Keys to Prophecy: A Satanic Solution to Political Division

Not everyone agrees with this world-wide division of powers and authorities. Yes, this prevents evil men from having a monopoly of power here on earth, and often pits evil men against evil men in their quests for unrestricted power. Sometimes these battles are truly terrifying. David comments,

“Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.
He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.”
Psa 33:10

By such means God continually restricts the reach and grasp of evil men. Satan though intends to offer the ultimate solution to the divisions of worldly powers.

Satan intends to offer a substitute “god,” another
“god”/man whom ALL have to worship.

If ALL men HAD TO worship just ONE MAN, that would provide the foundation for unifying all of ideas under that ONE MAN. (See the post on “Religious Ideas are the Foundation of ALL Politics.) That would provide a sure framework to end all of the diversity in religion, and that is the root of our political diversity. It would provide a basis for world-wide unity. Paul says of this “god”/man,

“he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.”
2Thes 2:4

He is called “the beast” in Revelation. He is talked about under several names and phrases in both the Old and the New Testaments. The “mystery of lawlessness” occult (hidden) religion that will eventually produce this world ruler, “already works” in the first century, 2Thes 2:7. God will at the last allow him a short reign of three and a half years (for a time, and times, and half a time).

“… Authority to make war for forty-two months was given to him. ”
Rev 13:5

Many think of this as hard times for the church

And it will be. However God will once more provide for His faithful ones in “the wilderness.” You might think of this as the second (and final) exodus out of this world.

“Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, so that she might be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”
Rev 12.10

Even so, this is also times of extreme stress
for the entire world.

This man will come with powerful Satanic signs and wonders (2Thes 2:9), including some sort of his being raised from the dead.

“One of his heads looked like it had been wounded fatally. His fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled at the beast.”
Rev 13:3

No one will be able to buy or sell or trade anything unless they accept this man as “god.” And if you worship him, you will perish forever, Rev 13:8, 17.

This is not some sort of premillenial invention. This is Scripture and it clearly has NOT happened yet. All but a few faithful will worship him, very near the end of the age.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible WEB, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901.

Keys to Prophecy: Christians are to Submit to the Governing Authorities

After all they are appointed by God Himself. This is truly part of the overall context of prophecy, and is consistently treated that way

“1 Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. 2 Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment.”
Rom 13:1-2

Paul goes on to say that these are, overall,
powers for good.

If you do not want to be afraid of the governing authorities, then do what is right, Rom 13:3

“for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.”
Rom 13:4

“Servant” or “minister” here is diakonos, literally “deacon.” So some “ministers of God” carry weapons. Part of the context is the last part of chapter 12, where we are taught to NOT be involved in personal revenge.

“Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.””
Rom 12:19

So how does GOD take revenge on evil doers? Well part of it is through the civil authorities. Instead of personal revenge, we should wait until the police show up.

“For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are ministers of God’s service, attending continually on this very thing.”
Rom 13:6

This is God’s plan for our societies.

Does this mean the government is always right and good?

By no means! They are men who have been appointed to a certain role in society, and will be judged by how well they fulfill their role, as also we will. Some human examples might be useful.

For instance we have bosses at work, and often we are the “servants.” Sometimes this is very literal. For instance if we are “serving tables,” acting as a waiter.

Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.”
Col 3:22

Does this mean the boss is always right? By no means, but he is still the boss. We should try to help him if we can, but it would be out of line for us to “take over,” or “take him out.”

If rulers are completely out of line, we should
politely decline to obey, and accept
the consequences.

Peter is a good example in Acts 5.

“But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”
Acts 5:29

Another example is the soldiers declining to murder the priests at the order of the now evil ruler, King Saul, 1Sam 22:17. Kings and judges are warned to serve Christ with fear and trembling, lest He personally take them out! Psa 2:10-12. And it happens every day!

Scriptures are from the World English Bible WEB, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901.

Keys to Prophecy: God Rules the World NOW

God has always ruled in the kingdom of men. This is the way Nebuchadnezzar put it after he had been forced to acknowledge God’s overruling in the affairs of men.

“34 … for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or tell him, What do you?”
Dan 4:34-35

God appoints the rulers of this earth.

Paul states it this way.

“Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God.”
Rom 13:1

God has His purposes, although we may not understand His reasons. It appears that generally speaking that God gives the nations the kind of rulers which they deserve. Nero was emperor when Paul wrote these word. So it is

“… that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whoever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men.”
Dan 4:17

And that is plainly the same message in Rom 13:1 and Dan 4:17.

God’s plans are way above our thinking

“8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says Yahweh. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isa 55:8-9

Further there is no way to stop God’s plans and purposes.

“30 There is no wisdom nor understanding
Nor counsel against Yahweh.
31 The horse is prepared for the day of battle;
But victory is with Yahweh.”
Prov 21:30-31

It is God who controls the outcome of battles, despite our preparations.

When rulers displease Him, He removes them.

Daniel put it this way.

“21 He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding; 22 he reveals the deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.”
Dan 2:21-22

And what is the purpose in these things.

What is the purpose of these ups and downs and moving the places where a nation may live?

“26 He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ”
Acts 17:26-27

God will nurture and exalt those who please Him, correct those who are doing or attempting to do what is wrong. And on those, whether kings or nations, who completely refuse to repent and turn, He will bring the results of their sins down on their own heads.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible WEB, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901.

Keys to Prophecy: Religious Diversity PREVENTS Much Political Unity

An inheritance of political diversity

It is one of the great political facts of life, that God has deliberately divided the nations of this earth, and divided the political powers that exist on this earth. These powers were created relatively recently in history, immediately after the world-wide flooding of the earth in the time Noah. Then these powers were divided in the confusion of languages which occurred on the plains of ancient Babylon. Both of these events appear to have happened in second half of the third millennium BC.

The scrambling of our speech by tribe and nation
meant that cultures and world views
would develop independently.

The creation of separate languages is still a powerful barrier to unity in many areas, including politics. It means there are often totally different ways of thinking about things and expressing ideas. These then become formidable obstacles to everyday things like fellowship and travel and exchanging ideas. The technology for learning other languages is better than ever in our own day, but these are still mighty obstacles to unified world power.

All of this is by the deliberate plan and counsel of God.

God decided thousands of years ago that it was NOT good man in his wickedness to be united. For instance in Isaiah’s day the nation of Judah had turned very bad, and the government was bad also. Isaiah wrote of those times.

“1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write perverseness; 2 to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!”
Isa 10:1-2 WEB

But there was little way to change this from the inside of the nation. The prophets were preaching to both the people and their rulers with little effect. So what can be done? So God raised up another nation of fierce men, able warriors and engineers to bring down the fortifications of Judah and bring punishment on that nation for their sins.

“5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”
Isa 10:5-6 KJV

There comes a time when talk is over, preaching and pleading is done, and sinful nations are punished … ALL within history.

This diversity has been a powerful barrier to
wickedness

For evil men trying to manipulate these systems, these have been powerful barriers to unrestrained exploitation of the weak and helpless. If one people or group came to be very wicked and exploited others, then other nations/tribes would in time put them down. These became mighty obstacles to uncontrolled evil men.

The diversity of cultures and religions which grew out of these divisions meant that there would be no unified basis for opposing God’s plans.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: Religious Ideas are the Foundation of ALL Political Thinking.

Why do Biblical and prophetic issues continually
overlap political issues?

This is a frustrating issue for many. Many think religion should be completely separate from government, and some think even from life. The source of these issues leads us to the source of ALL political thought.

Yes, it is true! Whether it is good government or bad government, the foundations are ALL essentially religious. To whatever extent these ideas are corrupt or evil or false, then government will be corrupt or evil of false. To whatever extent these view are good and true and healthy, to that extent the government can be good and true and healthy, if those ideas are properly implemented.

Some would question calling all of these ideas religious, but essentially they are.

All of our thinking start with premises.

Just like a premise/axiom in High School geometry, these are things which cannot be proven, but which we assume to be true, and they appear to be plainly be true. For instance, in plane geometry it is assumed that a straight line can drawn from any point to any point. Further it is assumed that it is possible to extend a straight line indefinitely.

Our foundation premises about life and our world are at their root, religious in nature.

Out of these premises and our analysis of what we see
in life, grows our world view.

Everyone has a world view of some sort. All of us, both Christian and non-Christian, have some random and wrong views of reality floating around in our heads and in our hearts, Mtt 15:19-20. Sometimes these world views are unconscious, and clearly do not conform to reality, but they are there. Other ideas may be more carefully thought out. Is man made in God’s image? Or is man just a chance blob of tissue?

Out of our world view rises our ethics.

If man is made in God’s image, then it would be evil to murder him. Or if man just a chance blob of tissue, what would be wrong with knocking him around or killing him? No problem. Right? Our world view then controls our ethics

Then our ethics control our politics

If man is made in God’s image, then we try to protect human life as a valuable and holy thing in our dealings with other citizens (politics). If other hand there is no wrong in murdering people, then we might have no laws against eliminating inconvenient “blobs.”

This is not really new information

This has been known since ancient times, at least since the time of Plato/Socrates. This how thinking and ethics and politics, whether right or wrong, have always worked.

Plaro (Socrates) in fact pointed out that our ethics are built on our world view (be it right or be it wrong), and our politics are then built on our ethics. The above illustration is taken from Prophecy Principles, in the section “Religion, Babylon, and Effective Rule.”

So religion and politics do overlap.

I am not making an argument for churches to become overtly political, which would be a mistake. Rather I am pointing out some measure of conflict between politics (any politics) and religion (any religion) is in the long run inevitable. The question then becomes one of how to view these things, and deal with these things (and prophecy and Scripture does view and deal with these things).

Scriptures are from the World English Bible WEB, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901.

Prophecy Practice: Micah and the Christ, Part 12 of 12

We should always remember two things of prophecy. First,

“But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.”
Lk 16:17

Jesus here seems to using the word “law” to be the entire Old Testament. So we may not understand how, but there is nothing we read in prophecy which will fail.

Second, prophecy is conversational, and topical, not sequential

And what will be cut off “in that day.”

It apparently is speaking of the days of the ruler of Mic 5:2, and it says,

“It will happen in that day,” says Yahweh,
“That I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you,
And will destroy your chariots.”
Mic 5:10

Ancient Israel was not to trust in horses and chariot, Deut 17:16 and so on, but in the Lord. Neither should we trust in tanks and fighter jets. But that has been neither ancient or modern Israel. But it will be at some point. Then in this rambling discussion it seems to refer to the first fall of Judah in 586 BC, in Mich 5:11. Then he says,

“I will destroy witchcraft from your hand;

“ And you shall have no soothsayers.”
Mic 5:12

That was a big problem with ancient Israel, and was still a problem in the first century, and is with many modern Jews in the Kabbalistic lore.

The Kabalah (also Cabbala or Qabalah) was a writing down of the ancient Gnostic traditions of the occult, by Spanish Jews of the 12th and 13 centuries AD. It is the fountain head of almost all modern witchcraft and magic and the occult, and is very influential among many Jews even of today. It is even a support for some idolatry.

But one day, when Jesus draws the Jews to Himself, it will all go away.

Also all idolatry will pass away

“13 I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of your midst;
And you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
14 I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst;
And I will destroy your cities.”
Mic 5:13-14

The Asherim are images of Asherah, we might call her “mother nature.” Sadly, goddess worship still exists among some Jews and gentiles. These issues are dealt with in Jewish Chronicles, to be released in the fall of 2020. And lastly, Micah seems to deal with,

A Judgment day which is coming.

“I will execute vengeance in anger,
And wrath on the nations that didn’t listen.”
Mic 5:15

Everyone will have to appear before this ruler of Mic 5:2.

“I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”
Mtt 12:36

““But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 Before him all the nations will be gathered …”
Mtt 25:31-32

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: Micah and the Christ, Part 11 of 12

What this Messiah will accomplish.

Of this ruler whose goings and coming are from everlasting, he says,

He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land,
And when he marches through our fortresses,
Then we will raise against him seven shepherds,
And eight leaders of men.”
Mic 5:5

Ah! “He will be our peace,” truly even in trial. Assyria had invaded in Micah’s time. In Isaiah chapters 36 and 37 it describes all of Judah being overrun, except Jerusalem. But when this ruler comes, He will raise up shepherds against the Assyrians. Shepherd is often a synonym for rulers in Scripture, as in 1Kgs 22:16-18. Of some later shepherds/rulers of Israel Micah says,

They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword,
And the land of Nimrod in its gates.
He will deliver us from the Assyrian,
When he invades our land,
And when he marches within our border.”
Mic 5:6

So from the bounty of this future ruler it will be that Israel will rule Assyria! Now this has not happened yet! Still it should be noted that the Assyria people, though small today, still exist, mainly in Iraq and Syria,

And the remnant of Jacob?

The remnant of God’s people is of course a big subject in both Testaments. It is only a small number who will be saved.

“… “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, It is the remnant who will be saved;””
Rom 9:27

It doesn’t have to be this way, but we as men frequently make bad decisions, so that often only small numbers survive. Because of the sins of the Jews, they have been scattered all over the world, viewed as “the Dispersion,” as in Jn 7:35. And later,

Two-thirds of the Jews will be killed,

in a Great Distress and persecution of both Christians and Jews which will bring the conversion of the Jews to Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth, Zech 13:8. A remnant! Also something which has not happened YET!

But Micah 5 seems to speak of a dispersion for GOOD

“The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples,
Like dew from Yahweh,
Like showers on the grass,
That don’t wait for man,
Nor wait for the sons of men.”
Micah 5:7

When the Jews are converted to Jesus of Nazareth in Great Distress, Scripture pictures the Jews as leading in the preaching of the gospel to an unsaved world. Could that be this?

Further, Jacob will be like a lion among the nations,
and will rule over many peoples

8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a lion among the animals of the forest,
Like a young lion among the flocks of sheep;
Who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, And there is no one to deliver.
9 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries,
And let all of your enemies be cut off.
Mic 5:8-9

Thus two very different outcomes, yet to come, from the ruler of Mic 5:2.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: Micah and the Christ, Part 10 of 12

Once again, the order of discussion in Micah is conversational, NOT chronological. So first is discussed Israel regaining her former glory, then about striking the judge of Israel on the cheek, and THEN is discussed this judge’s birth place.

A ruler in Israel is to be born

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Being small among the clans of Judah,
Out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel;
Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
Mic 5:2 WEB

Ephrathah is the former name of Bethlehem. Judah itself was compared to especially Ephraim, and Bethlehem is cited as being too small to notice among the main clans in Judah, but a special ruler is to come from her. The word for “ruler” here is mashal and it indicates someone having dominion or authority, is the master of something. It can indicate a king, but whether a king or not it indicates the one who is making the decisions

Notice the immediate context.

“Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth.
Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.”
Mic 5:3 WEB

It seems to be talking about God the Lord abandoning Israel until the one who is in labor with this ruler gives birth, that is until Jesus is born. It seems that “the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.” That is to say that this ruler will once again unite Israel, which would be no small trick, either in ancient or modern times. Also it is not talking about any minor official who is to come, because it says,

“He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh,
In the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God:
And they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.”
Mic 5:4 WEB

And this ruler will be great to the ends of the earth! Jesus did tell his disciples,

“… “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.””
Mtt 28:18 WEB

Clearly this is talking about the Messiah as even the ancients realized.

Notice the curiosities of the Jews accepting Mic 5:1
of the Messiah.

It is clear that when the wise men from the East arrived, that the unanimous answer of the Jews was that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem. So they understood this passage as has been pointed out here. But notice the rest of story of this “ruler.” This ruler is one “Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting”!!! What does that mean? What does that say?

It seems to say that this ruler exists before His birth! And it seems to say He was even going and coming from times older than Micah and his prophecy.

In New Testament times this tripped up the Jews

He said “Before Abraham was, I am.” Jn 8:58 KJV. And Jn 1:1-2 says in fact that He was with God in the beginning. These things did trip up the Jews, but they should not have! Right?

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: Micah and the Christ, Part 9 of 12

The Jews reject their own Messiah

“1 Now you shall gather yourself in troops,
Daughter of troops.
He has laid siege against us;
They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.”
Mic 5:1

It almost pictures it as part of the siege against the true Zion of God.

And maybe it is. You know it was clearly forecast that the Jews would stumble over the Christ, over the Lord, Yahweh Himself, as discussed in the previous post of this series.

Is this King Zedekiah of 2Kings who is being struck?
Why or why not?

Some commentators say so.Perhaps such happened, but it must be said that there is no record of such. Additionally King Zedekiah was NOT really a “judge” of “Israel.” At best he was a Babylonian puppet king over a greatly diminished Judah.

Also Jesus is the true judge of Israel

“For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
2Cor 5:10

And that is the way Jesus pictures Himself in Matthew 25 and in many of His parables.

Of course the Messiah was to be struck

“… he was cut off out of the land of the living for the disobedience of my people to whom the stroke was due?”
Isa 53:8

And again,

“Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him …”
Isa 53:10

And the Messiah was struck

“29 They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.”
Mtt 27:29-30

Some would argue that the ruler of Israel was to be struck on the check by a rod, not a reed, as in the World English Bible quoted above, and also in perhaps most English Bibles, in keeping with traditions in translations. The Hebrew word used in Mic 5:1 is shevet, and it is a word used for a rod or a club or a staff/scepter such as kings used.

The word “reed” used in the Gospels for striking Jesus is kalamos, and is word used in the New Testament of both “reeds” and pens made of reeds, but it is also of a measuring rod in Rev 11:1, and Rev 21:15-16. Here it could be also be translated as either a “rod” of a “staff.” The New American Standard Version, 95 ed., says in footnote “Or staff, i.e. to mimic a king’s scepter.” The NIV does translate it as “staff.” “The New English Translation also translates it as a staff, and their footnote refers to the standard New Testament Greek lexicon.

So Mic 5:1 clearly can be taken of Jesus.

I think Jesus is the ruler of Israel who is struck on the cheek with a rod in Mic 5:1, and He indeed is the true judge of Israel, and of you and me.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Prophecy Practice: Micah and the Christ, Part 8 of 12

Now the nationS gather aginst Israel in Micah 4, she defeated them, and took their profits, and dedicated them to the Lord God of Glory. Remember it said,

This distress in which most of the Jews perish, and those left both win the conflict and turn to Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah of Israel, is within history! This is discussed in detail in Jewish Chronicles., to be released in the fall of 2020.

“Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion;
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hoofs brass;
And you will beat in pieces many peoples:
And I will devote their gain to Yahweh,
And their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.”
Mic 4:13

But there are evidently TWO giant assemblies of the nationS against BOTH the Jews and Christians, that are discussed in Scripture.

One of these is the great distress of the Jews in which they turn to the Lord as a group, Deut 4:30, Deut 30:6, Zech 10:11-12, and so on. This time evidently also includes a major assault on Christianity world-wide. This happens within history, and seems to be the assault described in Micah 4.

The second great assembly of the nationS against both the Jews and all Christians is, of course, at the end of this universe, as described in the Gospels, and Revelation 20, and all through the Old Testament. It is addressed in all three of my books on prophecy and especially in Revealing the Christian Age.

But first comes the rejection of their own Messiah by the Jews,
AS FORETOLD IN SCRIPTURE!

It is a broad subject in Scripture. Isaiah says, speaking of the Lord,

“14 He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 Many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”
Isa 8:14-15

Certainly that is exactly what has happened over the last two thousand years.

Now you can say that this is just about Yahweh, the Lord God Himself, but it is in the grand context of the Messiah, all the way from being born of virgin in Isaiah 7, to again speaking of the Messiah’s birth as a “child” in Isaiah 9, and saying of this “child,”

“… and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ”
Isa 9.6

The son, the child is called Mighty God, and Everlasting Father! The child … even in the Old Testament … is clearly God. As the apostle John put it,

“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.”
Jn 1:1-5

And again,

“10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him.”
Jn 1:10-11

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901