Everything Jesus said was “Verily”.
Everything Jesus ever said is true. In fact, Jesus IS Truth. That means if He said something, we can bet on it. It is accurate, it is not deceptive, and it is not an exaggeration. The fact that He spoke it, is “assuredly”. That is also true about anything God spoke through His true prophets – there being some serious warnings, and sometimes disastrous results when people represented themselves as speaking on behalf of God, when in fact they were speaking from their own hearts. It did not matter whether they were saying “good” things or “bad/tough” things – if it was not from God, and if they were misrepresenting themselves as speaking on behalf of God, there were heavy consequences. Examples can be found in Jeremiah, and in the book of Jude
BACKGROUND: Israel was destined for a 70 year captivity because of the people having provoked God to rage through their unrepentant and ongoing sinfulness, and the (false) prophet Hananiah probably had a lot of cheerleaders and supporters, because he was prophesying things getting better in hurry. But he was speaking from his own heart:
Jer 28:11-17
11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.'” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
13 “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.”
14 ‘For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also.”‘”
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie.
16 “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.'”
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
(NKJ)
BACKGROUND – Jude, like Peter, was warning the believers that there would be evil people in their midst, prophesying and speaking lofty words, and those speakers would bring judgment on themselves. Peter also tells the readers that saints who were not rooted and grounded in the word of God would be deceived by these false prophets:
Jude 1:10-13
10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
(NKJ)
2 Pet 2:18, 20-21
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.
20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
(NKJ)
Bad stuff, with guaranteed awful outcomes. We would do well to minister in the realm of the prophetic, in the fear of God, making certain to say what He tells us to say, and only that – no more, no less.
BACK TO TRUTH:
Jesus is the truth, and the devil is presented to us, by Jesus, as the father of all lies. Pretty clear differentiation. It would therefore seem that Jesus would never need to say something like “assuredly” (or in King James bible-speak “verily”) because EVERYTHING that ever came out of His mouth was true, or veritable. So why would Jesus say “Verily”? I believe He was putting a marker of importance on the next thing that He was about to say, because He knew its critical importance to the plans and purposes of God, and He also knew that, because of that importance, the enemy would particularly try to undermine the believers’ understanding and embracing that which was going to be revealed by Jesus. This goes hand in hand with some scriptures in the Old Testament, where God does some extreme demonstrations to mark a verse or a prophesy for importance:
Isa 49:22
22 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, and set up My standard for the peoples; they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
(NKJ)
Ezek 36:7-9
7 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I have raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame.
8 “But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come.
9 “For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.
(NKJ)
Both the verses in Isaiah and in Ezekiel pertain to God’s faithful promises to eventually restore Israel (Ezek 37 also has an “indeed’ in it, another marker of importance – since EVERYTHING God promises is “indeed”). God revealing His taking of an oath is sort of outrageous, almost seemingly unnecessary, until you consider the madness of the satanic assault on the promises to Israel which have crept into the church in the way of “replacement theology” which proclaims that the Christian church of the NT has replaced the Jewish people. Paul gets livid over this, and builds an inarguable case for Israel’s inclusion in the eternal promises of God, in Romans chapters 9-11, and then writes the famous Romans 12:1-2 verses (I beseech you, therefore brethren, in light of the mercies of God…..) building from his example of God’s mercy to Israel (in chapters 9-11), declaring that God’s faithfulness to THEM (Israel) ought to motivate US (the church) to abandon everything else, and show up, and trust God without reservation.
ALL THAT SAID, when Jesus says VERILY, He is stating something so critical, that we would do well to listen up, dig in, recognizing that His “verily-ing” was intended as a pre-emptive strike against some yet-to-come false doctrine that would be presented to undermine a most critical truth. My favorite translation happens to be the NKJ, and “verily” is translated “assuredly”. I can live with that. Since everything Jesus said was ASSUREDLY, so when He actually says “assuredly” it’s sort of an “assuredly-assuredly”, meaning “mark this as critical”, reader.
Matt 5:13-16
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
These verses are key. We’re told we’re the salt, and without salt the earth will rot and become useless, and victimized by evil men. We’re told we’re light of the world, and that the purpose of the light is to illuminate and not be hidden. High visibility is the purpose of the light – particularly critical in dark times of trouble, wouldn’t you agree? Of critical importance to the world is the salt thing. Then immediately we’re told “do not think” – another sort of notable thing that would imply Jesus knew the enemy would work to get us to think a certain way, and He was telling us in advance, not to think that way.
Matt 5:17:21
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
19 “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
(NKJ)
How clear is THAT? Everything in the Old Testament has to be fulfilled. Everything means that. I’ve mentioned this before, but this is critical to our interpretation and understanding of the NEW Testament in light of what has yet to be fulfilled in the OLD Testament.
None of us, in the flesh, is inclined to want to address the fact that some seriously heavy things have yet to take place, but they do. And they will. And there is a charge and a warning placed upon the teachers (v19) – don’t diminish your reward by teaching otherwise, even if it is unpopular.
ALL THAT SAID, we are in obvious times of worldwide shaking, and quite frankly we’d all be delighted to be able to preach “smooth sailing with Jesus”. But that is not what the bible says, in either testament. To the contrary, Jesus warned us that many would be offended in the end times, as things heat up, and the love of many would grow cold. That implied there love would have been warmer, earlier. He is talking about saints.
Matt 24:9-14
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
10 “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13 “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
(NKJ)
Matthew 24 had some small fulfillment during the destruction of the temple in 70AD, but these verses are clearly pointing to end times. The awful and complete destruction of Jerusalem was one city. The captivity of Israel to Babylon was one country. My bible speaks of a destruction across the whole earth – every nation. HHY – Hasn’t Happened Yet – that means it has to happen, otherwise Jesus THE Truth, was not speaking truth in Matthew 5:18. Impossible. Believe it. Assuredly.
Isa 28:22
22 Now therefore, do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, a destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
(NKJ) – That says whole earth.
Matthew 24 tells us after worldwide tribulation, then the END will come – right after these things occur. In Luke, there’s an “immediately proclaimed by Jesus to help us embrace the timeframes of this prophecy of worldwide judgment.
Matt 24:9-14
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
10 “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13 “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
(NKJ)
As far as whether the saints are present in the world at the return of Jesus, I say yes. No secret rapture. We’ll be caught up to meet Him in the air, but it never tells us we will all hang out in the air with Jesus after that. His coming across the sky has a landing plan. Jerusalem.
We are indeed to be delivered from the wrath to come (because we’re sons and daughters of God, and our accepting the payment by Jesus for the wrath awaiting us, is complete), but tribulation is not the wrath of God, it is the tribulation of God – brought upon the earth with the intent, by God, to draw the nations to Christ:
Hag 2:6-7
6 “For thus says the LORD of hosts: “Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;
7 ‘and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts.
(NKJ)
“Tribulation” comes from the Greek word “tribulum” which was a heavy threshing stone (with sharp hardwood shards) pulled by a horse and used by the Greeks to separate (get this!) the wheat from the tares. Wheat and tares has some significance in Jesus’ teachings. Tribulation will, at the end, separate the good from the bad, the true from the false.
Facing the horror of crucifixion and separation from God, Jesus Himself, as a man, expressed pre-trib aspiration:
John 12:27
27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
(NKJ)
Matt 26:42
42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
(NKJ)
Thankfully, for all of us, Jesus – feeling the freedom to express His human feelings, expressed them, and then determined to resign Himself to embrace the perfect will of the Father, which was to not deliver Jesus out of His personal tribulation, but rather to walk Him through it, quite publicly, as a light to the world, His good deeds glorifying His Father in heaven. Phil 2 – let the same mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus….
God has an amazing plan to wrap up and culminate this theodramatic age between the two comings of Messiah. There is an age to come, but for it to come, all that was prophesied in both testaments has to and will come to pass. And we would do well to study and understand what God has revealed to us by His prophets. We are accountable to know what the Lord wants us to know.
Verily, verily, assuredly, you can bet on it, it will all happen. I do not want to be making excuses to a desperate world when the Lord starts troubling things in such a great manner as has never happened before, nor will ever happen again. He is God.
As Misty Edwards sings so prophetically in “Baptize My Heart” , I do not want to be offended when it’s all coming down. I want to be rooted and grounded in the love and faithfulness of a God Who has told us tough things so that we might have peace – knowing He has things fully under control.
Our place of security is in the place of intimacy. We are assured nothing else will work because nothing else has ever worked. Our prayer lives, our time with God, is key. No substitutes. In the Word. The Word in us.
The Spirit-led sons of God have to be manifested prior to the return of Jesus (Romans 8 and Ps 110). We are not called to simply hold the fort until He returns. We are called to be light and salt, out in the world, advancing the Kingdom. Warning every man, as Paul says – saint and sinner alike.
Verily. Verily.
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