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Isa 58:9-14 You Shall Raise Up the Foundations of Many Generations

[Study Aired April 26, 2020]

Isa 58:9  Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
Isa 58:10  And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
Isa 58:11  And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isa 58:12  And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isa 58:13  If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isa 58:14  Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

This is how our last study ended:

Isa 58:4  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isa 58:5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

In this study we will learn what the benefits are which we accrue by keeping the fast the Lord has chosen.

Last week we were told just how carnal we are and how we all just naturally want to be recognized for denying ourselves. We want both God and men to acknowledge all our good works. That is the ‘fast’ we have chosen. What the Lord is doing, with the few He is calling in this age, is revealing to us this naturally “marred”, self-righteous, self-centered nature He has given to all men, and all the evil and the wrath of God which our natural composition brings upon us.

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.

His word heals us by opening our spiritual eyes to see the deadly sick disease of our naturally rebellious and carnal mind:

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

This week we will be informed and encouraged to know and appreciate the blessings which accompany the healing hand of the Lord in the life of our new man, whose health comes to us at the expense of the daily dying of our old man as John the Baptist revealed to us:

Joh 3:29  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom [our dying old man], which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

These words of John the Baptist are the New Testament fulfillment of Esau embracing Jacob when Jacob returned to Canaan from Haran:

Gen 33:4  And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

When the appointed, predestined time comes to us, our old man actually accepts his doomed fate with open arms, knowing that if he loses his life he will find it and that if he is granted to “die daily [and be] crucified with Christ” daily the blessings of our study today will come upon his “new man”:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

If we “follow [Christ]” then we will “do the things [He] says to do” (Luk 6:46). This is what the Lord commanded us to do in our last study:

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. [Look within]
Isa 58:2  Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
Isa 58:3  Wherefore [Why] have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore [why] have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
Isa 58:4  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isa 58:5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

The ‘fast’ of our old man is done only to please himself and “exact all of his pleasures” by laying a heavy burden on our fellow servant, while self-righteously forgetting the much worse burden which was lifted from our own shoulders (Mat 18:21-35).

The “fast [the Lord] has chosen [by contrast, is] to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? [It is] to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”

When the Lord works His miracle of bringing us to the point that we “hide not ourselves from our own flesh”, from the needs of our brothers and sisters, then we are “entering into His rest… [our] desired haven” where we are now walking comfortably with Christ in the fires of life and “having no hurt”:

Dan 3:23  And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:24  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

Which brings us to our first verse:

Isa 58:9  Then [when we keep the fast the Lord has chosen, and enter into His rest] shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

“The yoke… in [our] midst” is our false doctrines and idols of our hearts (Eze 14:1-9). When we die to those “idols of [our] hearts”, we will never again put a ‘yoke’ or a “heavy burden” upon either ourselves or our brothers and sisters. We will never again see a brother in need and “hide ourselves from” that brother who is ‘afflicted of the Lord’:

Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Those who do not understand who we are in Christ will protest that those verses refer to Christ and not to us. In doing so they reveal how little they identify with Him. These are His inspired words as to who we are in Him:

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

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.

As we saw in our last study, when the servant with the insurmountable debt cried out to his lord for mercy, that mercy was abundantly provided, and his debt was completely forgiven:

Mat 18:23  Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24  And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Mat 18:25  But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Mat 18:26  The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:27  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

That poor indebted soul typifies each of us when we are brought to see the truth of our shameful, sinful condition. When we are “made to” face the extent of our indebtedness, we are also made to cry out for mercy and relief from the burden the Lord has placed upon us. Like that ungrateful servant, we all forget the size of the debt we were forgiven, and we expect those around us to repent of their sins and ‘pay up’ immediately. We have no patience with their weaknesses and faults and demand “with the fist of wickedness” that they pay their debt to us right this moment. Drop every sin this very moment is what we expect of others. We all do it, and we fight our flesh daily to keep from doing so. It is as natural as breathing to see the faults of our brother or sister while forgetting the huge debt we have been forgiven.

However, as we become more “as He is” day by day, and we become comfortable in the fire of these words, we become far more patient with our poor struggling brothers and sisters:

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
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.
Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

Matthew 6:14 is the message of our next verses:

Isa 58:10  And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
Isa 58:11  And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

There is truth in the words of the prosperity ministers who tell us “You cannot out give God”. What our old man fails to realize is that God knows and deals with our hearts and minds which are an open door of bright light to Him, even when our motives are nothing more than self-centered darkness. As repulsive as this Truth is to our rebellious flesh, it is still the fact of this matter:

Psa 94:11  The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

How can the Lord possibly “know the [very] thoughts of man”? He makes that very clear to all who are given to ‘see with their eyes and hear with their ears’ that:

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

If those verses are true, then whether our thoughts really are toward the Lord or even if our thoughts are against Him and His ways, it really is true that ‘it is not of him that wills… but of God who shows mercy… or hardens’:

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

The fact is that the Lord first hardens the hearts of each of us to give Himself the occasion He has ordained to destroy our old man and through that destruction to raise up from the dead our new man.

Jdg 14:4  But his [Samson’s] father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines [our flesh… our old man]: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel [over us].

When that predestined time arrives, and we are given dominion over our flesh, this is the blessedness of that day:

Isa 58:12  And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isa 58:13  If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isa 58:14  Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

These words, “You shall raise up the foundations of many generations” are the very foundation for all the promises of becoming judges and rulers which are given to us by our Lord Himself and by His prophets and His apostles.

When something is repeated twice in scripture, the point being made is being emphasized because it is a pressing matter:

Gen 41:32  And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

Pharaoh was to immediately begin to prepare for the coming famine by storing up grain in the seven plentiful years of harvest. If he would do so, then Egypt would be saved from the impending disaster of seven continous years of drought.

This story is the positive application of the word ‘Egypt’ which is normally associated with this world and Babylon:

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.

In this story, Egypt symbolizes the Gentiles to whom the Lord and gospel are given after being rejected by the Lord’s physical ‘chosen people’, typified by Joseph’s ten brothers who sold him into Egypt. Those who are called physical Jews are no longer Jews at all in any spiritual sense:

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.

The story of Joseph and his brothers is in the book of Genesis and is foundational to all the rest of scripture. Larry Groenewald’s series of studies entitled Foundational Studies in Genesis are the best commentary on the book of Genesis which has ever been written. Check it out when the Lord drags you to need that foundation for His Word.

Egypt’s salvation in this story comes before the salvation of Joseph’s brothers. It is Egypt which has the life-saving grain to give to Joseph’s brothers, and it is Joseph’s brothers who typify the so-called Christians who for thousands of years have called Christ “Lord, Lord [but] cannot hear [His] word” (Luk 6:46 and Joh 8:43).

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

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

The physical Jews and the physical Christians who call Christ “Lord, Lord” but do not do the things He says, are all typified in this story by Joseph’s ten brothers who put him in a pit, typifying the fact he is to them a dead man “in the streets of [their] great city”:

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.

They sold him into Egypt typifying the living sacrifice Christ was and which we are (Rom 12:1). By not listening carefully and diligently doing the things Christ tells us to do, we have all at our own appointed time, stumbled at the stumbling block and “cannot hear [His] word”. Until the appointed time for each of us to become obedient to the death of the cross, we live in darkness and under the Lord’s wrath.

Ecc 11:8  But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

Act 26:18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

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.

For most people, the time “to turn from darkness to light” is the great white-throne judgment. The promise “they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in” is being made at this time only to those who are given to hear and do the words of our Lord. His words are our “foundations”, and only if we know Him and His doctrine will we be capable of “raising up the foundations of many generations” by judging with righteous judgment all men of all time:

Psa 149:2  Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
Psa 149:3  Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
Psa 149:4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Psa 149:5  Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Psa 149:6  Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
Psa 149:7  To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
Psa 149:8  To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
Psa 149:9  To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.

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

This promise is to us: “If [we] turn away [our] foot from the sabbath, from doing [our] pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing [our] own ways, nor finding [our] own pleasure, nor speaking [our] own words”:

We have seen what is “the fast the Lord has chosen”. Now let’s learn was is our “sabbath”:

Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

What does it mean that “God did rest the seventh day from all His works”? Lo and behold, it means the same thing as “the fast I have chosen”:

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.

Are not these words the very meaning of “ceasing from our own works”:

Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

If the Lord so blesses us to enter into His sabbath… if we are given to fast the fast He has chosen, freely giving to and ministering to ever need we are given to supply, and if we are granted to remain faithful to the end of this present evil age, then many “great and precious promises” are ours to cling to with our lives and to claim for our own:

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Those who are given to “raise up the foundations of many generations” are the same as those who “turn many to righteousness”:

Dan 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Dan 12:3  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

This is clearly speaking of the time of the resurrection, which clearly had not come in Daniel’s day. That time is now “in earnest” for those who are “buried with Christ [and are even now] raised up with Him in newness of life”:

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.

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.

Now let’s look at what the Lord Himself has promised to those who forsake all to follow Him:

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Mat 19:30  But many that are first shall be last; and the last [“few”] shall be first.

Mat 22:14  For many are called [first], but few are chosen [last].

Continuing with the Lord’s “many great and precious promises” by which we “are made partakers of the divine nature”:

Mat 25:19  After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
Mat 25:20  And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
Mat 25:21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Mat 25:22  He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
Mat 25:23  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

However, there is much more:

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.

Rev 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

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

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28  And I will give him the morning star. [Christ (Rev 22:16)]

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Why are we told “he shall go no more out”? The answer is that the Lord ‘knows all things and who it was that should betray Him’:

Joh 6:64  But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

There are even more “great and precious promises”:

Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

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.

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.

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

The thousand-year reign is just the beginning of the kingdom of God. The salvation of all, who were not kings and priests during that thousand-year reign, is yet to be accomplished, and it will be you and me who will be those to judge those in that great white throne judgment.

How do I know that our hegemony will carry over into the lake of fire/second death? We know it is so because the scriptures tell us that it is “through [our] mercy”, that the Lord’s enemies will be shown mercy:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

The judgment which is now on the house of God will, at the great white throne judgment, be accomplished through the mercy of the kings and priests who have been judged in this age, and who will have spent a thousand years preparing to be the kings and priests and judges of all those who “the sea… and hell and the grave” will, at the appointed time, “give up” to the great white throne judgment, which is also called “the lake of fire”:

Joh 5:28  Don’t be surprised at what I’ve just said. A time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  and they will come out of their tombs. Those who have done good will come back to life and live. But those who have done evil will come back to life and will be judged. (GW)

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 was cast into the lake of fire.

This is what happens at the great white throne judgment:

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.

Also, this is who will be doing the judging in the great white throne judgment… the lake of fire/second death:

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

“And they were judged every man according to their works” by those who were raised up to life a thousand years earlier. “They were judged every man according to his works” by those whose names were in the book of life. The book of life contains the names of the judges of the great white throne judgment.

Our “many great and precious promises” continue:

Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Luk 22:30  That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

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

Cain, Joseph’s brothers and all who shed the blood of all the prophets from Abel to the first resurrection, as well as all those who will live through the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ will come to know the judgment which is now on the house of God. All who have ever lived have contributed to the Lord’s stripes and have accused Him of taking them out into the wilderness to kill them. Having done so, as the Lord Himself tells us, they have also accused us:

Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

Joh 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

What is the Lord’s desire concerning those who hate Him and His Christ? What was His prayer to His Father while He was in the process of being crucified?

Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

That prayer is being answered, and it will be answered “through your mercy”. All the rest of mankind who were not given a part in that “blessed and holy first resurrection” are yet to be reconciled to our heavenly Father, and it is all to be done “through your mercy”.

Let’s read those two verses again, and this time we will read it with the next two verses:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

“Mercy upon all” is the Lord’s goal, and what He desires even that He does:

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

That is our study for today. Here are our verses for our next study:

Isa 59:1  Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Isa 59:3  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
Isa 59:4  None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Isa 59:5  They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Isa 59:6  Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
Isa 59:7  Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.