The Logos and the Rhema
JOB 42:5
5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Many times we will hear things preached from the word of God and we accept it and understand it with our mind’s intellect, but then one day our understanding grasps it and it becomes clear to us and the word takes on a deeper spiritual level of faith – that is what happened to Job.
JOHN 1:1 and JOHN 1:14a
1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
JOHN 1:14a
14 And the Word (Logos) was made flesh, and dwelt among us,…
The Logos and the Rhema - Study
Education is the accumulation of knowledge without faith. And that is why just the education of the word cannot produce eternal life on its own. Eternal life is when the knowledge of the word becomes a spiritual faith in your heart by God making His word clear to you. That is when you possess the Logos of God in your heart, because it is the Logos that is God himself – the very thought and person of the word living in you – that is eternal life, when God in the form of the Logos is in you.
Opening scripture:
JOHN 1:1
1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Greek word used here for the word “word” is Logos, which means the thought behind the spoken word, or the concept or idea - the understanding.
Rhema is another Greek word that is also interpreted “word” in English, and that refers to the spoken word as in utterance or speech, while the Logos is the thought of what has been spoken. The Logos is the understanding behind the Rhema.
Often we will say - Do you “see” what I am talking about, in other words did you understand the thought of my spoken words.
JOHN 1:1
1 ¶ In the beginning was the Logos (not the utterance of speech (the Rhema), but the thought, because God and His thoughts are one and the same just like you and your thoughts are one and the same – “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. In the beginning God dwelt alone with his thoughts, he was those thoughts), and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.
The purpose of spoken words are to convey thoughts, and so the spoken or written word is really just a thought in another form. That is why the bible is God in print form because it is the thoughts of God in word form – the Logos of God in Rhema form.
JOHN 1:14a
14 And the Word (Logos) was made flesh, and dwelt among us,…
Notice - From Thought, to Word, to Flesh.
What was once in secret thought form in the mind of God had now been declared in flesh – God manifested in the flesh. And that is always God’s purpose is to declare his word by bringing it to flesh.
Recap these two Greek words Logos and Rhema again:
Both of these Greek words (Logos and Rhema) are translated by one English word “word”. So whenever we see the word “word” in the New Testament it could be either the Greek word Logos or the Greek word Rhema.
The Greek word Rhema refers to the spoken word as in utterance or speech, while the Logos is the thought of what has been spoken, it is the concept or the idea, the true understanding that is purposed to be conveyed accurately by God to the mind and heart of the believer, what we would call the revelation of the spoken word.
REVELATION 2:7 Ephesian Age
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;
This phrase is repeated exactly the same for every church age at the end of each age after the message of that age has been proclaimed.
And the reason for that is because it applies to every church age – it wasn’t those who just heard the message with the audible ear, but it is those who could understand the message by true revelation. It was only those ones who were predestinated for that age that had the ability to understand the message of their day.
This word “ear” (He that hath an ear) is the Greek word “ous” {ooce} which is not talking about your physical ear but your ability to hear the correct understanding of the message.
“ous” {ooce} = the faculty of perceiving with the mind, the faculty of understanding and knowing. What we call “revelation”. It is when the spoken word is made clear to your understanding by God spiritually revealing it to by his grace and his elective love, outside of that you will never see it clearly, you will never receive the Logos of the word and someone will eventually talk you out of it.
REVELATION 3:19-22
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice (Greek = Phone = tone or sound), and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Many in this age have heard the natural voice of the Prophet of God to this generation, but very few out of all those ones that heard opened the door to their heart of understanding)
21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that hath an ear (the ability to understand the word for this day), let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
***That is what we are commissioned to do in this day, that is our calling and purpose for this hour – that is why we have church and teach these things of the revealed word of this hour because this is the restoration of the thoughts of God in the minds and hearts of a people, and so this is the fulfilment of what was prophesied would take place in this hour.
Malachi 4:5-6 says the spirit of Elijah would turn the heart of the children back to the faith of their Pentecostal fathers.
It says he'll "turn their HEARTS." In Greek as in Hebrew, the word "heart" signifies the seat of intellect—the mind, purpose, intention, knowledge, understanding and insight of a person. We read, "out of the abundance of the heart" (Matthew 12:34); "to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart . . ." (Mark 12:30); "Why reason ye in your hearts?" (Mark 2:8); "Jesus perceived the thought of their hearts" (as the Holy Ghost did though Brother Branham, Luke 9:47). In Luke 24:38 it says, "Why do thoughts arise in your heart?"
So the heart is the intellect, your mind - that's the real you, and Malachi 4 is to RESTORE our hearts, our understanding to agreement with the faith of the Pentecostal fathers.
JOHN 5:24
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word (Logos – my thought), and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
JOHN 8:43
43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word (My Logos [concept or thought]."
IT.IS.THE.RISING.OF.THE.SUN_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-12 SUNDAY_ 65-0418M
…See what I mean? That is, if he is a true eagle now, he will "understand."
159 Let me straighten a little Scripture here for you. I think we're off of the phone, but we are still here. Saint John 5:24, Jesus said, "He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, has everlasting Life." Now look, I go down the street and just take that literally, what It is, without the spiritual understanding... Not making It say nothing else, but just saying what It says, see, the right word there, in the Greek, in the original, it says, "He that understandeth My Word."
160 Now, to prove that's right. I go down here, and here's a drunk coming along the street, and with some other man's wife on his arms, and cussing, and taking God's Name in vain, and everything else like that. "Say, did you hear what that preacher said? Did you?" "Yeah, I heard It!" That don't mean he's got Eternal Life. See? See?
"He that understandeth My Word," he that is an eagle!
161 "Now, Brother Branham, I want more Scripture than that."
162 All right, "My sheep hear My Voice. A stranger they won't follow."
We often refer to the Scriptures as "the Word” (“let’s turn in the word” – referring to the written bible), and we also use other terms in referring to the Word - for example, we speak of the “written Word,” the “revealed Word,” the “living Word,” and the “restoration of the Word.”
All these terminologies have different meanings.
In regards to the restoration of the word in these last days, it wasn’t that the word needed to be restored as far as the written word because we’ve had the bible for nearly 200 years, but rather it was a restoration of the true original understanding that was promise to be restored in this end time age.
**The evening time light is when a people come into the true understanding of the word of God.
Remember that Jesus said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away [or change], but My words shall not pass away [i.e. change]." Man has changed, but not God the Word.
God has miraculously preserved His Word intact through the many years of church persecution and dark ages. So it is not the "letter," of the word that was lost, but the SENSE of the Word, or "faith," that was lost and required restoration in this end time age.
And so by you and I coming into the true revelation of the word by the message of this hour, that makes you and I the very fulfilment and manifestation of the prophecy of this hour of the restoration of the word in the hearts of an elected people, and that is the evidence that you are a part in this great plan of God for this end time hour.
The evidence of the elect in each age is those who can receive the understanding of the word for their day.
II CORINTHIANS 3:6
6 ¶ Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
The Spirit is the understanding while the letter is the wrong understanding. That is why denominations have a thousand different interpretations and ideas that all come from the same letter of the word, but the bride of Christ in this end time age have received the Logos of the word by the message of the hour. She and the Logos are becoming one in this hour by the revelation of the word – God and man in oneness again.
ACTS 10:44
44 ¶ While Peter yet spake these words (Rhema), the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word (Logos).
They all heard his speech, his Rhema, the spoken words, but only those who caught the Logos, the concept or idea behind what Peter had said, received the Holy Ghost.
Jesus said that you must be born again, so we see that hearing the Logos or understanding of the written word is connected to the new birth, because we know that the new birth and the baptism of the Holy Ghost is one and the same experience – thus saith the Prophet of God.
I PETER 1:23
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word (Logos) of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
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66 …But one day the Lord, in a vision, straightened me out. And He said, that, "The evidence of the Spirit was those who could receive the Word," neither love, nor speaking in tongues, but it's receiving the Word.
We can hear a man preach, listen to his tapes, and read books. We can all hear speech or read words, as Cornelius' household listened to Peter. But we've got to catch the Logos, the thought behind what is spoken or written.
154-3 SMYRNAEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.4
If you are true seed, you will hear that Word; the Spirit will baptize you into the body of Christ, filling you and empowering you, and you will receive the Word for your day and age. See how clear the true evidence becomes when the Word is revealed to you? ……
Now we have been constantly saying that the true evidence of being baptized with the Holy Ghost is for the believer to receive the Word (Logos) for the age in which he lives.
164-3 PERGAMEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.5
… The Word always comes to the truly Spirit-filled. That is the evidence of being filled with the Holy Ghost. That is what Jesus said would be the evidence. He said, "And I will pray the Father and He will send you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive." Now we know what Truth is.
"Thy Word is Truth."
John 17:17b.
Again in John 8:43,
"Why do ye not understand My speech? even because ye cannot hear My Word."
Did you notice that Jesus said that the world could not receive the Holy Ghost? Well, in this verse I just read, neither could they receive the Word. Why? Because the Spirit and the Word are one, and if you have the Holy Spirit as the prophets, the Word would come to you. You would receive it.
69-3 PERGAMEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.5
The evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost today is just the same as it was back in the day of our Lord. It is receiving the Word of truth for the day in which you live. Jesus never did stress the importance of the Works as He did the Word. He knew that if the people got the WORD the works would follow. That is Bible.
Now Jesus knew that there was going to be a terrible drift away from the Word in the Pergamean Age which was as yet two hundred years off from the Patmos vision. He knew that drift would cause them to go into the Dark Ages. He knew that the way man originally got away from God was by first leaving the Word. If you leave that Word, you have left God. Thus He is presenting Himself to the church at Pergamos, and indeed to all churches of all ages, "I am the Word. If you want Deity in your midst, then welcome and receive the Word. Don't ever let anyone or anything get between you and that Word. This which I am giving you (the Word) is a revelation of Myself. I AM THE WORD. Remember that!"
I wonder if we are sufficiently impressed with the Word in our midst.
Whether we hear a preacher or listen to tapes, or read Brother Branham's sermons, we must get the thought behind what is spoken or written. And we can't truly "say what the prophet said," unless we have the Logos behind what he was saying, because God is the Logos, when you have the Logos of God’s thoughts as your thoughts, then you and God have come into perfect agreement – marriage - oneness, and you can no more die than God could die.
God is neither helped nor hindered by our poor vocabulary, or our eloquent speech.
Paul said, "I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God."
Regardless of a preacher’s ability with words, God is able to take what is said and reveal the true thought behind it by His Spirit to you, otherwise we could never truly hear it. We have got to get the Logos of God. We can receive nothing unless it is given from Above.
Jesus said, "My sheep hear my Voice." - all those listening to Jesus at that time heard His Rhema (his utterance of speech), but that did not mean that they were "His sheep”. Only those who heard the Logos, the thought of God that was being conveyed behind the Rhema were identified as his sheep. “My sheep hear my Logos”
MATTHEW 16:13-18
13 ¶ When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. (Look at all the different ideas of who Jesus was for that day – it is no different in this day)
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Christ is building His Church on the rock of the revelation of His thoughts made clear to you, his Logos of this hour personally revealed to you.
AMOS 8:11-12
11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
We have more access to bibles and preaching today then we have ever had before, but outside of this revealed word of the hour it is just the letter of the word without the revelation of it. It is the revelation, a clear understanding which is the bread of life, the spiritual food in due season.
The famine of this time is not for the preaching of the Rhema, but for hearing the Logos.
The bible says that in the last days there will come a great falling away, people will not endure sound doctrine, they shall turn away from the truth and be turned to fables. The "falling away" or apostasy could not take place until first the original faith was restored back again by Malachi 4 message.
16-2 THE.REVELATION.OF.JESUS.CHRIST - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.1
It is the revelation of God that will give you authority over the devil. And you can see why they who would add or take from it would be cursed. It would have to be so, for who can add or take away from the perfect revelation of God and overcome the enemy? It is that simple. There is nothing of such prevailing power as the revelation of the Word.
The entire mind of Christ has been made available to us in this hour through the opening of the seven seal, that the food for this end time bride – that is what is ripening the grain in this hour.
**With the inside teacher of the Holy Ghost you will believe and understand the Word for your day, and it will hold you, and you will be kept by the power of the revelation of the word until you are changed from mortal to immortality.