SNT 1238 Learning Is an Exciting Adventure
Learning Is an Exciting Adventure
August 5, 1984
SNT 1238
Format: audio
Publication Date: 08-05-1984
Victor Paul Wierwille was a Bible scholar and teacher for over four decades.
By means of Dr. Wierwille's dynamic teaching of the accuracy and integrity of God's Word, foundational class and advanced class graduates of Power for Abundant Living have learned that the one great requirement for every student of the Bible is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thus, his presentation of the Word of God was designed for students who desire the in-depth-accuracy of God’s Word.
In his many years of research, Dr. Wierwille studied with such men as Karl Barth, E. Stanley Jones, Glenn Clark, Bishop K.C. Pillai, and George M. Lamsa. His formal training included Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Mission House (Lakeland) College and Seminary. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received a Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. Later he completed his work for the Doctor of Theology degree.
Dr. Wierwille taught the first class on Power for Abundant Living in 1953.
Books by Dr. Wierwille include: Are the Dead Alive Now? published in 1971; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today published in 1972; five volumes of Studies in Abundant Living— The Bible Tells Me So (1971), The New, Dynamic Church (1971), The Word's Way (1971), God's Magnified Word (1977), Order My Steps in Thy Word (1985); Jesus Christ Is Not God (1975); Jesus Christ Our Passover (1980); and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed (1982).
Dr. Wierwille researched God's Word, taught, wrote, and traveled worldwide, holding forth the accuracy of God's "wonderful, matchless" Word.
Act 1:1-4
Rev 3:20; Lev 2:13; Num 18:19; Jug 9:45; 2Ch 13:5
Eze 16:4; Jug 4:4-14, 20-22; Acts 4:1
Act 1:4, 5, 7, 8; Mar 9:50; Col 4:6
-----------------------------------------
Learning is an Exciting Adventure
Victor Paul Wierwille
– Sunday Night Fellowship Manuscript –
God bless. Take your Bibles tonight and go to the book of Acts chapter 1, please. Tonight I’d
like to share on the subject: Learning is an exciting adventure.
Recently, Dan McConaughy stirred and triggered my mind and heart on a unique and exciting translation of a verse of scripture. It does not contradict what I have taught you previously, but it adds a special and greater impact than I knew or understood before. This impact I desire to share with you on this, the 5th day of August, the occasion of the opening of Corps Week, 1984.
The record is in Acts chapter 1. There have been great moments in history. This record in Acts chapter 1 is another one of those great moments in history. The record is that which just preceded the ascension of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
The book of Acts, verse 1 of chapter 1, states:
Acts 1:1-2:
The former treatise [the gospel of Luke] have I made, O Theophilus, [and the word
“Theophilus” means beloved of God] of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
Until the day in which he was taken up,…
And that day in which he was taken up is called what? The ascension. Right. And the ascension occurred forty days after the resurrection. Ten days after the ascension, the Day of Pentecost occurred. You and I looking back know it was ten days. All of those living at that time looking ahead didn’t know exactly how many days it would be until the day in which he was taken up.
Acts 1:2:
… after that he through [pneuma hagion] the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
Jesus Christ chose twelve apostles. And this verse of scripture says, on the day of the ascension he gave commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. One of those apostles was Judas Iscariot. So Judas Iscariot could not have killed himself, like religion has taught us, right after he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ and still be present forty days after the resurrection on the day of the ascension with the other eleven apostles.
Verse 3 reads:
Acts 1:3:
To whom [the apostles whom he had chosen, all twelve] also he shewed himself alive
after his passion [after his death and resurrection] by many infallible proofs,…
An infallible proof is a proof that cannot be contradicted. It’s established. It’s axiomatic. Like putting two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen together. It’s an infallible proof.
Acts 1:3-4:
… being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of
God
[verse 4] And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for [or until] the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Now, all Bible scholars and Greek authorities have, for centuries, had problems with the translation of the first phrase of verse 4, “And, being assembled together with them,” The translation is awkward since only one person, Jesus Christ, is involved with them – the twelve apostles, including Judas Iscariot.
The problem. The problem word for the translators is a Greek word that I would like to give to you tonight. If you have a pencil, paper or pen and you want to note this because you can check this out in complete detail on your own sometime, for your own study.
The Greek word is sunalizomenos. It’s spelled S-U-N-A-L-I-Z-O-M-E-N-O-S. In Acts 1:4, sunalizomenos is in the present tense, while the verb ‘he commanded’ or ‘he charged’ following it is the Greek word pareggeilen. It’s spelled P-A-R-E (long e)-G-G-E-I-L-E-N. That word sunalizomenos I told you was in the present tense. This word is in the aorist tense. And thus the translation in Acts 1:4 has been a major problem of syntax.
Now, the root word for alizomai, spelled A-L-I-Z-O-M-A-I, is the word halizo, H-A-L-I-Z-O;
which stems from the word spelled A-L-S, with a breathing accent on the A, and it’s pronounced
‘hals’. Like H-A-L-S.
In this analytical Greek lexicon, revised 1978 edition, on page 15 in the second column, about halfway down in the second column, is this word ‘halizo’. And way to the right of it it says ‘id’, which means that it came from the word above. And if you go up above just three words, there is the word that is spelled A-L-S, pronounced ‘hals’.
Now, on page 16 of this lexicon, second column on page 16, the last word in the column is the word als. And there, the meaning behind the word is salt. And further on they have halizo as
‘seasoned with salt, preserved by salting’. If you take the Critical Lexicon and concordance of Dr E.W. Bullinger and you look up the word ‘salt’, you’ll find the word salt on page 657. And it is the second-last word on this second column at the bottom. It says hals and als, and it translates it salt, S-A-L-T.
So these are from the Critical Greek Lexicons. Now, this word ‘sunalizomenos’ that I gave you has two pronunciations. Either with a long a – then it would be pronounced sun-a-lizomenos;
sun-a-lizomenos. And when it is with a long a it is translated ‘assembled together with’. Or it can be pronounced with a short a, sunalizomenos – suna (short a) lizomenos. It is translated ‘salted with’.
Now, the inherent problem has been the loss of the knowledge and the significance of the covenant of salt.
The old Syriac, or Aramaic, quoted by Ephrem, E-P-H-R-E-M, has the words [inaudible,
00:12:50] as the seventh century, people. But later, by the time of the King James in 1611, the true knowledge and significance of salt and the covenant of salt had been lost. It lost its significance in the Occident, the Western World, the western people, so they translated Acts 1:4, as we have it today in the King James version.
It is also interesting to note that the early versions of the Old Latin, the Vulgate, the Harklean, the Aramaic, read ‘eating with them’. The Coptic and the Peshitta read ‘he ate with them bread’. Eating bread with someone has the same solemnity of eating salt with. The bread had salt in it. The Ethiopic reads ‘eating lunch with’.
All of this work reminds me of my confirmation verse, which was Revelation 3:20:
Revelation 3:20:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I
will come in to him, and will sup with him,…
Ordinarily, the host does not eat with the guest; he simply serves them. But if they are very intimate and on great, friendly terms, then the host may eat with the guest. That’s why Revelation 3:20 is so significant. Jesus Christ said, if you “open the door, I will come in”. And he sup with us and we with him. A great verse of scripture.
Also, Professor Metzger, who is the Greek scholar at Princeton, plus Tischendorf, plus von
Soden, believe that it should be translated in Acts 1:4, ‘ate salt with’.
When Acts 1:4 is translated, ‘he was salted with them’, then all the syntax problems vanish and
are solved, and an almost forgotten and lost truth is reinstituted and reestablished.
I’d like for you to take a look at Leviticus chapter 2. See, God had never required sacrifices of Israel. The primary will of God never was for Israel to have sacrifices – but Israel wanted to have sacrifices like everybody else was sacrificing, I guess, or something. So, when they wanted to have sacrifices, God set up some laws of the sacrifice and said, if you’re going to sacrifice then
do it like this.
And in verse 13 of chapter 2 of Leviticus, we read:
Leviticus 2:13:
And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou
suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.
Because salt indicates commitment; salt indicates uprightness. That’s why God demanded of
Israel, if they were going to sacrifice they should salt everything. Look at Numbers chapter 18, verse 19:
Numbers 18:19:
All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the
LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever:
it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee. So you can see how important salt was in relationship to people in the mind of God.
In the book of Judges, chapter 9 is an interesting verse along this line. Chapter 9, verse 45:
Judges 9:45:
And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the
people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.
The significance of sowing it with salt is that it would never be a city again. It was utterly and totally gone forever.
2 Chronicles chapter 13, please. Verse 5. 2 Chronicles 13, verse 5:
2 Chronicles 13:5:
Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom [of] Israel to David
for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of [what?] salt?
God gave it as a covenant of salt. And whenever God gives something under a covenant of salt, He never withdraws it, I guarantee you.
The book of Ezekiel. Chapter 16 in Ezekiel. I’m not giving you all the references to salt in the scriptures, but I’m giving you some key ones and some wonderful ones that I wanted to share with you. Ezekiel chapter 16, verse 4:
Ezekiel 16:4:
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou
washed in water to [clean you up] supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
This is written regarding a leader – that’s what happened in Jerusalem. The leadership wasn’t committed; didn’t stand firm; wasn’t salted. That’s why he said, when you were born neither washed in water nor salted at all, nor were you swaddled.
Judges again, please. You and I know, when the Lord Jesus Christ our savior was born he was washed with salt water and he then was also swaddled. There is a fantastic record regarding this salting covenant in the book of Judges in chapter 4. Verse 1.
Judges 4:1-2:
And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.
And the LORD sold them [or allowed them to become slaves] into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, [who] reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
Now look at verse 4:
Judges 4:4:
And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
Verse 6:
Judges 4:6:
And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto
him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
Verse 8:
Judges 4:8-9:
And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go
with me, then I will not go.
[verse 9] And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Verse 14:
Judges 4:14-18:
And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered
Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off [of] his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left. [However] Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera,…
Now, Jael is the wife of Heber the Kenite who is the king of that area, the province, so Jael was the queen. Jael went out to meet Sisera – saw him coming, running, hotfooting.Judges 4:18:
…and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in
unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
Her inviting him into the tent of the king was a great act of love. The reason she did it, because they were at peace with this house of Hazor. And so she invited Sisera, the head of the army, to come in the tent; which means that the queen had invited him, and he would have the protection of the queen as well as her husband, who was the king.
And to show him that this was true, she covered him with a mantle; the king’s mantle she put
over him.
Judges 4:19:
And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And
she opened a bottle of milk, [is King James, but the accurate text should read, “And she opened a bottle of butter milk,” because the buttermilk was preserved by the salt in it] and [she] gave him drink, [a buttermilk, the covenant of salt] and [then she] covered him [again with the mantle].
So he had the covenant of salt from the queen. He had the mantle of protection. And in verse 20 he says:
Judges 4:20:
Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth
come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.
She had given him the covenant of salt, covered him with the king’s protection, the mantle, and
yet he said, you go stand in the door of the tent and you lie when somebody comes.
Judges 4:21:
Then [verse 21] Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent [a stake tent], and took an
hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
The old boy had it coming. Can you just picture that? She getting that stake and the guy is asleep, and she goes in stealthily and sets it on his head and slugs it through. Quite a woman. So she pinned him to the ground and is says, “So he died.”
All the religionists have called her a murderess. She was not a murderess. She had given him the mantle, she had given him the covenant of salt, she had even stood at the entrance to the tent, but he fell asleep from the exhaustion of the fight that day.
When she turned, she noticed something which was just not permissible. And this record is written in that 22nd verse.
Judges 4:22:
And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him,
Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest….
Because earlier, remember in verse 9, she had said, “… the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”
The rest of verse 22: …And when he came in, when Barak came in…
Judges 4:22:
…And when he came into her tent, [her tent, the queen’s side of the tent]…Sisera lay
dead, and the nail was in his temples.
You see, she was not interested in murdering him, but he had broken every covenant of value. The mantle, the covenant of salt, standing at the door. Because he figured that if he crawled into her side of the tent where nobody was allowed except her husband, then he would be safe. Because if anybody came in, they’d never look in her side of the tent. But because of the unbelief and doubt in his mind and what he did, she goes out, gets that stake of the tent and her hammer, and gives him the treatment. So he died.
That’s the greatness, some of the greatness, of the covenant of salt. And, you know, as I told you, Jesus Christ when he was born was salted and swaddled, so this salt is of great importance.
Now, look at Acts chapter 1 again.
Verse 4 should be translated: ‘And, he was salted…’
Acts 1:4:
… with them, [and] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,…
And he, Jesus Christ, was salted with them. This, to me, is just fantastic, people. Forty days with infallible proofs, and yet just before the ascension, in spite of all those infallible proofs, he took the covenant of salt – or he gave the covenant of salt and took it with the twelve apostles.
And, under that covenant of salt, he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem. He did not say, stay in Jerusalem, he just said – he commanded them not to depart until. Wait until the promise of the Father, it’s not to wait for, it’s to wait until. Waiting for something doesn’t bring it. They had to wait until. The command was they should not depart from Jerusalem until they had received…:
Acts 1:4:
…the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Now, you and I looking back know that the promise of the Father was the gift of the new birth. God in Christ in the believers. It was the gift of pneuma hagion. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That’s the gift. He commanded them they should stay until they had received the promise.
Now, you and I know from history they stayed a lot longer after that, so finally a persecution occurred in Jerusalem that drove them out. But they were never asked of God, or of Jesus Christ rather, that they should hang into Jerusalem until the persecution started. He simply commanded them, or charged them, they should not depart from Jerusalem until they had received…:
Acts 1:4:
…the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
The next verse 5 is also an enlightening verse of scripture.
Acts 1:5:
For John truly baptized with [what?] water; but ye shall [absolute tense] be baptized [with
water and with the Holy Spirit? No. Ye shall be baptized] with [pneuma hagion] not many days hence.
Under a covenant of salt, class. The water was over with with John. John baptized with what? Water. But, in contrast, ye shall absolutely be baptized with pneuma hagion; something far greater than water. Christ in you is certainly a greater baptism than all the water we’re getting or all the oceans, because that Chris in you is eternal life.
With the coming of the holy spirit in the later part of verse 5, the gift, the new birth, the gift of holy spirit, water terminated. Here we are, living almost 2,000 years after the historic time, and groups are still fighting about water. One verse of scripture ‘under a covenant of salt’, people, settles it for the believers.
And then under this covenant of salt also, class, they asked him a question. And he responded by saying, in verse 7:
Acts 1:7-8:
… he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, [that’s regarding
the restoration of the kingdom] which the Father hath put in his own power.
But [in contrast; contrast to the kingdom of Israel] ye shall [absolutely] receive [and the
word “receive” is lambano – manifest] power [dunamis], after [or when] that the
[pneuma hagion] is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
That’s here at New Knoxville tonight, but it’s in every place where the world is held forth, shall be witnesses. Not defense attorneys, just witnesses. And, people, you are under a covenant of salt to do it.
In Bible times, whenever anybody broke the covenant of salt, he either had to kill himself or someone else would kill him. Judas Iscariot took the covenant of salt. What did he do? Killed himself. Saul, the first king of Israel, had been given in a covenant of salt by Samuel. What did Saul end up doing? Killing himself.
Our new birth, the guarantee of the new birth, Christ in you the hope of glory – lambano-ing dunamis to lambano dunamis. In Acts 2, you know they spoke in tongues. You and I know its nine manifestations. So not only is the new birth eternal life, class, but all the manifestations with the return of Christ are all under a covenant of salt that Jesus Christ took just before he ascended.
So the new birth, eternal life, cannot fail. If you could lose it, it could never have been under a covenant of salt. And the manifestations also are under a covenant of salt. And right after this occurred, he ascended. And then those two men that stood by them said:
Acts 1:11:
… this same Jesus, [in verse 11] which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in
like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
And in my heart, with all the unfolding of the greatness of this covenant of salt and the knowledge that we have from Acts 1:4, “and he was salted with them”, is just phenomenal and fantastic.
So our new birth; the manifestations – all nine of them; the return of Christ – all of those are under a covenant of salt, guaranteed. God will not break his covenant. His son Jesus Christ always did the Father’s will, so he was doing the Father’s will when he took the covenant of salt.
Beyond the infallible proof for forty days, he still took the covenant of salt. And what a marvelous, marvelous edition, light on the Word, that particular truth is.
In Mark chapter 9, even during the gospel period, kingdom period, verse 50 reads:
Mark 9:50:
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost [its] his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have
salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
And certainly nobody should ever doubt, who’s born again, that you’re salted. That the Corps, everyone, is salted. You’re committed to witness under the covenant of salt; you’re committed to operate nine manifestations and anticipate the Return.
And in Colossians chapter 4, verse 6 the Word declares:
Colossians 4:6:
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought
to answer every man.
And so we of the Way Corps, believers, men and women born again of God’s spirit, filled with the power from on high, we are salted with the salt of God. So we should speak the great truths of God’s Word with grace and love, speaking the truth in love. We operate all nine, that’s why I know that all nine have to operate all the time, because Jesus Christ took the covenant of salt.
And that’s why to me, tonight again, learning is an exciting adventure.
Thank you, Father, for the privilege of allowing me to share the greatness of the integrity and accuracy of your Word again with your wonderful people. Thank you for your love and grace and mercy and goodness to us, and the great integrity and accuracy of the Word. Knowing that the Word of God is the will of God.
Thank you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen and God bless.