Program 134: The Prologue to John’s Gospel

The “Word” referred to in John’s gospel is not Yahushua but is the same word of Yahuwah that spoke the world into existence.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of World’s Last Chance Ministries, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44]

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Dave:

In recent decades a significant number of theologians have demonstrated that John 1:1 speaks of only one Person, namely the Father, and that “the Word” is not another Person, not Yahushua Christ; but is, in fact, Yahuwah’s word that brought forth the Genesis creation as in Psalm 33:6: “By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made.” The parallel between Genesis 1 and John 1 is obvious. Yahuwah spoke the creation into existence by His word. The new creation was initiated in Yahushua, the Son of Yahuwah.

The Hebrew term for “word,” davar, the Aramaic term memra and the Greek logos mean more than simply “word.” They speak of Yahuwah’s self-revelation, His self- expression. The many lexicons show logos to mean: utterance, command, decree, plan, expression of mind, creative thought, purpose, promise, message, wisdom, or reason. “Word” is an inadequate translation of logos because logos encompasses “thought,” “speech,” and “action.” So the phrases “Yahuwah’ s creative thoughts expressed into activity,” “Yahuwah’ s expressed/decreed purpose or plan,” “Yahuwah’s purposeful command” or similar phrases more adequately reflect the meaning of logos. So John, in typical Jewish fashion, spoke of Yahuwah’s Grand Design — His purpose and His mind, His immortality program.

A great help to our understanding is found in the prologue of John’s first letter which provides a partial commentary on the prologue of his Gospel. From 1 John 1:1-3 we learn that “the word” is Yahuwah’s decreed purpose or promise to give to humans eternal life or “life of the coming age.” So the impersonal promise, declared purpose or planned expressive activity is “what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen…concerning the word of life…and the life was manifested,” becoming “visible” so that the disciples could see and touch it, that is when “the decreed purpose to bring about life of the coming age, became flesh.” This is parallel to Yahuwah’s self-expressed actions, which brought about the original creation.

John in his first letter says: “the Life of the Age to Come was with Yahuwah” (1 John 1:2). With that explanation he tells us that it was the promise of life, which was with Yahuwah in the beginning, not yet the Son of Yahuwah. The Son began to exist only when he was begotten in Mary.

The prologue shows no conversations between Yahuwah and “the word.” After Yahushua was born John recorded lots of communication between Yahuwah and Yahushua. This further demonstrates that “the word,” though personal, as coming from Yahuwah, is not a separate Person from Yahuwah until Yahushua is born.

Our understanding of the prologue is further helped when we examine its internal details. These give us clues as to how to understand its various parts. For instance John’s reference to “those who were born of Yahuwah” (1:12, 13) shows that it is Yahuwah’s declared purpose to make a New Creation, as the rest of the NT also says. And verse 18 shows that “No one has seen [got to know] Yahuwah” and therefore “Yahuwah’s salvation plan” is sent in the form of a man (v. 14) to “explain,” reveal or declare Him (v. 18). According to verse 17 such revealing was only partially accomplished by the Law, but grace and truth and a fuller knowledge of Yahuwah were realized through Yahushua Christ.

Interestingly the prologue shows striking parallels with Proverbs 8:22-30 where Wisdom is personified, but never hypostatized, i.e. never a real person. There is also a certain similarity between John 1:1 and the introduction to the letter to the Hebrews.

The New American Bible displays the poetry and prose layout, which makes up the prologue of John. A slightly different poetic form of the prologue is set out by Catholic theologian Raymond Brown as: 1st strophe, verses 1 and 2 3rd strophe verses 10 to 12b 2nd strophe, verses 3 to 5 4th strophe verses 14, 16

Because this poetic factor was not recognized in earlier times, the prologue was taken literally. This has resulted in hypostatization of the word in verses 1-5 (that is, turning the word into a Person separate from Yahuwah). This led to a misunderstanding of John’s intent. When a literary piece is poetic in form it more naturally contains metaphorical language, which in this case is the figurative language of personification.

Roger Haight, Jesuit scholar, explains: “Hypostatization means making an idea or a concept into a real thing…the symbols Wisdom, Word, and Spirit, which are found in the Jewish scriptures and refer to Yahuwah, are not hypostatizations but personifications…A major development occurred when a personification became transformed into hypostatization.”1

That major development led to a twisting of John’s intention and creating a Second Person in the Godhead. Monotheism was undermined. Yahuwah was made into two Persons and that was a disaster.

Personification in John’ s prologue is appropriate because John’s sources were Hebrew/Aramaic literature where personification was freely used. For instance, the Hebrew term dabar translated “word” is often personified in the Hebrew Scriptures (“With speed his word runs,” Ps. 147:15). “Word” is treated as if it were a person, but it is not literally a person.

So a personified logos was not a new idea to John or his readers. The fact that logos is grammatically masculine in gender in Greek does not mean that it is sexually masculine when translated into English. So, for example, in French a table is feminine but not “she” in English! A word is an “it.” “All things were made through it” (the word, v. 3).

The Greek word logos appears in the LXX (the Greek version of the OT) some 1500 times. It never describes a literal person. It also appears over 300 times in the Christian Scriptures and is only capitalized (wrongly) as a person in John 1. The capital is an editorial addition of translators. (“Word” is legitimately capitalized in Rev. 19:13, where the returning Yahushua, by then a Person, is the Word.) As Dr. Colin Brown of Fuller Seminary comments: “To read John 1:1 as if it means ‘In the beginning was the Son’ is patently wrong.”

Professor of Theology at Heidelberg H.H. Wendt says: “We should not argue from Philo’s meaning of ‘word’ as a…pre-existing personality.” In other words we do not have to follow the Jewish philosopher Philo and think of the word as a distinct personality.

Professor of Divinity James Dunn says, “In the earlier stages of the poem [John 1] we are still dealing with Wisdom…not as a personal being, but as the wise utterance of Yahuwah personified.”

And again Roger Haight says: “One thing is certain, the Prologue of John does not represent direct descriptive knowledge of a divine entity or being called Word, who descended and became a human being. To read a metaphor as literal speech is misinterpretation.”

Our understanding was shared by some of the early church fathers. Origen’ s commentary on John says: “logos — only in the sense of the utterance of the Father which came to expression in a Son when Yahushua was conceived.” Tertullian (155-230) translates logos as “speech” and states: “It is the simple use of our people to say [of John 1] that the word of revelation was with Yahuwah.” This view survived in Spain and southern Gaul until at least the 7th century.

Regarding translations prior to the 1611 KJV, seven major translations used a lower-case “w” for word and there are numerous translations since 1611 that reflect the fact that there is no second Person spoken about in John 1:1 (e.g. Concordant, Diaglott, the 1985 translation by the Jewish historian Hugh J. Schonfield and the 1993 translation by Robert W. Funk).

Modern English examples are:

“At the beginning Yahuwah expressed Himself. That personal expression, that word, was with Yahuwah and was Yahuwah” (J.B. Philips).

“In the beginning was the purpose, the purpose in the mind of Yahuwah, the purpose which was Yahuwah’s own being…this purpose took human form in Yahushua” (G.B. Caird, New Testament Theology).

“In the beginning there was the divine word and wisdom. The divine word and wisdom were there with Yahuwah. It was there with Yahuwah from the beginning. Everything came to be by means of it” (Robert Funk).

From the above it seems that an appropriate rendering of verse 1a could be: “In the beginning was the decreed purpose and the purpose was with Yahuwah.”

Noteworthy is the fact that the poem is arranged in what is called “staircase parallelism” form, in which the last word of one phrase becomes the first word of the next finally rising to the climax.

Below are further translation comments on verse 1.

Verse 1b: “and the decreed purpose was characteristic of Yahuwah”

Grammatically this can be translated “the word was Yahuwah” or “the word was Yahuwah-like” (of the very nature and character of Yahuwah or “divine”). “Lack of a definite article signifies predication rather than identification” (NAB notes). This means that the word had the quality of Yahuwah. It was not identical to Yahuwah.

Philip Harner’ s article entitled “Qualitative Anarthrous Predicate Nouns” states that “anarthrous predicate nouns preceding the verb [of which the second occurrence of theos in John 1:1 is an example] may function primarily to express the nature or character of the subject…The qualitative force of the predicate is so prominent that the noun cannot be regarded as definite.” Dana and Manty’s Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament makes the same point, as does the UBS Handbook Series which says: “Since ‘Yahuwah’ does not have the article preceding it, ‘Yahuwah’ is clearly the predicate and ‘the Word’ is the subject. This means that ‘Yahuwah’ here is the equivalent of an adjective, and this justifies the rendering ‘the Word was the same as Yahuwah.’ ” The following translations reflect this grammatical point:

“The Word was with Yahuwah and shared his nature” (The Translator’s Translation).

“And what Yahuwah was, the Word was” (Revised English Bible).

“The nature of the Word was the same as the nature of Yahuwah” (Barclay).

“The Word was divine” (Moffatt, also Smith and Goodspeed).

There is no justification for capitalizing “word” in the phrase “the Word was Yahuwah” as if “word” meant a second person. A one-to-one identity with Yahuwah is incorrect because it destroys the unitary monotheism (Yahuwah is one Person) of the Scriptures. “For us there is but one Yahuwah, the Father” (1 Cor. 8:6. Also John 17:1, 3 and I Tim. 2:5).

Also, the translation “a god” (the Jehovah’s Witness translation) is grammatically incorrect and fails to bring out the qualitative aspect of the phrase. “Such a rendering is a frightful mistranslation” (Bruce Metzger). It is also incorrect theologically because Deuteronomy 32:39 says: “there are no gods together with me.” If John had wanted to say “divine” he could have used the Greek word theios. Yet “divine” does express the meaning, though rather weakly.

John’s Intent

John writes his prologue to show that Yahuwah has had a purpose from the beginning. John then shows the forward movement of this purpose until the climax when the purpose is enfleshed (John 1:14). The purpose became the man Yahushua.

“The prologue intrinsically has a dynamic movement and determines its own focal point. It begins universally and ends in a concrete way” (Kuschel).

This forward movement seems to push toward verse 14, which is the climactic point of the prologue. So “the word” is portrayed at the beginning with only slight personification coming into play.

The personification strengthens through verses 10-12 as the poem drives toward the appearance of the actual person of Yahushua in verse 14. It also steadily narrows its focus from universality: “In the beginning” (v. 1, 2, 3a) narrowing to “the human race…that did not know him” (v. 3b-5, 10), further narrowing to “his own people who did not accept him” (v. 11), narrowing again to “those who did accept him” (v. 12, 13). Finally the focus narrows onto “the word became flesh” (v. 14a). Verses 14b, 16 and 17 show the superiority of the final stage of Yahuwah’s plan spoken into existence in the uniquely begotten Son. This stage is superior to the previous stage through Moses (the Torah). Verse 18 shows that only through this unique Son, is Yahuwah fully revealed. With this background we can now demonstrate our understanding of the prologue to the Gospel of John.

The Impersonal Word Is Personified Verses 1 and 2: 1st Strophe of the Poem

“In the beginning was the decreed purpose, and the purpose was with Yahuwah, and the purpose was characteristic of Yahuwah. This was in the beginning with Yahuwah.”

“In the beginning” refers not directly to the Genesis creation, but to a time prior to that creation when Yahuwah formed a purpose to produce humans as potential candidates for immortality. “In the beginning” also has overtones of salvation in the New Creation (v. 13).

The phrase “was with Yahuwah” means it (the word) originates with Him as in Job 27:11: “That [knowledge] which is with the Almighty I shall not hide.” Verses 3-5: 2nd Strophe

“All things [the universe] came to be through it, and without it nothing came to be. What has come to be in it was life [of the coming age, immortality] and the life was the light of men. The light [truth of Yahuwah’s purpose] shines in the darkness [lies from Satan beginning in Eden], and the darkness did not overpower it [Gen 3:15 and onward].”

Prior to the 1611 KJV2 and also in some modern translations dia autou in verses 3, 4 is translated “through it,” not “through him.” The use of the pronoun it for “the word” is appropriate because the poem moves forward with an ever strengthening personification. Finally the word becomes the person Yahushua. In the 1st and 2nd strophes “the non-personal word” is a close synonym of “the light” which also takes the neuter pronoun it.

Note: Raymond Brown comments, “The Greek word zoe (life) never means natural life in John’s writings” and “The prologue is speaking of eternal life.” That is “life in the age to come,” life in the future Kingdom which can be tasted now through the spirit.

The First Prose Section

It may be that verses 6-9, 12c, 13 and 15, 17 and 18 are the original prose into which an already structured poem was inserted.

Verse 6: “There came a man sent from Yahuwah whose name was John”

Verse 8: “He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light”

Verse 9: “There was the true light [Yahuwah’s self- revelation through Yahushua] which is enlightening every man coming into the world” (a common phrase among Jews according to the Word Biblical Commentary).

The Personification of the Word Becomes Stronger 3rd Strophe

Verse 10: “He [the word, Yahuwah’s purpose personified] was in the world [of mankind, kosmos], and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know

him.” Verse 11: “He [Yahuwah’s purpose personified, but the

enfleshed ‘purpose’ is now coming into view] came [through the Law] to what was his own [Israel], but his own people did not accept him.”

The poem moves to another stage toward this climax by further strengthening the personification with the revelation that Yahuwah’ s purpose in the form of the Torah was previously rejected by Israel. However, because of his introduction of “the true light” in verse 9 it may well be John’ s intention to show that Yahushua, as Yahuwah’s enfleshed purpose, came to Israel and was not accepted. John is thereby preparing us for the climactic announcement in verse 14.

Verse12 a, b: “But to those [enlightened men], who did accept him [by keeping the Torah which was their tutor leading to Messiah] he [Yahuwah’s purpose personified] gave power [so that they would accept the Messiah] to become children of Yahuwah.”

The Second Prose Section

Verse 12c: “to those who believe in his name” (meaning to believe in him, the enfleshed “purpose”)

Verse 13: “who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of Yahuwah” (“born from above,” NAB).

“It is only with verse 14 that we can speak of the personal Logos. Prior to verse 14 we are in the same realm as pre-Christian talk of Wisdom and Logos…dealing with personifications rather than persons, personified actions of Yahuwah rather than an individual divine being as such.”3

Kuschel agrees: “Only from verse 10 on may one speak of the Logos ensarkos [i.e. the human being, Yahushua]. But it is verse 14 which first makes unmistakably clear in ‘Christian’ terms that ‘the word became flesh’ and thus identifies the Logos asarkos with a specific person.”

The Climactic Statement about the Enfleshed Word 4th and Final Strophe

Verse 14: “ And Yahuwah’ s decreed purpose became mortal man and tabernacled [as the new mode of Yahuwah’s presence among His people] among us, and we saw his [Yahuwah’s purpose now enfleshed] glory, glory as of an only- begotten from a father, full of grace and truth.”

Verse 16: “From his fullness we have all received, grace [verse 17 shows this to be truth through Yahushua leading to the New Covenant] in place of grace [the Torah which fades after it is fulfilled]” (or NIV has “one blessing after another” or NJB has “one gift replacing another”).

The Final Prose Section

Verse 17, 18: “because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Yahushua Christ. No one has ever seen [revealed] Yahuwah. The unique Son, who is close to the Father’s heart [NJB and NRSV] has explained Him.”

In Summary

Perhaps the most helpful points are the understanding that the term “word” is inadequate to express the meaning of logos and that the larger part of the prologue is poetry, which indicates a strong likelihood of metaphorical meaning for “word,” as in the parallel passage, Proverbs 8 (“wisdom”). Also, as Kuschel says, “The prologue intrinsically has a dynamic movement and determines its own focal point. It begins universally and ends in a concrete way.” This really makes it difficult to jump back to any earlier stage of the prologue. Such forward movement in the poem strongly indicates that Yahushua is what the word became only from verse 14 and, in our opinion, no earlier than verse 11 — making it impossible for there to have been a pre-existent Person in John 1:1. A second Person, who is actually Yahuwah would contradict the whole of the rest of Scripture and contradict Yahushua in John 17:3 “You, Father, are the only one who is truly Yahuwah.”

Distinguished professor of NT T.W. Manson makes our point beautifully: “I very much doubt whether John thought of the Logos as a personality. The only personality on the scene is Yahushua the son of Joseph from Nazareth. That personality embodies the Logos so completely that Yahushua becomes a complete revelation of Yahuwah. But in what sense are we using the word ‘embodies’? … For John every word of Yahushua is a word of the Lord.”

By Ray Faircloth

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* * *Daily Mailbag (Miles & Dave)

Miles: Our first question from our daily mailbag is one that I think a growing number of people will be able to relate to, or at least, may have struggled with themselves. It’s from Belinda Murray in the United States. She writes: “Dear WLC, My husband and I are struggling with knowing how to deal with a certain situation that is tearing his family apart. His brother is getting married and his parents refuse to attend because he will be marrying another man.

“My parents-in-law are very conservative Christians and believe that to attend the wedding would be supporting the sin of homosexuality. They are pressuring the rest of the family to boycott the wedding, too. My husband is torn. He and his brother are close and he feels to not go would irreparably damage any relationship he might have in the future with his brother. We want to do the right thing, but aren’t sure what the right thing is. Are there any Biblical principles we could apply to the situation?”

Dave: Hmmm. This is a tricky situation. There’s a potential for a lot of pain on both sides. And with gay marriage becoming legalized in more countries, you can see how this is a situation more and more people are going to be confronting.

Miles: And not just family members, but friends, too.

Dave: I like Belinda’s question, though. It takes it right back to where it should be, out of emotionally charged opinions, and places it squarely in the realm of principle. What are the Biblical principles that apply to the situation? Scripture may not provide a detailed solution for every situation, but if you know the Biblical principles to apply, you won’t go wrong.

Miles: So what are they? If it’s not spelled out in Scripture, how do you know what are the principles to follow?

Dave: Well, in this, as in so many other things, the life of the Saviour is to be our example.

Miles: Oh, yeah. I’m so glad to have that.

Dave: Yahushua did associate with sinners. In fact, that’s one of the reasons the so-called “righteous” rejected Him!

Would you read Luke 15, verses one and two for us?

Miles: Sure, uh … “Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”

Dave: This is a particularly revealing passage because here we see that Yahushua didn’t just receive sinners. We all know that, as the Saviour of mankind, He “received” sinners. But here we see that He willingly socialized with them as well.

Now, turn over to Matthew 11 and read verses 18 and 19, please.

Miles: “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.

The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.”

Dave: It wasn’t that Yahushua ate and drank. Everyone has to eat and drink or they’ll die. It’s that He ate and drank while socializing with those whom the so-called “righteous” had rejected for being sinful.

See, the Pharisees wouldn’t accept, let alone socialize with, anyone they felt was a sinner.

We like to think of ourselves as superior to the Pharisees but, when you think about it, a lot of Christians today will react the same way, refusing to socialize with those whose lifestyles they believe are sinful.

Miles: Well, but doesn’t socializing with a same-sex couple, going to their wedding, having dinner at their house, hosting them at yours, whatever … wouldn’t that be seen as supporting them in their sin? I think that may be what many Christians are afraid of doing and why they withdraw from socializing with quote/unquote sinners.

Dave: Unquestionably Yahushua socialized with sinners. He accepted them.

Miles: Right …

Dave: What He did not do was to participate in their sin. He never approved of sin itself. What did He tell the woman caught in adultery?

Miles: “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” [John 8:11]

Dave: Yahushua came to save sinners, all sinners: not just your garden-variety sinner, but all sinners. Sinners were drawn to Him because they knew He accepted them despite their sinful status.

Miles: He hated the sin, but loved the sinner.

Dave: Exactly. And, in loving the sinner, He didn’t feel the need to denounce their sin. They already knew they were sinners. What He gave them was love and acceptance, and that’s what we can do, too.

It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, not ours. Our job is to show Yahushua’s love and acceptance through treating everyone with the same loving kindness He did.

Miles: I hear what you’re saying, and it’s beautiful, but, well, what about what Paul had to say about not condoning sin? Romans 12:9 says we’re to “Abhor what is evil and cling to what is good.”

Dave: The thing most people don’t understand is that Paul actually differentiated between non-believers, and those who were believers and yet who still engaged in known sin.

Turn to 1 Corinthians, chapter five, and read verses 9 to 13.

Miles: All right … It says: “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

“But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.

“For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside Yah judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person.’”

Sooo … here Paul is saying the evil person we’re not to associate with are those who claim to be believers, not those who do not claim to be believers.

Dave: Right. Now, how each one should apply this in his or her own, individual lives, is a matter best left between Yah and the individual. If you ask, the He will teach you what to do in every situation.

Miles: Another thing to remember is that love draws. Condemnation drives away.

Dave: There’s a quote I read recently by one of my favorite authors. In fact, give me just a second to pull it up. I read it again recently. It says: “[Yah] has not placed us in the world to be judges, but to show forth the mercy of Christ. It is Satan’s way of doing to call the attention of others to a sinner’s faults, but it is not [Yah’s] way.

“Christ is the only true One who can read the soul, the only One who can measure the repentance and know its genuine worth, and the man who takes upon himself the responsibility of judging the sinner will be accounted in greater guilt than the one he condemns. We are to do everything in [Yahuwah’s] way, not in our own way, and if we err at all, it better be on the side of mercy rather than on the side of severity. Christ … identifies Himself with humanity in every detail of experience. Be careful how you deal with human minds. Christ has paid the ransom money for every soul.”

Miles: Hm. I like that: If we err at all, err on the side of kindness.

Okay! Next question. This comes from … hm. I don’t know who this is coming from, or where. It’s anonymous, but it’s a great question and one I think we’ve all struggled with at one time or another.

The person writes: “I did something I knew to be wrong and now I am tormented with feelings of guilt and unworthiness. I knowingly sinned and now I wish I had never done it. Is there any hope for me? Have I lost my salvation?”

Dave: First of all I want to say that knowingly sinning is not what will keep you out. We’re told that Eve was beguiled but Adam wasn’t.

Miles: Oh, that’s right! He knowingly sinned, didn’t he?

Dave: Yes. So knowingly sinning is not what will keep anyone out of Heaven. It is refusing to repent and continuing in rebellion, rejecting the forgiveness offered, that will keep a person out of Heaven.

Turn to Revelation 12 and read verses 9 and 10, would you please.

Miles: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our Theos [or God], and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our Theos day and night.”

Dave: Notice what Satan is called here: the accuser of our brethren. This letter writer is swamped in guilt because Satan is accusing him or her – I’ll just say “him” to make it easier – Satan is accusing him of knowingly sinning.

But we’re all sinners. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of Yah. But that’s why Yahushua was sent in the first place! To seek and to save the lost!

Miles: That’s very true.

Dave: I want to say this, and I’m saying it to everyone, because we’ve all sinned: if you are feeling overwhelmed with guilt, take it as a sign of encouragement that it is not too late to be saved. The very fact that you are wrestling with feelings of guilt says that there is still hope for you because if your heart were truly hardened in sin, if it were too late for you, you wouldn’t be feeling this way! Your heart would be so hardened that the drawing of the spirit of Yah would have absolutely no effect on you.

Miles: That’s the unpardonable sin, isn’t it? To reject and reject salvation until your heart no longer even cares any more.

Dave: When you feel overwhelmed with guilt and doubt, recognize that those feelings are coming from Satan: the “accuser” of the brethren. He knows that all who go to Yah will be accepted and forgiven. So, he tries his utmost to destroy the faith of any he sees whose hearts are inclining to truth and righteousness.

Don’t listen to the devil! Go to Yah anyway, just as you are. Don’t wait to make yourself better. You can’t. What’s more, He doesn’t expect you to. Just go to Him and accept the forgiveness He is offering.

Miles: “He that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” [John 6:37]

Dave: Amen. He’s in the business of saving sinners, friends! That’s what He delights to do!

In closing, I’d like to add just one more Bible promise: 1 John 1:9. I’m sure you’ve got it memorized.

Miles: I do! It’s one of my favorites. It says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Dave: Not only will He forgive our sins, but He will also cleanse us and restore us back to where we would have been, had we never fallen in the first place. If you’re tempted again, it doesn’t mean you haven’t been forgiven. It simply means that you’re being given a second chance to choose and now, in Yah’s strength, you can choose the right.

Miles: Very true. That’s beautiful.

Well, that’s all we’ve got time for today. If you have a question or a comment, we welcome your letters. Just go to our website at WorldsLastChance.com and click on Contact Us. If we don’t get your question answered on air, we’ll do our best to address it in the Q&As on our website.

* * *Daily Promise

Hello! This is Elise O’Brien with your Daily Promise from Yah’s Word.

When I was a child, my parents took me to a very famous beach. It’s on the California coast in the United States and is called Pebble Beach. Now, obviously, lots of beaches in the world have pebbles. But what makes Pebble Beach so famous and draws tourists from around the world is the action of the waves at that spot.

The merciless pounding of the waves traps rocks there. The stones are tossed, and rolled, and ground together, against each other and against the cliffs along the shore. The result is beautifully polished, smooth, round stones. Tourists collect these stones, take them home, and frequently put them on display. I still remember, as a young child, how excited I was to find some tiger’s eye pebbles among the quartz.

Just a little further up the coast, however, just around the point of the cliff, is a quiet little cove. Here, protected from storms by the surrounding cliffs, is a beach full of stones untouched by tourists. In fact, hardly anyone ever goes there, preferring the more famous, and stormier, Pebble Beach.

The difference is, the rocks just a little further up the coast are nothing more than your average beach stones. The calm waters of the protected cove don’t have the same effect as the stormier tides at Pebble Beach. As a result, the rocks up the coast retain their sharp angles, and dull, rough exterior. Only at Pebble Beach are the stones ground and polished by the storms and tides until they’re smooth and polished.

When the storms of life leave you feeling battered, sore, and tired, remember that there is a purpose behind every storm. Yahuwah will never lead you in any path that you would not choose for yourself if you could see the future, too.

Malachi 3 tells us that Yahuwah “is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:

And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto Yahuwah an offering in righteousness.” [Malachi 3:2-3]

That’s a promise! He’ll not leave you in the ugliness and deformity of sin. With love and infinite compassion, Yahuwah will purify you of all dross. He will polish away the rough surface, and smooth over the harsh, unforgiving angles. And when He is finished, He will be well-pleased because in you, He shall see His own reflection.

Don’t be discouraged when you fail to perfectly reflect the image of Yah. It’s not your job to purify the dross. Your part is to surrender to the process and keep surrendering. Trust that He who has begun a good work in you will finish it.

In speaking of the finished product, First Peter 2:5 says, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to Yah by Yahushua the Anointed.”

We’ve been given great and precious promises. Go, and start claiming!

* * *

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* * *

Thank you for listening to this episode on WLC Radio.

John saw “a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” [Revelation 21:1]

If you wish to join with the redeemed of all ages, living a life that measures with the life of Yahuwah, make the choice: accept salvation today. You don’t have to “get yourself ready.” The truth is: you can’t. Neither can I. No one can. Come to Him, just as you are. Don’t wait until you’ve quit sinning. You’re not going to get better through your own efforts!

Accept Yahuwah’s invitation to become member of His eternal earthly kingdom. When you accept this precious invitation, Yahuwah will gift you with a brand-new heart. In Ezekiel 36, verse 26, He declares: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Accepting this priceless gift is the only way for joining His Kingdom.

Come to Yahuwah, just as you are. He’s waiting with arms wide open, eager to receive all who come to him.

* * *

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This program and past episodes of WLC Radio are available for downloading on our website. They're great for sharing with friends and for use in Bible studies! They're also an excellent resource for those worshipping Yahuwah alone at home. To listen to previously aired programs, visit our website at WorldsLastChance.com. Click on the WLC Radio icon displayed on our homepage.

In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.