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Isa 32:9-20 Tremble, You Women Who Are At Ease

Isa 32:9  Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
Isa 32:10  Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
Isa 32:11  Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
Isa 32:12  They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
Isa 32:13  Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
Isa 32:14  Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
Isa 32:15  Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
Isa 32:16  Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
Isa 32:17  And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
Isa 32:18  And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
Isa 32:19  When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.
Isa 32:20  Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

The "Women at ease [and the] careless daughters" of these verses are the same harlot daughters of the great whore out of whom we all come:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

What this means is that we are these "careless daughters", who in our own time think we sit as Christ's queen and will see no sorrow:

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

You and I might think Revelation 18:7 would give pause and concern to every prosperity evangelism minister in the world, but the exact opposite is true. This is how we all feel just before Christ comes into our life and begins to judge and to destroy the kingdom of our old man in this age. So we are admonished:

Isa 32:9  Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Isa 32:10  Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.

This is where we all have our origins, hearing all the smooth things negating judgment and at the same time putting huge burdens on any who dare to differ with the doctrine of this great whore.

Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

The doctrines of eternal torment and tithing come to mind as grievous burdens which are laid on the shoulders of millions by men who do nothing for those upon whom they place these burdens. You and I have done this in our own time, and in our own way. A person can tithe to a church for decades, yet when that person is in need those same men who are exacting that tithe are no where to be found. 'Social Security takes care of the fatherless and the widows these days', was what we told the poor stuggling tithe payers who were in need.

Our flesh is just naturally unfaithful to anyone other than ourselves:

Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

We nourish and cherish our own flesh and yet Christ gives Himself for us while we make ourselves "at ease".  So the Lord admonishes us:

Isa 32:11  Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

The Lord is dragging us all to see our own nakedness because our nakedness is our sins, and we should replace our sins with the clothes of mourning and repentance. This is just another way of telling us that judgment must begin at that house of God:

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?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Isa 32:12  They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

When we are finally brought to see our own self-righteous sins, judgment has then only begun at the house of God.  Breasts, pleasant fields, and the fruitful vine, all provide nourishment, and the lies of Babylon claim to provide that nourishment. However, if the Lord is merciful we are given to see that in reality we are spiritually starving to death. "By little and little" we are shown that everything we ever believed was a lie.

Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

While being judged we come to see that instead of the nourishment of breasts, pleasant fields and the fruitful vine, what we have all along been living on was nothing more than a starvation diet of spiritual "thorns and briers":

Isa 32:13  Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:

This realization and this revelation does not happen overnight. It takes months and years for any of us to see that all of our spiritual bread and all of our spiritual water has been tainted with the heresies of Babylon. It is nothing less than spiritual death and resurrection:

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Christ's death was in an earthen vessel, and His resurrection was to execute judgment. Christ was raised to life as a king and a priest. It is called "the resurrection of life":

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
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.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made 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.

What these verses are telling us is that if we never come to see that we were once deceived then "[our] sin remains", and like Job, the Lord's wrath remains upon our life.

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.

The only way to "His resurrection" is by being the first to be judged in this age and by dying to sin and to the kingdom of our old man in these earthen vessels in this age. Being judged in this age means the complete destruction of the kingdom we have established in our self-righteous carnal mind, which we are beginning to see is "enmity against God" and must die day by day:

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

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

Isa 32:14  Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

It is the lies and deceits of the adversary that appeal to our spiritual wild beast which is our rebellious carnal minds. These lies and false doctrines are the principalities and powers of "the prince of the powers of the air" which are called "a joy of wild asses, a pasture of [the adversary's] flocks".

Jer 13:16  Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
Jer 13:17  But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive.
Jer 13:18  Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory.
Jer 13:19  The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
Jer 13:20  Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?

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.

Judah and Israel being carried away by the Assyrians and Babylonians typifies our slavery to the doctrines of Babylon. Then, at the appointed time, the Lord begins to deliver us from this terrible captivity by opening our eyes to the blindness and deceit under which we have become enslaved. Then all those powers and principalities, "even the crown of [our] glory" is broken to pieces and crushed to powder and blown away by the Truth, which is the words and doctrines of Christ.

Dan 2:34  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

That "stone" which destroys Nebuchadnezzar's image is "the stumbling stone and Rock of Offense" which has been growing generation by generation since the death and resurrection of Christ. It is symbolized by 144,000 firstfruits unto God and the Lamb, and it is they who will 'become a great mountain and will fill the whole earth". That is as sure as the rising of the sun!

But that same kingdom is growing within us at this time and as the mind of Christ grows within us the darkness and starvation of the pastures and fruitful fields of the adversary and of our carnal minds are transformed into the 'light that comes out of darkness' (2Co 4:6 and 1Pe 2:9), and the starvation of the doctrines of Babylon are replaced by the truly nourishing pastures and fruitful fields of the mind of Christ which fills all those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Mat 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

"The poor in spirit" and "the meek" are one and the same, and it is "the kingdom of heaven" which inherits "the earth" and "the kingdoms of this world":

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders [God's elect, the poor in spirit], which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead [in Christ], that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

The Lord Himself explains how the pastures of the wild beasts becomes the pastures of the Lord's flock in these verses:

Isa 42:18  Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Isa 42:19  Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant?

What the Lord is telling us is that until we recognize our blindness we cannot see or understand His words. That is the very meaning of these words:

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Luk 11:35  Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

We have all been there. I thought I was in the only true church for ten years. Why I was in so much 'light' that I was privileged to pay three tithes, attend sabbath services, do no work on the sabbath nor on any of the annual festivals, I could eat only clean meats, I could never mix fabrics, etc. etc. I was so sure my 'light' was truly 'light' because I was at that time keeping the seventh day sabbath. It was Christ's custom to enter into the synagogue on the sabbath, so I must surely be following Him if I did the same thing and made that my custom also:

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

I now see that Luke 4:16 is not the sum of God's Word on the subject of the law of Moses, and the Truth is that what I was sure was 'the Truth' was really nothing less than "great... darkness".

But that blindness was only until the Truth of the spirit finally began to be poured out from on high, and that dark wilderness began to be destroyed and replaced by a truly fruitful field, as 'judgment began at the Lord's house' (1Pe 4:17):

Isa 32:15  Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
Isa 32:16  Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.

The pouring out of the spirit is instantly evident, but the evidence of speaking with other languages on Pentecost typifies the fact that we only then begin to understand the meaning behind the words of scripture. The apostles were not spiritual giants on the day of Pentecost. They were given great faith and they were given to heal the lame and to work miracles, but doctrinally they were "yet... babes in Christ", still living under the law for the lawless and disobedient:

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10  For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

Being converted is not to be understood as the complete revelation of the "many things" which Christ had to show us. The pouring out of the spirit never ends and actually continues all our lives as we are able to bear that light:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

It is in His great mercy that we are not given to understand all of His Word, all at once. The Lord always waits until He has prepared our hearts and minds to be able to receive His fiery words:

1Ch 29:18  O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:

Psa 10:17  LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

If our heavenly Father were to give us every truth, which He has prepared to reveal to us, all at once it would have the effect of destroying the wheat with the tares:

Mat 13:24  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

"While men slept" tells us that we are not as vigilant as we ought to be, and it shows us that heresies creep in when we least expect them and while we are being careless in our overseeing of the Lord's flock. This can only happen when "men sleep". That is why we are told that all of the ten virgins "slumbered and slept":

Mat 25:1  Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Mat 25:3  They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Mat 25:4  But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat 25:5  While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

The espousal of the bride and the tarrying of the bridegroom take place now while we are still in "earthen vessels". The bridegroom is Christ and He is at this very moment waiting, 'tarrying' until His Father will give the Word to unleash His outward judgments upon this outward world, and give rewards to His firstfruits to rule over the kingdoms of this world:

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:8  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2Co 4:9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
2Co 4:11  For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
2Co 4:12  So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

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

"The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God" because we are already "espoused to one husband [and we are this very moment being] presented... as a chaste virgin to Christ."

But at "the time of harvest", the tares are the first thing to be gathered together to be burned in the fiery words of Christ. "The harvest" is not the resurrection in "the redemption of the purchased possession" form. 'The harvest' is this time of judgment which begins at the house of God during the down-payment form of the resurrection:

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

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?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

It is out of the midst of the righteous that the tares are being gathered and burned up during the time of harvest, which is the time of judgment which takes place in this age if we are the "first to trust in Christ":

Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in [the] Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

"The ungodly and sinner" of whom Peter speaks will appear in "the second death/lake of fire". The 'fire' of that 'lake' is the same 'fire' of which we are told, "the time is come that [the Lord's fiery] judgment must begin at the house of God." That 'fire' is the Words and doctrines of Christ which consumes the tares which are being burned out of our lives in this time of judgment. But those who die in Christ and who die to their old man in this age will not be "hurt of the second death"/lake of fire" which is prepared for all who are not converted from being of their father the devil in this age.

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mat 25:46  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment [second death/lake of fire]: but the righteous into life eternal.

The lake of fire will effectuate the all in all, bringing life to all who are not part of the first resurrection, but compared to the blessings of the first resurrection those who are "hurt of the second death/lake of fire" are told "Depart from me you cursed in aionian fire prepared for the devil and his angels".

Let's repeat verse 16 and add verse 17:

Isa 32:16  Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
Isa 32:17  And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. [Hebrew: 'olawn' - the aion]

"The work of righteousness and its attendant peace, quietness, are the fruit of the Lord's judgments upon the kingdom of our old man in this life "in the earth":

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

If we are judged "beginning at the house of God" in this age, then we will be the recipients of His peace and His joy even in the midst of the trials of our faith:

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

The apostle's advice and the spirit inspiring them was and is the same spirit which inspired the Old Testament scriptures:

Isa 32:18  And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;

Christ is our dwelling place just as we are His dwelling place. Of course, we are all ultimately in the Father:

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

There can be no place where the Lord's people could possibly "dwell in a peaceable habitation" more than in Christ at His Father's right hand of power. This is how the spirit describes our place with Christ:

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

What does it mean to "gather together in one all things in Christ"? By whom does Christ do this? It certainly cannot be done by those over whom the second death has been given power. Here are they by whom those who are "hurt of the second death" will be brought into the goal of God being "all in all":

Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
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.

Christ's inheritance is in you and in me. It is manifestly not in those who are cast into the second death/lake of fire, who are "the fullness" of Christ. Rather, it is "the church which is His body which is the fullness of Him that fills all in all." That is "the exceeding greatness of His power toward us" who believe. It is the Lord's own plan to 'put all things under His feet and give Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, which is 'the fullness of Him that fills all in all'. Our calling requires being "given the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him [for] the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and... the exceeding greatness of His power toward us" to be appreciated or even understood!

We cannot understand or appreciate our calling until we acknowledge that our own old man must, in this age, die to his own fleshly desires and even witness the destruction of Babylon within each of us:

Isa 32:19  When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.

Here is the positive function of 'hail' in scripture:

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.

Isa 32:20  Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

This blessing is placed upon "Ye that sow beside all waters", and when we accept the Biblical definition of the word 'waters' it becomes clear that this verse is telling us the day is coming when God will make clear that He is no respecter of persons and that it is He who is, even now, through His elect "sow[ing] by all waters":

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

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.

"Peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" is the same description of from whence come the Lord's elect:

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers [the true Jew] shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

These words are our Lord's words, and He is speaking them to a Samaritan Gentile woman, just as He said He would in His first recorded sermon:

Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

The blessing of this last verse of Isaiah 32 is placed upon those who "sow beside all waters" and who are sent to both the Jews and to the Gentiles.

Isa 32:20  Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.

Notice to whom the Lord was sending a converted 'Saul of Tarsus', the only apostle converted outside of Israel on the road to the Gentile city of Damascus:

Act 9:13  Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Act 9:14  And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
Act 9:15  But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 9:16  For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

The Lord's elect are "redeemed... to God out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation":

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

It is the Lord's elect who "send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass". Notice what we read just two chapters earlier about these two beasts within us:

Isa 30:22  Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.
Isa 30:23  Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
Isa 30:24  The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
Isa 30:25  And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter [of our old man], when the towers fall.
Isa 30:26  Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

As the apostle Paul points out:

1Co 9:9  For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
1Co 9:10  Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

These words here in Isaiah 30 and 32 are also written for our sakes, and not for oxen and asses. There is no doubt that it is we who will "eat provender which has been winnowed with a shovel and with the fan", and it will be clean, nourishing, spiritual food for those in Christ's "every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" elect.

Next week, as the Lord wills, we will find that "[our own] breath, as fire, [will] devour [us]", because the Lord will "judge [us] out of our own mouth":

Isa 33:1  Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
Isa 33:2  O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
Isa 33:3  At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
Isa 33:4  And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
Isa 33:5  The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
Isa 33:6  And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
Isa 33:7  Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
Isa 33:8  The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.
Isa 33:9  The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
Isa 33:10  Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
Isa 33:11  Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
Isa 33:12  And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.