The Great Commission: "All authority is given to Me in Heaven and on earth. Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold (Greek: G2400), I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen." (Matt. 28:18-20 Modern KJV)
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Is it "Behold I am with you," (OR) “Lo I am with you?"
The KJV and the NASB both say “Lo” I am with you always, but the Modern KJV says "Behold" I am with you. What in the world does “lo” mean? To my 20th-century mind, "lo" has no meaning, or else I may hear it as the opposite of high. That doesn’t make any sense to me in the above verse. This means the verse is not actionable in my life, because a key word has no meaning to me. YUCK!
My passion is to "live the Bible." When the last thing Jesus said doesn't even make sense to me, it is quite impossible to live that verse! This is the Great Commission! I sure want to be able to comprehend how I can live out the Great Commission!
"Behold" or "see" allows this verse to make sense to me.
In Part Two of this blog series, we will explore “behold” in-depth. For now, I would like to suggest that “behold” means “SEE.”
It is important to understand that the comma after "behold" was not in the original language. It was added by the translators according to their interpretation that this was an interjection to draw the attention of His disciples to what He was going to say. (For example: “Look, I will be there.”) Without the comma, we would interpret it very differently. (For example: "Look for me there.") So "Behold - Look - See I am always with you" is an acceptable understanding of Jesus' words. If this is a command to see Jesus at my side always, and I do that, then the reality of Jesus’ presence in my life will be 1,000 times stronger than if I am just "thinking" He is at my side (i.e. as a culture we do say: A picture is worth 1,000 words).
Wow! I love 1,000 times magnification of any spiritual reality in my life! Hmm, living with this picture filling the eyes of my heart would not just be powerful, but it would be very different from what I did for the first 10 years of my Christian life. I grew up seeing Jesus nowhere near me.
Biblically speaking, I suspect that what I was doing in the past would be called an “evil imagination,” since I was picturing something contrary to the Bible. This takes me backward and not forward (Jer. 7:24). I sure don’t need to find myself tumbling backward into fear, insecurity, powerlessness, etc. It seems like it would be much easier to fulfill the Great Commission if I am beholding Jesus at my side, showing me the actions He is taking and wanting me to take, and speaking to me the words on His heart for the moment I am in.
Four types of people will experience “Behold I am with you” in four different ways:
- Left-brain thinkers tend to "think" that Jesus is with them.
- Right-brain seers will "imagine" Jesus with them.
- People led by the Spirit (Rom. 8:14) will be using the eyes of their hearts to see Jesus, alive and at their side (Ps. 16:8;Acts 2:25). They will be tuned to flow (Jn. 7:367-39) and will be asking for and receiving flowing pictures (visions) and flowing words (rhemas) from Jesus.
- Uninformed people who have never grasped the concept that Jesus is with them will not be picturing Jesus, thinking about Jesus, or tuned to flow. Their consciousness is “self” lives or "I live." They have not yet seen the Galatians 2:20 reality.
So different people will be doing VERY DIFFERENT things concerning the Great Commission! Amazing. You can do a quick survey of a few of your friends. Pick those who are wired in different ways. You will soon confirm this is true. I used to assume people all read the Bible the way I did. Not so. People use all of the approaches listed above.
Coming out of my wilderness
I had never even thought about using approaches two or three above because the word in my favorite translation (NASB) was "lo" and I had no definable consciousness of what "lo" meant! Therefore I simply collapsed into my standard approach to life – thinking, rather than picturing. Left-brain rather than right-brain. My heart wasn’t involved because in the first ten years of my Christian life I had no revelation that out of the heart FLOWS. I had no revelation of the role flow was to be playing in my life. I had no revelation that flow was the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:37-39).
Remember how King David was using the eyes of his heart? He set the Lord at his right hand (Ps.16:8), and when this verse is quoted in Acts 2:25 it says "I beheld the Lord always before my face; For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved" (ASV).
The result for David was, "I will not be moved." That would be nice, wouldn’t it? All I have to do is learn to focus the eyes of my heart on Jesus present at my side and tune to flow. Now I am seeing true spiritual reality. This empowers me to walk in God's strength, peace, and divine perspective. Jesus lived this way (Jn. 5:19,20,30; Eph. 1:17,18). In parts three and four of this series, we will explore how the early church was living this reality out. It was quite exciting!
My conclusions
I am to live as Jesus lived (see blog), constantly receiving God’s rhemas and visions, by presenting the eyes and ears of my heart to the Lord and asking the Holy Spirit to grant revelation. Then, I tune to flow, flowing thoughts (His voice) and flowing pictures (His visions). I honor this flow by acting upon it.
Tips on "How do I yield my godly imagination to Spirit flow?" Become childlike. Smile. Picture yourself as a child. Become playful. Take a deep slow breath. Cease your labors; enter into rest. Stop striving and grunting. Ask the Holy Spirit to take over the scene and show you what He wants you to see. Honor the flowing thoughts and pictures which appear as they are coming from the River of God that flows within you.
Testing: Yes, we DO test what we receive. Everything I receive in flow must be compatible with Scripture as well as the names of Jesus. Anything that is edgy or constitutes a big decision, I submit to my three spiritual advisors and ask them if their hearts confirm it came from God. I proceed once they say “yes.”
It’s a non-Western way of living: This is the way Jesus lived (see this blog) and is the way I too live. I believe that by living this way, I become anointed and equipped to fulfill the Great Commission through the power of the Spirit. Realize that some religious leaders will criticize you for this, even as religious leaders criticized Jesus for His lifestyle of living by the Spirit. That is OK and to be expected.
Journaling questions
- Lord, what do You want to speak to me concerning beholding You with me always?
- How does seeing You at my side facilitate my "abiding in Christ"?
- How does seeing You at my side facilitate my understanding that “apart from You I can do nothing"?
- How does the command to fix my eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:1,2) relate to the statement: "Behold I am with you always"?
Great Commission series
- The Great Commission # 1 – Am I “beholding Jesus with me at all times”?
- The Great Commission # 2 – In-depth exploration of the word “behold” (available soon)
- The Great Commission # 3 – What does it mean to be a witness? (available soon)
- The Great Commission # 4 – Yield godly imaginations to Spirit flow (available soon)
- The Great Commission # 5 - Seeing Jesus, alive and with me always IS true reality (available soon)
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