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Jeremijas 50:34
Sacred Scripture # 51
51. 1. The Word is not understandable without a body of teaching. This is because in its literal meaning the Word is entirely made up of correspondences, to allow spiritual and heavenly matters to be gathered within it in such a way that each word can be their container and support. That is why in many passages the literal meaning is not made up of bare truths but of clothed truths, which we may call semblances of truth. Many of them are adapted to the comprehension of ordinary people who do not raise their thoughts above what they can see with their eyes. There are other passages where there seem to be contradictions, though there are no contradictions in the Word when it is seen in its own light. Then too, there are places in the prophets where we find collections of personal names and place-names that make no sense to us - see the examples in §15 above.
Since that is what the literal meaning of the Word is like, it stands to reason that it cannot be understood without a body of teaching.
[2] Some examples may serve to illustrate this. It says that Jehovah repents (Exodus 32:12, 14; Jonah 3:9; 4:2). It also says that Jehovah does not repent (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29). Without a body of teaching, these statements do not agree.
It says that Jehovah visits the iniquities of the parents on the children to the third and fourth generation (Numbers 14:18), and it says that parents will not be put to death for their children and children will not be put to death for their parents, but each will die in his or her own sin (Deuteronomy 24:16). Seen in the light of a body of teaching, these statements do not disagree but agree.
[3] Jesus said,
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Everyone who asks receives, those who seek find, and to those who knock it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8; 21:21-22)
In the absence of a body of teaching, people would believe that everyone’s request is granted, but a body of teaching yields the belief that we are given whatever we ask if we ask it not on our own behalf but on the Lord’s. That is in fact what the Lord tells us:
If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)
[4] The Lord says “Blessed are the poor, because theirs is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). Without a body of teaching, we might think that heaven belongs to the poor and not to the rich. A body of teaching instructs us, though, that this means those who are poor in spirit, for the Lord said,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. (Matthew 5:3)
[5] The Lord says,
Do not judge, or you will be judged; with the same judgment you pass [on others] you yourself will be judged. (Matthew 7:1-2; Luke 6:37)
In the absence of a body of teaching, this could be used to support the assertion that we should not say that an evil act is evil or judge that an evil person is evil. A body of teaching, though, tells us that it is permissible to pass judgment if we do so in an upright, righteous way. In fact, the Lord says,
Judge with righteous judgment. (John 7:24)
[6] Jesus says,
Do not be called teacher, because one is your Teacher: Christ. You should not call anyone on earth your father, because you have one Father, and he is in the heavens. You should not be called masters, because one is your Master: Christ. (Matthew 23:8-10)
In the absence of a body of teaching, it would turn out that it was wrong to call anyone a teacher or a father or a master; but from a body of teaching we come to know that this is permissible in an earthly sense but not in a spiritual sense.
[7] Jesus said to the disciples,
When the Son of Humanity sits on the throne of his glory, you will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28)
These words could lead us to believe that the Lord’s disciples will be passing judgment, when quite the contrary, they cannot judge anyone. So a body of teaching unveils this mystery by explaining that only the Lord, who is omniscient and knows the hearts of all, will judge and can judge, and that his twelve disciples mean the church in the sense of all the true and good principles that it has received from the Lord through the Word. A body of teaching leads us to the conclusion that these principles will judge everyone, which follows from what the Lord says in John 3:17-18; 12:47-48.
[8] People who read the Word without the aid of a body of teaching do not know how to make sense out of what it says in the prophets about the Jewish nation and Jerusalem, namely, that the church will abide in that nation and that its seat will be in that city forever. Take the following statements, for example.
Jehovah will visit his flock, the house of Judah, and transform them into a glorious war horse; from Judah will come the cornerstone, from Judah the tent peg, from Judah the battle bow. (Zechariah 10:3-4)
Behold, I am coming to dwell in your midst. Jehovah will make Judah his inheritance and will again choose Jerusalem. (Zechariah 2:10-12)
On that day it will happen that the mountains will drip with new wine and the hills will flow with milk; and Judah will abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. (Joel 3:18, 20)
Behold, the days are coming in which I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humankind, and in which I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This will be the covenant: I will put my law in their midst and I will write it on their heart, and I will become their God and they will become my people. (Jeremiah 31:27, 31, 33)
On that day ten men from every language of the nations will take hold of the hem of a man of Judah and say, “We will go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.” (Zechariah 8:23)
There are other passages of the same nature, such as Isaiah 44:24, 26; 49:22-23; 65:18; 66:20, 22; Jeremiah 3:18; 23:5; 50:19-20; Nahum 1:15; Malachi 3:4. In these passages the subject is the Lord’s Coming and what will happen at that time.
[9] However, it says something very different in any number of other passages, of which I will cite only the following:
I will hide my face from them. I will see what their posterity is, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness. I have said, “I will cast them into the most remote corners, I will make them cease from human memory, ” for they are a nation devoid of counsel, and they have no understanding. Their vine is from the vine of Sodom and the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall; their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the venom of dragons and the cruel gall of poisonous snakes. All this is hidden with me, locked away in my treasuries. Vengeance and retribution belong to me. (Deuteronomy 32:20-35)
These words were spoken about that nation, and there are similar statements elsewhere, as in Isaiah 3:1-2, 8; 5:3-6; Deuteronomy 9:5-6; Matthew 12:39; 23:27-28; John 8:44; and all through Jeremiah and Ezekiel. All the same, these statements that seem to contradict each other turn out to be in agreement in the light of a body of teaching, which tells us that Israel and Judah in the Word do not mean Israel and Judah but the church in each of two senses - one in which it lies in ruins and the other in which it is to be restored by the Lord. There are other contrasts like this in the Word that enable us to see that the Word cannot be understood apart from a body of teaching.
John 7
1
After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn't walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him.
2
Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand.
3
His brothers therefore said to him, "Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do.
4
For no one does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world."
5
For even his brothers didn't believe in him.
6
Jesus therefore said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.
7
The world can't hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.
8
You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled."
9
Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee.
10
But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret.
11
The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, "Where is he?"
12
There was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others said, "Not so, but he leads the multitude astray."
13
Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews.
14
But when it was now the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
15
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never been educated?"
16
Jesus therefore answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
17
If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself.
18
He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
19
Didn't Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?"
20
The multitude answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?"
21
Jesus answered them, "I did one work, and you all marvel because of it.
22
Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy.
23
If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath?
24
Don't judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
25
Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, "Isn't this he whom they seek to kill?
26
Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ?
27
However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from."
28
Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don't know.
29
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me."
30
They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
31
But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, he won't do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?"
32
The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
33
Then Jesus said, "I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me.
34
You will seek me, and won't find me; and where I am, you can't come."
35
The Jews therefore said among themselves, "Where will this man go that we won't find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?
36
What is this word that he said, 'You will seek me, and won't find me; and where I am, you can't come'?"
37
Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!
38
He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water."
39
But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn't yet glorified.
40
Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, "This is truly the prophet."
41
Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "What, does the Christ come out of Galilee?
42
Hasn't the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"
43
So there arose a division in the multitude because of him.
44
Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him.
45
The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, "Why didn't you bring him?"
46
The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!"
47
The Pharisees therefore answered them, "You aren't also led astray, are you?
48
Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees?
49
But this multitude that doesn't know the law is accursed."
50
Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them,
51
"Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?"
52
They answered him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."
