job 18).
"The firstborn of death" is Satan. Satan in the sense that he was the first to be condemned to death yes, but also in the sense that Jesus is the firstborn of life, and Satan is the firstborn of death. Both are firstborns of God, but they champion rather different outcomes for their followers. Whereas John blessed the 7 congregations and called Jesus Christ:
5 The firstborn from the dead (Revelation 1).
Jesus was not the first man ever to be resurrected, for he himself resurrected Lazarus. He became the firstborn of God through his angelic resurrection. He was the first angel to die and be resurrected, and Satan was the second. So Jesus became God's firstborn from the dead, being resurrected by God himself. But Satan was the firstborn originally which is why we read in Revelation:
9
kai eblhqho drakwn o megaV o ofiV o arcaioV o kaloumenoV DiaboloV kai O SatanoV
And was thrown the dragon, the great [one], the serpent, the archaic [one], the [one] called
[the] Devil and the Satan (Revelation 12).
He was the most archaic angel and he was the greatest angel until Adam's fall. Satan was resurrected by Michael, since only Michael is resurrected by God himself.
For more on the decoding of John please see U83.