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Isa 51-12-17-We Have Drunk At The Hand Of The Lord The Cup Of His Fury

Isa 51:12  I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
Isa 51:13  And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
Isa 51:14  The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
Isa 51:15  But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
Isa 51:16  And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
Isa 51:17  Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

In our last study we learned that we are the Lord’s ‘arms’ through which he sends His word to “destroy and to build up”:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

I recall a sermon from my days in the World Wide Church Of God in which the minister pointed to this verse of Jeremiah and made the point that God had “set [Jeremiah] over the nations… to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant”.

At that time I had not been given eyes to see that the person speaking to Jeremiah was Christ Himself, and that Christ Himself taught us that “man [Greek, ‘anthropos’, mankind, all of mankind, and not just Jeremiah, must] live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This study will reveal just how integral the Lord has ordained that His elect are in carrying out His plan for the salvation of all of mankind (1Co 15:22):

Luk_22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

Joh_20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

My own blinded eyes read over these words without considering what Christ’s Father sent Him to accomplish through the kingdom He has appointed to us. So what has the Lord sent us to accomplish?:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Will Christ, really, through us “save… the world”? Oh yes, He will not fail:

1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The Lord’s will to have all men to be saved is not just some idle desire of His, dependent upon mankind’s fabled ‘free will’, but this is The Truth:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. 

The believers of ‘this present time’ (Rom 8:18) are the Lord’s special firstfruits , but the very fact they are referred to as ‘firstfruits’ necessitates that there is a later harvest which will encompass “all men”:

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Jas 1:18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Just as it requires fiery trials in this present time to drag us to Christ, it will take the same fiery trials in the great white throne judgment to drag those in the second death to repentance. But the Lord has ordained that we are the saviors of Obadiah 21, and through us not one will be lost:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S. 

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 

That is why we are called the Lord’s arms:

Isa 51:5  My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

Here is the Lord’s “arms [which] shall judge the people”:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

If these words proceed out of the mouth of God concerning those who live and reign with Christ for a thousand years, then I am obliged to say, Amen! to these words:

Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

‘Living by every word… of God’ includes living by the limitations and the order which proceeds out of His mouth, as we have all become painfully aware. We simply must not attempt to make those words read… ‘Blessed and holy is he on whom the second death has part’.

In other words, if Christ tells me that He is my head, and the Father is His head (1Co 11:3), and that He, Christ, is “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev 3:14), I cannot just presumptuously claim that the words “The Beginning of the Creation of God” applies to me, or that I am the head of Christ. I may well be of a group whom He says are “the first to believe on [Him]…the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (Eph 1:12 and Rev 14:4), but that is only because those words came out of His mouth and He “is working all things after the counsel of His own will”, and not after the counsel of my twisting of His Words.

Just because the words, “the head of Christ is God” have proceeded out of the mouth of God, does not mean that ‘the head of Christ is mankind’. What utter foolishness, what utter presumptuousness it is to so twist and distort the words of God so as to nullify His own function and place, and the position in which He has placed us in relation to His Father, to Himself, and to our fellow man. What utter foolishness and presumptuousness it is to deny  the order of the events with which He, “after the counsel of His own will”, is working with mankind!!! If we believe that “man shall… live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, then it behooves us to “tremble at His words”, the very words which give us the knowledge of the order and the means through which every man will be “made alive” (1Co 15:23), as well as the rewards given to those  “who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12).

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. [That is “the place of His rest”]
Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your  joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Isa 66:6  A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

Not only are we “the arms of the Lord” but we are also “the place of [His] rest.” As His arms He will use us to drag all men to Himself:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Will we dare to say ‘they that are Christ’s will be made alive as firstfruits and then after us Christ’??? Will we presumptuously say that the first resurrection is actually after the thousand years, and the great white throne judgment is prior to the thousand year reign??? Will we dare to say that death is not the last enemy to be destroyed??? Or will we be seduced by the forked tongue of the great red dragon to believe that “if you see anything as ordinal then you can and you will miss the spiritual message”???

No, if the Lord wills we will humbly pay very close attention to the revealed order in which He is in the process of making every man alive in Christ. We will rather acknowledge and agree with the scriptures that Christ is the firstfruits of them that slept, and afterwards they that are Christ’s in “this present time”. And then only after that, after the “little season” of rebellion which follows the thousand year reign of those who are ordained to be the first to be “made alive in Christ [1Co 15:23, in] this present time” (Rom 8:18), will all the rest of mankind be “made alive in Christ” through the same purifying fire, but then the Lord’s words will be known as “the lake of fire”, the same fire which tries every man’s works, but which under that name is ordained for a later time with a different reward (Rev 20:7-15). But we will not be so presumptuous as to assume that just because the fire which is now trying our works is the same fire, the very Word of God which will try those who will be cast into the lake of fire that therefore there is no significance to the words “every man in his own order”. Rather we will humbly acknowledge that anyone counted as ‘firstfruits unto God and the Lamb, are “blessed and holy” above all men of all time, and that the last harvest is never called “the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb”. No one else is given our honor nor our “crown of life” (Rev 14:4).

Isa 42:8  I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

The ‘fire’ which is trying our works is doing so now, in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), so that we will “not be hurt of the second death [which is] the lake of fire” (Rev 20:14). And we will give great “respect unto the recompence of [our] reward, [which is our] crown of life”, and the promise of the spirit that ‘the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb’ will not be hurt of the fires of the lake of fire which is the second death (Heb 11:26; Rev 2:11 and Rev 20:6).

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ [fidelity to His Words] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Lest we lose or despise our promised “crown of life”, let us all pray with King David:

Psa 19:13  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

So while we want to avoid presumptuous sins, we must acknowledge that anything which does not accord with the word of God is the very definition of ‘presumptuous sins’. We must accept all the Lord has given us to do or we are just as presumptuous as those who have no ‘respect unto unto the recompence of the reward’ (Heb 11:26).

While I was totally unaware of what the Lord has prepared for those that love Him, I have since been granted to see that the Lord has revealed them unto us by the words of His spirit:

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

In this study the spirit of the Lord’s words will reveal some of the deep things of God to us, and we will see just how integral we are to His work which work from the Father’s perspective was completed in Christ, through His Christ “from the foundation of this world… before the world began”: 

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; 

We have shown that God wants and will have all men to be saved, but we now see that He has predestined” some few to be those who will “first believe in [Christ]”, and to rule with Him over the nations of this world for a thousand years:

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 

If we “tremble at [the Lord’s] words we dare not make these words read ‘All men of all time will be to the praise of His glory regardless of when they trusted in Christ’. Yet there are millions of Christians who know nothing whatever about any later fruits. The masses of Christianity actually believe that if you are not converted in this age then you will never have access to the redemptive blood of Christ. To believe that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”, will in fact cause you to be expelled from most Christian congregations anywhere on earth.

This brings us to the first verses of our study today:

Isa 51:12  I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
Isa 51:13  And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

The loss of the friendship of this world is a real threat to the kingdom of our old man. The family of the man Christ healed of being born blind feared being cast out of the synagogue if they said anything favorable about the Lord  who had just healed their son of His life long blindness:

Joh 9:20  His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
Joh 9:21  But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
Joh 9:22  These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

Christ knows we are spirits in prison longing to be free. But He also knows that we of ourselves are incapable of delivering ourselves from our spiritual prison or of feeding ourselves:

Isa 51:14  The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

Christ knows we simply cannot just naturally accept the fact that He is still quite capable of leading us through the Red Sea, the fiery furnace, the lion’s den, and through the death of the cross. So He has given us the promise of His Word which He tells us “cannot be broken” (Joh 10:35):

Isa 49:25  But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; 

“The scriptures cannot be broken”, and the Lord promises to “contend with those who contend with you” and He reminds us why men are never to be feared:

Isa 51:15  But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name. 

Then He also tells us of the calling we have been given, and the work He is doing through us as His Christ, His inheritance… His anointed. We are His instrument through whom  He is bringing all men and all powers and principalities, in heaven and in earth to Himself: 

Isa 51:16  And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. 

“I have covered you in the shadow of mine hand that I might plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth”. This verse is giving us  the same message the Lord gave Jeremiah which I referenced at the beginning of this study:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

We know this must be done in the kingdom of God within us first (Luk 17:20-21). But when that is accomplished by Christ within us then, and only then, will Christ use us as His instrument to accomplish everything His Father sent Him to accomplish, and that involves being placed over the literal, physical, carnal nations of this world, to root out all evil and rebellion, to pull down all that rise up against the Lord and His Christ, His anointed, to throw them all down and to build and to plant the seeds of His kingdom.

It all begins at the “seventh trump”, which inwardly is the establishing of the kingdom of God within, and outwardly and dispensationally it is at the appearing of Christ and at the beginning of the thousand year reign of Christ:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. [The thousand years first and then through the lake of fire].

The Lord has come into our lives to dismantled and utterly destroy the kingdom of our old man, and in doing so He causes us “at His hand” to partake of the seven plagues of the seven angels, which brings us to our last verse in this chapter of Isaiah for today:

Isa 51:17  Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

The message of this verse is repeated in Revelation 14 and 15:

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [What is all this torment in “the wrath of God”?]
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

“Here is the patience of the saints: Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”. The fact is that no man can enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels is fulfilled in that man’s life:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

The Lord’s elect will fulfull the seven plagues of the seven angels, and at the seventh trump, the Lord will send us to do what His Father sent Him to do, and we will then become every instrument He needs to rule the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years, and then we will continue to “judge angels” in the lake of fire.

Look at just how versatile in His hands we are right now in spirit, and just how versatile we will be during the thousand years and also in the lake of fire:

Jer 51:20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

Inwardly we must “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” acknowledging that “it is Christ which works in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure”:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

These words demonstrate that while we must acknowledge that “it is God which works in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure”, acknowledging His work within us in no way denies that we must still “work out our own salvation [and] do the things that [Christ] says”:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Since we must “work out [our] own salvation (Php 2:12-13), [and] do the things [Christ tells us to do]” (Luk 6:46), in that sense we are His inward “battle axe and weapons of war”. We are waging war inwardly every day, breaking in pieces the nations, destroying kingdoms; breaking in pieces the horse and his rider;   breaking in pieces the chariot and his rider; breaking in pieces man and woman [who deny the doctrines of Christ]; breaking in pieces old and young [who withstand an oppose the Lord and His doctrines]; and within us we are breaking in pieces the young man and the maid, who will not submit to Christ within us; We are also breaking in pieces within us the shepherd and his flock; the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and  captains and rulers.

This is the “war in heaven” which is the “fiery trials” and sufferings which must “try every man’s works”, inwardly in “this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Eph 2:6 and Heb 9:23 demonstrate that ‘heaven’ is within our hearts and minds, just as it was with Christ who was also “seated… in the heavens even as He walked on this earth:

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [that would be us] with better sacrifices than these. 

But when “the sufferings of this present time” are “endured to the end”, then as “overcomers” we are given to reign with Christ for a thousand years over the kingdoms of this world:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

And this is what is meant by “reign[ing] with Christ a thousand years”:

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 

Ruling with a rod of iron is the same as being the Lord’s “battle axe and His weapons of war”, with which the Lord will put down every religion and ever nation which will refuse to submit to the hegemony of “the Lord and His Christ”:

The Lord has added the words in Jeremiah 51 to His words in Isaiah 51:

Jer 51:20  Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

A “battle axe” is designed for delivering a death blow to the head of the enemy. It is indeed a “weapon of war”, designed spiritually to decapitate our old man with all of his rebellious doctrines, which are armies of the nations and kingdoms within us.

Those ‘nations and kingdoms’ we are sent to “break in pieces”, have only the power given them by the Lord to serve as our dying old man (Joh 19:11). “The horse and his rider… the chariot and his rider”, are nothing more than the powerful rebellious, lying, false, doctrines like the false doctrines of an immortal soul which can be tormented for all eternity, and which directly contradict and nullify the doctrines of Christ which are foolishness to the “horse and his rider” within us (1Co 2:13-15). “The man and the woman” within us are “[our] father the devil… the great red dragon”, and his wife, the great harlot who sits upon us and rules us with her horrendous burdens of eternal torment, tithing, and the observing of days, months times and years, and the oppressively heavy burden of the false doctrine of free moral agency, which places the responsibility of our salvation upon our own shoulders. Having the knowledge of The Truth, we are sent to break that ‘man and woman’, and all of their false doctrines to pieces.

“The shepherd and his flock… the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; [and the] captains and rulers” we are sent to break in pieces and destroy are the Nicolaitan “captain and their rulers”, those Babylonian ministers who lay such heavy burdens upon us that we cannot begin to bear them.

All of these things are within us and restrain us from seeing the plain Truth which is “that which is written” right there before our eyes in His written word. These all are parts of the kingdom of our old man who must be destroyed and who can only be destroyed by “the brightness of [Christ’s] coming” (2th 2:8) to delivers us from our dark prison:

Isa 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

As we saw earlier in this 51^st chapter of Isaiah we are not just the weapons of war, we will also judge and bring salvation to all of mankind as  His arms:

Isa 51:5  My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

Isa 53:1  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

As is always the case, these words are primarily fulfilled in Christ. But it is few indeed “to whom… [we as] the arm of the Lord [are] revealed”. Many may acknowledge that Christ is the arm of His Father, but who is Christ’s arms through whom He will judge the nations? The answer according to Christ Himself is that we are His body whom He has sent us into this world to do the exact same thing His Father sent Him to accomplish:

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Christ’s Father sent Him as His arms to save this world and because He has sent us as His Father sent Him we are His ‘arms’ and we are even called “saviors”:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.

We are these ‘saviors’ who will judge ‘Esau’ a type of this world during the thousand years and then we will judge the spirits of all men and angels in the lake of fire:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Here are the “judges” of Esau… the world… and… angels”:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

That is our study for today. Here are our verses for our next study of the exhortation and comfort of the words of this prophet, Isaiah:

Isa 51:18  There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
Isa 51:19  These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
Isa 51:20  Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
Isa 51:21  Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Isa 51:22  Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
Isa 51:23  But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.