Ezekiel 23:26-49  Aholah and Aholibah, Part 2

[Study Aired July 15, 2024]

Introduction

In order to understand the study for today, we have to go back to the earlier verses to understand the context. There were two sisters – Aholah and Aholibah. Aholah was the elder, and she played the harlot with Assyrians who invaded the ten tribes of Israel. As we indicated in the previous study, the two sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, represent the church of the Lord in different dispensations. Aholah represents the church when it was under the law of Moses, and Aholibah signifies the church after the coming of Christ. That is to say that Aholah represents our walk when we did not know Christ and walked in the churches of this world (Aholah) according to the law of Moses. Aholibah signifies our walk when we were still in the churches of this world when Christ started coming to us. The Assyrians represent the false apostles who come in the name of the Lord but are wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 

The ten tribes of Israel representing Aholah, or Samaria, who were taken into captivity by the Assyrians is a warning to the Lord’s elect represented by Aholibah that if she also played the harlot, she shall suffer the same fate. 

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 
1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 
1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 
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. 
1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 
1Co 10:7  Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 
1Co 10:8  Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 
1Co 10:9  Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 
1Co 10:10  Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 
1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Unfortunately, Aholibah became worse than her sister in terms of her whoredom both with the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Spiritually, both the Assyrians and the Babylonians are the same. In summary, the abominations being committed by the church of the Lord (Babylon) of which we were part, are not different from the rebellion of the people of the world against their creator, the Lord. Today’s study continues with the sins of Aholibah, the younger sister who represents the churches of this world of which we were part during a certain period of our walk. We committed whoredom in the churches of this world or Aholibah or Babylon before Christ came to us with His judgment. Today’s study also shows us how the sins of Aholibah give the Lord the occasion that He is seeking to come and judge her.  

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. 
Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

The Consequences of the Sins of Aholibah

Eze 23:26  They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. 

Verse 26 tells us that the Babylonians shall strip Aholibah of her clothes and take away her fair jewels. Garments or clothes spiritually signify righteousness. This implies that when we were part of the physical churches of this world or Babylon, we were stripped of our righteousness in Christ as the truth of the word of the Lord represented here by our fair jewels were taken away by the lies or false doctrines of the adversary.

Eze 16:17  You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.
Eze 16:18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 

Eze 23:27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. 

In verse 25 in the previous study, the Lord stated that in view of the whoredom of Aholibah, He shall deal with her in His fury. That means that the Lord will judge us, His elect, for our sins. 

Eze 23:25  And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. 

Verse 27 therefore shows us the outcome of the Lord’s judgment. Our lewdness or filthiness shall cease, and we shall stop our whoredom which we have carried along from the world even though we have come to know Christ. Our whoredom refers to our propensity to serve another Jesus through the false doctrines we imbibe. Through the judgment of the Lord, we shall cease from serving another Jesus as we come to know the Lord. In other words, through the suffering that we go through, we shall cease from sin as we learn righteousness. 

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

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.

Eze 23:28  For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated: 
Eze 23:29  And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
Eze 23:30 I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

Verse 28 informs us of the Lord’s judgment of our old man, and in verse 30, we are given the reason why we are being judged. That is, we had gone whoring after the heathen, and as a result, we had been polluted with their idols. Whoring after the heathen means being enticed by man’s wisdom and tradition. As a result, we end up having idols of the heart which prevent us from knowing Christ and His words. 

Mar 7:13  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. 

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

In verse 28, being delivered into the hand of them whom we hate and into the hands of them from whom our minds are alienated is the same as being handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. 

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
1Co 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

In verse 29, the evil one shall take away everything we have worked for. As we are aware, before the Lord came to us, we were serving Him in the power of the flesh. All our labors in the flesh regarding the kingdom of the Lord shall be destroyed through the Lord’s judgment. In Isaiah 60:5, we are told that during our early walk with the Lord when the glory of the Lord has risen upon us, we are helped in our walk with the abundance of the sea and forces of the Gentiles which refer to our flesh as it aids us in our initial walk with Christ. This was what happened to Abraham when the Lord first called him. He was helped by His father who brought him to Haran, just short of the promised land of Canaan. It was after the death of Terah, Abraham’s father, that Abraham was able to answer the Lord’s call appropriately by leaving Haran to enter Canaan. In verse 28, we are assured that through the Lord’s judgment, the labors of the flesh shall be destroyed as we mature in Christ. 

Isa 60:5  Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

Gen 11:31  Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, wife of his son Abram. They set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came as far as Haran, they stayed there. 
Gen 11:32 Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran. 

In verse 28, we are also told that through the Lord’s judgment, the shame of our nakedness shall be revealed. This implies that we shall come to see clearly our inability to stop sinning while the man of sin is still on the throne of our hearts and minds. 

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

We Shall Drink of Our Sister’s Cup

Eze 23:31  Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand. 
Eze 23:32  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.
Eze 23:33  Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
Eze 23:34  Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 23:35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. 

The fate of Aholah has painstakingly been written for our admonition. However, we did not pay heed to what happened to her but rather played the harlot more than our sister. As a result we shall suffer the same fate as our sister in terms of her judgment as we drink from her cup which is deep and large as shown in verse 32. Drinking from a cup deep and large means that our judgment shall be thorough and shall accomplish exactly the Lord’s agenda for our lives.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Being filled with drunkenness and sorrow in verse 33 means tasting of the evil experience of the Lord’s judgment. Drinking from the sister’s cup and sucking it out in verse 34 signifies receiving the full package of the Lord’s judgment which was meted out to Aholah. As indicated, the judgment shall be thorough such that the Lord’s purpose for our lives is accomplished. Breaking into pieces and tearing our breasts off our bodies means coming to our wits’ end as we go through the Lord’s judgment.

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 
Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

Again, in verse 35, we are given the reason for the Lord coming to judge us. It is because we have played the harlot and have cast the Lord behind our back. The Lord is always looking for an occasion to come and judge us as His elect. Our sins therefore give the Lord the occasion He is looking for to come into our lives to turn us around.

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. 
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. 
Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Eze 23:36  The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations; 
Eze 23:37  That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. 
Eze 23:38  Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. 
Eze 23:39  For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house. 

In verse 36, the Lord was asking a rhetorical question about Ezekiel judging the sisters Aholah and Aholibah.  Ezekiel here represents the Lord’s elect, and since we shall judge the world as the Lord’s elect, the Lord here was reminding us of our role as judges. 

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?   

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. 

Before we are given to judge the world, we must know our sins. In verse 36, the Lord was asking Ezekiel to declare to the sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, their abominations. It is after we come to realize our sins that judgment follows. Knowing our sins is therefore a prerequisite before we are judged by the Lord. In this life therefore, the Lord is seeking for an occasion to cause us to know our abominations so He can judge us. Judgment therefore is a privilege the Lord is bestowing on us, His elect as we come to know our sins in this life. 

Verses 37 and 38 shows us our sins which gave the Lord the occasion to come and judge us. Although we say we are married to Christ, we committed adultery with another Jesus and therefore played the harlot. We also had blood on our hands for the way we treated the Lord and His elect sent to us. It is when the Lord comes to open our eyes and ears to understand the word of the Lord in spirit instead of the letter of the word that we come to know the sins of the church that we were part of and thought of it as the true bride of Christ. As our eyes are opened, we become aware that Babylon or the churches of this world was the one causing us to commit adultery with another Jesus and killing those sent to us. We have therefore stained our hands with blood.

Rev 17:3  And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 
Rev 17:4  The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 
Rev 17:5  And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 

Luk 11:49  Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 
Luk 11:50  so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 
Luk 11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

As if that was not enough, the churches cause us to offer our children to pass through the fire. That is to say that through false doctrines, we make those who have just come to know the Lord worse off or spiritually dead. 

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

In verses 38 and 39, we are told that we defiled our sanctuary and profaned our sabbath. We defiled our sanctuary when we had our man of sin or our old man sitting in the throne of our hearts and claiming himself to be God through the false teaching of man having his own will. 

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

Through the same false teachings of man having his own will and that we make our own decisions, we profane the Lord’s sabbath as we do not come to know how to rest in the Lord. 

Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 
Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 
Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 
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.

Eze 23:40  And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments, 
Eze 23:41  And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil. 
Eze 23:42  And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. 
Eze 23:43  Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them? 
Eze 23:44  Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women. 

In our quest to influence the world, we brought in the multitude to worship with us in the churches of this world. In verse 40, the multitude are described as men from afar. Verse 42 also refers to these men as carefree multitudes, men of common sort and drunkards from the wilderness. The multitude refers to ungodly men who crept into the churches of this world secretly as prophesied by Jude as follows:

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Jud 1:8  Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 
Jud 1:9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 
Jud 1:10  But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 
Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 
Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 
Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 

Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. 

Apostle Paul warned us of these multitudes during his farewell speech to the elders of Ephesus as follows: 

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 

In verses 40 and 41, washing herself, painting her eyes, decking herself with ornaments, sitting on stately beds and having a table set before her with incense and oil are the church’s way of making herself attractive to the people of the world who come in as sheep in wolves’ clothing to devour her. This is what the Lord says about the churches making themselves attractive:

Mat 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 
Mat 23:26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 
Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

In the final analysis, the churches of this world, represented by Aholah and Aholibah, become worse off as they indulge in harlotry, leaving behind the simplicity that is in Christ and go after another Jesus through the agency of these multitudes or false apostles.

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. 
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.   

Eze 23:45  And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 

Here in this verse, we are assured of the elect, represented here as righteous men, judging the churches of this world in an age to come. 

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?

Eze 23:46  For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled. 
Eze 23:47  And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 
Eze 23:48  Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. 
Eze 23:49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 

Inwardly, Babylon within us shall be destroyed through the judgment of our old man. This judgment is qualified in verse 47 as a company coming to stone us with stones, dispatching us with the sword, slaying our sons and daughters, and burning up our houses with fire. As we are aware, according to the law of Moses, the sin of adultery is punishable by death through stoning. Being stoned with stones is therefore to remind us that the judgment we are going through for our adulterous lifestyle against our Lord is to put our old man to death. 

Joh 8:4  They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 
Joh 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 

The sword as an instrument of judgment refers to the negative words spoken against us which is one of the tools that the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect. 

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

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

Jdg 7:22 And the three hundred [men with Gideon] blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host [of the Midianites]: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

The slaying of our sons and daughters refers to the destruction of our false doctrines in our hearts and minds through the hail of the Lord or the truth of the word of the Lord.

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. 

Our houses being burnt with fire means the destruction of our old man or flesh through the word of the Lord such that we can offer our bodies (houses) as living sacrifices to the Lord. 

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

In verses 48 and 49, we are made aware that the result of our judgment is to cause our lewdness to cease and to know who the Lord is. That is to say that through judgment, we learn righteousness as we get to know the Lord better. In summary, this is what the Lord is doing in our lives:

Psa 107:9  For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. 
Psa 107:10  Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; 
Psa 107:11  Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: 
Psa 107:12  Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. 
Psa 107:13  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:14  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. 
Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

May His name be Praised. Amen!!

Ezekiel 23:1-25  Aholah and Aholibah, Part 1

[Study Aired July 8, 2024]

Introduction

Today’s study talks about the two women who were the daughters of one mother – Aholah and Aholibah. Aholah refers to Samaria, and Aholibah signifies Jerusalem. The study gives details of the sins these two women have committed, thus giving the Lord the occasion that He is seeking to come and judge them with the sword.

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. 
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. 
Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

The Two Women from One Mother

Eze 23:1  The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 
Eze 23:2  Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
Eze 23:3  And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. 
Eze 23:4  And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. 

As shown in verse 4, the two women represent Samaria, which was called Aholah, and Jerusalem is referred to as Aholibah.  Samaria consisted of the ten tribes of the people of Israel who occupied the hilly central part of ancient Palestine who were defeated and taken captives by the Assyrians. Jerusalem, also called Aholibah, consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and served as the capital for the people of Israel, and it is where the temple of the Lord, built by King Solomon, was situated. They were also taken captive by the Babylonians. Both Samaria and Jerusalem were therefore one people – the children of the Lord.

As we are aware, women represent the church. The mother symbolizes the church, and since the two women were of one mother, with one being older than the other, they spiritually signify the church of the Lord in different dispensations.  That is, the church before Christ came and the church after Christ came. 

Eph 5:23  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 
Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 

Mar 3:33  And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?
Mar 3:34  And he looked round about on them which sat about him (the disciples or the church), and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

As shown in verse 3, before we started our walk with Christ, we all committed whoredom in Egypt and were no different from the people of the world.

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

Even when Christ came to us to start the process of becoming His people, that is, during our youth days, we were still of the world as we played whoredom. In verse 3, we are given a graphic view of what happened to us. We had our breasts pressed and our virginity defiled. As a church, represented by a woman, we must feed our children with our breast milk. That is, the milk of the word of the Lord. It is in feeding the young with milk that the church has favor in the eyes of the Lord as shown in Songs of Solomon 8:10.

Isa 66:11  That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.

Son 8:10  I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. 

Unfortunately, even in our youth as a church, we had our breasts pressed. In other words, instead of feeding the children in Christ with milk, we rather focused on the pleasures of this world. 

Luk 8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

Being defiled as virgins means that we did not care about being espoused to Christ as our husband. We went in and played the harlot with another Jesus instead of Christ our husband.

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. 
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

The Sins of Aholah

Eze 23:5  And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, 
Eze 23:6  Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. 
Eze 23:7  Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.
Eze 23:8  Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.

As we learned in the previous study, our neighbors are those who have received the mercy of the Lord. This means that the Assyrians, qualified as our neighbors in verse 5, are those who were fellowshiping with us and were part of the church of Christ. David said that it was not an enemy that reproached me, but my guide, whom we took counsel together and walked into the house of the Lord in company.

Luk 10:29  But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 
Luk 10:36  Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 
Luk 10:37  And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

Psa 55:12  For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: 
Psa 55:13  But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. 
Psa 55:14  We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. 

These brethren or the Assyrians are described in verse 6 as being clothed in blue and are the captains and rulers. It is instructive to note that the priests in the Old Testament were required to wear an ephod of the color blue. Thus, the Assyrian captains and rulers being clothed in blue affirms that these Assyrian armies represent those who have received the mercy of the Lord and were part of us as leaders (priests) of the church of the Lord. 

Exo 39:22  And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue.  

Num 4:11  And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:  

In verse 6, these leaders are described as desirable young men. This implies that outwardly, these leaders are attractive in terms of how they present themselves to us and have the energy to work in the church. However, inwardly, they are like wolves in sheep’s clothing who are actually merchants of the souls of men. In the negative sense, these men clothed in blue relates to their status as merchants as shown in the following verse:

Eze 27:24  These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.    

Rev 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her (Babylon); for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 
Rev 18:12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 
Rev 18:13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

These men from Assyria described as horsemen riding on horses in verse 6 are those angels who are loosed from the river Euphrates by the sounding of the trumpet by the sixth angel to destroy the people of the Lord through false doctrines which is represented by the great river Euphrates.

Rev 9:13  And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 
Rev 9:14  Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 
Rev 9:15  And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. 
Rev 9:16  And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 
Rev 9:17  And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
Rev 9:18  By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. 
Rev 9:19  For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. 

These false doctrines we imbibe cause us to commit whoredom as we leave the simplicity that is in Christ in favor of another Jesus as shown in verse 7. As a result, we defile ourselves with idols of the heart and therefore cannot hear from the Lord. As described in verse 8, our situation in the churches was no different from our lifestyles when we were in the world or Egypt.

Eze 23:9  Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. 
Eze 23:10  These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her. 

To the Lord’s elect, being delivered into the hands of the Assyrians is the same as being delivered to Satan since these Assyrians are the agents of the devil. As we have learned earlier, the purpose of handing us over to the Assyrians is for the destruction of our flesh.  Discovering her nakedness or stripping her naked means that as the Lord’s elect, we realize our sins or nakedness through the judgment of the Lord, which in this case is meted out by the Assyrians. The sword being an instrument of the Lord’s judgement by the Assyrians in verse 10 means the lying words or the false doctrines of the adversary spoken to destroy us. 

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

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

The Sins of Aholibah

Eze 23:11  And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. 
Eze 23:12  She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. 

As indicated earlier, these sisters represent the church in different dispensations. The people of Israel represent the church until the coming of Christ and therefore symbolize the elder sister, Aholah. Aholibah, the younger sister, signifies the church that Jesus Christ paid with His blood. Even before the Apostles died, the church has started its whoredom with Assyrians, her neighbors. What happened to the church, signified by the people of Israel both in the wilderness and in Canaan, are all written for our admonition. However, in spite of the Lord’s judgment of the people of Israel, the church of Christ, signified by Aholibah, did not pay attention. In fact, we became worse off in terms of our whoredom than our sister (Aholah) representing the people of Israel.

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 
1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 
1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
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. 
1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 

We were led astray by the Assyrians, our neighbor as shown in verse 12. As indicated earlier, the Assyrians represent the leaders in the churches of this world who have led us astray through false doctrines to worship another Jesus. Joel chapter 2 gives us a vivid description of these leaders, typified by the Assyrians, who are empowered with all the resources by the Lord as they parade in the churches of this world as apostles while in reality, they are false apostles. These strong people in Joel chapter 2 are the same as the army of the two hundred million horsemen in Revelation 9:16-19.

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 
Joe 2:2  A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 
Joe 2:3  A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. 
Joe 2:4  The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
Joe 2:5  Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. 
Joe 2:6  Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. 
Joe 2:7  They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march everyone on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: 
Joe 2:8  Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk everyone in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. 
Joe 2:9  They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. 
Joe 2:10  The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

This is how Peter described these Assyrians with whom we were enchanted during our time in Babylon even though they were causing us to commit whoredom:

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 
2Pe 2:2  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
2Pe 2:3  And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 

2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 
2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 

Eze 23:13  Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way, 
Eze 23:14  And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, 
Eze 23:15  Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity: 
Eze 23:16  And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. 
Eze 23:17  And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. 
Eze 23:18  So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.

As indicated in verse 13, both Aholah and Aholibah have taken one path, which is playing the harlot. In other words, worshiping another Jesus is the trade mark of the churches of this world irrespective of the dispensation. 

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, 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. 
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 

The pull of the harlot woman is irresistible unless we are given to know her in the spirit. Aholibah, the younger sister, defiled herself with the Babylonians while her elder sister, Aholah did that with the Assyrians. Spiritually, the Assyrians are the same as the Babylonians. The role of both Assyrians and the Babylonians was to increase our whoredom. This is what Paul has to say about the Assyrians and the Babylonians:

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Eze 23:18  So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister. 
Eze 23:19  Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. 
Eze 23:20  For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 
Eze 23:21  Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth. 

These verses continue the narration of the sins of the church of the Lord. In verse 18, we are told that she carried out her whoring openly and flaunted her nakedness. The sins of the physical churches of this world of which we were part of are open secrets to the public – how they have separated completely from the Lordship of Christ. As stated in verse 19, the churches have increased their whoring as they remember the days of their youth when they played the harlot in Egypt. This is to let us know that the current state of the churches of this world is no different from the people of the world (Egypt). In other words, the churches have conformed to the standards of this world of which the Lord has admonished us not to. This is because when we were in the churches of this world (Babylon), we were dominated by the lust of the flesh which is equated to how donkeys lust for a partner when they are on heat as shown in verse 20. Verse 21 shows us that our walk in the churches of this world was not different from how we lived in the world before Christ came.

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 

2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 
2Ti 3:6  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 
2Ti 3:7  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

The Need for the Judgment of the Lord

Eze 23:22  Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side; 
Eze 23:23  The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses. 
Eze 23:24  And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments. 
Eze 23:25  And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. 

In view of the fact that we had not changed but continued to live the lifestyles we were used to in the world, Egypt, even though we claimed to be the Lord’s people, the Lord saw it as the occasion that He was seeking to come and judge us. As we are aware, it is through the Lord’s judgement that we learn righteousness.  

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. 

The judgment in this case means the Lord bringing the Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa mentioned in verse 23, against the Lord’s people who represent us, His elect, using the sword as His tool to judge us. This is affirmed in verse 25 where the remnant of the Lord shall fall by the sword together with our offspring (sons and daughters) who represents our false doctrines in our heavens. In verse 25, we are told that our residue shall be devoured by the fire. This implies that it is through the fire of the Lord’s words that our false doctrines shall be devoured. 

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 
Jer 5:15  Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. 
Jer 5:16  Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. 
Jer 5:17  And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. 

In Jeremiah 5:17, the nation that comes from far which represents the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa in verse 23 shall eat our harvest and all the food for our sons and daughters, sheep, etc. The food here refers to our false doctrines which shall be destroyed through judgement. 

As indicated earlier, the negative aspect of sword refers to words that are spoken aimed to destroy us (our old man). These negative words spoken is one of the tools that the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect. 

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

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

Jdg 7:22 And the three hundred [men with Gideon] blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host [of the Midianites]: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

May the Lord continue to uphold us through His judgment of our old man so that after having done all, we shall stand!! Amen!!

Jer 3:18-25 You Shall Call Me, My Father and Shall No More Turn Away from Me

[Study Aired February 14, 2021]

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jer 3:19  But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Jer 3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jer 3:23  Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
Jer 3:24  For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jer 3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

The Lord pleads with us to repent of our backsliding infidelity and return to Him, and that is what we are doing. However, the Lord has divorced Himself from our adulterous ways, and the law prohibits an estranged wife from returning to her husband:

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Deu 24:3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

If the law of Moses were all we had, then we would all be irredeemably lost. According to the law of Moses even if her second husband dies, her first husband is prohibited from taking her back to himself. The apostle Paul was familiar with these words of the law of Moses, which is what prompted the holy spirit to have him to write:

Rom 7:1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

“You also” demonstrates that Paul understood clearly, as he states three times here in verse 2 through four, our ‘husband’ must first die, and even then “[we] also [the Lord’s wife (2Co 11:2, Rev 21:9)] are become dead to the law… that [we] should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead…”

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

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 21:9  And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

There we have it. That is the “that His banished be not expelled from Him” spoken of by the “wise woman of Takoa” means:

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

The ‘means’ which the Lord has devised that we “be not expelled from Him” is only “through death”, both the death of our first Husband and the death of His wife. Christ is our husband, and as His wife, “[we] also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ” (Rom 7:4).

Our husband, Christ, was once married to a physical nation. They “that know the law” know that Christ had to die to that marriage covenant before He could be married to another wife. While He was here in the flesh, he went only to physical Israel, while at the same time, as did the law itself, prophesying of a time when He would go to the Gentiles:

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.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
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.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

This is Christ’s first recorded message to “His own country”. Because He prophesied of being rejected “in His own country” and being sent to the Gentiles, except for the providence of God, He would have lost His life. The rejection by “His own country”, His own people, and even His own family, of His doctrine of eventually going to the Gentiles was just that radical and repugnant to them.

Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

He again demonstrates that He had to go first to “His own country” when dealing with a Gentile Syrophenician woman:

Mar 7:24  And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.
Mar 7:25  For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
Mar 7:26  The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
Mar 7:27  But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

Christ called this poor desperate Gentile woman a “dog” right to her face, and at first refused to heal her daughter. But, as a type of all who come to Him, she was desperate, and she was undeterred by being made painfully aware of how unaccepted and rejected she was:

Mar 7:28  And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
Mar 7:29  And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
Mar 7:30  And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

Christ rewarded this desperate woman “for this saying” because He knew that His Father had put those words in that woman’s mouth. He knew that she was speaking for Him and confirming His words to us and to “His own country” who were in the process of rejecting Him and His soon to be new spiritual wife. It was the beginning of “the time of reformation” which was prophesied of in the law of Moses:

Deu 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me [Moses was a great reformer]; unto him ye shall hearken;

Heb 9:7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

He and His first wife were both “made of a woman, made under the law”. That law forbade Him marrying a wife He had put away until He Himself died and she “also [died] to the law by the body of Christ; that [she] should be married to another, even to Him wo is raised from the dead…” (Rom 7:4).

Another prophecy from the mouth of Christ Himself concerning the necessity that He must put away of His first wife are His words to the Gentile woman at the well of Samaria:

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 [spiritual, Rom 2:28-29] Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers 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.

Let’s read that law again, and then also read where the Lord tells us that He has put away and then divorced His first wife:

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Deu 24:3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

For those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear, those words are just another way of saying:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Here is the Lord severing His relationship with ‘flesh and blood’:

Isa 50:1  Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

If our husband must die before He can marry His wife who was “under the law” (which ‘law’ dictates that she cannot be taken back by her first husband), then it follows that no one who is “under the law” can marry the husband who has put them away. It so happens that even the Gentiles to whom Christ would go are also under the law for this reason:

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

For this reason “[we Gentiles] also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that [we Gentiles, who were also under the law] should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead…” Here it is again… both Christ and His wife are “become dead to the law by the body of Christ”:

Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Christ cannot take us back as His wife, even after He dies for us, unless “we also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that we should be married to another… even to Him who is raised from the dead”.

Our ‘death’ to “the law of sin and death” is our “judgment [which is now] beginning at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). The judgment which is now on the house of God comes upon us as we “present [our]selves unto God a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1). Our judgment is our “crucifixion with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and it is our “dying daily” spoken of by the apostle Paul:

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

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

Gal 2:19  For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

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?

This is the death which must be taking place within us before “we also [must count ourselves as] dead by the body of Christ, that we might be married to another, even to Him that is raised from the dead”.

In Biblical symbolism our judgment always comes from the north:

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah [‘Aholiabah’ (Eze 23)] shall walk with the house of Israel [Ahola (Eze 23)], and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

We will say more about our “inheritance” and to whom it is promised later in this study, but for now we will take note that “the land of the north”, as we will demonstrate, symbolizes our judgment, which ‘judgment’ gradually destroys our old man and chastens us to learn “the righteousness of God which is by [the] faith of Jesus Christ” and must precede our “inheritance.”

Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Jer 6:1  O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

Jer 10:22  Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.

Here in Jeremiah 10, Judah is said to be “desolate and a den of dragons”. Notice how similar these words are to:

Jer 51:37  And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

The reason Judah is called “a den of dragons” is that she (Aholiabah) through her self-righteousness, has become more wicked than her elder sister Israel (Ahola). The judgment of both the harlot sisters comes “out of the north”:

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

This prophecy certainly has an outward, dispensational application (Rom 8:22-23), but it is to be applied first and primarily with ourselves (1Co 15:31). This is our “slaying”. This “slaying” is the judgment and death of our old man, and it is only through this judgment and death that we are granted “to be married to another, even to him that is raised from the dead.” This is the chastening judgment of the grace of God which “chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lust and to live Godly lives in this present age”:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: paideuo, chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [Greek: G165 – aion, age]; (KJV)

Ezekiel 9:1-7 describes the chastening grace of the Lord’s judgment of our time first as ‘Aholah’ and then as self-righteous, yet also lascivious ‘Aholibah’. The fact these two harlot sisters symbolize different stages of our single experience is demonstrated in a later chapter of the prophecy of Ezekiel. It is found in Ezekiel 37, known as the prophecy of “the valley of dry bones”. This is what we are told of the meaning of all these bones and who it is they symbolize:

Eze 37:1  The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
Eze 37:2  And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
Eze 37:3  And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
Eze 37:4  Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
Eze 37:5  Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] to enter into you, and ye shall live:
Eze 37:6  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 37:7  So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
Eze 37:8  And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath [H7307: ruach, spirit] in them.
Eze 37:9  Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
Eze 37:10  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army [Rev 7:4 and Rev 14:1 symbolically 144,000].
Eze 37:11  Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
Eze 37:12  Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
Eze 37:13  And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
Eze 37:14  And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

“I will… bring you into the land of Israel… and place you in you own land” is the inheritance of ‘Israel’, and Israel is the Old Testament type of the Lord’s elect who alone are promised “an inheritance among all them which are sanctified… of this present time” if we keep ourselves from false doctrines and at the same time oversee the Lord’s flock (Act 20:32, Rom 8:18).

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Act 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified [in “this present time” Rom 8:18]

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory [the inheritance] which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

This promised ‘inheritance’ is not promised to just anyone. Rather it is only promised to a “predestinated… few… who first trusted in Christ”:

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 [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.
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 [“in advance as security for the rest”] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The “great army” of Ezekiel 37:10 is ‘great’ only in that it is the Lord’s army. It is symbolized in the New Testament by one hundred forty-four thousand “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Compared to the millions who are called but not chosen, those who cannot go beyond the six milk doctrine of Hebrews 6, this “great army” are but very “few” indeed:

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

The promise of “an inheritance” in Jeremiah 3:18 is just one of the many Old Testament verses which give great meaning to all the New Testament promises of an inheritance for the overcoming saints:

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah [Aholiabah (Eze 23)] shall walk with the house of Israel [Ahola (Eze 23)], and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

“The redemption of the purchased possession” refers to “our inheritance” as “kings and priests” ruling with Christ over the kingdoms of this earth for a thousand years followed by being made judges at the white throne judgment (Rev 20).

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 present time”]?

Just as Joseph was given the throne of Egypt immediately upon coming out of prison, we, too, are given dominion over all of our false doctrines when we come out of our Babylonian prison in “the north” to which we have been carried away as slaves to “the law of sin and death”:

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

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.

Like Joseph coming out of the dungeons of Egypt, we also “come out of her”, out of the Babylonian religious systems of this world to receive our inheritance with Christ in the heavens immediately in “earnest”, down payment form, in Christ.

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.

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Being under either the law of Moses or the law of the Gentiles is our spiritual prison. Scripturally there is no difference between the law of Moses and the law of the Gentiles. Here is what the Holy spirit has inspired to be written for our edification:

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

It is the holy spirit which says the law of Moses is “a (disannulled) carnal commandment” no more capable of giving life than the Gentiles who “are a law unto themselves”:

Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Heb 7:17  For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:18  For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

Our time as slaves is spent in our whoredoms in the false doctrines of our Babylonian exile. It is the time we spend being dominated by the fear of men, the fear of death and by the doctrines and laws of Babylon.

This is what Paul tells us of the time we spend under such bondage:

Gal 4:1  But I say that so long as the heir is a child [a spiritual infant], he differeth nothing from a bondservant though he is lord of all;
Gal 4:2  but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world:
Gal 4:4  but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, [“under the rudiments of the world”]
Gal 4:5  that he might redeem them that were under the law [“under the rudiments of the world”], that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

When we begin to come out of the prison of being under the law, then we are becoming one with Christ. We begin to be seated with Him, and we are being enthroned with Him in His kingdom within us in down payment form “until the redemption of the purchased possession”:

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 [down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

“The redemption of the purchased possession” is to be given part in the first resurrection, and to rule “with Christ a thousand years” and then to be the judges of the great white throne judgment, which will judge the dead small and great according to their works:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
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.

However, death is not yet destroyed as per:

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Therefore, this prophecy continues:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them [“the nations in the four quarters of the earth” (vs 8)].
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever [the ages of the ages]

The lake of fire is the second death (vs 14) which has power over and hurts the second group who “Live not again until the thousand years [and the “little season” of universal rebellion – verse 3] are finished” (Rev 20:7-10), and then we come to “the resurrection of judgment” which Christ spoke of in John 5:28-29. This is the second resurrection, and it is called the “great white throne… judgment”:

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.

If there is a first resurrection (Rev 20:5), then this must be the second resurrection. If there is a second resurrection, then there must have been a first death. When did the previous ‘death’ take place? Here is the straightforward answer to that question:

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:

The first resurrection is also called “the marriage supper of the Lamb”:

Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

This union cannot take place until we see ourselves as hopelessly lost, self-righteous Aholibah, the younger, more sinful and self-righteous harlot sister. When we have acknowledged that we were first adulterous ‘Ahola’ and that we, through our self-righteousness, have surpassed the sins we committed while we were under the law, and that through our self-righteousness we ourselves have abused the Lord’s grace, then, and only then, are we in the humbled position of being ‘crucified with Christ [and] dying daily’. It is only from this position that we can be exalted to the throne of Christ and His Father because we have now “acknowledged our transgression” and we know whence we have come, and we know it is all His working from the beginning to the end for our good (Rom 8:28).

Jer 3:11  And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Jer 3:12  Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

Luk 14:11  For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Peter confirms these words of Jeremiah when he tells 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?

Coming out of the north signifies coming up through great tribulation and judgment. Coming back to the Lord out of the north signifies the Lord’s judgments in our earth have taught us righteousness:

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.

Ezekiel helps to reveal to us that we are all first the elder sister Aholah. Aholah is elder because she typifies our self-righteousness “mine own righteousness, which is of the law”:

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

Aholibah, the younger sister harlot, symbolizes our own self-righteousness as we turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, thereby becoming more wicked than our older sister, our time under the law.

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jer 3:19  But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Jer 3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

When we read of “Judah… with the house of Israel… coming together” to be one again, we are always speaking of the Lord’s elect who are being given “a goodly heritage [an inheritance] of the host of nations”.

Here is the promise of being given “a goodly heritage”, an inheritance “of the host of nations” to rule over in the New Testament:

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

This honor is given only to those who the Lord has “crushed to powder”, and who have “judged themselves (1Co 11:31), humbled themselves, and have died with Christ in this present time (1Co 15:31 and Rom 8:18).

These verses speak to the concept of acknowledging our transgressions and judging ourselves:

Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jer 3:23  Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.

Looking to the nations of this world, whether inward nations of this world… all our false doctrines, or outward nations of this world with their militaries; if we are depending on them for our life and safety it is disastrous. There is no salvation but through Christ and His words and His doctrines. He alone has the words of life:

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Joh 6:69  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Joh 14:5  Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

In this prophecy the Lord is reminding us of who we were, how we have treacherously treated our spiritual husband, and how unfit to be His wife we are as two self-righteous whores. With the promise of being delivered from His wrath if we will “only acknowledge [our] transgression” I want to include verses 21 and 22, along with our last two verses in which we offer “weeping and supplications” to the Lord for our unfaithful, whorish ways toward Him:

Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

Jer 3:24  For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jer 3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

These verses are ‘Ahola, and Aholibah’ in us acknowledging that [we] have transgressed, and these verses are the Lord healing us of our backsliding. If He does not do so, it will not be done, but He is in the process of doing just that, and we are accepting of “His workmanship” in our lives:

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Here are the verses of our next study:

Jer 4:1  If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
Jer 4:2  And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
Jer 4:3  For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Jer 4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Jer 4:5  Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
Jer 4:6  Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
Jer 4:7  The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
Jer 4:8  For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
Jer 4:9  And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

[Study Aired February 7, 2021]

We ended our last study explaining how the Lord has devised means by which His banished adulterous wife will not be expelled from Him. No one here, nor in scriptures, is saying that His rebellious, adulterous wife will remain in that state, but what scripture is saying is that the Lord has arranged that “through death” we can and will all be brought back to Him. His “bride” will be first, then His wife’s children, who are all the rest of mankind.

We will begin today by repeating the last couple of paragraphs from our last study:

“While it defiles the land to return to an adulterous wife, the Lord has provided a means to put us to death and raise us up as a new man who can return to our husband and not defile the land, the place of His abode, the place of His dwelling:

Rom 7:1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5  For when we were in the flesh [alive “to the law”], the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6  But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in [the physically impossible] newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

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.

If we are “dead to the law through the body of Christ”, how then can we possibly fall away from such a wonderful and blessed position to become Aholibah, the younger sister whose whoredoms exceed that of her older sister, who is and was still under the law? We do so through that most insidious of sins, the sin of Job, which is the sin of self-righteous apostasy:” [End Quote]

Job 27:1  Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
Job 27:3  All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
Job 27:4  My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

As chapter 40 shows us, as well as chapters one and two, it was Christ Himself who had risen against Job, and it was God Himself with whom Job was contending, reproving and disannulling His judgment so Job could condemn God and make himself righteous:

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

Job typifies each of us as first Ahola, and then as self-righteous, yet even more wicked, Aholibah, because, like Job, we turn the grace of God into lasciviousness:

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Ungodly  men, turning the grace of God  into lasciviousness” is typified in Ezekiel 23 as Aholibah within us, whose adulteries were worse than those committed by the New Testament church while it was yet under the law.

Eze 23:11  And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms

Not being under the law, we do not see ourselves as “lascivious”. We see ourselves as under God’s all-forgiving grace, and we have not yet been given eyes to see that grace does not nullify judgment, rather grace brings us into the Lord’s chastening and judgment:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [Greek: ‘paideuo’, chastening, and judging] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

True Godly righteousness is the fruit of the Lord’s judgments:

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.

This is our spiritual attitude as Aholibah:

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:

As Aholibah we have not been given eyes that see the need for being judged according to our works:

Ecc 11:9  Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
Ecc 11:10  Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

In other words, ‘Grow up and quit acting like an immature fool’. That is the admonition of scripture.

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day [of judgment] shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

These “ungodly men [within us who] turn the grace of God into lasciviousness”, don’t believe they are denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ”. This is what they believe:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

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:

By giving us over to such self-righteous and foolish thoughts, the Lord has given Himself the occasion He is seeking to judge a blessed few in this present time, and judgment in the scriptures always comes out of the north:

Jer 3:12  Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

The Lord tells us, “I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity.” It simply is not in our flesh to acknowledge our own self-righteousness which is the most insidious of sins. This is a humanly impossible requisite which requires a supernatural solution.

The Lord simply does not grant many of mankind in this present time to “acknowledge [their] iniquity” and admit that they “transgressed against the Lord”. What He has given the vast majority of mankind is to do a lot of very good works in His name. He Himself deceives the masses of mankind by answering their prayers for healing and for direction, “according to the idols of their hearts”:

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Eze 14:6  Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
Eze 14:8  And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

As we already demonstrated, “He has devised means whereby His banished will not be expelled from Him”, and that ‘means’ is “through death”.

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh [1Co 15:31, Eph 5:30] through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

When the Lord offers such a great honor, He gives that honor only to those whom He is preparing to be willing to die for Him and His doctrines. He does not give such honor to those whom He answers according to the idols of their hearts. He certainly does not  give it to those who do good works and think they do so of their own ‘free will’:

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have [we] cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

This is exactly what Job said to the Lord, and Job is a type of every man:

Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
Job 27:3  All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
Job 27:4  My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

Job 40 makes clear that it was not Job’s comforters with whom he was contending. Just as with Joseph’s brothers (Gen 45:4-8), which we quote so often, it was actually God with whom Job was “contending… reproving… disannulling His judgment and condemning God to make himself righteous”:

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

The honor of becoming “the bride, the Lamb’s wife… ruling with Him for a thousand years, and judging angels [in the] white throne judgment” is given to very few of the “many called”. They alone are given to acknowledge the vileness of their own self-righteousness and acknowledge they have actually condemned their own Creator to maintain their own righteousness. Lord willing, that is you and me. Only the Lord’s elect will remain faithful to the doctrines of Christ and be willing to withstand the pressures of this life, the “suffering of this present time… being hated of all men… and “endure… much tribulation… to the end”. This is how Christ explains His calling and His own sifting process:

Jdg 7:2  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
Jdg 7:3  Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
Jdg 7:4  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
Jdg 7:5  So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
Jdg 7:6  And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
Jdg 7:7  And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

Here is another of the Lord’s perspective of those who are ‘called but not chosen’ (Mat 22:14) to become saviors on Mount Zion (Oba 1:21):

Mat 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2  The kingdom of heaven [within you] is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6  And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them [‘hated them’ (1Jo 3:15)].
Mat 22:7  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Mat 22:10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: [The humility of Job after he was judged]
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but  few are chosen.

What we fail to see is that the book of Job reveals the guests who finally came to the feast are typified by Job Himself. It was He who first refused his own judgment, and while he was being judged, he accused God of “taking away [his] judgment”:

Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

Job typifies each of us. We are all first Ahola, the elder sister harlot, then we are Aholibah, the even more wicked younger sister whose name means:

H172
אָהֳלִיבָהּ    אָהֳלִיבָה
‘ohŏlı̂ybâh    ‘ohŏlı̂ybâhh
o”-hol-ee-baw’, o”-hol-e-baw’
(As with H170 the first form is in form a feminine of H168, but is in fact for the second form); from H168; my tent (is) in her; Oholibah, a symbolic name for Judah: – Aholibah.

Here in the Old Testament are those “few [who] are chosen” (Mat 22:14) to endure tribulation (Mat 10:22) and suffer with Christ for His body’s sake and die daily (1Co 15:31) with our Lord:

Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, [Aholah and Aholibah] saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family [“few chosen”], and I will bring you to Zion:

This is an important spiritual message for us as we struggle to be found pleasing to our own ‘husband, our Lord. “Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God”. Do not think you or I can cleanse ourselves, because we cannot. Neither should we think we can defile our Lord, our Husband to whom we are married, because we cannot, and that is why He tells us:

Eze 23:36  The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;

2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

As Jacob, who stole his brother’s blessing, as King David, who stole another man’s wife, and as the weak apostles of our Lord who “all forsook Him”, we do not appear to this world to be any different from any other ordinary sinner. The Lord Himself appeared very ordinary to the world of His time. The chief priests and the elders had to pay Judas to point Christ out to them because He looked so very ordinary:

Mat 26:14  Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
Mat 26:15  And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
Mat 26:16  And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Contrary to the doctrines of the great harlot, Christ or His elect did not have a visible halo over their heads. The Lord’s elect are always considered to be “ignorant and unlearned” by the leaders and peoples of this world:

Act 4:8  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
Act 4:9  If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Act 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Act 4:11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Act 4:13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14  And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

While the world cannot see or recognize the Lord’s elect or His doctrine, we certainly are aware that they hate His doctrine and anyone who lives by that doctrine. It is the Lord’s doctrines which are in the hearts and minds of His chosen few elect. It is by those doctrines we are “marked”. Israel of old was marked in their right hand and in their foreheads by the Lord’s doctrine in their minds and in their hearts.

Deu 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deu 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Deu 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes [forehead].

We are unrecognized by this world, but we know each other as those who are spiritually ‘marked [in] our hands and in our foreheads’:

Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

Being given eyes that can see this “mark” is just another way of saying  we  have been given “eyes that see and ears that hear” the voice of our Shepherd, Christ. It takes ‘Christ’ to know Christ, and to recognize His “voice”:

Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

The Lord has done just that for each of us, and we all “feed [the Lord’s] sheep with knowledge and understanding” if we are given to know His voice.

Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

If we know His ‘voice’, we are given to “sup with [Him]” on the words of His doctrines:

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.

If we are given to know His “New Testament” doctrine, then we will never return to the old doctrine, because we will not be one of the many who say, “The old is better.” Instead, we will be one of the few who say ‘the new is better’:

Luk 5:36  And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.
Luk 5:37  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
Luk 5:38  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
Luk 5:39  No man also having drunk old wine [the Old Testament] straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

When we are given to see that the new is actually better than the old, then we will be given to understand how Aholah and Aholibah will now both be made “one new man, so making peace” and “the stick of Judah will be made one with the stick of Israel:

Eze 37:15  The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Eze 37:16  Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
Eze 37:17  And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
Eze 37:18  And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Eze 37:19  Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
Eze 37:20  And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
Eze 37:21  And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
Eze 37:22  And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
Eze 37:23  Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
Eze 37:24  And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

Here is this exact same message in the New Testament:

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

We are “builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit” was prophesied to come to pass here in Jeremiah 3:

Jer 3:16  And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.

The physical ‘ark of the covenant’ with the two tablets of the ten commandments for the lawless and disobedient (1Ti 1:12), the golden pot which had manna and Aaron’s rod within it, was prophesied to become obsolete way in the prophecy of Jeremiah. In Christ we will never again return to our self-righteousness which we had while we were under the law.

Deu 6:24  And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
Deu 6:25  And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

Luk 18:18  And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Luk 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
Luk 18:20  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Luk 18:21  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Luk 18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Luk 18:23  And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

This “ruler” was “rich” in two ways. He was both physically rich and rich in his own works. He was a type of Job, and Job typified this ruler and each of us.

In Christ we take credit for nothing and proclaim only that our righteousness is now of Christ and of Him alone:

1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

The reference to “those days” in Jeremiah 3:16 have arrived within us in ‘earnest’ and in down-payment form because we have been made to see and acknowledge that we have indeed been Aholibah, the “chief of sinners” whose whoredoms have exceeded the sins we committed while living under the “carnal commandments” of the law of Moses and the law of the Gentiles, which are one and the same:

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Heb 7:16  Who [“Christ in us” (Col 1:27)] is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment [the law of Moses], but after the power of an endless life.

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law [of the spirit] might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

We have all to a greater or lesser degree committed spiritual adultery exceeding Aholah, our older sister, by turning the precious gift of grace which brought us out of Aholah into self-righteous lasciviousness, and we have thereby exceeded her in her adulteries:

Jud 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude would not need to mention this to us if we were not guilty of doing this. If we “only acknowledge [our] iniquity, that we have transgressed against the Lord” more treacherously than our elder sister Aholah, then in spite of our gross sins and self-righteous iniquities, we will be His tent where He will dwell:

H172
אָהֳלִיבָהּ    אָהֳלִיבָה
‘ohŏlı̂ybâh    ‘ohŏlı̂ybâhh
o”-hol-ee-baw’, o”-hol-e-baw’
(As with H170 the first form is in form a feminine of H168, but is in fact for the second form); from H168; my tent (is) in her; Oholibah, a symbolic name for Judah: – Aholibah.

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

This sounds like a request, but when we put the sum of the Lord’s words together, we realize that these verses are a prophecy that our sovereign Lord, who “works all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11) is working within us:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

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:

“The pride of life” is self-righteousness. That is the most insidious of sins, and that is the sin with which the entire book of Job concerns itself. It is the final of the three all-encompassing sins that are within every man:

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

It is just naturally impossible for us to acknowledge our self-righteous iniquity. Only “Christ in us” can humble us and give us the grace and mercy needed to overcome that proud wild beast which we all are by nature, and which we all are “in the Potter’s hand” (Jer 18:4).

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

When we begin to overcome the pride of the great red dragon within us, then we will begin to be born into Jerusalem above, and we will begin to be  caught up to the throne of God to be seated 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:

“Even when we were dead in sins” reminds us of what we are when the Lord calls us:

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

God is demonstrating through us that He does not need us. He is demonstrating this by using the foolish, weak, base, and despised and people who are not capable of being kings and priests, and He is making us a nation of kings and priests to rule with Him over the nations of this world:

Jer 3:17  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

That is our “new name” which is known only to those that have it. That is where the Lord dwells, and ‘Jerusalem’ is where He sits upon His throne in His temple:

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 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.

Only Christ can be ‘Christ’. Only He knows His new name, and only He knows His ‘voice’, and only He knows to flee from the ‘voice’ of a stranger:

Joh 10:1  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
Joh 10:2  But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3  To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

We are blessed to know Christ and to know others who “know His voice”. We are “one body” with “one mind”, and we speak with one voice, the voice of the True Shepherd, the Word of God:

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

That is our study for today, and here are our verses for our next study. Our next study will confirm the doctrine of being “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” which will bring Israel and Judah to be one again in Christ. We will see what that entails in our next study.

Jer 3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jer 3:19  But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Jer 3:20  Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Jer 3:23  Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
Jer 3:24  For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jer 3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

Mike,

I hope this will find you in perfect health. I am aware of how busy you are but I cannot wait to ask you this:

In Ezekiel 23:20, 21 the Scriptures speaks of the following;

1. Genitals like those of a donkey,
2. Emissions like that of horses,
3. Bosom caressed and
4. Breasts fondled.

Comparing spiritual to spiritual here has become a hard nut for me to crack! I am trying to find any link that you have taught of these things, but I have not yet succeeded! I will patiently be waiting for a response when as when you get the time to respond. No hurry!

Any help will do,

YbitC,

G____

Hi G____,

Thank you for your question concerning the meaning of Ezekiel 23: 20-21.

I don’t believe I have written anything on these particular verses, so this will give me that opportunity. While the word ‘genitals’ is not in those verses, that does indeed appear to be the subject of verse 20 in the context of the southern kingdom of Judah committing spiritual fornication against her own God and Savior, who had brought her up out of the bondage of Egypt. The northern kingdom of Israel had already been taken captive, and instead of learning to fear God, Judah became even more of a harlot than her sister had been.

These two sisters are called by God “Aholah, and Ahollibah”, and the verses you reference deals with the younger sister, Aholabah”. Before we demonstrate who these two sisters are, let’s first look at what is said in introducing these them to us:

Eze 23:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Eze 23:2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
Eze 23:3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.
Eze 23:4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.

For many years I attempted to understand the meaning of these two sisters, knowing that Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel and that Jerusalem was the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah. At first I contrived the older sister to be Judaism and the younger sister to be the apostate Christian church. Later I thought the older sister was the Catholic church and the younger sister was the Protestant church. In doing that, I was not applying the principle of “all things are yours” to the scriptures.

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 3:23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

I knew that Rev 1:3 applied to the events of the book of Revelation, but had not yet come to see that Revelation is just one book in the entire revelation of Jesus Christ, which is in truth the entire word of God, the entire Bible:

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
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.

A good example of how this principle works is in Genesis.

Gen 41:25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Pharaoh had two dreams. The first was a dream about two kinds of cows, and the second was about to types of corn, but Joseph tells him that the dream is actually one dream with one message, and that message is that a famine is coming on the land.

Since we are plainly told that these two sisters represent Samaria, the elder, and Jerusalem the younger, we already know they are both merely types of the one nation that came up out of Israel. The nation was divided simply for our sakes, and to tell us what Ezekiel is telling us in this prophecy:

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Hard as it is to believe, what Ezekiel is saying is not for the people of that day as much as it is for you and me today. Oh yes! This did happen to them, and it is written, but it was all done for our admonition upon whom the product of the ages have first come.

This same principle applies to this prophecy concerning these two sisters. It is “not unto themselves, but unto us” that Ezekiel is giving this prophecy. These two harlot sisters are both symbols of who we are individually at two different stages of our own spiritual development. We are first Aholah, and then we are Aholibah, which both, interestingly enough mean “His tent” or “My tent”, [ My dwelling place], in her”.

Here is Hitchcock’s definition of these two names:

Aholah
his tabernacle; his tent
Aholibah
my tent, or my tabernacle, in her

So both these women actually represent God’s apostate people in whom He has and will “tabernacle”, or dwell:

Heb 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 8:2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

If Christ is within us, then you and I are that “true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man”.

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

So these two sisters are simply types and shadows of who we are as our first beast in Aholah receives a deadly wound, and Aholibah is who we are when our deadly wound is healed, and we are now more corrupt and seven times more insulated against the doctrines of Christ than we were at the beginning.

Eze 23:11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.

The doctrine of being a “carnal… babe in Christ”, or a “Jew which believes on Christ [ yet] seeks to kill Him”, is unknown to those “carnal… babes”, nevertheless it is a very Biblical doctrine:

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

Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

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.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

As is always the case in the natural world where ‘the hatred he had for her was more than the love he had for her’, we become estranged from our spiritual lovers, and they also turn upon us and devour us.

2Sa 13:15 Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone.

Eze 23:11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.
Eze 23:12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

Eze 23:19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
Eze 23:20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
Eze 23:21 Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.
Eze 23:22 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;

So ‘the vision is one’ and these two sisters and all the extremely graphic language describing their adulteress sexual immorality is all about us when we first receive the word of God as a deadly wound to our old man. Then our deadly wound is healed, and we return to being the beast we are, and we deny Him, and seven devils more evil than the first come into our lives, and we are worse off than we were at the beginning.

That is the message we are given about these two sisters who wanted to be more like those around them than they wanted to be like Christ and suffer the persecution He suffered. Here is the solution to the affliction of Aholah and Aholibah within us all:

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The cross of Christ is a bloody, messy, dying daily crucifixion which we just naturally abhor. Aholah and Aholibah abhorred being different from those around them and they, as types and shadows of us, went spiritually whoring after the world around them.

King Solomon’s wives are the same as the lovers of Aholah and Aholibah. Whatever comes between us and our God is spiritual adultery and fornication, which we must come to acknowledge and repent.

I hope all these verses help you to understand what ‘caressed bosoms, donkey genitalia, and the issue of a horse’ is all about. It is God’s very graphic words He chose to use to tell us just how disgusted He is with our ways, which He Himself gives to us to demonstrate for us why it is that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. (1Co 15:50)

Your brother in the Christ,

Mike

P.S. I did a word study below which I will include in this note.

H1320
בּשׂר
baÌ‚sÌaÌ‚r
baw- sawr’

From H1319; flesh (from its freshness); by extension body, person; also (by euphemism) the pudenda of a man: – body, [fat, lean] flesh [-ed], kin, [man-] kind, + nakedness, self, skin.

Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh [Hebrew – basar, H1320] instead thereof;

Gen 17:14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh [basar H1319] of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

H1319
בּשׂר
baÌ‚sÌar
baw- sar’

A primitive root; properly to be fresh, that is, full (rosy, figuratively cheerful); to announce (glad news): – messenger, preach, publish, shew forth, (bear, bring, carry, preach, good, tell good) tidings.

2Sa 4:10 When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings [ Hebrew, basar, H1319], I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings:

Strong’s
H2231
זר××”
zirmâh
zir- maw’
Feminine of H2230; a gushing of fluid (semen): – issue.

Eze 23:20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue [ H2231, zirmah, H2231] is like the issue[ H2231, zirmah, H2231] of horses. (KJC)

H2231
זר××”
zirmâh
Total KJV Occurrences: 2
issue, 2
Eze_23:20 (2)

This is the only verse in scripture where this word is found, but it is the feminine of H2230 which is:

H2230
זר×
zerem
Total KJV Occurrences: 9
storm, 3
Isa_4:6, Isa_25:4 (2)
tempest, 3
Isa_28:2, Isa_30:30, Isa_32:2
flood, 1
Isa_28:2 (2)
overflowing, 1
Hab_3:10
showers, 1
Job_24:8