Saturday, September 20, 2008

Revelation 22:16

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the offspring of David; the Bright and Morning Star. -- Revelation 22:16.

How could Jesus be both the root and offspring of David? The claim is made that in order to be the root of David, Jesus had to exist before David, and thus that he was the eternal God, who had no beginning.

Rather than using our imagination and thus reading into the scripture something it does not say, we should examine the scriptures as whole related to this scripture to bring it into harmony with what has been revealed by God through his holy spirit.

We can easily understand how Jesus is the offspring of David. He became the son of the man, David, through his being born from the womb of Mary. (Matthew 1:1; 9:6,27; Luke 1:27; Galatians 4:4) But how is the "root" of David? We read, ""To this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living." (Romans 14:9) Jesus has been made both "Christ" and "Lord" by Yahweh. (Acts 2:36) He has become the "life-giving spirit." (1 Corinthians 15:45) As such, he becomes the "last Adam" to the human race, that is, he becomes the father, replacing the first Adam, of those who are being regenerated. (Matthew 19:28; John 5:28,29; 6:39,40,44,54; 11:24; 12:47,48; Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 2 Timothy 4:1; Revelation 20:4,6,12,13) Of course, David will be amongst those to receive this regeneration, and thus Jesus, as the life-giver in this regeneration, becomes the "root" of David.

However, the scriptures also state that it was through Jesus that the world was made, that is, the world into which Jesus came and which did not recognize him. (John 1:10) Since Yahweh made this world through Jesus, Jesus could also be said to have been the root of David in this sense. However, as such, that which sprouted from Adam became corrupted through lust (1 Peter 1:4) , "sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2; 5:6), "children of wrath," (Ephesians 2:3), and thus such would not be the true "root" that would describe Jesus as the "last Adam." Only as the "last Adam" could Jesus be the root that brings life to David and all the house of David that was under the condemnation in Adam. Nevertheless, Jesus' existence with his God and Father before the world was made (John 17:5), does not mean that Jesus existed from all eternity past. It only means that he, as the firstborn creature, was at some point in time brought forth into being before the rest of the living creation. -- Colossians 1:15,16.

http://reslight.net/forum/index.php?topic=94.0
http://reslight.net/forum/index.php?topic=108.0

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John 1:1 Regarding “Was” and Eternity (moved to Jesus and His God)

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