Responding to Aaron Welch (Christ's Preexistence Series, Part V)

 

Concerning “A Consideration of Passages thought to Reveal the ‘Preexistence of Christ’: John’s Account, Part Two”

Aaron quotes John 1:15, 26-30:

John is testifying concerning Him and has cried, saying, “This was He of Whom I said, ‘He Who is coming after me, has come to be in front of me,’ for He was first, before me…”

John answered them, saying, “I am baptizing in water. Now in the midst of you One stood of Whom you are not aware He it is Who, coming after me, has come to be in front of me, of Whom I am not worthy that I should be loosing the thong of His sandal." These things occurred in Bethany, the other side of the Jordan river, where John was, baptizing. On the morrow he is observing Jesus coming toward him, and is saying, "Lo! the Lamb of God Which is taking away the sin of the world! This is He concerning Whom I said, 'After me is coming a Man Who has come to be in front of me,' for He was First, before me."

When John stated that Jesus “was first, before me,” he was simply acknowledging the fact that Jesus had always been superior in rank to, and of greater importance than, he himself.

This could be possible. Highly unlikely, considering John was just writing of His pre-existence, and that verse 14 says, “the Word became flesh,” but okay. I don’t at all believe this is how you should read the passage, because John clearly knows better, but it’s possible. Aaron doesn’t seem to explain, in here, why the word “after” is used to describe Jesus as well, and that if we are considering a time-based use of “after” (because I’m sure John wouldn’t say, he’s “after me in importance” in any way,) why we wouldn’t connect “before” with a time-based use as well. Furthermore, it wouldn’t really stand to make sense, then, why John says “he has come to be in front of me,” because that seems to make more sense concerning Christ’s ‘rank,’ and not “before me,” but I digress. If you really wanna read it like that, I wouldn’t harp too badly.

By the way, he also connects John 3:30 with this passage, which I find confusing, considering that would end up harming his argument. John 3:30 clearly uses the word “inferior,” so John either knows the difference between “inferior” and “superior” in Greek, and can use different words properly to distinguish between stature and time, or John doesn’t know, and is winging it, and likes to be as confusing as humanly possible so as to split modern readers and Israelites, and it’s all ambiguously your interpretation.

Anyway, let’s talk about John 3:13.

And no one has ascended into heaven except He Who descends out of heaven, the Son of Mankind Who is in heaven.

If understood literally, Jesus’ claim to have “descended out of heaven” would mean that the Son of God descended out of heaven as a flesh-and-blood, mortal being (John 6:51, 58).

I agree that there’s a metaphor here, but certainly not in the way Aaron supposes. In context, Nicodemus, in this passage, has come to Jesus by night, seeking understanding of the heavens and Scripture (even calling Him ‘Rabbi,’ the faker.) Jesus, in the previous verse, asks a poignant question: If He gives them terrestrial revelations, and they can’t understand Him, why on earth would He be able to impart celestial revelations? He follows with, ‘no one has ascended except He Who descends out of heaven,’ which, while read in context, certainly displays an example of a celestial truth of Him, that One must exist beforehand in order to, literally, descend. To presume that ‘mortality’ must be before His descent is a logical fallacy, considering a) John presumes that you’ve read, “word” and correlated it with “Christ,” and b) Paul’s evangel, the evangel we stand in, points out, almost clearer than he should have to, that Christ empties Himself in His descent, coming to be in the likeness of man, or, mortal, or, enslaved.

However, if there’s any consolation for Aaron, there’s indeed a metaphor here, being “the Son of Mankind Who is in heaven.” Obviously, Jesus was on earth, speaking to Nicodemus, so He couldn’t have been in two places at the same time. For fun and educational purposes, I’ll quote Brother Knoch once again, who is on point. Observe Unsearchable Riches, Vol. 40, p. 172:

“It has been suggested that our Lord did not tell Nicodemus that the Son of Mankind “is in heaven,” but that this was inserted later by John, when writing- his account, so that the quotation marks are wrong in the C.V. and should be moved from the end of verse 21 to the end of 12.

The difficulty arises from failing to see the metaphor in the verb is. If it were literal, it would not need verb, as in Mt 5:12, which reads ‘THE HIRE OF-YOU MUCH IN THE HEAVENS,’ without any is. Like “THIS IS THE BODY OF ME” (Mt. 26:26), it does not affirm the literal presence of the Son of Mankind, but figurative one. The Father is literally “FATHER OF-ME THE IN THE HEAVENS,” without the verb is (Mt. 7:21).

In the Scriptures, heaven is very near to the earth. The birds continually pass from earth to heaven (Mt. 6:26). A voice from heaven was heard on earth (Mt. 3:17). Christ was not only from heaven, but He remained heavenly. All He needed, even on earth, was to lift up His eyes and speak to His Father in heaven (Jn. 17:1). Practically, He brought heaven down with Him, and lived heavenly life on earth. This is the force of the metaphor. If we may now consider ourselves seated among the celestials, how much more could He speak of Himself as in the heavens!”

It doesn’t really prove anything, I guess, and has nothing to do with the fact that He did indeed descend, but I don’t need some elaborate response from anyone going ‘yOu don’t eVeN cATCh mEtAPhoRS, bRO?’

This understanding that He descended is furthermore elaborated on in John 3:17, noted by Mr. Gabe again, who has been a sound supporter during this study. He pointed out the word “dispatched” to me, and it stands to reason that in order to be “dispatched into the world,” one must first exist. Could you imagine Princess Leia going, “We’re going to dispatch the Rebellion to the Death Star!” if no rebel troops existed??

Next, Aaron quotes four separate passages, each from John 6.

John 6:33:

My Father is giving you Bread out of heaven, the true, for the Bread of God is He Who is descending out of heaven and giving life to the world.

John 6:38:

…for I have descended from heaven, not that I should be doing My will, but the will of Him Who sends Me.

John 6:50-51:

This is the Bread which is descending out of heaven that anyone may be eating of it and may not be dying. I am the living Bread which descends out of heaven. If anyone should be eating of this Bread, he shall be living for the eon. Now the Bread also, which I shall be giving for the sake of the life of the world, is My flesh.

Finally, John 8:58:

This is the Bread which descends out of heaven. Not according as the fathers ate and died; he who is masticating this Bread shall be living for the eon.”

Let’s start at the top, with verse 33. Aaron says:

The “Bread of God” which descended out of heaven and gives life to the world is clearly the man, Jesus Christ.

Note: Aaron uses “clearly,” here, as though it’s undoubtedly true. He’s going to use this to make it sound as though ‘bread’ makes Christ start ‘mortal,’ and he’s as incorrect as George Lucas was when he thought showing me the Death Star in Episode III was enough to make me think I’d seen a good movie. I’ve picked up a general rule of thumb with both Aaron’s logical fallacies, and logical fallacies on Scripture in general: there’s always a previous verse.

So, let’s run it back, and briefly study John 6. The start of this chapter concerned Jesus’ miracle of feeding 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishies. Now, that’s pretty incredible on its own, but there’s a method behind His deed. Why, for example, were the Israelites asked to “lean back,” in verse 10? Answer: they were separated from Jesus and His disciples in the passage to display the separation between spiritual gift, in this case represented by the fish and bread, and the rest of mankind, who cannot create or sustain spiritual gifts on their own.

The first 15 verses are rife with this figure. The five loaves of bread and 2 fish are designed to be a small amount, that multiply and overwhelmingly exceed the 5,000, that a ton of food remained (6:13.) The less human interference, the greater His blessing is (Rom. 5:20.) Yet by verse 15, it’s clear that Israel hadn’t understood this sign’s significance, the way we can today, and instead seeked to proclaim Him as king, simply because they were fed and thought that was pretty cool and powerful or something. Thus, Jesus leaves, instead hiding Himself among the mountains. This paints the passage, so far, in an analogous light – the physical is a figure of the spiritual method in which God works.

The analogy doesn’t end there. In verse 16-17, the Israelites leave, the disciples descending “into the sea” as it “became night.” The sea grew chaotic, which is to signify that Israel will be tossed around by this current Jurisdiction of Darkness, which is apart from the Messiah. It’s not merely a sign of the coming kingdom, but a warning sign of the immediate proceedings post-Jesus-ascension, starting in 70 A.D.

The disciples are terrified, but you know the story. Jesus is seen in the midst of the water, walking around as though it’s normal to do so. He says, “Do not fear,” which is important – His word arrives, and they find safety on the land. This parallels Jesus’ words to the seven ecclesias in the Unveiling, followed, of course, by the thousand-year kingdom being born.

Verse 25: then the ‘throng’ that Jesus fed from earlier in the chapter find Him (v. 26) and are like, “Hey, where were You? We wanted to king you!” And Jesus (v. 27) is like, “Y’all didn’t really get what My point was, there, because my food was a spiritual,” and they (v. 28) were like, “What do you mean? So, derr, what can we do for God?

This is the setup. This is the foundation for the build to verse 33. It is crucial to establish that Jesus, in verse 27, highlights the spiritual nature of the “Bread” being spoken of, the nature that Aaron neglects to mention, here.

In verse 29, Jesus responds to the stupid ass Israelites, saying, “This is the work of God, that you may be believing in that One Whom He commissions.” The only ‘work’ here that the Israelites are asked to do is believe Jesus when He speaks. Also, to be “commissioned” for something? Interesting diction, here. You could argue that this only pertains to the Ministry He has, I guess, but if I haven’t convinced you of Aaron’s logical fallacy so far, I doubt I would. Yet I will ask you to, literally, believe Jesus when He speaks.

The Jews foolishly attempt to rebuke Jesus, asking one of the dumbest questions I’ve heard so far: “What sign, then, are you doing?” Hey, Mr. Guy, were you not there when He produced food out of 5 loaves of bread? Were they twiddling their thumbs? Staring at the sky, looking for the coming Messiah? What else did they have going on? Was Cheers airing? Was it 9 P.M./8 P.M. central?? They go on to tell Him about the literal manna that God provided their ancestors in the wilderness (like He doesn’t know.)

Then Jesus replies, in John 6:32-33:

“Verily, verily, I am saying to you, not Moses has given you the bread out of heaven, but My Father is giving you Bread out of heaven, the true, for the Bread of God is He Who is descending out of heaven and giving life to the world.”

Huh! So the Bread is out of heaven. Jesus, the living Bread, would by definition, be out of heaven. You could argue that “giving you Bread out of heaven” is a figure and doesn’t prove anything, but I would follow up with, “the Bread of God (which is the designated contrast to Moses, contrast between the law’s lack of sustaining life, with God’s ability to give it,) is He Who is descending out of heaven, giving life to the world.” Now, I’m no genius, but when you’re commissioned to ‘give life’ to the world, it’s kind of difficult to do that if you do not have life to begin with! That He descends, and is not a human man previously nonexistent prior to His conception, is telling of the life in celestial, apart from the law of the terrestrial.

Thus, I see no reason for concern here, and the figurative language that is used would naturally prove His pre-existence, here, considering the figure was presented in the previous verses and explained, here, beyond a shadow of a doubt. I would think that denying this would be siding with the Israelites, who were still seeking physical sustenance, no? To once again quote Knoch, in his commentary:

“It is only as we have every heart hunger satisfied in Him that we cease to feel the pangs of famine. It is only as we find all our spiritual aspirations realized in God’s Son that our thirst is assuaged. How slow we are to learn that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth! It is because Christ is set forth as the Word in this evangel that so much is made of eating and drinking.”

Great thought at the end, there. I’ll put Aaron’s argument here in a little bit, but let’s briefly study the remainder of this chapter, so that the other three verses referenced are given their proper context.

At verse 34, the ‘throng’ begs Jesus to always be giving this spiritual Bread, but in verse 35-37, Jesus counters that, in not believing when He speaks, the spiritual sustenance takes no root in their hearts. He gives one consolation, starting in v. 37:

All that which the Father is giving to Me shall be arriving to Me, and he who is coming to Me I should under no circumstances be casting out for I have descended from heaven, not that I should be doing My will, but the will of Him Who sends Me.

So, here again we have another passage that, in context, repeats that Jesus descends from heaven, so that those that are coming to Him will not be cast aside or discarded by the former resurrection (Dan. 12:1-3, Unv. 20:5.) The direction of this passage has changed, as Jesus is peeling back the layers behind the statement “Bread from heaven.” He has descended, but it is they who are His gift, not vice versa.

The Jews, of course, miss the beauty in this. Jesus continues with the will of His Father, and how He plans on giving believers life eonian, but it doesn’t matter to them. They, interestingly enough, are still concerned with the initial statement. Observe v. 41:

The Jews, then, murmured concerning Him, that He said, “I am the Bread which descends out of heaven.”

How ironic that it’s the Jews that take issue with this statement! They could not apprehend that He was out of heaven, living beforehand! How interesting that Aaron and those taking to the “Christ didn’t pre-exist” argument are inadvertently taking the side of this throng. They are literally agreeing with Christ’s enemies! “How could He have existed beforehand?” Aaron keeps asking. How is this any different from the Jews’ concern above? And in case you were confused, or thought there’s some figurative metaphor here, the question is indeed concerning His preexistence, per v. 42:

And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, with whose father and mother we are acquainted? How, then, is he saying that ‘Out of heaven have I descended’?”

“Doh, but wait! I thought He was born from Joseph and Mary and didn’t exist before this! Now He’s out of heaven?”

Jesus, then, answered and said to them, “Do not murmur with one another.”

Sorry, Jesus.

He reaffirms that you can’t be understanding these things if it’s not God’s will for it to be. By now, the argument being made by Jesus should be so clearly defined that even A.E. Knoch believes the more erroneous claim would be ‘everlasting’ or ‘eternal’ life being read into these passages, which, while true, leaves the minor, secondary error concerning His preexistence, that some designated beforehand aren’t actually believing what He’s saying when He speaks.

He breaks down the difference, then, between the literal food of Moses’ day, with the manna, revealing that this is only a type, a relative expression of the ultimate spiritual sustenance that is in His flesh. Manna is nice, but you still age while eating manna. The spiritual Bread, out of heaven, reveals that, in eonian life, they will not be dying in the coming eon. The Bread here is unmistakably connected to life, not metaphorical nonexistence. Jesus continues the analogy:

I am the living Bread which descends out of heaven. If anyone should be eating of this Bread, he shall be living for the eon. Now the Bread also, which I shall be giving for the sake of the life of the world, is My flesh.

Interesting! How to be a living Bread without, like, Being at all?

The Jews couldn’t grasp any of this, wondering what He meant. Was He literally asking them to chow down on Him? And there was still that nagging, ‘how could He be Bread descending out of heaven?’ Indeed the inherently spiritual nature of the world was completely lost on them. They didn’t realize that the Bread, being the flesh, was literally going to be given up for the sake of the life of the world (ref. 2 Cor. 5:14.) Instead, they asked, “How can He be giving us His flesh to eat?” Again, I beg us in Christ not to follow their inconclusiveness. Jesus is making an example of them, so lest we become as foolhardy, I suggest apprehending this analogy now. He doesn’t go magically “simile” to “metaphor” to “simile” again because it’s convenient for you.

Okay, there’s still a bit of this chapter left to go, but we haven’t heard from Aaron in a while. What does he have to say on this passage?

If we take Christ’s words to mean that he literally came down from heaven from a pre-existent state, then, to be consistent, we must also believe that it was Christ as a mortal, flesh-and-blood human who pre-existed and then came down from heaven.

*sigh*

Okay, to be told Christ is the Bread obviously refers to His flesh. That doesn’t mean the flesh must also have been in heaven. Where is this written?? This assumes and adds to the text. It doesn’t say “the flesh was in heaven,” it says the Flesh is out of heaven. When He says He descends, He doesn’t say, “My Bread has descended from heaven,” but “I have descended from heaven.” The last passage we looked at said, “I am the living Bread which descends out of heaven.” ‘Living Bread’ is a title – descriptive of the “I,” but not the subject. There’s a subject/verb agreement in Greek – the verb must agree with the subject in person and number. Here, I and descend very much agree! Does this connect to the overall point? No, but I don’t need someone saying, “dO yOu rEAliZE tHaT GreEk WorKS dIFfeRenTLy thAn eNgLIsh, bRo?”

What’s the issue, here? There’s a notable clarity in the word usage that absolutely shows that Jesus knew what He was saying, knew it would confuse the hell out of the Israelites, and apparently, that it would snare even some designated beforehand. Reminder: John 1:14 – the Word became flesh. This is, by definition, a “descent.” Philippians 2:7 clarifies, “emptied Himself.”

However, no one who believes in the doctrine of the pre-existence of Christ would affirm that a mortal, flesh-and-blood human literally came down out of heaven and was “incarnated.”

Yes, because it’s not Scripturally sound, not what Scripture said, and Scripture clarified itself in John 1. Jesus’ analogy here doesn’t change, recontextualize or alter the previous verses in any way.

But if Christ wasn’t saying that he literally descended from heaven as a flesh-and-blood human, then what is the meaning of these verses?

This is either going to remind me of George Carlin or the ending of Lost. I’ll leave that to the nerds.

It was, apparently, an idiom among the Jewish people to say that something came down from heaven if God was its direct source.

*sigh* It’s the ending of Lost. So the reason the Jews weren’t apprehending this was because they thought it was an idiom! This isn’t an ‘idiomatic’ issue, but a spiritual one. They grouped the terms “Bread descending from heaven” the same way Aaron did, and it’s why they were so confused, per verse 42.

For example, the brother of our Lord wrote that “all good giving and every perfect gratuity is from above, descending from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).

Oh, good! Glad Aaron references this, I guess. Every perfect gratuity is from above, last I checked (ref. Rom. 9:16, 18, 2 Cor. 12:7-10.) But so what?

These verses do not, of course, mean that the good things in our lives literally come down from heaven (much less that they undergo some kind of mystical transformation before we receive them). What James meant is clear: God is the author and source of the good things in our lives (including the wisdom by which the saints should live).

So, we’re dealing, then, with yet another misapprehension of the spiritual discussion. Comparing James to the words of Jesus isn’t quite fair, here, as the context is, once again, completely different. No, we don’t literally see a bright light as we win the lottery or come into an understanding of the truth. We do, however, recognize intuitively that we have received a spiritual blessing. The difference, in Jesus’ case, is that His very descent, being Bread, becoming flesh, was a literal sign,  and they didn’t get it. James is speaking of perfect gratuities and good giving, both conceptual in nature. Jesus is speaking of Himself, literally.

In light of how such [idioms are] used in Scripture, Jesus’ words in John 6:38 and elsewhere are clear: Jesus, who was generated supernaturally in the womb of his mother, Miriam, “descended from/out of heaven” and is “from above” in the sense that God is his Father, and the direct source from whom he originated.

Oof. This would be true of the passage if “Bread descending out of heaven” wasn’t the Jews’ literal issue that they’re obviously wrong about. They didn’t recognize that He was producing signs – that He was the Messiah – and kept asking for them – so much so that when it came time for them to understand the spiritual nature of His ‘Bread,’ that He descended out of heaven, they instead ‘murmured’ and didn’t believe Him.

Later in John’s account, we read the following exchange between Christ and his disciples: “I came out from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.” His disciples are saying to Him, “Lo! now with boldness art Thou speaking, and not one proverb art Thou telling. Now we are aware that Thou art aware of all and hast no need that anyone may be asking Thee. By this we are believing that Thou camest out from God.

Note: when Aaron says ‘later,’ he means, ‘much later,’ like ten chapters later, when that exchange with the Israelites had long gone. Like, ‘we’re-in-John-16:28-and-He’s-by-the-garden-of-Gethsemane-the-night-before-His-death’ later. You would think, that in more plainly stating, without the Bread analogy, that He is out of God, that is, the Subjector in the heaven that He has descended out of, and come into the world, that Aaron’s line of ‘considerations’ would be put to rest, here. Hell, even the disciples, who struggled to understand many of His words, understood that He was “now speaking boldly,” as in, He was actually being clear and direct to them. How much clearer could Jesus be? Does He need John to draw a diagram? At what point can we just, like, believe Him? Alas,

What was previously spoken of more figuratively as Christ’s “descending from heaven” is, in these verses, more plainly stated as Christ’s simply coming “out from God.” Jesus could declare that he “came out from the Father” because, as the one responsible for the miraculous conception in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:35), God was his direct source. Jesus “entered the world” when he was conceived, and left the world and went to the Father at his ascension.

Ah. So it’s all figurative and nothing He’s saying must be grounded in any sort of reality. That’s an issue, here. Just ‘idiom’ it all away and eat, drink and be merry.

No, He “came out from the Father,” because He’s clearly defined in John 1 as being so. The passages don’t say “entered” – this is Aaron’s supposition. The passages say “generated,” or “BECAME.” The passage above, the one Aaron turns figurative, is not. There’s no reason for Him to be figurative on stuff like this in private with the disciples the day before His death, especially when He had dealt with the unbelieving Jews and their lack of apprehending His pre-earth glory. This is why He plainly states the reality, here. If He ascends to the heavens, the natural conclusion was that He descended as well, as He literally said, believe it or not.

The Christian community, for some reason, cannot apprehend that He died. They think He went through a state change, to heaven or hell or some such. They cannot believe that He truly touched death, thus do not believe in His sacrifice. Yet, as Paul points out, He must have died, if He is to be resurrected. The same critical thinking should be applied, here. As an anonymous member in Christ wrote to me concerning this subject, “Paul makes it a clear distinction. This is why John 1 is so important. Those who don’t get this are Christian in rationalization only. To this day, [man’s] secularism, especially the sciences, are working to solve all of the mysteries.” He must have descended, if He is to ascend. Just as He gains, He must also lose. This is the order in which God operates. We must first be blind, in order to see. It need not be more complicated than this! Again I say: lest we become like the very Christian community that lies about our Father, we should not follow in their footsteps, and truly believe what Jesus is saying.

John 6:62:

This is snaring you? If, then, you should be beholding the Son of Mankind ascending where He was formerly -- ?

The context is sound. The disciples heard His teaching, that He was not of earthly origin, and is accomplishing the will of His Father, and found it hard to comprehend. “Hard is this saying! Who can hear it?” Jesus turns to them, being aware that they don’t understand, and says what He says above, in bold. Aaron says:

In response to this enigmatic question, the question naturally arises, “Where was the Son of Mankind ‘formerly?’

In the celestials, haha.

I believe the key to answering this question is found in the expression “Son of Mankind.”

Is it, now?

The expression “Son of Mankind” (or “Son of Man”) is not original to Christ, but is derived from a prophetic passage found in the book of Daniel.

Go figure! Daniel 7:13-14:

I was perceiving in the visions of the night, and behold, with the clouds of the heavens One like a son of a mortal was arriving; He came unto the Transferrer of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. To Him was granted jurisdiction and esteem and a kingdom, that all the peoples and leagues and language-groups shall serve Him; His jurisdiction is an eonian jurisdiction that shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be confined.

Huh, almost like we’re concerned with an eonian revelation of the Messianic kingdom, while the John passage is concerned with eonian life imparted by God through the Son, but please, continue.

Every usage of the title “Son of Mankind” by Christ points back to this key passage, and may thus be understood as having been Christ’s way of identifying himself with the prophesied Messianic figure seen by Daniel in the night visions.

Let’s roll with it, for the sake of argument.

It must be emphasized that the title “Son of Mankind” refers to a human descendent of Adam and Eve and not to some sort of pre-existent celestial spirit-being that God created before the creation of the universe.

A son of mankind, maybe, not the Son of Mankind, which is what we call a ‘title,’ as He is also referred to as the Son of God, but please, again, continue.

As such, the “Son of Mankind” had no existence outside of Daniel’s vision until Jesus was conceived in the womb of his mother, Miriam.

This is still Aaron’s logic, not God’s. I almost cannot figure out how he got here. So rendered, the passage would read,

If, then, you should be beholding the Son of Mankind ascending where He was formerly, as the Messiah -- ?

I think? This is my best guess at what Aaron’s saying. So, the Son of Mankind now isn’t the Son of Mankind until His kingdom is revealed? Is He the Son of Mankind only when He is ruling? Or is it like He’s arriving and because He’s arriving this means He wasn’t actually anywhere formerly? Wait, please, Aaron, clarify what you mean.

“Formerly” means at the time when Daniel received his vision of the Son of Mankind ascending to heaven and being presented to God. And when Christ Jesus – the one whom Daniel saw in his vision – ascended to God forty days after his resurrection, he fulfilled the prophecy found in Daniel 7:13-14.

So, wait. “Formerly” now doesn’t mean “previously,” or “before,” or “prior,” but the words “in Scripture” must be added? We’ve moved back into ambiguous theoretical territory? Also, I’m not, like, an expert on Daniel or anything, but isn’t that passage not merely discussing Christ’s resurrection, but His return, to rule the kingdom, in an eonian, relative sense, after the 7 years and the Jurisdiction of Darkness has been discarded? Isn’t the kingdom still to come? What bearing has this on the next verse, verse 63, where Jesus literally says He’s speaking of spiritual matters? Are they not spiritual matters, because it’s convenient for the argument? Okay, let’s reread John 6:62, with Aaron’s addition –

If, then, you should be beholding the Son of Mankind ascending where He was formerly, in the book of Daniel, which you should know I’m clearly referencing, you silly disciples -- ? Don’t you know I obviously just titled myself as Son of Mankind, so this can only be what I’m referring to? And yet you all don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Old Testament, for what? No, no, forget the eonian life thing, I’m confused! Just like the throng, huh guys? I’m going all out, right in front of you, ready to die, and you dunces think I existed beforehand? You thought I mean what I say? Use your brain next time!

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