Jer 34:1-11  I Shall Give this City into the Hand of the King of Babylon, and He Shall Burn it with Fire

[Study Aired March 27, 2020]

Jer 34:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,
Jer 34:2  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3  And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:
Jer 34:5  But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.
Jer 34:6  Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
Jer 34:7  When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.
Jer 34:8  This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
Jer 34:9  That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
Jer 34:10  Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.
Jer 34:11  But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

The first four verses of our study today tell us of the fate of our old man. His fate is to die as a blind man in Babylon being lamented by those who honor him.

Jer 34:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,
Jer 34:2  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3  And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

That is the fate our old man, and this is what happened to King Zedekiah:

Jer 39:2  And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.
Jer 39:3  And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
Jer 39:4  And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.
Jer 39:5  But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.
Jer 39:6  Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Jer 39:7  Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.
Jer 39:8  And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.

Look once more at what the Lord told Jeremiah to tell King Zedekiah of his fate:

Jer 34:2  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3  And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

“Thou shalt not die by the sword” is not a positive pronouncement of the Lord’s love and mercy. Whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges (Heb 12:6). Whom the Lord loves, as He loved King David, He tells him “the sword shall not depart from thy house”:

2Sa 12:10  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

King David in scripture, with all his faults, typifies our new man who is “a man after mine own heart” as the Lord speaks of King David.

Act 13:21  And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
Act 13:22  And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

King Saul and King Zedekiah both typify our old man who at first loves the Lord, but then loses that love, and typifying our own flesh, are not given to inherit the kingdom of God.

King Zedekiah would no doubt have preferred to have died by the sword before having to watch all his own sons, all the princes of Judah, and all his closest associates and friends, “all the nobles of Judah” be slain before his eyes, just before having his “eyes… put out” and carried away alive to Babylon. Everything Jeremiah prophesied came to pass, and more:

Jer 39:6  Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Jer 39:7  Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.

Let us compare all these words about the “king of Babylon… and all the kingdoms of the earth…” who are fighting against God’s unfaithful wife, Judah, and Jerusalem, with the spiritual application of these words in:

Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and  sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Revelation 14 makes clear that even the Lord’s elect must endure the torment in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb:

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, [“all men” do (Rev 13:16)]
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.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond [“all” inclusive], to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

Remember how the Lord looks upon King Nebuchadnezzar:

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

As ‘the Lord’s servant’, Nebuchadnezzar’s judgment upon Zedekiah signifies the Lord’s judgment upon our own old man. It is we who [Isa 40:1-3 and Rev 14:9-12] “receive double” at the Lord’s hand for robbing Him of our worship, and it is our own old man whose “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, and it is he, our old man, who receives double at the Lord’s hand for all his iniquities and sins:

Exo 22:4  If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.

Isa 40:1  Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Isa 40:2  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.
Isa 40:3  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Mal 3:9  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

It is our judgment in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) which ‘prepares the way for the Lord’ to establish His “house”, His kingdom within us (1Pe 4:17). When we refuse His residence and His dominion over us, we are robbing Him of His rightful claim upon the throne of our hearts and minds because we are all “bought with a price”.

Gen 47:23  Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.
Gen 47:24  And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
Gen 47:25  And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
Gen 47:26  And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1Co 7:23  Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Compare the spirit of the seventh verse of Revelation 18 with these words which concern the Lord’s own people:

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

Compared with:

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and  sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Those two verses are addressed to the same ‘whore’, and they give the Lord the occasion He is seeking to give us the same dire warning Jeremiah gives King Zedekiah:

Jer 38:17  Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:

Those are the same words the Lord uses in speaking with us via “the church of the Laodiceans”:

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and  that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten [in “this present time” (Rom 8:18 and 1Pe 4:17)]: be zealous therefore, and repent.

There are two points which must be seen and understood if we are to understand who “Babylon the great” is. The first point is the fact that “her fornication is with the kings of the “earth”, and it is “the earth” which “is waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies”. If we are granted the gift of comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1Co 2:13-14), then we will know that the ‘earth’ signifies spiritual “Judah and Jerusalem”, the Lord’s own unfaithful wife, as Jeremiah has already revealed:

Jer 22:2  And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

Speaking to the same people in this same 22^nd chapter of Jeremiah, Judah and Jerusalem are addressed as:

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

It is few indeed who understand that it is “the earth” which stands over against and in opposition to the heavens. The opposite of ‘heaven’ in scripture is not ‘hell’ as so many suppose. Rather the opposite of heaven is the earth. It is fewer still who are given to see and understand that “Judah and Jerusalem” are the great whore whose ‘fornication and delicacies have enriched “all nations… and the kings of the earth” (Rev 18:3).

This is the fate of our self-righteous, iniquitous, rebellious, adulterous old man who is robbing Christ of His throne which is in our hearts and our minds:

Jer 34:5  But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

Here is the New Testament spiritual fulfillment of these five verses which concern the fate of our rebellious, self-righteous old man:

Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

“The kings of the earth” lament the destruction of our old man, and they are quick to let it be known. But the Lord has devised means to bring about both our destruction and the lamenting of the demise of our old man by those who identify with him and were made rich by him, the king of Judah and Jerusalem, who is also “become a harlot” (Isa 1:21).

The natural man will say, “Revelation 18 is a prophecy of the great harlot, and it has nothing to do with Zedekiah, the king of Judah and Jerusalem.” Nothing is further from the truth! The King of Judah and Jerusalem is labeled by the Lord himself as this very harlot of Revelation 17-18, and that very title was given to “Judah and Jerusalem” by the prophet Isaiah 70 years prior to these prophecies of Jeremiah:

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

The Lord’s covenant with His people at Sinai was a marriage covenant, and these verses demonstrate that Judah and Jerusalem had not been a faithful wife. Lest anyone miss this point Isaiah goes on to place the label of ‘harlot’ squarely upon the “kings of Judah and Jerusalem”:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
Isa 1:22  Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
Isa 1:23  Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

Nothing changed between the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah except that ‘evil men and seducers waxed worse and worse’. The only change was that Jerusalem became even more of a harlot, and that is our story for many necessarily sinful years of iniquity while we all justify our self-righteous transgressions.

Jer 34:6  Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
Jer 34:7  When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.

Notice that the events of this chapter of Jeremiah transpire “When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem.”

This is the state of our own ecumenical Christian mind. In our appointed time, we all are fighting against ‘the Lord’s servant’ by denying that we are already in spiritual bondage to “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of this world” (Rev 17:4). We all, in our own time, deny the fact that the “time is at hand” that we must “read… hear and keep [all] the things which are written” in this prophecy of how Christ must come to be revealed within us. That confession must include the fact that we have been a harlot and not a faithful wife to our Lord.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that  hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

King Zedekiah typifies our self-righteous old man who ‘reproves, contends with, disannuls the Lord’s judgment, and condemns God to make himself righteous.’

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

The answer to the Lord’s question to Job is, “Yes we have done all those things to make ourselves righteous. We have done ‘many wonderful works’, and we did them in Christ’s name (Job 27 and 29).” We simply cannot see ourselves as an unfaithful whore, and yet it is of this very whore within us that the Lord speaks these words:

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity [self-righteousness (Eze 33:13)].

Eze 33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Acknowledging our infidelity to our spiritual Husband is integral to our salvation. Christ Himself was “called… out of Egypt” and confessed that even His flesh was not ‘good’:

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

Jer 34:8  This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
Jer 34:9  That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
Jer 34:10  Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.

Our old man, signified by King Zedekiah, all his ‘good works’ notwithstanding, despises the word of the Lord by His certified prophet, Jeremiah. Yet he self-righteously “made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto [their Hebrew servants].” This was done “When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem” (Jer 34:7). Even if this were done to seek the Lord’s mercy while under siege, it was the right thing to do, and no doubt it was given Jeremiah’s approval. Indeed, the king of Egypt came up against Nebuchadnezzar and caused the Chaldeans to lift the siege for a short time, during which time the people went back on their word to their Hebrew servants.

Here is the New Testament fulfillment of this story of going back on their word to release their Hebrew slaves:

Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

Releasing our “Hebrew servant” from bondage to ourselves, typifies our willingness to receive and be obedient to the things the Lord tells us to do. Christ asks us:

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

This story about King Zedekiah’s covenant with the people to release their Hebrew slaves right in the midst of the siege of Jerusalem signifies that the Lord’s chastening hand has begun its work in our lives when we “anon with joy” receive His word. However, when we realize how hard things are “because of the word”, when we don’t have the services of a Hebrew slave, that trial is more than we are willing to endure, so we go back on our own word and demand the services of our Hebrew slave. It is a ‘Hebrew servant’ because it is the word or Christ and not the doctrines of men. A Hebrew slave signifies our willingness to use the Lord’s own words to serve us instead of us being obedient to the Lord’s words. We begin to twist and wrest His words to mean what we want them to mean, and Christ goes on to tell us the result of doing that. It is the very same thing that happened to Jerusalem when they refused to be obedient to the Word of the Lord by Jeremiah. Here are the very next verses in Luke 6:

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. [(Psa 15:4) “sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not”]
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Psa 15:4  In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

When we release the bondage of our Hebrew slave, we are setting the Word of God free to show us how we are to obey Him. Setting our Hebrew servant free typifies being given the dominion over sin in our lives and being willing to bear the cross to achieve that liberty. We are now grateful to be given to “labor to enter into His rest” knowing that it is the Lord who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Php 2:12-13).

Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

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.

Part of that “example of unbelief” (Heb 4:11) was the example of Judah and Jerusalem who agreed to release their Hebrew servants but when the trials came, “because of the word”, and from having to labor without their subjugation they were offended and went back on their covenant.

“These things happened to them, and they are written for our admonition” (1Co 10:11) and this is what our Hebrew slaves do to us when we abuse them:

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

The release of our ‘manservants and maidservants’ signifies spiritually our obedience to the Lord’s words which serve and nourish and minister to us. We are all given to release those doctrines to minister to us when we first come to the Lord. Then we are all also given to ‘lose our first love’ as we twist and wrest and force the Lord’s words to cover the idols of our hearts. The idols of our hearts always accommodate the flesh of our old man and require much less labor on our part.

Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil [at the first]: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars [at the first]:
Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted [all at the first part of our walk with the Lord].
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Jer 34:11  But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

When we bring our ‘servants and handmaids’ back into subjection to ourselves we are no longer being submissive to the Lord. Rather, we begin to wrap and wrest His words around the idols of our own self-righteous, iniquitous false doctrines to justify not letting them go free to serve the Lord. When our servants are free to serve the Lord, then we, too, are free from the bondage of all our false doctrines and self-righteous iniquities:

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
Eze 16:18  And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
Eze 16:19  My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 16:20  Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

The Lord’s gold and silver, His broidered garments, His oil and incense, His fine flour, oil, and honey, and His sons and daughters, are one and all symbols of His doctrines and His words which we bring into bondage to our own will and to our own false doctrines. We make His words into our doctrines, and in doing so we are placing ourselves under the bondage of sin in our lives, and yet sin’s dominion comes to an end at the appointed time in the life of “every man” (Rom 6:14, 1Co 3:13-16).

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. [God’s chastening grace (Tit 2:11-12 and Heb 12:6)]

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.