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It’s a double entendre. Don’t you just love how that flows off your tongue? A double entendre is when something has a twofold or double meaning. That’s the simple explanation. Here it is used to describe when a single phrase is intended to amalgamate two ideas that seem to compete for precedence, into one unified concept. And as you contemplate what that means to you, and what is meant by “compete,” avoid the temptation to believe that those thoughts must “oppose” one another, and rather consider that they are two lofty ideas connected to one another, yet difficult to think about simultaneously.
Double entendres birth two independent thoughts in one moment, thoughts that require intense focus and concentration, demanding the expenditure of abundant mental energy. You must discipline your mind to instantly switch between two ideas again and again, until they blend. Maybe it’s the sentence structure that changes the potential meaning, depending on how you read it, necessitating a double-take like: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord…” or, “I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God…” or, “I say to you today you will be with Me in Paradise…”or, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God…” or, “If you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father because I and My Father are one, and you are one just as We are One.“
Think hard! Is the voice shouting in the wilderness or is the preparation in the wilderness? Is He drinking the wine and then waiting to drink again, or is He not drinking until? Is He telling the man today about paradise or will the man be with Him in paradise today? And, are they calling Him good because only God is good and He is God, or is it that only God is good so they should not call Him good? It must be because He is one with God which makes Him both the same as the Father, but also separate and equally yoked, and so are you! So much to think about—so many double meanings that it makes your brain hurt!
Or imagine a double entendre as a phrase that might be both a noun and a description, character trait, or directive of that noun at the same moment. Consider a noun phrase like “The Narrow Road.” Yes the road itself is narrow, plus the path traveled is less frequented because those on it are a rarer breed who must choose to do the less popular thing because the more popular thing is the wrong thing which is more attractive.
And then there is the double entendre that inspired this message…”Legal Matters.” Any matter of law is a legal matter and all matters of law really matter. As you will soon discover, Y’shua utilized the law to navigate the rough terrain of first-century legalism and to reveal just how to apply His Father’s commands in everyday life circumstances. In other words, He took the law out of the Book and used it to rule on specific legal matters, thereby turning law into case law. And He did that in two ways: the first was during actual events, like the woman accused of adultery. The second was by displaying in a fictional story how He would rule; we call those parables. Yes, parables are meant to establish case law. In both ways He operated as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Heaven, thus setting precedent for all who would follow. Will you follow?
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