The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 32 Discussion

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Isa 7:14-16  A Virgin Shall Conceive, And Bear A Son...

Isa 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isa 7:15  Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Isa 7:16  For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

These verses are, according to what the holy spirit tells us in the New Testament, a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.

Mat 1:22  Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Mat 1:23  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

We left off our last study with these words:

"We will stop here for now, and we will discover just how important it is that we begin our knowledge of Christ and His kingdom within us consuming only 'milk and honey' to begin with."

Recently an e-mail included a question asking why we must know evil to be like God as we are told by "that old serpent the devil and Satan".

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

The devil is 'the father of lies', but what makes his lies so effective is that they are always mixed with a twisted truth. The truth that "knowing good and evil" makes us "as gods" is verified by Christ Himself when driving Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden:

Gen 3:22  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Gen 3:23  Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Butter is the product of milk that has been beaten and churned, but it is still a form of 'milk' of which even our Lord partook of first, before He was granted to be tempted of the devil and eat the strong meat of the Word of God.

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

The "under the elements of the world" of verse three is speaking specifically of Christ being "made of a woman, made under the law" of that 'woman', as is demonstrated by the story of the life of Christ submitting to his parents as the age of twelve.​

Luk 2:49  And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
Luk 2:50  And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
Luk 2:51  And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
Luk 2:52  And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

That Jesus "increased in wisdom and stature" tells us that He did not begin life on strong meat, but like us He started out on the milk and honey, the law of Moses, which was the law of the promised land.

The 'promised land', the "land of milk and honey", like "the first man Adam", was not the land of the ultimate promise. The ultimate promise is "the last man Adam", the "new man", who is "no longer under the schoolmaster", but is now under the law of Christ with all of His new laws. Many of these new laws were introduced to us beginning with the words "...but I say unto you...", contrasting His new covenant with the old.  The "new man ... the last Adam" is now living in the "New Jerusalem", which is located "above" in the realm of the heavens:

Gal 3:23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law [a diet of milk and honey], shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

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 [unable to eat strong meat] with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free [to eat the strong meat of the Word of God], which is the mother of us all.

As a matter of fact, the concept of being brought to a land flowing with milk and honey is so important that when we search the phrase "milk and honey" in the KJV, we find 20 entries for those words.

Here are just a few of those twenty entries:

Lev 20:24  But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.

Eze 20:6  In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:

Deu 26:8  And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
Deu 26:9  And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.

The word 'milk' is translated from the Hebrew word 'chalab', Strong's H4261.

H2461
חָלָב
châlâb
khaw-lawb'
From the same as H2459; milk (as the richness of kine): -  + cheese, milk, sucking,

Total KJV occurrences: 44

The root word for milk, Strong's H2459, cheleb, means fat, or the richest part.

H2459
חֵלֶב    חֶלֶב
cheleb    chêleb
kheh'-leb, khay'-leb
From an unused root meaning to be fat; fat, whether literally or figuratively; hence the richest or choice part: - X best, fat (-ness), X finest, grease, marrow.

Total KJV occurrences: 92

Milk comes from the "fat" of our herds or our flocks. Abel brought the firstlings of his flock, and the fat thereof, which was an offering respected by the Lord.

Gen 4:4  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

Paul asks the Corinthians a rhetorical question, "​Who feeds a flock and doesn't consume the milk of it?"​

1Co 9:7  Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?

The spiritual significance of milk is that it represents the first principles of the Oracles of God. That which is consumed by babes. It is essential to the beginning of our spiritual growth. In fact we are told to desire the sincere milk of the word of God. But we are given a reason why we should "desire the sincere milk of the Word":

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

The sincere milk of the Word, like a mother's milk, is designed by our Lord to be a stepping stone toward the ability to digest and be strengthened by the strong meat of the Word of God. As long as we remain able to process only "the sincere milk of the Word", and we refuse to be weaned, or "drawn from the breast", we will remain "carnal... babes in Christ":

We are specifically told that knowledge and understanding doctrine belongs only to those who are weaned from milk.

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

What I find remarkable is the fact that we are told how butter is formed from milk in the scriptures. It is formed by the churning, forcing, or applying pressure to the milk.

Pro 30:33  Surely the churning^H4330 of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing^H4330 of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing^H4330 of wrath bringeth forth strife.

Interesting that the Hebrew word miyts, Strong's H4330, only appears three times in the scriptures; right here in Proverbs 30:33.

H4330

מִיץ
mı̂yts
meets
From H4160; pressure: - churning, forcing, wringing.
Total KJV occurrences: 3
churning, 1
Pro 30:33
forcing, 1
Pro 30:33 (2)
wringing, 1
Pro 30:33 (2)

The root word of miyts is Strong's H4160, muts, which appears only once as extortioner, and means to oppress, or pressure.

H4160
מוּץ
mûts
moots
A primitive root; to press, that is, (figuratively) to oppress: - extortioner.
Total KJV occurrences: 1
extortioner, 1
Isa 16:4

The milk doctrines are but a step in the process of coming to know the Lord. It is not until pressure is applied in the form of trials and tribulations that our milk can begin to be churned into butter. Yes, the land was flowing with milk and honey, but everyone who was 20 or over when leaving Egypt had to die (the old man has to die before the new man can be born), and the remaining Israelites had to fight off the enemies inhabiting the land prior to possessing it.

Jos 5:6  For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

Jos 21:43 And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.
Jos 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

This 'rest' is not the rest we have in Christ spoken of in Hebrews 4. The 'rest' spoken of here is all accomplished while we are still in the "land flowing with milk and honey".

Churning milk into butter is a type of the potter making a new vessel out of the old marred vessel of clay he began with. It is at the expense, the churning, of our old man. The death in the wilderness of the generation that came up out of Egypt and rebelled against Christ in the wilderness is a story of our progression. It is with "the sincere milk of the Word", in the promised land that we are given the strength to fight the enemy, our old man, and when given the victory, we "suck the milk of the Gentiles, and...suck the breast of kings" by "possessing" the land that flows with milk and honey.

Isa 60:15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
Isa 60:16  Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

We fight and win many battles while still only able to digest the sweet honey and the sincere milk of the Word of God. We actually depose many of the giants within our land while still spiritually immature babes in Christ sucking the milk of the Gentiles and the breast of kings.

Notice the order of our spiritual progression:

Deu 32:13  He [the Lord] made him [Jacob] ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
Deu 32:14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

"That Rock which followed them" was Christ. The honey and oil come "out of the flinty Rock", as do "all things", and "all things are [ours]" in their predestined order, beginning with the sincere milk of the word while we are yet carnal babes in Christ:

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;

1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat [Greek: broma - G1033, food. This is not the 'stereos trophe' the "strong meat" of Heb 5:14];
1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
1Co 10:5  But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

The death of Sisera at the hands of Jael reveals how our old man desires water, the true waters of Christ, but is instead given to drink milk prior to his death. Not only milk, but served with butter--milk churned, and pressed.

Jdg 4:18  And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
Jdg 4:19  And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
Jdg 4:20  Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.
Jdg 4:21  Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

The next chapter of Judges is a song of celebration giving us more details of what happens to bring about the death of our old man:

Jdg 5:24  Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
Jdg 5:25  He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. 
Jdg 5:26  She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

These verses in Judges 4 and 5, along with the first four verses of 1Corinthians 3, inform us that it is while we are all content with our milk and honey, our butter and honey, and we are beheaded and are dead in our sins, it is at that point that through the sovereign work of God we are "raised up with Christ and made to sit with Him in the heavens":

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.

Butter, although part of churned milk, is still milk. However, while milk is the food for babes in Christ, being given these first oracles of God is a part of knowing how to refuse evil and choose good. The first oracles of God, our first understanding, is put to death at the entrance into our hearts of the true spiritual words of our Father through Christ. The churning of these oracles, the application of pressure on what we believe through the fiery trials of life, is how our faith in God's word is tested, and, Lord willing, increased. This increase in understanding, or knowledge of wisdom is also understood with spiritual 'honey'.

The word honey is a translation of the Hebrew word debash, Strong's H1706. It appears 54 times, 52 as honey, and twice as honeycomb.

H1706
דְּבַשׁ
debash
deb-ash'
From an unused root meaning to be gummy; honey (from its stickiness); by analogy syrup: - honey ([-comb]).
Total KJV occurrences: 54

Again, the theme of a land flowing with "milk and honey" is prevalent in the scriptures. The positive application of honey is that it is a form of enlightenment, and knowing wisdom. Honey is good for the body--Christ and His Christ, including the temple of God within us.

Pro 24:13  My son, eat thou honey^H1706, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
Pro 24:14 So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

Pro 16:23  The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.
Pro 16:24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

Jonathan, a shadow of the new man, disobeyed Saul's, the 'old man', oath that any man who eats before the evening was cursed. Jonathan's eyes were opened when he ate a little of the honey, and he also knew his 'old man', Saul, was troubling the land.

1Sa 14:24  And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food. 
1Sa 14:25  And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground. 
1Sa 14:26  And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth: for the people feared the oath.
1Sa 14:27  But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened. 
1Sa 14:28  Then answered one of the people, and said, Thy father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food this day. And the people were faint.
1Sa 14:29  Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. 
1Sa 14:30  How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to day of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?

Eating honey out of the rock is a type and shadow of Christ. The Hebrew word sela, Strong's H5553, is the same word translated as rock, which is the rock that is our fortress, rock, salvation, house of defense, and God as expressed in many of the Psalms.

H5553
סֶלַע
sela‛
seh'-lah

From an unused root meaning to be lofty; a craggy rock, literally or figuratively (a fortress): - (ragged) rock, stone (-ny), strong hold.

Deu 32:13  He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock [H5553], and oil out of the flinty rock; 
Deu 32:14  Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

Psa 31:2  Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock,^H5553 for an house of defence to save me.

Psa 42:9  I will say unto God my rock,^H5553 Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

The negative application of honey is that we can have too much, and make ourselves fat and self-righteous. We worship "other" gods, which is ourselves searching for our own glory.

Deu 31:20  For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.

Pro 25:27  It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.

Pro 25:16  Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.

If we can understand what milk and honey is, we can know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good, and the two kings of the land that we abhor will be forsaken. The two kings--the old man, and his father the devil--are required be forsaken in order for the child to know to refuse evil and choose good.

Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isa 7:15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Isa 7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

​What does this have to do with becoming like God?​

Darkness and light, good and evil, a​re alike to the Lord ​because He created all things including good and evil, and He is working all things according to the counsel of His own will.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Psa 139:11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Psa 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

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:

If we have the mind of Christ, then darkness and light are both alike to us. We never say 'Good is evil and evil is good' (Isa 5:20), but we know that the only good that exists is the Spirit of God the Father, and all to whom He has given the fullness of that Spirit, the risen Christ.

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

Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Rom 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

We have been given eyes to see the kingdom of Satan and of the beast which once resided within us. We have been given eyes to see that the Kingdom of God is now within us, and Christ is the master builder of that kingdom, His church. We are blessed to know that our birth as babes in Christ is within the body of Christ and we dwell in that land "if so be the spirit of God dwells in us".

The significance of knowing good and evil is that it begins with the process of understanding that we are sinners.  In time we come to see that we are the beast, and that we are born with the mark of the beast. In time we come to see that we our selves are the chief of sinners, of whom the blood of all the prophets is required.

Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

While it is true that there is evil 'out there' in the world, the evil one that is being judged right now is the 'evil one' within us.

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?

Eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that first step in being given eyes to see our own sinful nakedness.

Only after we are given to see that we are all "made of a woman, made under the law", will we even begin to see our own nakedness, and abhor the dragon and the beast, the two kings within us who have been sent to destroy us.

Isa 7:16  For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

There is but one​ person who can make war with the beast and with the dragon who gives the beast his power:

Isa 27:1  In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

And when "Leviathan that crooked serpent... in the sea" is slain of the Lord, then God's judgment will be in the earth and:

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.