Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty Fri, 08 Nov 2024 02:34:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Proverbs 2:1-22 – Paths of Judgment, of the Righteous, of Life https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/proverbs-21-22-paths-of-judgment-of-the-righteous-of-life/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=proverbs-21-22-paths-of-judgment-of-the-righteous-of-life Thu, 07 Nov 2024 18:28:41 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31296 Audio Download

Proverbs 2:1-22 – Paths of Judgment, of the Righteous, of Life

[Study Aired Nov 7, 2024]

In order for the body of Christ to increase and John the baptist within us to decrease, we must needs be judged in this life, which judgement is given to the body of Christ (1Pe 4:17) so that the mind of Christ can be formed within us (Joh 3:30, 1Co 2:16).

Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease

1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

When we are received of God, we are chastened of him and scourged; we are judged in other words (Heb 12:6-7) and told not to despise this process that His precious first fruit workmanship (Eph 2:10) is called unto (Heb 12:5).

We are promised that the judgement that God is executing on the body of Christ is going to preserve us in this life (1Co 11:31-32, Joh 8:36, Rom 8:31-37) so we don’t have to experience the second death, in the process of dying in this life by being given the power to fulfill God’s will and purpose (Rom 8:28). God’s will can only be fulfilled by our being given to be witnesses of these things (Act 5:32), “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Rev 20:14, 1Jn 2:16-17, Php 2:12-13, Rev 11:3, Zec 4:6).

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away [1Co 15:50], and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

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 verses in (Luk 13:4-7) lead up to and explain what we must go through as the unproductive fig tree that will only begin to be productive as a result of judgement in our lives that is typified by this statement, “till I shall dig about it, and dung it”. The growth or increase we experience from the digging and dunging process is a gift of God that is given to the elect in this age (1Co 3:6, Eph 2:8).

Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? [Do we think they were the chief of sinners or the apostle Paul only, or anyone else, (1Ti 1:15) or are we in agreement with what Paul quoted, in (Rom 3:10, Mat 23:29-30, Mat 24:34?]
Luk 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent (Rom 2:4), ye shall all likewise perish [and come up in the great white throne judgement (Rev 20:11)].

These first five verse are the important context that set the stage for how God creates the circumstances in our life so that we are repentant, “except ye repent“.

Luk 13:6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. [The ‘certain man’ is Christ.]
Luk 13:7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years (symbolizing our time in Babylon where judgement did not convert our souls (Jer 22:29), no fruit was borne, regardless of physical miracles, and overcoming vices in the flesh (2Th 2:9, Rev 13:13, Co 11:14-15, Joh 14:12-14) I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? [rhetorical question by Christ, he knows why we must experience this exile in Babylon where we bear no spiritual fruit for a symbolic three years]
Luk 13:8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also (this year symbolizing the Day of the Lord “judgment – digging and dunging”) , till I shall dig about it, and dung it (Act 20:28-31).

Paul was called to dig and dung the fig tree in hopes that some fruit would be borne, becoming a true “dresser of his vineyard” who was once a blasphemer (1Ti 1:13).The churches of Babylon are represented by Paul at that time in his life, and like Paul, one day they will obtain mercy, because all their actions were done ignorantly and in unbelief (Gen 45:8).

1Ti 1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

In this second chapter of Proverbs, we are admonished to not neglect this high calling (Heb 2:3) that we’ve been given as we seek the Lord with all our hearts, being promised that we will find him as a result of that pursuit that is being accomplished by the power of God’s holy spirit working within our lives both to will and do of His good pleasure (Deu 4:29, Php 2:12-13).

The dunging part of the analogy is very instructive as it typifies for us the dead and dying old man that is used as fertilizer to set the stage for our growth. The digging is also important to keep in mind as it symbolizes the labour that we are called unto so that we can enter into His rest (Heb 4:1-11, Tit 3:8).

Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Tit 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

The land rest that occurred every seven years back in old covenant times (Deu 15:1) was needful to enrich the land for future yield in the field. The symbolism is not telling us we just sit back and do nothing during that year of rest (Tit 3:8), rather that we must labour to enter into it, as we read in (Heb 4:11). The fruit that is borne out of a wholehearted pursuit of seeking the kingdom first and His righteousness is that we will be spiritually preserved with all that we need in this life in order to endure until the end (Mat 6:33). This is what the elect have been called unto and need to remain focused on all of their lives (1Co 15:57-58, Heb 11:6, Rom 7:24-25).

1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

After we have acknowledged this high calling and made our profession of faith (Php 3:14, Heb 4:13-14) and understand the need to dig and dung this fig tree, our direction and mindset must be singular as Paul stated, forgetting what is behind us and staying in the light (1Jn 1:7-9) with the hope that Christ will cleanse the inside of the cup and bring us unto perfection on the third day as the author and finisher of our faith (Php 3:8).

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.
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens [our hearts and minds Col 1:27], Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

This parable we have looked at in chapter thirteen of Luke is very connected to this second chapter of Proverbs, that admonishes us to receive God’s words and hide them like precious treasure in earthen vessels. Christ is our wisdom and we have this gift of his mind in these earthen vessels in this life (Col 3:3, 2Co 4:7). What we are to do with this mind of Christ is to not neglect it, as these proverbs will clearly state (Heb 2:3). Stirring up the spirit of God (1Ti 4:14) happens as result of our search that God promises us will result in our finding him (Heb 11:6). The fruit of that search will bring us to understand the fear of the Lord that we know is the “beginning of knowledge” (Pro 1:7).

A great deal of this second chapter also explains how Godly wisdom and our pursuit of it will keep us safe from the many lies and falsehoods in Babylon. There is a reward awaiting those who are given to lose their life today in pursuit of a right relationship with our husband Jesus Christ (Mar 10:28-31).

Mar 10:28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee [all the sins of the world (1Jn 2:16-17)].
Mar 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
Mar 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Mar 10:31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.

Pro 2:1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
Pro 2:2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
Pro 2:3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
Pro 2:4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
Pro 2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…

(who receive my words, and hide my commandments, and incline your ear to wisdom, a doer of the word who is justified, crying after knowledge, lifting your voice with strong tears and are heard in that you fear God (Heb 5:7, Eph 5:30), who seek her first as silver and hid treasure, as silver representing the sanctification process that comes with the word of God being unearthed within us)

(Mat 5:6 , 2Co 11:27) because “Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God“.

Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Pro 2:6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
Pro 2:7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
Pro 2:8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
Pro 2:9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

Every good and perfect gift comes from above (Jas 1:17), and it is the LORD who is giving us the wisdom and knowledge and understanding. He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous and that wisdom is a buckler to those who walk uprightly, being led of the spirit of God (Rom 8:14). He leads us by still waters, he keeps the paths of judgement, and preserves the way of the saints through that judgement. If all of these affirming events are happening to us in this life through the faith of Christ (Php 2:12-13, Gal 2:20), “Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path“, and the spirit will bear witness of this along the way (Rom 8:15-16).

Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Pro 2:10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Pro 2:11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

Christ is the author and finisher of our faith who we look to (Heb 12:2), and the comforter leads us into all truth; that is how “wisdom entereth into thine heart“, and because we know it is the Lord working this in our lives (Php 2:12-13), we have great joy in knowing that we are his little flock (Luk 12:32 , Php 4:4), his workmanship, and this relationship is “pleasant unto thy soul“.

The fruit of this blessed relationship with Christ is that “Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee“.

Mat 9:17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. [understanding the sum of God’s word old covenant and new covenant, how both can be profitable to the maturing Christian is what “both are preserved” means (2Ti 3:15)]

1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

Jud 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father (Joh 17:17), and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

Pro 2:12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
Pro 2:13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
Pro 2:14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
Pro 2:15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

When we seek the Lord and his wisdom, He leads us not into temptation (Mat 6:13) and we are delivered from evil, from the man that speaks froward things. By God’s grace we develop the ability to try the spirits whether they are of the Lord (1Jn 4:1) and we are preserved by the discretion and understanding that God gives his children. We foresee the evil and hide ourselves (Pro 27:12), we grow to truly understand what an enemy of the cross looks like, as those whose fruit identify them as such (Luk 6:43-45, 1Jn 3:7),”Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths

Luk 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Luk 6:44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
Luk 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

Pro 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
Pro 2:17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
Pro 2:18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
Pro 2:19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

We are also delivered “from the strange woman” who represents Babylon, and we are kept safe “from the stranger which flattereth with her words“, again representing those who peddle the word of God and make merchandise of the many called (Mat 22:14). It is in Babylon that we “forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God” and don’t realize that in this state of captivity we are in a house that “inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead“. None that go unto her return again, unless they are dragged out of her and given to “ponder the path of life”(Pro 5:5-8), otherwise we could never” take hold of the paths of life that are found through Christ (Joh 6:44).

Pro 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. 
Pro 5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Pro 5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Pro 5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Pro 2:20  That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
Pro 2:21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
Pro 2:22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. [another digging and dunging reference – those transgressors and the wicked within us, Lord willing, being rooted out in this life]

We have to go back to the statement found in verse ten (Pro 2:10), “When wisdom [Christ] entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul“, telling us that when God’s holy spirit is within us, Christ who is our wisdom, we can “walk in the way of good and keep the paths of the righteous“. It is only Christ who can be Christ (Col 1:27, Rom 8:9), who makes it possible for those that He dwells in to be “the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it“(Joh 8:31-32).

The elect remain in the land, “But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it“, first within us but also revealing that the elect are being talked about in these parables (Mat 24:40-51) that tell us some are taken and others remain in the earth. The ones remaining represent the elect who inherit the land, because we have been blessed to conquer the land within in this age, by the grace and faith of Christ (Eph 2:8).

Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Our searching for wisdom and knowledge is not in vain (1Co 15:58). Christ is the tree of life who we are being dragged unto, to “lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her” (Pro 3:18).

Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman (Col 1:27) of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. [Pro 24:3, Psa 127:1]
Mat 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. (Mat 25:4-8)
Mat 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Mat 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

Pro 3:18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

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“Journey Through the Kingdom to God’s Throne” – Part 1 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/journey-through-the-kingdom-to-gods-throne-part-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=journey-through-the-kingdom-to-gods-throne-part-1 Tue, 05 Nov 2024 23:17:49 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31272 Audio Download

“Journey Through the Kingdom to God’s Throne” – Part 1

[Study Aired Nov 5, 2024]

 

When beginning our study of our journey to the kingdom’s throne, we must first understand Christ’s fundamental teaching about the kingdom itself: “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation… for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). This truth establishes that our study of physical approaches to God’s presence – through gates, courts, and the temple itself – must be understood spiritually, for these patterns reveal internal realities in our approach to God.

The journey begins at the city gates: “Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD” (Psalm 122:2-4).

From there we proceed to the temple courts, where a middle wall of partition separated the outer court from the inner courts. This wall represented the law that kept Gentiles separate from Jews: “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us” (Ephesians 2:14). As Paul further explains, Christ abolished “the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). This wall marked a boundary that Gentiles could not cross, as God commanded: “Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary” (Ezekiel 44:9). Christ removed this barrier, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:14). Beyond this wall stood the inner courts: “Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’s house” (Jeremiah 26:2), with “the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east” (Ezekiel 43:4). Within these courts stood the great altar and laver, both speaking of our purification in Christ. The brass altar, where sacrifices were offered, points to Christ’s sacrifice: “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). The laver, where priests washed before service, represents our cleansing by God’s Word: “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:25-26).

“Beyond this lay the temple building itself with the Holy Place containing the prescribed furnishings. The golden candlesticks were designed according to God’s specific pattern: “And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold… his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same” (Exodus 25:31). These candlesticks provided light in the Holy Place: “they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light” (Exodus 25:37). Their spiritual significance is revealed in the New Testament, where Christ shows that candlesticks represent His churches: “The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches” (Revelation 1:20). This light must be maintained through obedience, for Christ warns: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place” (Revelation 2:5). The prophet Zechariah connects this to the Spirit’s work: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).”

Finally, separated by the veil whose colors speak of Christ: “And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen” (2 Chronicles 3:14). Like the tabernacle entrance, the blue represents His heavenly origin, the purple His royalty, the crimson His sacrifice, and the fine linen His perfect righteousness. This veil itself represented Christ’s flesh: “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Hebrews 10:20).

The biblical pattern reveals progressive stages of drawing near to God’s presence, each with its own spiritual significance as “the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time then present” (Hebrews 9:8-9). This progression follows the pattern described by the psalmist: “They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God” (Psalm 84:7), showing how each stage brings us closer to His presence and transforms us in the process.

The Apostle Paul reveals how we can understand spiritual things through physical things: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead” (Romans 1:20). Therefore, to begin our journey to the Most Holy Place, we must first enter through a gate, which is synonymous with door, for Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). This isn’t a physical door but a spiritual reality, further emphasized when He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Only after passing through this entrance can we proceed along the path that leads to God’s presence, for “through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). As we study these doors and gates, and the path that gives us access to the Most Holy place we seek their spiritual significance, remembering Jesus’ words that “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63), just as the tribes of Israel entered Jerusalem’s gates to go up to the temple: “Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD” (Psalm 122:4).

This spiritual entrance is described as narrow and demanding: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). This narrow way isn’t a physical path but an internal journey of transformation. As Solomon wrote, “The way of life is above to the wise” (Proverbs 15:24), and Isaiah confirms, “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isaiah 30:21). This spiritual way was foreshadowed throughout the Old Testament, where God provided physical patterns to teach spiritual truths about entering His presence.

The Old Testament provides several types and shadows that reveal Christ as our entrance to the kingdom. Consider first the door of Noah’s ark: “And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark… and the LORD shut him in” (Genesis 7:1,16). This single door of salvation foreshadowed Christ, who declared “I am the door” (John 10:9). Just as only those who entered through the ark’s door were saved, spiritual salvation comes only through Christ: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

The tabernacle entrance deepens this typology: “And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework” (Exodus 26:36). These colors prophetically speak of Christ. The blue represents His heavenly origin, for “He that cometh from heaven is above all” (John 3:31). The purple signifies His royalty, as He is “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16). The scarlet points to His sacrifice, for “In whom we have redemption through his blood” (Ephesians 1:7). The fine twined linen shows His righteousness, for He “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Psalms reveal spiritual understanding of gates: “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter” (Psalm 118:19-20). These verses point to Christ, who is our righteousness: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

The prophet Isaiah foresaw the spiritual nature of these gates: “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in” (Isaiah 26:2). This righteousness comes not through external observance but through the faith of Christ: “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe” (Romans 3:22).

Ezekiel’s vision of the temple gate provides further insight: “Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut” (Ezekiel 44:1-2). This exclusive entrance prophetically speaks of Christ, who alone provides access to God.

These Old Testament types find their complete fulfillment in Christ’s New Testament declaration: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1). This teaching establishes that there is no legitimate spiritual access except through Christ, the true Door. Jesus further emphasizes this truth: “I am the door of the sheep… by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:7,9). This salvation isn’t merely the future but present reality, for “he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). Having established Christ Himself as the only entrance, we must understand the internal conditions He produces in those entering through Him.

Access to this spiritual kingdom requires specific internal conditions. First among these is spiritual poverty: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). This spiritual poverty manifests as humility, for “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6). David understood this when he wrote, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17).

Beyond humility, entering the kingdom requires profound internal transformation. Jesus declared, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). This new birth is an internal reality, as David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Paul describes this as being “renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23).

The holy spirit plays a crucial role in this kingdom access. Jesus promised, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things” (John 14:26). This Spirit guides us into truth: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses, “for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

The ultimate reality of kingdom access is Christ’s indwelling through the Spirit. Paul reveals this mystery as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Jesus Himself promised this intimate dwelling: “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). He later prayed for this reality: “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:23). This indwelling is so essential that Paul declares, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

Now that we understand Christ as the Door, we must learn how to seek and find this entrance. Jesus provides the key principle: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). This seeking isn’t physical but spiritual, for “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

The nature of this spiritual seeking is revealed in Christ’s words: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field” (Matthew 13:44). This parable teaches that finding the kingdom’s entrance requires valuing it above all else. As Solomon wrote, “If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:4-5).

This seeking involves the whole heart. God promises, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Half-hearted seeking won’t suffice, for “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). This “violence” refers not to physical force but to the intensity of spiritual pursuit – a complete denial of self, as Christ taught: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

The process of seeking requires spiritual discernment, which itself is a divine gift. As Solomon prayed, “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad” (1 Kings 3:9). Paul explains this necessity: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Therefore, we must pray as David did, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psalm 119:18).

Finding the entrance requires divine revelation. Jesus declared, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw (drag) him” (John 6:44). This dragging comes through the Spirit’s work: “For as many as are led (brought) by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). We can’t find the entrance through natural wisdom but only through God’s revealing Spirit.

The seeking process involves stripping away false dependencies. Jesus taught, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). This doesn’t mean literal hatred but rather putting Christ above all other relationships and dependencies.

This seeking requires persistence. Jesus illustrated this through the parable of the widow: “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?” (Luke 18:7). He taught this parable specifically that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).

Our entrance through Christ requires putting away old patterns of thinking and living. Paul emphasizes this: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). This transformation happens as we are given to yield to Christ’s indwelling life.

The Spirit leads us to diligently search the Scriptures, as Jesus commanded: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). Yet this searching must transcend mere intellectual study. As Paul explains, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).

Our seeking involves intense spiritual warfare. We face opposition from our flesh, for “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17). The world system opposes us, hence John’s warning: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15). Beyond these, we face spiritual opposition, for “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12). Therefore we must “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). This armor includes “having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness… taking the shield of faith… and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14,16-17).”

Throughout this seeking, persistent prayer becomes our lifeline. Jesus promises, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it (the door, Jesus Christ) shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). This prayer must flow from faith, align with God’s will, and persist without ceasing. As Paul instructs, we should be “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18).

Our journey isn’t solitary. God places us in fellowship with other believers, warning us against “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). Through this fellowship, we experience mutual edification and growth, for the body is “fitly joined together” (Ephesians 4:16).

As we consider the evidences of having found the kingdom’s entrance, we must remember Christ’s foundational teaching that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). Therefore, the evidence appears first in our internal spiritual condition before manifesting in external ways. Jesus taught, “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit” (Matthew 7:17).

The first evidence is a new spiritual understanding. Paul describes this transformation: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed(ing) away; behold, all things are become(ing) new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This new understanding comes through the Spirit, for “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

A clear evidence appears in our relationship to sin. John writes, “Whosoever is born of God (the new man) doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he (the new man) is born of God” (1 John 3:9). This doesn’t mean sinless perfection, but rather a fundamental change in our relationship to sin. Paul explains this transformation: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under (chastening) grace” (Romans 6:14), for “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6).

The presence of divine love provides another crucial evidence. John states plainly, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 John 3:14). This love isn’t natural affection but supernatural, flowing from God Himself: “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5).

Evidence appears in a new relationship with God’s Word. Where once the Scriptures might have seemed dry or confusing, now they become our essential nourishment. As Jeremiah testified, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jeremiah 15:16). Job expressed similar devotion: “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). The psalmist declares, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103). This fulfills what God taught Israel: “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

A transformed prayer life provides further evidence. Paul describes this change: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). Prayer becomes communion rather than obligation, for “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).

Changed priorities mark those who have found the kingdom’s entrance. As Paul testifies, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:7-8). Worldly attractions lose their appeal, for “if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

Evidence appears in our response to trials. James writes, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:2-3). Rather than being defeated by difficulties, we find them working spiritual growth, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Perhaps the most profound evidence is Christ’s increasing manifestation in our lives. Paul describes this process: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). This manifestation brings increasing conformity to His image, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29).

Finally, true entrance into the kingdom produces an earnest anticipation of Christ’s return. Paul describes believers as those who “love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8). This hope purifies us: “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).

Having understood how we enter the kingdom through Christ, our next study will examine the gates of Jerusalem as they reveal deeper aspects of our spiritual journey. As the psalmist declares, “The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God” (Psalm 87:2-3). Each gate in Jerusalem’s walls held specific purpose and position, providing profound insights into our ongoing spiritual walk. From the Sheep Gate where sacrifices entered the city, to the Water Gate where Ezra read the law, to the Valley Gate representing humility – each entrance teaches vital spiritual truth.

As Paul explains, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). Lord willing we will discover how these ancient gates, arranged by divine wisdom, illuminate our path of spiritual growth and transformation in Christ.

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Ezekiel 36:1-21 – Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/ezekiel-361-21-prophecy-to-the-mountains-of-israel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ezekiel-361-21-prophecy-to-the-mountains-of-israel Mon, 04 Nov 2024 18:27:27 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31237 Audio Download

 

Ezekiel 36:1-21 – Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel

[Study Aired Nov 4, 2024]

 

INTRODUCTION

Today we are going to look at the prophecy to the mountains of Israel. To understand what the Lord is showing us here in this chapter, we need to know what the mountains of Israel signify. The reason for the mountains of Israel to be the target of Ezekiel’s prophesy was because almost all the mountains or high places of Israel had become places of idol worship. Worshipping idols in high places was how the Moabites worshipped, as shown in the following verses:

Isa 16:11  Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.
Isa 16:12  And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.

These mountains in Israel used to be the mountains of the Lord. However, over time, the Israelites were influenced by the Moabites’ form of worship of idols on these mountains.

Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Isa 65:11  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.

Num 33:51  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
Num 33:52  Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:

Lev 26:30  And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

The mountains therefore used to be the New Jerusalem but these holy mountains had been defiled over time and therefore represent Babylon. When Christ first came to us, we were like the New Jerusalem, but we took the Lord’s words (gold and silver) and turned them into the wisdom and traditions of men when we were in Babylon.

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,

The Lord speaking to the mountains and the hills is the Lord speaking to us, His elect, about the fact that we are to face judgement.

Mic 6:1  Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
Mic 6:2  Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.
Mic 6:3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

The mountain therefore signifies the house of the Lord, which is the same as His temple, which we are. Thus, the judgement of the Lord regarding the mountains refers to our judgement since we are the temple of the Lord.

Isa 2:2  And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
Isa 2:3  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Mic 4:1  But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
Mic 4:2  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

With this in mind, let’s look at the prophesy to the mountains of Israel to know what the spirit is teaching us today about how the Lord is dealing with us.

Prophesy to the Mountains of Israel

Eze 36:1  Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD: 
Eze 36:2  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession: 

Verse 1 saying that the mountains of Israel should hear the word of the Lord is another way of saying that the Lord’s people who are represented by the earth, should hear or pay attention to the word of the Lord.

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

Verse 2 shows us our situation in Babylon when we are overcome by the flesh that is empowered by the devil, our enemy. The ancient high places refer to our hearts and minds which serve as the temple of the Lord. When our flesh dominates us, then our temple is in the possession of our enemy, the devil. It is in this deplorable state that we find ourselves, that the Lord comes to speak to us to let us know His plans for us.

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Eze 36:3  Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people: 

A simpler rendition of this verse is as follows:

Eze 36:3  therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Precisely because they made you desolate and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became the talk and evil gossip of the people, (ESV)

The enemy making us desolate and crushing us from all sides means that we are totally under the sway of our old man or flesh. Becoming the possession of the rest of the nations implies that we became just like the people of the world as we live by the standard of this world. In this sense, the people of this world blaspheme the name of the Lord because of us.

Rom 2:19  And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
Rom 2:20  An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
Rom 2:21  Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Rom 2:22  Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Rom 2:23  Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Rom 2:24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Eze 36:4  Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about; 

In verse 4, we are again made aware that what the Lord is saying is directed towards His elect who are under the dominion of the enemy and as a result, they are not able to hear the word of the Lord. During our time in Babylon or the physical churches of this world, we were of our father the devil and therefore we could not understand the Lord’s words. It is this period of our lives that the Lord comes to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to cause us to see and hear what He is saying to us as He judges us.

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speecheven because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

Again in verse 4, the Lord is showing us that the enemy, represented by the flesh, was in total control of our lives as He sits in our temple, signified by the mountains, hills and valleys, claiming himself to be God. He also polluted the truth we have received from the Lord with false doctrines (made our rivers desolate) and made the harlot woman to dominate us, that is, our cities forsaken. As a result, we became prey and were mocked by the people of the world.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Eze 36:5  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey. 

As we established in the previous chapter, Idumea is the same as Edom and it represents our flesh. The rest of the nations, and Edom taking over the land of the people of Israel with wholehearted joy and contempt with the view to make its pastureland a prey, is another way of saying that our old man or flesh had taken possession of our lives as he sits in the temple of God, exalting himself as God. We have therefore became a prey to the fowls of the air. This picture is what the Lord is showing us through the parable of the mustard seed and the leaven.

Mat 13:31  He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
Mat 13:32  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
Mat 13:33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (ESV)

Eze 36:6  Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen: 
Eze 36:7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame. 

Verse 6 shows us how the Lord is jealous over us, His elect, as He speaks in His jealousy and fury, which signify the Lord coming to us with His judgement to destroy our old man or flesh. We are also given the reason why the Lord is judging us, that is, to deliver us from the shame of the heathen. This shame of the heathen refers to the sins we commit against the Lord. It involves turning His words into false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition.

Psa 4:2  O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah

Hos 4:7  The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.(ESV)

Hos 4:17  Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.
Hos 4:18 When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame. (ESV)

The Lord lifting up His hands in verse 7 is to assure us that He will deal with our temple which is represented by the mountains, hills and valleys, and also the false doctrines signified by rivers.

Eze 36:8  But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. 

It is important to note that we, His elect, are the branches of a tree, while the Lord is the stem which feeds the branches and causes them to grow and bear fruit. When we abide in Him, then we are the branches that shoots forth and bear fruit.

Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Joh 15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

It is through the Lord’s judgement of our old man or flesh that we are able to abide in Him and shoot forth our branches and yield our fruit to the Lord’s people. The shooting forth of our branches implies that we have come to abide in Him through His judgement. Yielding fruit to the people of Israel means we become part of what every joint supplies. Our supply of the truth of the word of the Lord is what nourishes the body of Christ.

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

It is instructive to note that in verse 8, the Lord is assuring us that what He is saying regarding shooting forth our branches and yielding of our fruit, both are going to happen shortly in our live (for they are at hand to come). This is not different from the Revelation that John received about Christ when he was told that what he was being shown must shortly come to pass.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

The question is, when is the time that the Lord is going to carry out what He has said? The answer is given to us by the Lord, as follows:

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: )
Mat 24:16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house:

Seeing the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place is to show us that the Lord has started to accomplish that which He has said He will do. What is the abomination of desolation? It is when we come to see the beast within us sit in the temple of the Lord and claiming to be God. In other words, it is when we see that all our lives, we are under the dictates of our flesh. When we are blessed to see that all our lives we are under the dictates of our flesh, then it means that the Lord has started His work in us of becoming His branch and bearing fruit.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

In Matthew 24:16, we are told that when we come to see the beast within us occupying the Lord’s place in our hearts and minds, we should flee from Judea to the mountains. Judea here represents Babylon and the mountains signify the assembly of the Lord’s elect. It is in the midst of the Lord’s elect that we are kept by what every joint supplies. Being at the house top in Matthew 24:17 is being unhindered by the shade of the house of Babylon, such that we begin to see clearly the Sun which represent our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why we are admonished not to go into the house of Babylon to take anything that will hinder what the Lord has begun to do in our lives.

Eze 36:9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: 

It is heart-warming to note that the Lord is for us and will turn unto us so that we become tilled and sown. This means that the Lord will use all His available resources to bring us to an expected end. Being tilled implies being judged. It is through the Lord’s judgement that He sows His words in our hearts and minds.

Eze 36:10  And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: 

Here in verse 10, the Lord is assuring us that He will fill the house of Israel as well as the deserted cities with men. The house of Israel, or the cities to be inhabited here, on a positive note, signify the church of the firstborn or the assembly of His elect, which the Lord will bring us into.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

The wastes being rebuilt is another way of telling us that we were marred in the hand of the Lord (potter) and therefore He is making us again into another vessel fit for His purpose.

Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Eze 36:11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 

The Lord is also declaring to us in verse 11 that He will multiply on us both man and beast so that we increase and become fruitful. The man here refers to our new man which will increase after the image of the Lord. The beast here literally refers to the increase in domestic animals in the cities that the Lord shall rebuild. What this means is that we shall increase in spiritual riches in Him, to become fruitful in the Lord’s vineyard. The Lord has also promised us to be settled after our old estates. The old estates of the people of Israel refers to the land of Canaan when they were in captivity in Babylon or Assyria. The Lord settling us after the old estates implies being liberated from bondage to the physical churches of this world or Babylon and being given to possess our bodies.

Psa 124:6  Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
Psa 124:7  Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
Psa 124:8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Verse 11 also shows us the Lord’s promise to do more good to us than ever before. The Lord is showering all these blessings on us so that we shall come to know who He really is.

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

1Co 1:4  I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
1Co 1:5  That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
1Co 1:6  Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Eze 36:12  Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men. 
Eze 36:13  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations; 
Eze 36:14  Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord GOD. 
Eze 36:15 Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord GOD. 

In verse 12, the Lord is telling us that He will cause us, His elect, to overcome our flesh such that our flesh becomes our heritage. That means that overcoming our flesh is what will guarantee our inheritance. The statement “Thou shall no more henceforth bereave them of men” shows us that our children shall no longer be possessed by our flesh. Our children here refers to the doctrines of Christ which shall not be contaminated by the false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition.

Verses 13 and 14 are telling us that the saying that our land devours up men as we continue to loss our children to the nations, will no longer be true. As we are aware, land signifies our bodies and therefore the land that devours up men refers to how we are destroyed when our old man or flesh controls us, as we end up being deceived by false doctrines. It is through the Lord’s judgement when He comes to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness, that our flesh shall no longer devour us as we come to appreciate the truth of the Lord’s words and therefore avoid false doctrines.

As indicated earlier, the shame of the heathen refers to sins committed against the Lord. Verse 15 is therefore assuring us that the Lord will deal with our flesh such that we do not continue to sin against the Lord. As a result, we shall not bear the reproach of the people nor stumble again.

Mal 4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Mal 4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, saith Jehovah of hosts.

The Lord’s Concern for His Holy Name

Eze 36:16  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 36:17  Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. 
Eze 36:18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: 

During our time in the physical churches of this world or Babylon, when we were dominated by our flesh, we went astray from the Lord’s ways through the false doctrines that we imbibed. As a result, we put a stumbling block of iniquity before us when we harbored idols in our hearts which prevented us from knowing the truth. We therefore ended up hating the Lord’s elect who came to us to bring us the good tidings of His salvation.

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

In His mercy, the Lord came to judge us so that we can learn righteousness.

Eze 36:19  And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. 
Eze 36:20  And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. 
Eze 36:21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. 

Being scattered among the heathen and dispersed through the countries implies conforming ourselves to the standards of this world such that we were not different from the people of this world. We therefore became worse off as we dishonored the name of the Lord. Going forth out of our land in verse 20 means we lost complete control of our bodies as our flesh sits in our temple, claiming to be God.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

Verses 19 and 20 therefore, show us what it means to be marred in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, in the acceptable year of the Lord, He had pity on us and came to us with His judgement to cause us to learn righteousness so that we do not continue to drag His Holy name through the mud. Verse 21 therefore shows us the mercy of the Lord as He makes us again into another vessel as it seems good to the potter (our Lord Jesus Christ).

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Looking back, we cannot help, but offer ourselves to our Lord as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to Him as He delivers us from the miry clay and sets our feet upon the rock. May His name be praised. Amen!!

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Rev 11:7-14, Part 1 – The Beast Overcomes And Kills The 2 Witnesses https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/rev-117-14-part-1-the-beast-overcomes-and-kills-the-2-witnesses/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rev-117-14-part-1-the-beast-overcomes-and-kills-the-2-witnesses Sun, 03 Nov 2024 04:17:06 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31221 Audio Download

 

Rev 11:7-14, Part 1 – The Beast Overcomes And Kills The 2 Witnesses

[Study Aired Nov 3, 2024]

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14  The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

Introduction

The “beast… ascends out of the bottomless pit”, which is “the abussos”, G12, in the Greek. We have demonstrated that the bottomless pit signifies the abyss or the sea of flesh from which we are all drawn.

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

This ‘abussos’ is the flesh and its desires which are within all men, including the flesh of the two witnesses. If that really is true, how then is it possible that the two witnesses can “ascend up out of the bottomless pit”, the ‘abussos’ and “rise up out of the sea… [G2281, ‘thalassa’], finish their testimony” and still be killed by “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit”? ‘Abussos’, and ‘thalassa’ are two Greek words for the same thing, the sea. We covered this subject of the bottomless pit in our study of Rev 9 and will not repeat that study here, except to reread that verse and to remind ourselves that the bottomless pit is in us all by nature, and the smoke from that pit darkens the sun and the air in every generation of mankind, including each of us in our own order.

Rev 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

As we consider these verses here in Rev 11, we once again just naturally slip into the frame of mind of the natural man who can only see one event following another, chronologically, instead of seeing the words of God from a heavenly perspective as spiritual words, which are unchanging and always applicable in every generation of mankind.

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

What “I change not” means is that the words of God apply to every generation, so that “the beast [is] ascending out of the bottomless pit” in every generation of mankind. The bottomless pit within us is being destroyed by the brightness of the knowledge of Christ and His Words and doctrines coming into our hearts and minds. But as that ‘bottomless pit’ is destroyed within the two witnesses in every generation since Christ, it is also simultaneously being strengthened and perpetuated in the next generation of those who are even now rejecting that very same witness to the testimony of the words of Jesus Christ, as those words continue to proceed out of the mouth of the two witnesses of every generation. As an example of this, Christ was asked if Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah. Here is His answer:

Mat 17:10  And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Mat 17:11  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
Mat 17:12  But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
Mat 17:13  Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

What it all amounts to is the simple fact that we all live the life of the first Adam, with all that is within him, and then in God’s own “predestinated” time and mercy, we will also live the life of the Second Adam, the life of Christ, with all that is in Him. What is so little understood is the fact that this is all accomplished within us and is expressed in prophecy in types and shadows, in signs and symbols and in parables. What is so little understood is that God’s elect are not exempt from one single word of God. “All things are ours…, it is near…, even at the door…, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled” is true in every man of God, in every generation of mankind (1Co 3:21-22; Mat 24:34-35), “each in his own order”:

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.

All men will die to their old man, but we will all experience that ‘death’… in [our] own order”.

Those who “die daily (1Co 15:31), offer [their] bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), [and are] crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), die first and will not “be hurt of the second death” (Rev 2:11), and ‘the second death will have no power over them’ (Rev 20:6) because they have already fulfilled that experience “in this present time”. Those who have died to their old man and all of his desires in this present time do so because they are given to be judged in this present time:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves [in this present time], we should not be judged [at the great white throne judgment].
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged [now in this present time], we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world [to the great white throne judgment of all the rest of mankind].

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? [They will be judged at the great white throne/ lake of fire/ second death, judgment.]

That is why Christ tells us:

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [in the first resurrection at the beginning of the thousand year reign of “our Lord and His Christ”, Rev 11:15 and Rev 20:5-6]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920, ‘krisis’, judgment, the great white throne judgment of Rev 20:11].

These New Testament statements are based upon this revelation found throughout the Old Testament:

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Ecc 9:3  This is an evil among all things that are done under the sunthat there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

The apostles of Christ remained faithful to the testimony of Jesus Christ to the end of their “course [Greek, aion – age] of this world”. But before they were made to be faithful, they too, “were by nature children of wrath, who denied him with an oath, and persecuted His disciples.”

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course [Greek, aion, age] of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Mat 26:73  And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Mat 26:74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

“In time past you [and I] walked according to the age of this world”:

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But Christ did not die just for those who were alive in His days. He died for all men of all time, and He prayed specifically for all those who would hear the words of those who believed on Him through the testimony of His disciples:

Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

So Christ’s disciples endure from generation to generation, and in this manner the two witnesses endure from generation to generation.

But this “My Words shall not pass away” principle is also true for “the children of disobedience” who “are of their father the devil”, which is just another name for the beast that “ascends out of the bottomless pit”. In every generation he too, will ascend out of the bottomless pit and will be killing God’s two witnesses who are tormenting them that are upon the earth.

We must remember that those two witnesses are symbols of all who witness for Christ in every age of mankind. We need to remember that the great city wherein our Lord was crucified, is later in this book called “Babylon the great”, where the blood of all of the saints, meaning the blood of Christ, is found.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Rev 18:24  And in her [“Babylon the great, the mother of harlots”] was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

“The blood of the prophets and saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth” certainly includes Christ, and all those who are in Him. We are both those murderers first, and later we become those who are murdered and are killed by the harlot of chapters 17 and 18. So then “Babylon the great” is the type of God’s harlot church, and the symbols which explain all of this prophecy are all taken from the Old Testament scriptures concerning God’s own people as they turn themselves away from their own Lord.

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.

In the same chapter, only 8 verses later, we read:

Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Still speaking of “the vision… concerning Judah and Jerusalem”, in this same chapter we read this.

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

These are words proceeding from the mouth of God which we must live by (Mat 4:4, Luk 4:4). Our flesh, in turn, by the grace of God, will then be ‘killed daily’, and will die daily (1Co 15:50), by the fire of the mouth of the two witnesses. That fire is, of course, the spirit, which is “the words which Christ speaks to us” (Jer 5:14 and Joh 6:63). Here is the result of that fire:

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

As we saw in our last study, the death of the ‘two witnesses’ was ‘read of, heard of, and kept’ by those who first read the sayings of the words of this prophecy in the day John put these words to paper and pen:

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egyptwhere also our Lord was crucified.

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.

This entire 11th chapter is just a part of “those things which are written therein” which we must be read, hear and keep. All who are given the grace to do so will “keep the words of this prophecy for the time is at hand” to do so (Rev 1:3). This entire prophecy does nothing less than expand upon the words of the Lord’s prophecy of Mat 24, which makes the same point.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: )

Only if God grants us “eyes that see, and ears which [can] hear” that we are that beast within “the holy place”, and we are that “man of sin” who sets himself up as God within that “temple of God”, will we ever know what is meant by the words “whoso reads let him understand… for the time is at hand”.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: )

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come [the day of Christ’s coming to His temple within us], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

None of the apostles changed their doctrine from church to church. What Paul taught these Thessalonians “when he was yet with them” was that “you are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you”, which is what he had also taught the Corinthians (1Co 3:16-17). This inward ‘temple of God’ is the same ‘temple’ Paul had in mind when he said this to these Thessalonian Christians:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? [That “ye are the temple of God”]

Therefore these Thessalonians knew exactly what Paul meant by these words:

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [our crucifixion by this world with Christ, and our resurrection with Christ] that he [the man of sin] might be revealed in his time.

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. [When ‘the iniquity of our old man is full’ then Christ comes to destroy him]

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek, withholds the coming of Christ] will let [will withhold the coming of Christ, as revealed in the next two verses], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouthand shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

“They that believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” is first our own ‘old man’. 2Th 2:6 is fulfilled in Rev 11, when the two witnesses are killed by “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit when their testimony is finished”. You and I have been that beast which is doing the killing of those witnesses, and you and I in turn become those two witnesses who will be killed by that beast.

In this case, our ‘death’ is not the “dying daily” death of our old man. In this story our death “in the street of the great city” is “the savor of death” which we are to “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit”. This is where you and I are at this very moment in the eyes and the nostrils of those in the great city of Babylon:

2Co 2:14 Now thanks be to God, Who always gives us a triumph in Christ, and is manifesting the odor of His knowledge through us in every place,
2Co 2:15 for we are a fragrance of Christ to God, in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing:
2Co 2:16 to these [those “in the street of that great city”], indeed, [we are] an odor of death for death, yet to those [in Christ we are] an odor of life for life. And for this who is competent?
2Co 2:17 For we are not as the majority, who are peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God in Christ, are we speaking. (CLV)

It is “all [who are] in Adam [who suffer the curse of] strong delusion [and who] believe a lie”. “All in Adam includes you and I who have “in times past” been sent that “strong delusion and [have] believed the lies” of Babylon, and have spiritually killed God’s witnesses and left their dead bodies unburied “in the street of the great city… where also our Lord was crucified”.

Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

As we saw last week, we are “the earth”, and we are “those who dwell on the earth” and who rejoice and send gifts to one another to celebrate our liberty from having to hear the words of these men of God. But the rejoicing of our flesh over the man of the spirit is soon turned to sorrow when we witness our resurrection with Christ “in the days of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound”.

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. (Eph 2:6)
Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Here is why we rejoice at the death of God’s elect. Here is how we are sent the “strong delusion” which causes us all to rejoice at the death of the true witnesses of Christ. This is how God sends His wrath upon us while we are “abiding in His wrath”. This is the reason why we never realize that we are deceived until we “look behind” ourselves to see this great revelation:

Psa 78:49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and troubleby sending evil angels among them.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see lifebut the wrath of God abideth on him.

So when we read [with understanding] about all the plagues of God’s wrath which are cast upon the earth in the seals, trumpets and vials, we now know how that is being done. “He casts upon us the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble by sending evil angels among them”.

But those evil angels do not appear to be evil angels:

2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

The symbols of these verses

So here are the symbols of verses 7-14:

1) The two witnesses finishing their testimony,
2) The beast ascending out of the bottomless pit making war against and
3) Killing Christ’s two witnesses,
4) Their dead bodies lying unburied,
5) In the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,
6) Where also our Lord was crucified,
7) The people, kindreds, tongues and nations,
8) See their dead bodies,
9) Three days and an half, and do not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10) Rather they rejoice over the death of Christ’s two witnesses, and send gifts one to another, celebrating the fact that these witnesses of Christ, who had been tormenting them, were at this time as good as dead, having no effect in the streets of the great city wherein also our Lord was crucified.
11) But after three and one half days, God’s witnesses are raised from their state of death,
12) Causing great fear to fall on those who see them.
13) At this point the two witnesses hear a voice from heaven telling them to “Come up here”, and so they
14) “Ascend up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies see that they have done so.
15) It is at this point that there is a great earthquake, and the entire event begins to be repeated again, as
16) A tenth part of the city falls and
17) Seven thousand men are killed in that earthquake, and the remnant are frightened, and give glory to the God of heaven.

Having established that these are words which are for those who are given to understand what we read” (Mat 24:15), and having established that those who read and hear are to keep these words (Rev 1:3), we will now simply list each symbol and the scriptures which define how that symbol is to be understood and kept.

1) The two witnesses finishing their testimony, like all of these symbols and indeed all of God’s Word, is something which is always “near, even at the doors, and does not pass away”.

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

So it is we who first, by believing the doctrines of “many false prophets”…

2) … ascend out of the bottomless pit, within us, to make spiritual warfare with the truths which proceed from the mouths of God’s witnesses.

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

By simply withstanding the testimony of the two witnesses, which we all do while believing and teaching the doctrines of Babylon, we are thereby guilty of:

3) … killing God’s two witnesses. We need not kill any one literally, and the two witnesses are not literally two in number, neither do they need to be literally killed to “keep the things which are written therein”. Here is all that must take place literally for these verses to be spiritually lived out and spiritually kept by us all:

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

4) If we hate the doctrine of the Lord’s witnesses then we have murdered them and their dead bodies lie unburied, because at this time in our lives, the word of God, which commands us to love our enemies (Mat 5:44), and bury our dead (Deu 21:23), and to bless and curse not (Rom 12:14), means nothing at all to us in our self-righteous, rebellious condition. God’s commandments are all ignored in favor of gloating over our physical dominance over the witnesses of God’s Word , while we are in great Babylon. The phrases “their dead bodies shall lie in the street of that great city” and “shall not suffer their bodies to be put in graves”, are both a type and a shadow of rebellion against the commandments of God which requires these things of us. Burying our dead is spiritually the sign and symbol of forgiving our enemies. We use the English phrase to this very day, “Let’s bury the hatchet”, and we simply cannot, at first, do so.

Deu 21:22  And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
Deu 21:23 His body shall not remain all night upon the treebut thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

5) “In the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt” is the city of God within us which has spiritually rebelled against His rulership and His commandments and has become a harlot (Isa 1:21). Both ‘Sodom and Egypt’ typify each of us as we are smarting under the rulership of our first love.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. [Haters of The Truth, 1Jn 3:15, and those who bring us that Truth]

Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew and the son of Abraham’s own brother, typifies our own flesh before we become Abraham. Lot typifies us as we “pitch our tent toward Sodom” and eventually end up sitting in the gate of Sodom, judging Sodom, being grieved with the sins of Sodom, and attempting to save and improve a doomed city, which in the end we, having become Abraham, are forced to “come out of” and stand afar off and watch the smoke of spiritual Sodom arise from the fields of the plains. That is the spiritual significance of calling the city where our Lord was crucified, Sodom.

Gen 13:12  Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

Gen 19:28  And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

Isa 1:8  And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Isa 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our Godye people of Gomorrah.

Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city. [“Spiritually called Sodom and Egypt”, Rev 11:8]

As Israel, God’s first born Son, we cry out to be delivered from Egypt, but just as Lot had come out of the land of the Chaldeans just to “pitch his tent towards Sodom,” so too, as God’s Israel, we must come out of Egypt, just to end up rebelling against God “ten times” and wanting to return to Egypt.

Num 14:3  And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
Num 14:4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

We are the ones described by these phrases: “Let us return to Egypt… and [you] have not listened to my voice… and burned incense to graven images”. That is the spiritual significance of God revealing to us that we are first “spiritually called Sodom and Egypt”. Here once again is what Isaiah said of Jerusalem in his day:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Notice that it does say… “the faithful city”, just as Christ says “They have received… the words you gave me” just before the apostles forsake Him and leave Him to suffer His fate on the cross:

Joh 17:8  For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee,

The point of all scripture is that all men are first unfaithful, before the Lord causes them to be faithful.

We will pause at this point and continue our study of these verses concerning the Lord’s faithful witnesses in our next scheduled meeting.

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Proverbs 1:1-32 Whoso Hears Shall Dwell Safely https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/proverbs-11-32-whoso-hears-shall-dwell-safely/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=proverbs-11-32-whoso-hears-shall-dwell-safely Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:47:52 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31165 Proverbs 1:1-32

“Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil”

[Study Aired October 31, 2024]

A foundational point to consider in this study of the book of proverbs is that Solomon is a type of Christ and David, being the father of Solomon, is a type of our heavenly Father from where “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas 1:16-17, 2Ti 3:16). We know David can represent Christ, but in this instance the wisdom of God is expressed through Solomon who reveals the Father as Christ did. Solomon typifies Christ our wisdom in this instance (1Co 1:18-25) who has come to reveal the Father. The proverbs were written so that we can come to know Christ who is our wisdom and in so doing we can come to know the Father through Christ which is eternal life. Therefore in type and shadow we need to know both Solomon and David but not after the flesh “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more”. (Joh 14:9-10, Mat 11:27, Joh 17:3-4, 2Co 5:16).

1Co 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. [“whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil” (Pro 1:33)]
1Co 1:19  For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
1Co 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1Co 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
1Co 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Joh 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. [“whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil” (Pro 1:33)]
Mat 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 17:4  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

The message of the old covenant proverbs are found throughout the New Covenant and are used in very foundational ways to build spiritual concepts (Mat 16:18  “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”). Here are a few examples to that point:

Pro 3:11   My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

Pro 3:34  Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.

Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

1Pe 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

Pro 10:12  Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

Jas 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

1Pe 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

There are three distinct sections to this first chapter of proverbs. The first section explains the purpose behind having proverbs in the first place, the second talks about the positive spiritual effect these proverbs can have upon us if we heed them, and the third section explains the negative consequence of not holding fast to the wisdom that God gives us through the church, Solomon, being a type of Christ who is the head of the church (Eph 1:22-23), and makes manifest God’s knowledge through the church (Eph 3:10-11).

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

 

The purpose for having Proverbs

Pro 1:1  The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
Pro 1:2  To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
Pro 1:3  To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
Pro 1:4  To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
Pro 1:5  A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Pro 1:6  To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

Solomon is the king of Israel, Israel representing the world, and as stated he is the son of David who, in this instance, is a type of God the father who created our Saviour and King (Col 1:15-19).

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Christ received the wisdom and instruction his Father gave him, perceiving the words of understanding with the spirit of God that was given to him. “All things are delivered unto me of my Father” (Mat 11:27-29). If we are as Christ in this life with His mind (1Jn 4:17), then we likewise should be growing like Christ did (Luk 2:52 , 2Pe 3:18) by “receiv[ing] the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgement, and equity”.

Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

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.

Luk 2:52  And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

It is truly the glory of God to conceal a thing and the honour of kings to search out a matter (Pro 25:2), and if we are granted that hunger and thirst to search for the Lord with all our hearts in this age (Jer 29:13-14), we being the weak of the world (1Co 1:26), we will be “given subtilty” [H6195 prudence, discretion, wisdom], even when we are young in the faith, He will give us knowledge and discretion. As we grow in grace and in knowledge, the Lord will increase within us and we will decrease through this lifelong endeavor of overcoming, and by God’s mercy we will go from glory to glory (2Co 3:18), or faith to faith (Rom 1:17), until the author and finisher of our faith completes that which he has started in us. That is our hope and that is our confidence in this life (Heb 12:2-4 , Php 1:6 , Col 1:27 , 1Jn 3:3).

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

God has called the elect unto this endeavor of being “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels” but it can only be accomplished through Christ (Php 2:12-13) who is our wisdom and the reason we can then “understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings”. It is all to our Father’s glory!

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.

 

The positive fruit that can be born when we heed the proverbs of God

Pro 1:7  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

This opening statement in the first chapter of proverbs can be bookended with this verse in (Ecc 12:13) which states, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man”. These two verses then, make it clear to us that without the fear of the LORD within our hearts we will not have even a starting point to build properly (1Co 3:9-11), nor be able to come anywhere near the perfection of our faith unless the Lord builds our spiritual house (Psa 127:1) that he alone can built within a heart that moves with fear (Luk 12:5 , Heb 11:7 , Heb 5:7).

1Co 3:9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
1Co 3:10  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Pro 1:8  My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

Hear[ing] the instruction of thy father, and not forsak[ing] the law of thy mother”, is how we honour our spiritual father and mother (Eph 6:2-3), and in doing so God’s elect become the first recipients of being blessed to have our life built upon a sure foundation, Jesus Christ, the gates of hell not prevailing against us, so that we might be in that blessed and holy first resurrection where we will be blessed with long life on the earth (Mat 16:18).

Eph 6:2  Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
Eph 6:3  That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

Mat 16:18  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.

Pro 1:9  For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

This idea of keeping the instruction of our father and mother, who represent our Father in heaven and the church, is reiterated in (Pro 3:3-6), and the blessing that springs forth from this obedience, “an ornament of grace”, is that God (“thy head”) will direct all our steps.

Pro 3:3  Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Pro 3:4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Pro 1:10  My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

When we consent to spiritual fornication we are becoming one with a harlot who represents the false churches of Babylon (Pro 5:8)

Pro 5:8  Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house

Pro 1:11  If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

The innocent are all of us in our appointed time as naive Christians who are drawn into the churches who aggressively make proselytes for their folds (Mat 23:14-15, Mat 11:12).

Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Mat 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

Pro 1:12  Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:

Christ tells us that this is where the dead are burying the dead, swallowing the new Christian ‘up alive as the grave’, taking them down into the pit of false doctrines that are multitudinous (Rev 9:2-3).

Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

Pro 1:13  We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Pro 1:14  Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

What is considered one of Babylon’s greatest riches that has become a mantra, is the saying ‘let there be agreement in the essentials and tolerance in the non essential and love in all things’. In other words, Babylon takes Christ’s pure doctrine and “carries into your temples my goodly pleasant things” (Joe 3:5), taking “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 16:17). Babylon will also tell us what is essential and non-essential and it does not agree with the sum of God’s word, but rather with the ecumenical spirit of this world that says “let us all have one purse”.

Pro 1:15  My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:

What we are told to do is “walk not in the way with them”. In other words, flee spiritual fornication and go nowhere near her door (Pro 5:8)

Pro 5:8  Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house

Pro 1:16  For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Pro 1:17  Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
Pro 1:18  And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

Christ tells us the elect are likened unto a dove in (Lev 14:6) and Satan’s objective is to snare us like a bird with his lies in the churches of Babylon, but as we learned, ‘the gates of hell will not prevail against the church’, so in the end that trap is set in vain, just as Cain was told, “sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him” (Gen 4:7). Babylon is divided regardless of the ecumenical spirit that serves to unite the churches of this world against Christ and his Christ (Act 4:27). In the end they are ‘laying wait’ for their own fall in God’s appointed time, and great will be the fall of Babylon (Rev 18:10).

Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Pro 1:19  So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

All of these verses (Pro 1:12-19) reveal what it is that God will deliver his people from who are being led by the spirit of God (Rom 8:14-15). The main root of these actions of evil are “the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof”. Christ, as our example, was tempted in all diverse manner and so we take great comfort in knowing that regardless of what has been written in our books regarding temptations and trials to come, we have a high priest who can and will deliver us from them all (2Co 1:4) no matter what ‘the gates of hell’ throw at us (Heb 4:15).

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

2Co 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Pro 1:20  Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
Pro 1:21  She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

Christ our husband is known in the gates, (Pro 31:23) and is the one who “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets”. Our husband Christ is known in the gates that represents our hearts, out of which springs words that come forth from the church, “in the city [Jerusalem above] she uttereth her words”.

Pro 31:23  Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.

“She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words”, is a statement telling us that the word of God will go forth and bring healing to the nations, each man in his own appointed time, who will come to acknowledge His words are the words of eternal life and that they are manifest through the church (Joh 6:68  , Mat 24:14 , Eph 3:10).

 

The negative consequence of not holding fast to the wisdom of God

Pro 1:22  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

This rhetorical question already has an appointed time in God’s mind when ‘the simple will stop loving simplicity and scorners will no longer delight in their scorning and fools will one day love knowledge’. We all must start off as being simple, and blind, scorners, and fools who hate the knowledge of God, so that when we are blessed to be given eyes to see and ears to hear, there will be a great contrast created in our hearts going from darkness to light (Php 3:7-9 , Luk 16:26 , Pro 24:7).

Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Pro 24:7  Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

Pro 1:23  Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

We surely can’t turn at God’s reproof unless He softens our hearts, but God does have an appointed time in mind when He will visit us, by His spirit that will judge us and soften our hearts through that judgement (Luk 19:44 , 1Pe 2:12).

Luk 19:44  And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

1Pe 2:12  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

The prophesy of a new heart given in (Eze 36:26) is only possible by God’s spirit dwelling within us. It is then that we will be able to obey God as Christ works in us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure (Act 5:32 , Rom 8:9 , Php 2:12-13). By God’s grace we will at long last have the ability to “turn you at my reproof” (Tit 2:11-12) instead of despising God’s goodness that leads us unto repentance, which we will also still do in fleshly moments of weakness (despise his goodness), but grace will much more abound “where sin abounded (when we despise his goodness), grace did much more abound”, to burn that spirit out of us as the Lord sees fit (Rom 2:4 , Rom 5:20). It is through judgement that God can continue to make his words known unto us as the comforter leads us into all truth, sanctifying us through this life (Joh 16:13 , Joh 17:17). This is a life-long process that is happening to those who have been apprehended by Christ in this age, explained this way by the apostle Paul (Php 3:9-14):

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Pro 1:24  Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
Pro 1:25  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
Pro 1:26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
Pro 1:27  When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Pro 1:28  Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

The consequence of not heeding the words of God after he has called us and stretched out his hand to us reminds us of (Heb 6:3-6). God permitting, His chastening grace upon us will motivate and bring us unto maturity and perfection on the third day (Heb 12:6 , Luk 13:32).

Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.
Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening (Php 4:13), God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

We would simply set at nought all of God’s counsel and our hearts would be hardened at His reproof if the Lord was not working within our heavens giving us a humble and contrite heart (Isa 66:2). These words that define our rejection of God (Pro 1:24-28) are an admonition that, Lord willing, we will hear, so that we don’t find ourselves in the terrifying dark place where we call upon the Lord and he does not answer; where we seek him early and we can’t find him. Of course in due time all will find him, but what these verses reveal is the severity and goodness of God who alone determines who it is that will hear, and who it is whose heart will be hardened (Rom 11:20-22).

Rom 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Pro 1:29  For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
Pro 1:30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Pro 1:31  Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Pro 1:32  For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

Again, God does not hide the hard-core facts of what a curse it will be if we do not “choose the fear of the LORD”, or that “They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof”. We eat the fruit of our own way, “our own devices”, when we are those who are found in our own righteousness and not that of the LORD (Php 3:9).

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

We eat “the fruit of their own way”, when we do our many wonderful works independent of acknowledging God’s sovereignty, which will ultimately lead to us being filled with our “own devices” that will lead to death unless God brings us to repentance (Pro 14:12).

Pro 14:12  There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

These following translations render the end result of ‘the fruit of our own way, and our own devices’ and how they will ultimately lead to our old man’s demise, and great will be the fall thereof, killing us spiritually (Mat 7:26-27).

Pro 1:32 For the instability of the simple, it shall kill them(Pro 14:12), And the carelessness of the stupid, it shall destroy them(Pro 14:12). (CLV)
Pro 1:32 For the instability of the simple, it shall kill them(Pro 14:12), And the carelessness of the stupid, it shall destroy them(Pro 14:12). (ERV)

Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Pro 1:33  But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

The last verse of this first chapter of proverbs is the title of the study and represents those who are blessed to read, hear and keep the saying of the prophecies of the entire bible (Rev 1:3). Salvation is a gift of God (Eph 2:8) and the fruit of that gift being given to God’s elect in this age is that we “shall be quiet from fear of evil” (Php 4:7).

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

]]> Ezekiel 35:1-15 – Prophecy Against Mount Seir https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/ezekiel-351-15-prophecy-against-mount-seir/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ezekiel-351-15-prophecy-against-mount-seir Mon, 28 Oct 2024 12:01:56 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31126 Audio Download

 

Ezekiel 35:1-15 – Prophecy Against Mount Seir

[Study Aired October 28, 2024]

 

INTRODUCTION

Today’s study is about what the Lord has spoken regarding the destruction of Mount Seir. To understand this prophecy against Mount Seir, we need to know what Mount Seir represents. In the Bible, Mount Seir is the same as “Seir”. It refers to the mountainous region that the Lord gave to Esau. This is recorded in Deuteronomy 2:22 as follows:

Deu 2:22  As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:

In view of Seir belonging to the descendants of Esau who was the elder brother of Jacob, the Lord forbad the Israelites from invading the Seir region.

Deu 2:2  And the LORD spake unto me, saying,
Deu 2:3  Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
Deu 2:4  And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:
Deu 2:5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

During the time of King Hezekiah, some men from the tribe of Simeon attacked the Amalekites who were living in Seir. After defeating the Amalekites, they dwelt there permanently.

1Ch 4:41  And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and smote their tents, and the habitations that were found there, and destroyed them utterly unto this day, and dwelt in their rooms: because there was pasture there for their flocks.
1Ch 4:42  And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went to mount Seir, having for their captains Pelatiah, and Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.
1Ch 4:43 And they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt there unto this day.

Over time, Edom became a threat to Judah and therefore the Lord allowed Judah to attack the Edomites or Seir.

2Ch 25:11  And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and went to the valley of salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten thousand.
2Ch 25:12 And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces.

In Today’s study about the prophecy against Mount Seir, the Lord is speaking to us about the destruction of Seir or the Edomites. We need to understand that the Edomites represent our flesh as we see that Esau is the elder brother of Jacob, a symbol of the elect. In other words, we are fleshly related to the Edomites and therefore Mount Seir signifies our flesh or old man.

In our walk in the churches of this world, which is symbolized by the Israelites’ forty-year journey through the wilderness, we did not see our flesh as a serious threat to our walk with the Lord and therefore we did not engage our flesh in any fight in accordance with the Lord’s command to the people of Israel, not to meddle with the Edomites. In spite of that, we did win some victories over the flesh as we were able to stop some of the overt sins that we were committing, just as some of the Israelites in King Hezekiah’s time defeated the Amalekites living in Mount Seir and stayed there.

We can see that the Israelites did not confront the Edomites during their journey in the wilderness. It was when they were in the land of Canaan that they started to engage Mount Seir or the Edomites. Being in Canaan therefore represents becoming part of the assembly of the Lord’s elect.

In the fulness of time therefore, when we have left Babylon and are in the assembly of the Lord’s elect or the church of the firstborn, as our eyes are being enlightened and our ears are hearing, we come to see clearly that our enemy or the present danger is our old man or flesh. That is when the Lord comes to judge our old man or flesh with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to destroy it so that we can walk in victory.

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Today’s study focuses on the destruction of Mount Seir as part of the Lord’s promise to His elect to deal with our old man or flesh to grant us the grace to be overcomers. As we can see in Today’s study, the destruction of Mount Seir or the Edomites is through the Lord’s judgement. The study therefore emphasizes the need for our old man or flesh to be judged so that we can learn righteousness. It is through the Lord’s judgement that we come to know Him intimately.

Eze 35:4  I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

As the Lord’s elect, we shall have complete victory over the flesh or the Edomites as we see David, a symbol of the elect, destroy every male in Edom.

1Ki 11:15  For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom;
1Ki 11:16 (For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom: )

In 1 Kings 11:16, we can see that David and the people of Israel stayed for six months in Edom as they put to death every male. The number six is the number of man. The six months therefore show us that it takes a lifetime here on earth (six months) to have complete victory over the flesh.

Mount Seir or Edom Shall Be Judged

Eze 35:1  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 35:2  Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 
Eze 35:3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. 

As indicated in the previous studies, the word of the Lord coming to Ezekiel signifies the Lord coming to His elect with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness. What this means is that the Lord coming to His elect is to judge them for the destruction of their flesh. The coming of the Lord is also to illuminate His words (His brightness) so that we can understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

As we have indicated in the introductory section of this study, Mount Seir refers to the Edomites who were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother. Mount Seir therefore represents our old man or flesh. Here in verse 3, the Lord is showing us that He is against our old man or flesh. The coming of the Lord to us with His words is therefore to show us that our flesh is destined to be destroyed through His judgement. The Lord stretching His hand against Seir to make it most desolate in verse 3 is therefore the Lord coming with His judgement to destroy the beast within us or our old man or flesh.

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

It is through the destruction of our flesh that we learn righteousness.

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

Eze 35:4  I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 

The judgement of the Lord not only destroys our flesh, but also ruins the cities within us. In the Bible, cities represent churches. For example, the city of New Jerusalem represent the assembly of the Lord’s elect. However, Jerusalem which is and is in bondage with her children symbolizes the physical churches of this world or Babylon.

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! 
Rev 18:19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The cities laying waste in verse 4 therefore means that Babylon within us shall be destroyed and “thou shall be desolate” signifies the judgement of our old man or flesh which shall result in his destruction.

Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Eze 35:5  Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end: 
Eze 35:6 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: since thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. 

The Edomites or Mount Seir hated the people of Israel. This enmity started even when Esau and Jacob were in the womb of Rebekah. The people of Israel were therefore perpetual enemies to Mount Seir or the Edomites.

Gen 25:21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Gen 25:22  And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Our flesh, signified by Mount Seir, is always against the formation of Christ within us. This formation of Christ within us is the new man after the image of Christ. The two nations in Genesis 25:23 therefore represent our flesh and the new man within the Lord’s elect. As indicated, our new man shall be stronger and dominates our flesh.

Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Shedding the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in verse 5 means putting the Lord’s elect to death through false doctrines, signified here by the force of the sword. We are therefore guilty of the death of the Lord and of His saints during our time in Babylon. This is because the water (the false doctrines) we were drinking in Babylon makes us hate the Lord’s elect and as Apostle John said, everyone who hates his or her brother or sister is a murderer.

Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

The force of the sword in verse 5 refers to the negative aspect of sword, which are words that are spoken which destroy us. The sword refers to the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary which makes us hate our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.   

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

The period that we are put to death through false doctrines is referred to in verse 4 as the time of the calamity of the Edomites or the time that their iniquity had an end.  This time is the period of our walk in the physical churches of this world or Babylon.

As a result of the enmity of the flesh against our new man, the Lord is saying in verse 6 that He is preparing Mount Seir unto blood or to be pursued by blood. That is to say that the Lord is preparing our flesh to be put to death.

In verse 6, we are also told that since the Edomites or Mount Seir had not hated blood, blood shall surely pursue them. That is another way of saying that if we take the sword, we shall surely perish or die by the sword.

Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Eze 35:7  Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. 
Eze 35:8 And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword. 

The Lord turning mount Seir into a barren wasteland implies that our old man or flesh shall be destroyed through the Lord’s judgement such that he will not resurrect to harm us again. Everyone who comes and goes from mount Seir in verse 7 refers to us who are dominated by the flesh during our time in Babylon. The Lord cutting off those who come and go from mount Seir signifies the destruction of our flesh or old man when He comes to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness.

The mountains, hills and in the valleys all represent places of worship. Here in verse 8, the Lord is telling us that our places of worship are filled with people who are spiritually dead as a result of being slain with the sword which signifies being put to death through false doctrines. As we can see, the rivers in verse 8 represent false doctrines. Therefore, the rivers which are filled with the slain means that the false doctrines we imbibe cause us to become spiritually dead.

Eze 35:9  I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 

Making the Edomites a perpetual desolation means making the destruction of our flesh permanent. The other part of the sentence in verse 9 which states that their cities shall not return, emphasis the permanency of the destruction of our flesh and all his accessories including the assemblies or churches of this world (cities) which end up strengthening our flesh.

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,
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

Eze 35:10 Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there: 

The two nations or countries referred to verse 10 are Judah and Samaria which represent the people of Israel, that is, the Lord’s elect in Babylon. Verse 10 therefore shows us the enmity that the Edomites had against the people of Israel. This verse is portraying to us the flesh’s desire to dominate or possess us as the Lord’s elect and therefore we are always in a struggle against our flesh. However, as the Lord’s elect, we are assured of victory over our flesh.

Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Gen 25:21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Gen 25:22  And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Gen 25:24  And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
Gen 25:25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
Gen 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

In Genesis 25:26, Jacob taking hold of Esau’s heel means that as the Lord’s elect, symbolized by Jacob, we shall overcome or possess our flesh. It is insightful to note that in verse 10, the Lord is telling us that He is there with the people of Israel in spite of the hatred which was driving the Edomites to possess Judah and Samaria. In a similar vein, the Lord has been with us throughout our walk with Him even when we were dominated by our flesh.

Isa 43:1  But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
Isa 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Eze 35:11  Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee. 

The Lord doing according to the anger and the hatred of the Edomites against the Lord’s people is similar to the Lord telling us that He will answer us according to the idols in our hearts. In other words, we reap what we have sown.

Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Eze 14:6  Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

In verse 11, we are also told that the Lord will make Himself known among us as our flesh or old man is being judged. This implies that it is through the Lord’s judgement that we come to know Him as He unveils to us the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Eze 35:12 And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.
Eze 35:13  Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.  

Verse 12 continues to make us aware that it is through the Lord’s judgement that we come to know Him. The blasphemies of the Edomites refers to our old man or flesh thinking Himself as God and occupying the temple of the Lord in our hearts and mind. Our inability to walk in the spirit but succumb to the flesh makes our old man or flesh think that the Lord has given us over to him to dominate us permanently. In other words, our old man thinks that the Lord has laid us waste and therefore we are given to follow His dictates all through our lives. In this sense, our flesh is always boasting against the Lord (verse 13).

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

The Lord hearing the boast of our flesh in verse 13 means that He is doing something about it. At the acceptable year of the Lord, He comes to us with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness to deliver us from our flesh.

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isa 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Eze 35:14  Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. 

Verse 14 is saying that the whole earth would rejoice when the Lord turns mount Seir or the Edomites into a wasteland. This is speaking about the salvation of all men during the lake of fire age when all humanity shall rejoice as they are judged, resulting in the death of their old man.

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

Eze 35:15 As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 

The inheritance of the house of Israel is the reward we shall receive when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. In Revelation chapter 2 and 3, we are given details of this reward. Our reward is also referred to as the crown of righteousness, the crown of life or the crown of glory.

2Ti 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

1Pe 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

This inheritance is dependent on overcoming the flesh or our old man. This means that when we are dominated by the flesh, then our inheritance is desolate. In other words, we have lost our inheritance. In verse 15, we can see that our flesh rejoices when we are under his control or domination. Here the Lord is telling us that He will make our flesh or old man desolate just as at a time in our lives, our inheritance was desolate. Mount Seir and Idumea all refer to our flesh. It is the destruction of our flesh through the Lord’s judgement that we come to know the Lord. In other words, we come to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

We thank the Lord for His wonderful work of salvation in our lives. May His name be praised. Amen!!

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Rev 11:5-6 Part 3 The Power Of The Two Witnesses https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/rev-115-6-part-3-the-power-of-the-two-witnesses/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rev-115-6-part-3-the-power-of-the-two-witnesses Sun, 27 Oct 2024 12:50:32 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31121 Audio Download

 

Rev 11:5-6 Part 3 The Power Of The Two Witnesses

[Study Aired Oct 27, 2024]

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Christ tells us that we are all born spiritually dead and in need of a Savior.

Mat 8:22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Luk 9:60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

After we have acknowledged our spiritually dead condition as the first Adam, of the earth, earthy and corruptible, then we can say with the apostle Paul:

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christnevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Eph 2:1  And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Continuing with the signs of Christ’s coming and the smiting of the earth with all plagues:

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

The “many who are deceived” are the same as the “many who were made sinners”. It is all inclusive, and common to all men.

Rom 5:19  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars… nation will rise against nation, but this is not yet the end of the age, it is instead, just “the beginning of sorrows”. If we believe that all of this is for those sinners out there who are left behind while we are spared these sorrows, and plagues, then God has simply blinded our eyes to the words “ye” and “you” throughout this prophecy, which is given in answer to His disciple’s question, “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?”

Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

How often will God’s elect “smite the earth with all plagues”? Like Christ, His elect seek only the will of His Father. Here is a list of those ‘plagues’ and those sorrows with which “they smite the earth as oft as they will”, and which we should expect, since they are the sorrows which Christ tells His disciples to look for as the sign of His coming and the end of this age:

Mat 24:9  Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Mat 24:10  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations [by the two witnesses]; and then shall the end come.

So the end of this age does not come till after we have been delivered up, afflicted and killed. This ‘death’ is the same as the death of God’s two witnesses. So the end does not come until we have been deceived by many false prophets, we have been overwhelmed by iniquity, and have “left our first love” (Rev 2:4). The end does not come until after we are “hated of all nations for Christ’s name sake”. The profound truth of what we have just read is that the end does not come until we have “endured to the end.”

What else happens before the end of the age comes?

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Rev 1:3  Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecyand keep those things which are written thereinfor the time is at hand.

So “the abomination of desolation” for those who “read and understand”, occurs before the end comes, as does also the “great tribulation”.

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulationsuch as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25  Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Christ’s coming is “as the lightning that comes out of the east and shines even to the west”, “for” or ‘because’ the eagles gather only at the carcase, the dead bodies, which have died to this world, “before the end comes”. For all those who “read and understand”, these are the same “dead bodies” as the dead bodies of the two witnesses of this 11th chapter of Revelation.

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Continuing with His answer to the question, ‘What will be the sign of your coming and the end of this age’, Christ tells us:

Mat 24:29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Joe 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Joe 2:32  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

It is both that period “before… and immediately after the tribulation of those days” that the Sun in our heavens is darkened by the smoke that arises out of our bottomless pit, and the great earthquake such as never was, nor ever will be, comes as the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven which appears to us and shakes us out of our sleep of spiritual death. That is what is required to bring every son to God.

Mat 24:30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

When do all of these things take place? When is the sign of Christ’s coming and of the end of this age? When are those who hurt God’s two witnesses killed by the fire from their mouths? Here is Christ’s own answer to this question.

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

“This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” tells us that “the sign of the Son of Man in heaven” comes and causes all the tribes of the earth to mourn before “this generation passes, and all these things are fulfilled”. That is the doctrine of Jesus Christ, here in Mat 24, in 2Th 2:6-12, in Heb 12:6-7 and here in Revelation six.

Rev 6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Summary

We have seen that the spiritual significance of:

1) fire proceeding out of the mouths of God’s two witnesses is the word of God in their mouths, and

2) that is the fire that kills their enemies, and we have demonstrated that none of this is literal, and that therefore Christ’s two witnesses do not violate His doctrines by killing those who would hurt them with the fire from their mouths. The fact is, that we have seen that it is we who are first killed by that fire.

We also saw that:

3) the power given to the two witnesses to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, is again, nothing more or less than understanding the nourishing words of Christ as the rain which they are, and as they relate to our own experience of first denying Him and His doctrines, during the days of the prophecy of the two witnesses in our own lives. We saw that we, just like Christ’s apostles, we all think we understand His words during the time of His testimony, but in reality the heavens are shut, and we “understand not”. Just like Christ’s apostles, we all first deny and reject Him as our Savior.

Mat 13:49  So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
Mat 13:50  And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:51  Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.

The Truth, of course is that “they understood not” till their conversion after Christ’s resurrection, and after their own spiritual ‘resurrection’.

Mar 9:31  For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
Mar 9:32  But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Luk 9:43  And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples,
Luk 9:44  Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.
Luk 9:45  But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.

We saw that:

4) to turn waters to blood is the spiritual way of telling us that God’s Words, which are the nourishing waters of life, will destroy us when we are denying that they speak of us, and that they will continue to work against us till we acknowledge that it is we who must live by every word. God’s Words are “turned to blood”, and condemn us of the blood of Christ, till we acknowledge that we are that man who denied our Lord while cursing and swearing that we “know Him not”. Just like Joseph’s brothers, we are condemned until we acknowledge that it was we who nailed our Lord to the cross.

We know that we are first ‘the earth’ which is smitten with all these plagues:

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

Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Finally we have seen that:

5) to “smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will” is “the word of the Lord” which is but a continuation of that same work of destroying our old man and any sense of self righteousness that may remain in our ‘earth’. We have seen that we are the earth, and that until we “hear the word of the Lord” concerning our own culpability in every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and our guilt in shedding the blood of Christ, the work of “smiting the earth with all plagues”, will continue in light of this Truth:

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Since we are to “see all of these things”, and we are to know that “it is near, even at the doors”, and “this generation will not pass till all these things be fulfilled”, it becomes obvious that it really is God’s firstfruits who first experience the “one event that is common to all men”, and who must be those who first “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and keep the things written therein, because all things are ours”.

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

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.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

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.

There is but “one event” and there is but one fiery Word of God. However there are two very different resurrections and “the first resurrection… of life” at the Lord’s appearing at the beginning of the thousand year reign, is far superior to the second “resurrection of judgment” over 1,000 years later at the great white throne judgment/ lake of fire/ second death (Rev 20:7-15).

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [Greek, ‘Krisis’, judgment]

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [1,000 years earlier] was cast into the lake of fire.

Next week, Lord willing we will continue our study here in Rev 11. As is always the case, to see these words as words which are compatible with the third verse of chapter one is foolishness to the natural man, but we will see next week that these “things written therein” were as applicable in John’s day as they are today and will be tomorrow. Here are our next verses:

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies [shall lie] in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

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The Book of Amos – Introduction https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-amos-introduction/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-amos-introduction Sat, 26 Oct 2024 04:36:57 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31205 Audio Download

 

The Book of Amos – Introduction – Chapter 1:1

“So mighty an earthquake and so great such as was not since men were upon the earth” – Rev 16:1

[Study Aired October 26th 24]

The term “Minor Prophets” refers to the length of each Prophet’s prophecy and not to the importance of their divinely inspired messages. The spirit-led visions of all twelve prophets are approximately in chronological order, and they all speak to the Elect of God about the profound spiritual plan for the recreation of humanity. This glorifies God by our revelation that we, by his choosing, can perceive things spiritually, a truly enlightening, fearful, yet gloriously received earthquake-like revelation.

Luk 8:10  And he said, Unto you [Christ’s chosen Elect since the Cross] it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others [The masses, the world of Gog and Magog numbered as the sand of the sea] in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets [Before the holy spirit came to inspire interpretation of the same spirit] have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves [The prophets before the Cross], but unto us [those with Christ’s spirit] they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the holy ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels [Every person drawn to seek Christ and most not given to see and hear] desire to look into

The Elect of God, endowed with the spiritual understanding of Christ’s word, gazes in awe at both historical and future aspects of scripture. Inwardly they agonise how close, yet so far, their fellow Prophets of the Old Covenant were in their understanding that God Himself must come—unbeknownst to them—in the form of Jesus, who became the Christ. This divine intervention was necessary to recreate humanity in perfection, as God is perfect. The consistent intractability of the Lord’s own people, Old Israel, serves as a clear reflection of our decreasing struggles, illustrating that humanity is incorrigibly corrupt at every level and incapable of adhering to the Lord’s Commandments. That understanding had no greater impact on anyone more than the Minor Prophets, whose righteous spirit is paralleled by Elihu’s pent-up expression upholding his God-given righteous discharge; he says, “My belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles” – Job 32:19. That is how we see the Minor Prophet’s frustrating desire to understand that something far superior to the flesh’s ability to keep God’s Laws must eventuate for man to be at peace with himself being one with God. Consequently, their blackened understanding was equal to Solomon’s tortured quest in the Son 1:5-6 to understand the Shulamite, and consequently feeling like wine fermenting in new bottles that won’t burst forth understanding, but, if uncorked, would fountain such a volume of questions and hopeful truth, that it would be impossible (as it is) to recork their righteous ‘issue’ (H2231 – seminal discharge. From H2230 – 1. rain-shower, thunderstorm, flood of rain, downpour, rain-storm). The powerful parallel of that uncontainable understanding is what the Shulamite in The Song of Solomon portrayed in spirit. Solomon’s God-inspired design of Christ’s Bride soundly crushed Eve’s curse. She alone is given to ravish him, knowing he will ‘vent’ (Job 32:19) her Husband’s ‘wine’ of understanding that Christ understatedly “desired” to lavish in that day with her, his Wife – She ecstatically knew that she had been given the pearl of great price. She would similarly bring forth his fruitful and righteous’ issue’ in her for her enduring understanding, and that is why her first utterance in the SoS is, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine”! – Son 1:2.

At this point in studying the remaining Books of those Prophets, if you have read any one of the already presented studies of Hosea, Joel, Obadiah, Micah, Zechariah and Malachi, you should have a good understanding of the very same expressed outward destruction of our ‘old man’ for his transition to the New Man in Christ. Each hand-chosen Prophet of God, typically by nature, ministers his unique style of portraying Israel’s inevitable exile with uniquely striking gems of understanding for our spiritual enlightenment, and this is what is hoped to be extracted from our study in Amos. Nonetheless, I somewhat agonise over repetition, and as oxymoronic as it sounds, I shall try not to reiterate verbatim the same verses, yet I find it impossible as obviously the spirit inspired all twelve Prophets in his style, likewise to repeat closely the same message. And already, in repeating the verses above, I am gladly guilty. Why? Through repetition and incrementally, we drive out of our land the spirit of our first father, Satan (John 8:43-45), in transition to the New Man in Christ and order of headship in the Father.

Mat 23:9  And call no man your father upon the earth [for his apparent perfection in truth]: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Mat 23:10  Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

No AOL (Absent Without Leave), a third entity called the holy spirit – just two witnesses in Christ and his Father, and his Bride becoming the third, ironically as ‘one’ – 2Cor 13:1 … ‘In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established’.

Exo 23:29  I will not drive them [The “giants”, our traditional and unwittingly deluded doctrines] out from before thee in one year; lest the land [You and I] become desolate, and the beast of the field [Our family, friends we are leaving behind in Babylonian Christianity gnashing their teeth upon us] multiply against thee.
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them [Their/our false doctrines] out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land [Christ, spiritually within]. 

Amos is a Prophet who, colloquially speaking, ‘calls a spade a spade’ (for non-English familiarity), meaning to expose a matter starkly as is. One such example Mike (Vincent) loves and we equally are entranced for its hiding in plain sight is, “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” – Amos 3:6. But, oh no, our former Babylonian selves would have said, “God allows evil!” ~ unwitting that statement saying God allows evil covertly says that he directly facilitates evil by his perfectly designed deceiving servant, Satan.

Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil [Hebrew: ra]: I the LORD do all these things.

Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Evil Hebrew 7451: Ra`

– Phonetic: rah

– Definition: adj
bad, evil
bad, disagreeable, malignant
bad, unpleasant, evil (giving pain, unhappiness, misery)
evil, displeasing
bad (of its kind – land, water, etc) ].

Amos was a shepherd and sycamore fig farmer from Tekoa, a village about ten miles south of Jerusalem. Hence, he was inspired by the Lord to connect Israel’s waywardness to the rich spiritual significance of fruit and sheep (Amos 8:1-2).

Amo 7:14  Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
Amo 7:15  And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

Amos’ writings, as do all the Lord’s righteous prophets, emphasise his separation from the traditions of men the Israelites erotically preferred (representing ecstatic spiritual understanding) from their neighbouring tribes to juxtapose that God despises idolatry. As a regular layman, a shepherd (Herdsmen were traditionally despised as uncouth and illiterate) and orchardist and, therefore on the social ladder, a relative nobody, Amos, as do all the Prophets, fiercely expresses God’s message without concern for nationalised opinion. As with most other Prophets, he typically concludes his prophecies for greater Israel and the gentile world with immense hope. Yet, for the future Elect of God and they alone by God’s choosing, the realisation of receiving unspeakable honour and glory as Christ’s Bride.

The powerful theme of all eight chapters in The Book of Amos points to a unique and incredibly violent one-of-a-kind end-time “earthquake” that will be inflicted on every man since Adam. While there have been and will be many smaller earthquakes, both physical and spiritual, within the soul of mankind, the major impact from the earthquake of Christ’s return, as massive as it will be, will somewhat diminish over time; nonetheless, those under the rule of the Rod of Iron during the Thousand Year Reign will experience a dreadful foreboding and uncertainty about their future. Of course, Satan’s release from prison towards the end of that rule will embolden mankind to, once again, challenge God for his throne. Upon everyone’s inevitable death for such an enduring and audacious act, they will arise in the Resurrection to Judgement and then be impacted by that earthquake Amos speaks, superseding all earthquakes! Consequently, we will be studying only the first verse of the Book of Amos since it unfathomably introduces the final catalytic earthquake of Revelations 16:18, the ‘daddy’ of all earthquakes.

Significations of Amos Verse One

Amo 1:1  The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

Wow! In that first verse, right out of the proverbial sheep-yard gate, a flood of exciting connecting inspirations flows like sheep inherently and highly amusingly skip through an open gate as if there is something only they see to leap over ~ as does the Bride! Once a large flock of sheep see a chance to get out through an open gate or hole in a fence, even sheepdogs are hard-pressed to stop the ‘flood’. (A very small flock of sheep intriguingly leaping link: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wk9B8RGXDjw)

First things first, with the verse’s relatively unfamiliar name meanings, Amos, H5986 means,

`Amowc

– Phonetic: aw-moce’

– Definition: Amos = burden
a prophet of the Lord who prophesied in the northern kingdom; native of Tekoa in Judah near Bethlehem and a shepherd by trade; author of the prophetic book by his name.

From H6006:   1. to load, carry, carry a load a. (Qal) 1. to load 2. to carry a load b. (Hiphil) to lay a load on.

 

Tekoa H8620 means,

Phonetic: tek-o’-ah

– Definition: Tekoa or Tekoah = a stockade n pr m
a Judaite, son of Ashur and grandson of Hezron n pr loc
a town in the hill country of Judah near Hebron built by King Rehoboam of Judah, birthplace of Amos
a wilderness area where King Jehoshaphat of Judah defeated the people of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir.

The Lord’s inspiration of holy scripture is often minimalistic in the expression of his word to paradoxically hide it from Babylonian enemies of the Cross. And so, he didn’t haphazardly inject a seeming inconsequential remark that Amos’s prophesies happened “two years before the earthquake“. Thus, the expression “the earthquake” evokes a dreadfully significant spiritual event. Outwardly, according to historical and today’s scientific evidence, that earthquake was uncommonly memorable! It is easy to do your own and more extensive research, and the following link has extracted accounts from the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeologyhttps://armstronginstitute.org/319-amoss-earthquake-a-mountain-of-evidence

“Amos is one of the earliest prophets in the Bible to have a book named after him. Any direct evidence of the man himself is elusive (as with most biblical prophets, and understandably so). But as for what has become known as “Amos’s earthquake”? There are, quite literally, piles of evidence that show why such an event lived in infamy—under the name “the earthquake.”

As Dr. Steven Austin writes regarding Tel Gezer’s outer city wall: “[H]ewn stones weighing tons [were] cracked and displaced several inches off their foundation. The lower part of the wall was displaced outward (away from the city), whereas the upper part of the wall fell inward (toward the city) still lying course-on-course. This indicates that the wall collapsed suddenly.”

So great is the amount of evidence spread throughout the Levant, in fact, that scientists have determined that the epicentre was likely in Lebanon and that its strength was probably around a magnitude 8.2 (at very least a 7.8), with a Modified Mercalli intensity in Israel of 9. Dr. Steven Austin continues: “[This event] appears to be the largest yet documented on the Dead Sea Transform fault zone during the last four millennia. The Dead Sea Transform fault likely ruptured along more than 400 kilometres as the ground shook violently for over 90 seconds! The urban panic created by this earthquake would have been legendary.

According to biblical chronology, this quake happened sometime during the first half of the eighth-century b.c.e. Amos 1:1 and Zechariah 14:5 reveal that it took place during the reigns of Jeroboam ii of Israel and Uzziah of Judah—two kings whose reigns overlapped for a narrow 14-year window (Jeroboam the earlier king, and Uzziah the latter; 2 Kings 15:1). Furthermore, the historian Josephus writes that the earthquake happened at the time that Uzziah became a leper, further constricting the time frame to the very end of that 14-year period (2 Chronicles 26). Thus, depending on the chronology, the earthquake must have occurred during the 770s or 760s b.c.e., at the end of Jeroboam’s reign.

Besides the first verse of Amos (and several other references throughout his book relating to earthquake-like destruction), the Prophet Zechariah mentions the event in Zechariah 14:5: “Yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake In the days of Uzziah, king of Judah ….”

The fact that Zechariah was a second temple prophet, writing some 250 years after the event, speaks to the magnitude and infamy to which it was held. Here [in the article, and for your further reading], he compares the earthquake to a prophesied end-time event prior to the coming of the Messiah.” [End of extract from Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology]

Richter Earthquake Magnitude

0.2 Not felt by people. Small.

2-3 Felt a little by people.

3-4 Ceiling lights swing.

4-5 Walls crack. Moderate.

5-6 Furniture moves.

6-7 Some buildings collapse. Major.

7-8 Many buildings were destroyed.

8 + A total destruction of buildings, bridges and roads. Very Severe. Every 100 years.

9 Very Severe. Every 300 years.

10 Super. Rarely. Every 1,000 years.

Each increase of one unit also represents the release of about 31 times more energy than that represented by the previous whole number on the scale. (That is, an earthquake measuring 5.0 releases 31 times more energy than an earthquake measuring 4.0.) In theory, the Richter scale has no upper limit, but in practice, no earthquake has ever been registered on the scale above magnitude 8.6. (That was the Richter magnitude for the Chile earthquake of 1960. The moment magnitude for this event was measured at 9.5.).

Increasingly, particularly in Old Covenant times, tribes and the known world fanatically guarded their idols with spooky devotion of appeasement just in case ill winds blew misfortune upon them for upsetting the gods (1Cor 8:5-6. Acts 19. Acts 17:23-31). Typically, the earthquake Amos speaks of must have generated tremendous fear in Israel for her growing number of ‘many gods’ wrath. “The earthquake” is indicative first of the end of Israel’s physical domination of the legendary Promised Land and secondarily yet primarily, most fiercely soon, hopefully in this age, upon Jews who say that they are Jews and are not inclusive of the entire world representingThe Great Whore’ of Revelations. That spiritual earthquake is a ‘one event to all mankind’ in his own time and order of calling that violently shakes them out of their beastly self-righteousness of presenting themselves as ‘god’.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our [the Bride alone!] gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2  [Paradoxically – ] That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

It is the Lord’s own people chosen to go ahead of the world who are first shaken by that spiritual “so mighty an earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth” (Rev 16:18). It is we, just like ancient Judah, the Priests of God, who have done a greater evil in the world by not diligently keeping all our Lord’s Commandments. Therefore, because we act no differently than the nations around us, we, too, must suffer His wrath and be judged as the heathen are judged.

The outward coming of Christ will be a massive ‘earthquake’ to a Christless world that will be superseded by the “earthquake” of Amos 1:1, representing a far greater spiritual earthquake in the Lake of Fire. Its shockwave will reverberate around the world until all people acknowledge their sins and that the Father is the God of gods in order of Christ and ‘his Christs‘ preceding humanity (Joh 10:34-3-36), becoming like and as numerous as the stars of heaven. It will be an earthquake that will split the spiritually deluded ‘rocks’ within every man since Adam.

The greatest thermonuclear device ever detonated was the Tsar Bomb from Russia, which detonated in 1961 on Severny Island in the Arctic Circle. Its shock wave, registered on the Richter scale as 5-5.25, travelled three times around the world, with each wave overlapping in reverse upon each circumnavigation. Compare Amos’s and all of those earthquake shock registrations with the earthquake-like revelation of the Elects and, following, the world’s understanding in Rev 16:18.

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air [our spiritual understanding!]; and there came a great voice out of the Temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 
Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

(A refreshing of the first verse in Amo 1:1)

The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

Hence, the phenomenally profound and hidden implications of Amos’s prophesy are indeed a “burden” (H5986) to his ‘natural’ understanding of ‘the earthquake’, first by condemning the world represented as Israel’s neighbours, who, with their similarity of idol worship, ironically, Israel, is directly aligned. Typically, the world doesn’t have any interest in a prophecy coming from that most vexatious nation, Old Israel (Rev 11:10), particularly from a despised herdsman among his fellow ‘herdsmen’, the other Minor Prophets. That dismissive mindset of Israel reminds us of the forty-two children (symbolising our former immaturity) mocking the Prophet Elisha of his commission to go up and prophase to Bethel and dying a terrifying death by two she bears (2Ki 2) for dishonouring the symbolic Elect of God’s witness.

The world, represented by Egypt, Sodom and Old Jerusalem, all symbolised as the coming exile to Babylon, is the “stockade”H8620 sheep pen; ‘voice of an instrument’, (in this case, the voice of Amos), and is another ‘sheep pen’ of Israel, meaning gentiles and Gentile Christians outside the ‘Camp’ of the primary sheep pen represented physically as Israel. Since the Cross, Old Israel and Babylonian Christianity are one and the same, unwittingly endowed with the Lord’s indictment of being Jews who say that they are Jews and are not, still rejecting Christ and irritating the world by her self-righteous supremacy more outrageously to this very day! For the spiritual Elect of God, that is a beautiful earthquake of understanding of their former selves and draws vindictive hatred from family, friends and, in coming years, no doubt more intensely from the world for claiming to be Christ’s Christs.

Joh 15:18  If the world [Christians, and outward Jews who unwittingly say that they are spiritual Jews, and are not] hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 

There are two primary ‘sheep pens’: two women who represent churches: Old Jerusalem, which still answers to Mt. Sinai, and the New Heavenly Jerusalem, above. Of course, there are many ‘sheep’ in different sheep pens of all ethnicities and spiritually different languages, all controlled by the god of this world.

Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

As much as the Jews who say that they are spiritual Jews and are not but hate Christ, our Lord is in the process of bringing them and all into salvation; hence, he says that he has sheep who “are not of this fold”, meaning not in the sheep pen of the Elect of God.

Joh 10:15  As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Joh 10:16  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd
Joh 10:17  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh 10:18  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Joh 10:19  There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
Joh 10:20  And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
Joh 10:21  Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

Next in line for the coming earthquake-like fear is Judah, represented by righteous King Uzziah acting as Israel’s imaginary strength in Jehovah (H5818 – Uzziah = my strength is Jehovah) and spiritually on behalf of the Lord’s Elect today. They, the much later spirit-led Priests of God, his very Elect, finally understand the meaning of Rev 16:18, the most alarming earthquake the world, beginning with them, the few will ever experience (preceding the majority in the Lake of Fire), and never again!

Gideon’s vastly reduced army from 30,000 men chosen to fight a 132,000-strong Midianite army; Gideon stripped down to 10,000, and the Lord still further to 300 men, representing a mere one per cent for the Lord’s very Elect who fought and are today still fighting the greatest spiritual battle the world will ever historically see! (Jdg 6:11-15. 7:1-8).

The number 3, or 300 in Gideon’s army, represents the process of spiritual progression for the completion of judgment upon our old man.

Isa 40:26  Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names (written in the Lamb’s book of life) by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

These 144,000 are “redeemed from the earth” and are “the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb”. These are what Paul calls “those who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12) and have been “blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavens” (Eph 1:3).

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 

Notice that the very Elect,  chosen to be the Bride, can be numbered (figuratively, as if God can’t number). The greater number leaving behind the ‘few’ are represented by those men in Gideon’s army, the 99% that the Lord said to send home from the coming fight with Midian. These returning home are characterised as Babylonian Christianity, Gog and Magog, the world, and, sadly, some of the Elect of God, the yielding sons of perdition not given to endure to the end their fiery chastisements. The remaining 1% are the very Elect of God, his Bride gloriously receiving His kisses better than wine.

Joh 17:12  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Furthermore, the “two years” in Amos 1:1 represent the two witnesses, the ‘one per cent’, and the 300 men combining the Bride of Christ, who, at her Lord’s hand, precedes the thunderous orchestration of “the earthquake.” Jeroboam (H3379) means the people will contend, and that is precisely what Babylon has been unconsciously doing against the Lord’s symbolic Elect since Israel went into exile and to his very Elect since the cross.

Summary

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19  And the great city [Old Jerusalem within, Babylon the Great, the Great Whore, the Beast sitting on the throne of God stating that he IS god] was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 
Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found [every lying doctrine was ground to powder].
Rev 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

Hail washes away the refuge of lies.

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

When the Lord said that he’d do a ‘quick work upon the earth’, relatively speaking, he has, beginning with his very Elect. That massive “earthquake” Amos speaks of points to the greater earthquake that no man has experienced or will ever experience again in Rev 16:18.

That “Earthquake” of Rev 16:18 is the Lord giving his Elect eyes that see and ears that hear his word and being given Christ’s faith and belief that utterly turns on its head every one of the 200,000,000 doctrinal lies of Babylon! Figuratively twice as big as the Tzar thermonuclear bomb, it is Amos’ primary theme that our subsequent studies will introduce Christ’s reverberating shock waves back and forth across our spiritual world every time we receive a gold nugget of truth!

Locusts spiritually signify the lies and false doctrines of Babylon in our heavens (mind), that for a time completely cover the earth and blot out all the true light (Exo 10:15). Below is a partial description from Revelation 9 that links these locusts to the father of all lies as Isaiah 9:15 (the false prophet being the tail) confirms. Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

Rev 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them
Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Rev 9:11  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

By their very name, grasshoppers are linked to the earth and the flesh (Isa 40:6 – all flesh is grass) and speak to the secret or hidden sins that arise with our continued unbelief. Our failure to overcome these sins leads us to doubt the Word and lean on our understanding above Christ’s. The word for ‘grasshopper’ in Amos 7:1 is “gob” which is Strong’s number H1462, which is found in only one other verse. “Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great [H1462 grasshoppers H1462], which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun [Christ and his Christs] ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are” – Nah 3:17.

Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers [H2284 – locust, grasshopper], and so we were in their sight. 

For the Lord’s Elect who are not given to endure to the end of their chastisements, understanding the “Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven” is that massive and reverberating “Earthquake” that Amos and Rev 16:18 speak, there remains an even greater earthquake, yet, is the same earthquake now fully believed and understood, one of not being clothed in a wedding garment at Christ’s wedding reception.

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen. 

For those yet to fully understand the ‘earthquake’ of Amos and Rev 16:18, the following is a link detailing the primary magnitude Richter scale’s ten spiritual daddy of all ‘earthquakes’, titled “ESSENTIAL READING”; that term understates the sheer magnitude of “the earthquake” for those able to receive it:

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/essential-reading/

We thank God for first giving us to learn to tremble and shake most gloriously for his “Earthquake” of understanding, being made perfect as Christ is perfect through fiery trials.

Herein, this first verse of Amos 1 is the foundation for the remaining nine chapters of ‘earthquake’-like understanding alone, for the Elect of God.

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Rev 11:5-6, Part 2 – The Power Of The Two Witnesses https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/rev-115-6-part-2-the-power-of-the-two-witnesses/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rev-115-6-part-2-the-power-of-the-two-witnesses Fri, 25 Oct 2024 16:21:46 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31110 Audio Download

Rev 11:5-6, Part 2 The Power Of The Two Witnesses

[Study Aired Oct 25, 2024]

 

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

It is good to remind ourselves that we are the earth before we are caught up to the throne of God in heaven.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

We need to remember that “all things” means the good and the evil, all the seals, all the trumpets, and all the vials, are ours to read, hear, and keep:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

If we are to read, hear and keep the things written in this book then we need to remember that we are all the natural man before we are given the mind of Christ:

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

As “the Lord from heaven” you and I are “the savor of death” to all who are in Babylon, for the entire time of our “a thousand two hundred and threescore days” testimony.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2Co 2:15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
2Co 2:16  To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

“The savor of His knowledge”, how Jesus Christ tastes and smells, is made manifest by His elect. We must remember Christ’s own definition of who ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ is.

Mat 25:40  And the King [Christ] shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Like John here in the book of Revelation, Saul of Tarsus is also a type of us before we become “the savor of His knowledge”. We are all first “the children of disobedience”, and we all first “persecute Jesus of Nazareth”. Only after we acknowledge this truth can we become “Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ”, who is persecuted by later spiritual ‘Sauls’.

So, from a Biblical perspective and indeed from Christ’s own perspective, if He has taken up His abode in us, we are “Jesus of Nazareth”, and as such we are His “two witnesses” with all the power we read of here. We are also the target of all the persecution “in the streets of that great city wherein our Lord was crucified”. How do we “bare record of the word of God”? How do we “bear record of the testimony of Jesus Christ”? We do so by “reading, hearing, and keeping the things written therein, because the time is at hand” to do so. (Rev 1:3)

Here is this same event of “killing them with fire from their mouths” in other “lines, and precepts, here a little and there a little:”

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [“the rain from heaven… the sign of Christ’s coming and the end of this age”] that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek, withholdeth {the rain}, same Greek word translated as “withholdeth” in preceding verse] will let [ withhold], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked [who withholds] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God [Through the words in the mouths of the two witnesses] shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [be killed]
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Christ killed those who would harm Him in Mat 13:10-15 by simply informing the disciples that the multitudes were not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Mat 13:1015). These were the same multitudes who cried, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” It was “those Jews that believed on Him”:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

It is our old man who must first be deceived and die, before he can possess the words of fire which are the words of life, and have those words of fire in His mouth.

3) The two witnesses have the power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy

Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

We have seen in our study of Revelation chapter four that the phrase “a door was opened in heaven” is the symbol of exponential growth in the knowledge and understanding of the things of the spirit. Conversely “the power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy”, means that those who witness for Christ will not at first understand the witness they are given. Christ’s own disciples signify this time of our lives. They were with Him 3 ½ years and the heavens were shut and it rained not during the time of Christ’s prophecy. The same was true of “those Jews which believed on Him” and yet “sought to kill [Him]”.

Christ had the power to speak life-giving words and yet kept it from raining in the days of His prophecy by blinding the eyes of those to whom He was speaking, and taking away their ability to hear His Words. It wasn’t so much that they would not hear as much as they were not given to hear His life-giving Words which are called ‘rain’ here in Revelation 11:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. [No rain in the 1260 days of Christ’s prophecy]
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. [No rain in the days of His prophecy]
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

No one who comes to the scriptures reads them and immediately understands what they are reading. It varies from person to person, but we all spend a spiritually symbolic three and one half years, trying the spirits and sometimes actually trying to disprove what we are coming to see.

The clearest example of this verse is the fact that Christ witnessed to his own disciples for three and one half years, including telling them that He Himself would be “hurt”, and they did not understand. They were with Him “a thousand two hundred and three score days”, and “they understood not… in the days of His prophecy”.

Mar 9:31  For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
Mar 9:32  But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Christ’s disciples could not believe that their fellow Jews would kill their Lord, much less understand that it would be they themselves who would deny Him, just as it is hard for us to see that it is you and I who see Christ as our King and yet, at first, we still want Him and His doctrine dead.

Joh 12:16  These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

Once again, these words are for us, and it is we who live both sides of this spiritual coin and experience both edges of this spiritual “two edged sword”.

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

We are first “those Jews which believed on Him”, and this is also us in our own appointed time, when we deny our Lord, cursing and swearing and blaspheming His name before the heathen. This is who we all once were while believing the lies of that great city wherein our Lord was crucified:

Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

It is we who are first the children of disobedience and “of our father the devil”. It is we who at first “cannot understand Christ’s words” (Joh 12:16), and who want to kill him and His words. It is the knowing and revealing of this truth which is meant by:

4) … The two witnesses turning waters to blood

What are ‘waters’ in scriptural and spiritual terms? As we have seen over and over again, a two-edged sword cuts both coming and going, and the words of scripture have both a positive and a negative application within us, depending on whether they are speaking of the destruction of our old man or the increase of the new man. In spiritual reality, both are positive, because both are essential to the fulfilling of the Lord’s plan in our lives, but it is still a “sharp twoedged sword” which will “divide asunder the soul and the spirit”. It is still “bitter in the belly” and this Truth “kills” our old man.

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.

In scriptural and spiritual terms, ‘waters’ means (on the negative side of this two-edged sword) the waters of peoples and the doctrines of those peoples, on which the great harlot, Babylon, sits and rules over those people. Those words and doctrines of the peoples of Babylon lead only to death.

Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwoodand many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter [in our belly, Rev 10:10].

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

The positive application of the word ‘waters’ in scripture is the words and doctrines of Christ and those words in the mouths of those who are His Christ, which words are words and doctrines of life.

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

The turning of ‘wells of waters into blood’ is the revelation that we all first turn the truths of Christ’s words into lies as we reject His Truths and twist those words into lies which we use to cover the idols of our hearts (Eze 1:1-7). It is the very same thing as hurting and killing Christ and His elect, by abusing and twisting His words of life into the false doctrines of Babylon, which produce death. “The dream is one”, and those who twist Christ’s command to love thine enemies into ‘Love only your personal enemies, but not your national or your criminal enemies’, are condemned by Christ’s doctrines. Turning waters into blood by our misunderstanding and our disobedience to God’s words is what we all do before we are transformed into those who know Christ’s words, and who then turn waters into blood in a positive way, by “mortifying the deeds of the flesh” and remaining faithful to the Lord’s words in the face of the pressures of the harlot who tries to force us to conform to this world, by the threat of spiritual death and by the rejection of the “many called” of the multitudes and majorities of Babylon.

The very first people who do this, and who drink of Christ’s blood and deny Him, are Christ’s own apostles who deny Him. It is His own elect, to whom belong “all things, things present and things to come” and who “live by every word… of God” and who “keep these things written in this prophecy”. (1Co 3:21-22, Rev 1:3, Mat 4:4)

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. [within you, Luk 17:20-21]

Drinking Christ’s blood is acknowledging that it is we who have shed His blood, and that He has died, and shed that blood for our sins. It is we who first deny Him:

Mar 14:27  And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
Mar 14:28  But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.
Mar 14:29  But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
Mar 14:30  And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mar 14:31  But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

Refusing to acknowledge this is to “turn the waters [of God’s] word into blood”, and to “hurt” and to “kill” God’s two witnesses. It is we who all do “all things” because “all things, things present and things to come, are ours”, both the words of life, and the words of death.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

5) The two witnesses are given power to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

When Christ’s apostles later asked the same question concerning the time of the coming of the kingdom of God which the Pharisees had demanded of Christ in Luk 17, His answer to His disciples was the prophecy of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. Here again in Mat 24, we will see the fire proceeding out of the mouths of God’s witnesses to destroy our old man before we are resurrected with Christ, to have that fire in our mouths. The fire that proceeds out of the mouths of the two witnesses, and the smiting of the earth with all plagues as often as they will, are again one and the same because “the dream is one”.

It is also here in the 24th chapter of Matthew that we learn that all of this, including “smiting the earth with all plagues”, is within and is read, heard and kept in “this generation” which “reads, hears and keeps the words of this prophecy”. Let’s see how this is done.

Mat 24:3  And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

The word ‘world’ here is translated from the Greek word ‘aion’. Christ’s disciples are simply repeating the same question the Jews had earlier asked about “when the kingdom of God should come” and now they add, “and what should be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” It is here in one of the most famous prophecies of scripture that Christ reveals that “all these things shall be fulfilled… in this generation,” whenever “this generation” is “reading, hearing and keeping the things written therein”. (Mat 24:15 and 34 and Rev 1:3)

The first thing Christ gives us as a sign of His coming is that many would come in His name, and in doing so they will be in the process of deceiving many. It is these very words of fire, pointing out that the multitudes are deceived, which proceeds out of the mouth of Christ and His witnesses, which destroy all who fail to acknowledge that we are all, in our turn, “smitten with the plagues” which are our part in living out this deception.

Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

“Take heed that no man deceive you” is like saying, “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is in the middle of the garden, you shall not eat of it.”

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Both Mat 24:4 and Gen 2:17 are “words of fire” coming out of the mouth of God’s two witnesses. Just as all who deny they are blind will remain blind,…

Joh 9:40  And [some] of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

 … so also will all who deny that they have been as deceived as walking dead men and must be killed by these fiery words out of the mouths of God’s two witnesses. “Take heed that no man deceive you” is nothing less than a prophecy that you and I will be deceived, just as ‘do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ is a prophecy that God knew Adam would fulfill and He had already prepared the sacrifice of that sin.

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;

So much for the false doctrine of ‘free will’. It is not possible to have a sin offering in place “before the world began” without knowing in advance that Adam would disobey the Lord’s commandment to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God has always been on plan A. He really is in the process of “working all things after the counsel of HIS OWN will”, which includes giving His kingdom to His Son who in turn shares that kingdom with His elect body:

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.

The “we” of verse 12 is those who were “called in Christ before the world began”. It is the two olive trees and the two candlesticks who faithfully witness to The Truths of the Word of God, all the while “despising the shame [of] being hated of all men”:

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

We will pause our study at this point and pick it up in our next study of the power given to us as the two witness discussed in these two verses:

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

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Exiles in the Bible: Christ’s Own Example https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/exiles-in-the-bible-christs-own-example/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=exiles-in-the-bible-christs-own-example Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:38:52 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31093 Audio Download

 

Exiles in the Bible: Christ’s Own Example

[Study Aired October 24, 2024]

7: Christ’s own examples of preaching to the captives, setting us free with God’s word that heals us and brings liberty.

When God’s judgements are in the earth men will learn righteousness (Isa 26:9), and yet it is only the church, the body of Christ who are being judged in this life (1Pe 4:17) and learning of Christ’s righteousness within, through spiritual baptisms, called fiery trials that purify the faith that comes to us by hearing the word of the Lord (1Pe 3:21, 1Pe 4:12-14, 1Pe 1:7, Rom 10:16-21). The world has trials, and God is working all of those trials according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11, Isa 45:7). The difference between the judgement that God has upon the world and the judgement that He has upon the body of Christ can be understood by looking at these verses (Eph 1:11, Rom 8:28, Rom 9:18-23, 2Cor 4:15, Rev 11:1-3):

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:

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Rev 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
Rev 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Without the spirit of God within us (Rom 8), our trials will not and cannot produce the spiritual growth that comes with being received of our Father through his chastening grace (Heb 12:6). During the thousand year reign there will be trials for the world, but without the presence of the holy spirit within anyone’s life, the gold of God’s word cannot be purified. The elect will water and plant seed throughout that period of time, however, no spiritual increase will come from God (Rev 20:8), and that being for the express purpose of showing that it is only God who can give that increase that comes via the spirit of God within (1Co 3:6, Col 1:27), and it is not something that we can do, and when we try without God’s spirit abiding within us, it ends up being our own labours, our own righteousnesses which are as filthy rags unto God (Isa 64:6, Matt 7:22).

1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

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?

Christ had to be in the earth going through a life-long process of judgement that brought him unto perfection on the third day (Luk 13:32), and God’s elect must be in the earth learning righteousness through judgement, in order for the world to one day learn of his judgements as well, through the church (1Jn 4:17, Mat 24:37-42). These following verses come to mind:

Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

The eight souls who entered into Noah’s ark typify the body of Christ who are shown mercy and who gladly receive the word of God, symbolized by baptism, which gives us power to put off the flesh (Act 2:40-41, 1Pe 3:20, Luk 17:28).

Act 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Act 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Luk 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

The ark, which represents the church that is Christ’s body, had to be built; and Noah represents Christ who also was ‘heard in that he feared God’ (Heb 5:7). Christ’s temple was being built as he “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luk 2:52), being prepared as the head of the body to be the burnt offering that God’s elect would partake of in their appointed time (Joh 6:44, 1Cor 10:16). Christ going without the camp is another example of actions that typify His exile from the sinful flesh that he was born into (Psa 51:5), and by the power of God’s holy spirit within us, we can go without the camp with Christ and follow his example (Heb 13:13).

Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Heb 13:13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

The deliverance from this body of death can only come about by its destruction, as we are baptized into Christ’s death, dying daily (Rom 6:3), which is another way of saying putting off the flesh or circumcision, which is connected to the eighth day and is the typical reason that eight souls were saved on the ark (the eighth day representing the new man)(Lev 12:3, 1Pet 3:20). Through that process of judgement, we are raised in heavenly places typified by the ark, a symbol of the church, the body of Christ that was raised above the waters (Eph 1:20, Eph 2:6, Col 1:24). The process of judgement is typified by these numbers that correlate with God’s judgement on the church (Gen 7:19-21 – “fifteen cubits”).

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God (Rom 2:4) waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing (Rev 19:7-8), wherein few (Matt 22:14), that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Gen 7:19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
Gen 7:20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
Gen 7:21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:

Two major examples of baptism in the bible are the flood in Noah’s time and the crossing of the Red Sea where the armies of Pharaoh and his horsemen were destroyed (Exo 15:19). Christ is the one who worked in Noah’s life (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11) preaching to the captives and it was only those who were given to heed those words of Noah’s preaching who would escape the flood (1Pe 3:18-19); and it is only those who hear the words of our Lord today who will escape the second death, by being baptised into Christ’s death today (1Jn 4:6, Mat 18:17, Rev 20:14).

1Jn 4:6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Mat 18:17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [Those who are spiritually dead and still burying their dead (Luk 9:60).]

In (1Pe 4:18-19) and (Mat 22:14), we are told in both of these stories, one about the flood, and the other regarding the crossing of the Red Sea, that it will only be by God’s great and mighty hand that any of us will be scarcely saved (1Pe 4:18). The idea of coming out of exile is clear with Israel coming out of Egypt by God’s mighty hand, but it is no less a demonstration of God’s mighty power to give Noah a heart that reverenced God as “he moved with fear to the saving of his house”, by preparing the ark (typifying the bride being made ready), typifying how God’s elect come out of exile (Heb 11:7, Rev 19:7). Moses also typifies for us how God’s power works within the elect of God bringing us to have “a respect for the recompence of the reward” (Heb 11:25).

Heb 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

With these scriptures as our backdrop, with this last installation on the subject of exiles in the bible, we’ll consider the most preeminent of all examples of what it means to go into exile and come out of it, that being the life of Christ who has in type and shadow gone into a type of exile by divesting himself of his power that he previously had before becoming flesh (Php 2:7-8, Col 2:15-23, Gal 6:1-18, Gal 4:1-31).

Christ is the only one who can give us the power to overcome the man of perdition on the throne of our hearts (Joh 15:5), and our Father in heaven is the only one who could deliver Christ from the fleshly exile that he was born into, called “flesh” (Joh 5:30). Knowing those truths makes this statement that much clearer in our heavens (Rom 14:4):

Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

These following verses remind us of how “Christ’s own examples of preaching to the captives, setting us free with God’s word that heals us and brings liberty” will be accomplished in the lives of all those who are called and chosen and remain faithful unto death, in this life (Rev 2:10). Christ is our example of what we should be reflecting in our lives as we come out of exile from Babylon, and these following verses (Php 2:7-8, Col 2:15-19, Gal 6:1-10, Gal 4:14-26) give us a clear understanding of what Christ is working in the body of Christ to accomplish this miracle.

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 [faithful to the dying daily process we’ve been called unto 1Co 15:31].

Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross [Heb 5:8].

Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Col 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Col 2:19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God [1Cor 3:6].

What God’s elect are doing to come out of exile:

Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Gal 6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Gal 6:4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
Gal 6:5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
Gal 6:6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

The sticking point that can potentially keep us in exile:

Gal 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; [exile] but he of the freewoman was by promise. [liberation]
Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. [exile]
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. [liberation]

The fruit of coming out of exile and the exercise of faith involved:

Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

2Th 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

Finally, the last point that I want to examine is a very clear and concise way of explaining how each of us are going to come out of exile by the grace and faith of God day by day (Eph 2:8), explained in the answer that Christ gave his disciples who asked him how we ought to pray to our Father. The answer to this question is effectively saying what we need to do to come out of exile, rather what Christ will do through the bride of Christ who are being saved in this age (Mat 6:5-21). Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1Th 5:16-18):

Mat 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. [No coming out of exile just worldly praise and acceptance in the flesh, the world hearing the world, bound to the earth and not to the altar (1Jn 4:5, talent buried in the earth Matt 25:18).]
Mat 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly [Col 3:3].
Mat 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Mat 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. [First and foremost acknowledge God is the sovereign Creator doing all things according to His one will (Ecc 1:11-12, Php 2:12-13).]
Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread. [We pray for his will to be done in our heavens and earth via Christ the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2).]
Mat 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. [We acknowledge our marred in the Potter’s hand condition and ask forgiveness acknowledging that the sin within us is also a work of the Lord for our good and that He will deliver us through Christ (Rom 7:24).]
Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. [We ask God to deliver us from exile, from the sin that can so easily beset us and keep us in bondage (Joh 8:36).]
Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: [Our deliverance from exile is conditioned upon God softening our hearts so that we don’t despise His goodness that leads us unto repentance, and with that changed heart we can as Christ did say forgive them Father for they know not what they are doing (Luk 23:34).]
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. [If the son of God does not set us free by giving us a forgiving heart we will not be able by God’s design to carry our cross and be bound to the altar. The altar is the cross (Matt 5:23).]
Mat 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. [Fasting and prayer are integral to loosening the bands of iniquity that keep us in exile (Matt 17:21).]
Mat 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. [This verse is reflected in the words of Micah, and demonstrates the need to humble ourselves under His mighty hand so that in due time He will exalt us, delivering us from exile (Mic 6:8, 1Pe 5:6).]
Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: [One sure way to pierce ourselves through with many hurtful lust is to make seeking the wealth and riches of this world our priority rather than losing our life for his name’s sake as we seek the kingdom of God first and his righteousness in order to be delivered from spiritual exile (1Ti 6:8-10, Matt 6:33).]
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Luk 2:35).

Luk 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. [Here we have the positive piercing of our hearts as opposed to being pierced through because of many hurtful lusts (1Ti 6:8-10).]

In the final analysis, our coming out of exile is dependent upon the Lord, the fit man, fulfilling God’s will in our lives “in earth, as it is in heaven” (Lev 16:21), and these verses we’ve looked at (Matt 6:4-21) admonish and remind us that our journey is one that is promised to be filled with affliction, persecution, tribulation, and suffering, but there will be joy in the morning when this very endurable process through Christ is being carried out (Rom 8:18, 1Cor 10:13) and our exile will in time come to a completion as it did in Christ’s own life. Along the way God will use the many body parts to supply what is needed in love, to bring us forward, together, unto that glorious day when we will be changed in a moment and in a twinkling of an eye (1Cor 15:52). Lord hasten the day and prepare our hearts. Amen.

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 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

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