Verily, Verily

There are 25 Verily’s in John alone and many more in the synoptic gospels. Indeed it was a surprise there were so many. The ones in John rarely appear in the other three gospels. But here we will look simply at the gospel of John as only John has “verily, verily,” the 3 synoptic gospels have just the one “verily” at the beginning.

According to Barnes “‘Verily, verily’—An expression of strong affirmation, denoting the certainty and the importance of what he was about to say. Jesus proceeds to state one of the fundamental and indispensable doctrines of his religion.”

The Greek word in Strongs, G281 is pronounced in the Greek language Amen. Sometimes it is translated truly and sometimes verily. It’s also “Amen” as in the end of our Lord’s prayer in Matt.6:13, and in 2 Cor.1:20 “All the promises of God...are yea and...Amen.” It also means “so let it be” and certainly when used at the end of a sentence. At the start of a sentence these are translated “verily.”

It came to mind that they might be placed into categories or some kind of order. This is subjective but these sayings must be for a special purpose. The first category is the identification of Messiah.

Messiah

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” (John 1:51) Jesus is replying to Nathaniel, an Israelite indeed, who recognised Jesus as the Son of God and king of Israel. This signifies the apostle understood he was the Messiah. The “Son of man” being another expression also for Messiah. He literally did see Jesus go to heaven on ascension day while two angels stood close to Nathaniel and the other disciples. (Acts 1:11) Angels being messengers, the eleven disciples would also be messengers of the gospel proclaiming to the Jews and then Peter, Paul and others “to the Gentiles.” The ascending and descending may suggest communication between our heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus, the glorified church, and the world.

Pre-existence

Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58) The Messiah was one who had a life before the life of his ministry that culminated in AD 33. The Old Testament promised the Messiah was the seed of the woman (Gen.3:15), that he would come from the tribe of Judah (Gen.49:9-10), to be of King David’s line (Isa.9:7) and be born in Bethlehem. (Mic.5:2) So far in these texts no intimation that a personality already in existence would come to recover that which was lost by Adam. This was a subject John addressed at the very start of his gospel. “In the beginning was the word and the word was with the God.” (Diaglott interlinear) Hence when Jesus said “verily” he meant, he, Jesus was in existence before Abraham was born. John 8.58 was consistent with John 1:1 but the former were the words of our Lord Jesus and the latter an inspired statement by John after the fact.

So we have established who Jesus was that said “verily, verily.” How it would affect those Messiah came to who could be new creatures is the next category.

New creature, New life

John 3:3,5: says “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” These words were spoken to Nicodemus, a man of some standing among the Jews who came by night to Jesus. These two verses relate to new birth, the birth of the new creature, that which is invisible to any machine but can be perceived by those similarly born and more importantly by the heavenly Father.

Born is the Greek word ‘gennerthe’ which is very close to the word, Genesis. It seems to cover the idea both of being conceived and being born whereas there is a distinction in British English of today, so we have to bear that in mind. It conveys an important point though, the necessity to begin a new life, to have a new life force on the spirit plane rather than on this earthly plane on which we sit and stand now. Like all births its essentially a miracle. It’s not like we can go to a shop and pay for it using cash or debit or credit cards. Nevertheless its very real to the Christian to have this mental communication with God. It’s something which is impossible in the animal kingdom and sets us in the image of God or “god-likeness” that’s possible for humankind. Some of this is explained in the next verses in John 3 (ESV) “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (vv.6-8)

The “I am” scriptures speak to the new creature for who only could be cared for by the one good shepherd and in like manner they only have one bread to feed on that does lead to peace, happiness and everlasting life.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” (John 10:7-8.1-2,11) Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) He certainly is the gateway and there is no other way. Jesus had been speaking to the Pharisees and had shown they weren’t the way. Israel had been given the law covenant but abandoned it for idolatry, hence firstly there was the Assyrian captivity for the Northern tribes and after the second, the Babylonian captivity for the Southern tribes including those in Jerusalem. After their return and the days of the first advent the law had been padded out to ensure none inadvertently transgressed the law, to the point that it was a barrier rather than a schoolmaster. The priestly class were distant from the people when they should have been teaching the promises of God and addressing the hearts rather than the shells of the people. Hence the need to state they were thieves, unable to be shepherds, especially then as the shepherd had come!

The same can be said of Jesus saying, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:32-33,35) “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world… And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” None had been able truly or in any way to have come from heaven. None too had been able to say they came bringing everlasting life.

There are other “verily, verily” verses which appear as a rebuke that there were of those who would not go on to be disciples and new creatures in Christ. Why would this be one of the verilies? One is in John 6:26 which says “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.” These had gladly eaten in the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand from five loaves and two fishes but not feeding upon the bread of heaven. (John 6:32)

Everlasting Life

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47) What a promise! Ever since the fall of Adam humankind was unable to live forever (Gen.3:19-22) although there may have been living beings like Methuselah the son of Enoch, who lived 969 years. Yet Jesus said believers on him had everlasting life. Daniel mentions a resurrection to everlasting life. (Dan.12:2) Nevertheless this promise of everlasting life is significant. He follows this up by saying “I am the bread of life.” (No one can live without food albeit water and shelter are more necessary to keep the human body alive on this island.) Later our Lord Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead by his heavenly Father on the third day and ever lives to make intercession for us. (Heb.7:25) In the purely physical sense our minds and bodies are still dying but there is still the hope, indeed expectation of everlasting life. If we were to look at that phrase in John 6:47 it did not state at that moment whether it is on the earthly plane or spirit plane. It did not state anything about having the divine nature which also includes living eternally. Even Satan from the spirit plane will go into the lake of fire confirming he does not have the divine nature which means immortality. (Rev.20:10) But Jesus did promise everlasting or eternal life.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24) This statement earlier in John’s gospel tells us in what way we have everlasting life. It’s in the sense that we were in the dying state but now have the potential state of life. Like the phrase being seated in heavenly places. (Eph.2:6) Not a simple concept to grasp for those without spiritual sight. But it’s not just a concept but a reality that in due time does become proven to the world at large. It comes only to those who believe in the existence of the one true God, the one who sent His Son and the architect for the universe and the architect of the wonderful Plan.

Another similar statement regarding the hope for everlasting life comes in John 8:51 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” This verse sits happily in this group as it infers the promise of everlasting life from the understanding that each one will pick up their life from the sleep of death and be known in a way they are now known. It is conditional on keeping his sayings. What sayings? The Classic Amplified Version says, “anyone observes My teaching [lives in accordance with My message.]” In the flesh it is not achievable but, in the spirit, and intention it is.

Prayer

“Verily, verily, I say to you, as many things as ye may ask of the Father in my name, He will give you.” (John 16:23 YLT) What a statement to make! What a promise to give. This appears to be aimed at the church. One thinks of the early church. What they accomplished in their mission to preach the gospel and convert Jew and Gentile. As they consecrated their lives in their lifework they would naturally ask for the excellent things that pertain to everlasting life and things in harmony with the will of their heavenly Father.

Service & Sacrifice

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.” (John 13:16) This being the occasion of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, the custom being the host would arrange to wash the feet of their guests as walking with sandals meant dirty feet. Jesus demonstrates he also came to serve. It’s possible that Jesus was reiterating he had been sent and by implication sent by his father, the heavenly Father the one true God. Believers in Jesus Christ with the promise of everlasting life too have a life of service and sacrifice that comes to them as new creatures. The disciples would spend their lives in service of their leader Jesus, as his apostles and in so doing be in God’s service.

But is there any true saying in what way they would serve or sacrifice. In John 6:53-54 Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” In some circles this is taken to mean taking the symbols of the memorial of the bread and “fruit of the vine” but it appears to have a deeper message and application. When Jesus speaking to James and John said “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism that I am baptized with you will be baptized.” (Mark 10:39 NKJV) From the four gospels we can read what Jesus’ baptism was: his 3½-year ministry, his teaching of the people mainly of Israel and his signs and wonders. The Pharisees and their allies tried to trap him, to demean with their questions. His sufferings, at the hands of the Chief priest and elders as well as the Romans which would end in crucifixion for a crime he did not commit, yet it was a necessary submission to his Father’s will as a ransom for the world. His was a truly sacrificial death.

Herod Agrippa killed James the brother of John about AD 42. (Acts 12:1-2) Church tradition reckons that Peter and Paul were killed by the authorities and both had been in prison. (Acts 12:6; Eph.3:1) John wrote the book of Revelation according to Scofield in AD96 on the Greek Isle of Patmos in sight of the Turkish coast where he writes as a “companion in tribulation” (Rev.1:9) having left Judea before AD70 when Jerusalem was destroyed and escaped that tribulation to live outside of the promised land. All down the Gospel age there are those wanting to walk the walk of their Lord Jesus and whose testimony is not written in the New Testament. The key point is the Church would be developed under a covenant of sacrifice. (Psalm 50:5)

This work of service would be continued in this way. The work of spreading God’s word “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” (John 13:20) This would take the message of God’s Son in the time when His Son would not be on earth after the first advent. In so doing they would serve the Lord Jesus and the heavenly Father.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” (John 14:12) This verily is for the Christian believer. Can we imagine our Lord saying the church would do a greater work? Indeed there is much to be done in the work of the gospel message even now however in the Messianic age there will be a great work in helping the world up the highway of holiness. (Isa.35:8 NKJV) Even now the world population is almost 8 billion which guides us to the magnitude of the task that lies ahead. Then Jesus knew he was leaving Israel and the earth and his work here.

NAC To be concluded