The Book of Amos Chapter 9:1-15

[Aired February 1, 2025]

This is the final chapter in this study of Amos. 

Our Lord is merciful to not utterly consume His children after the sins He caused them to perform lest they become overly offended, discouraged, and taken.

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

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked [Hebrew: râshâ] for the day of evil. 

1Sa 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. 

1Sa 19:9  And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand. 

Lam 3:18  And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: 

Mic 1:12  For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem. 

Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out [the giants and evil spirits in our land within] from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. 

Such is our Lord’s mercy in giving us an experience of evil at the hands of his murderous servant, Satan, after which Christ saves us following our acknowledgment of our sins and, by his strength, brings us to our safe haven in him.

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; 
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. 
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! 
Psa 107:32  Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

In the first ten verses of this last chapter in Amos, to the unspiritual eye, it seems that the Lord is mercilessly negative; however, his Elect see the chastisements positively, which starkly contrasts them from their former Babylonian nature of hiding, accusing and excusing themselves then always pricked with a guilty conscience, while in that sickly state, never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Of course, the Elect of God knows that the destruction of Israel is the Old Man within, gloriously sacrificed, slaughtered upon Christ, his altar, and are thankful for the evil he exacted and the consequence of the sword never leaving his house.

2Sa 12:9  Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 
2Sa 12:10  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Col 1:21  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 
Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 
Col 1:23  If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; 
Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 

Significations:

The Destruction of Israel

Amo 9:1  I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel [‘Bulb, knob, capital’ = one’s head, the centre of understanding] of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. 
Amo 9:2  Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: 

A “lintel” in doorway construction is a major supporting beam of wood, steel or stone immediately above the door supported by its side posts the upper weight of the building. In scripture, it symbolises our head and Christ.

No greater heavenly smiting and earthquake shaking of the lintel is there than our Lord’s smiting of our spiritual lintel between our ears of understanding with his blood from the cross. That smiting inspires us to emulate our Husband, filling up behind similar afflictions though spiritually he physically endured, now in our bodies (Col 1:24). Though most impudently, we often don’t soberly shake in reverential fear of our Lord and husband wholly, like the emblematic whore we are escaping.

Exo 12:20  Ye shall eat nothing leavened [today, the Lord’s undefiled word]; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. 
Exo 12:21  Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. 
Exo 12:22  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts [our eyes and ears of understanding] with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning [remain in the Lord for the rest of our lives into the First Resurrection]. 
Exo 12:23  For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians [“slay the last of them with the sword of his word”, within]; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. 
Exo 12:24  And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. 

If we are deemed the ‘very Elect’ (Mat 24:24), we will gladly see that we do not wish to ‘flee away’ from our Lord’s chastisements since, and if we, like Adam, continue to ‘hide’ and attempt to escape from acknowledging our sins, we will desiccate in his midday sun of truth, undelivered ⎯ represented at a later date in a perceived hotter furnace of truth, the Lake of Fire.

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. 

Thankfully, we cannot hide from Christ’s glorious wrath while we are concealed in a hole, clefts in the rocks, or caves in the mountains since he is mighty and powerful to draw out Leviathan on our behalf from within (Rev 6:15-17).

Psa 139:6  Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it.
Psa 139:7  Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence? 
Psa 139:8  If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. 
Psa 139:9  If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn, and settle down on the other side of the sea, 
Psa 139:10  even there your hand would guide me, your right hand would grab hold of me. 
Psa 139:11  If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, and the light will turn to night all around me,” 
Psa 139:12  even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, and the night is as bright as day; darkness and light are the same to you. 

Job 41:1  Can you draw out the Leviathan with a hook, or hold down his tongue with a cord? 
Job 41:2  Can you put a reed rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw with a thorn? 
Job 41:3  Will he multiply pleas for help to you? Will he speak soft words to you? 
Job 41:4  Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him for a servant for ever? 
Job 41:5  Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your maidens? 
Job 41:6  Shall your companions bargain over him? Shall they divide him among the merchants? 
Job 41:7  Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fishing spears? 
Job 41:8  Lay your hand on him, think of the battle; you will never do it again. 

Amo 9:3  And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel [our ‘lintel], I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: 

Leviathan’s God-controlled bites and our subsequent pleading for our Lord’s delivery are vital to humble us to grow in grace, knowledge and Christ’s faith.

Num 21:8  And Jehovah said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. And it shall be when everyone that is bitten, when he looks upon it, he shall live. 

Psa 44:2  You drove out the nations with Your hand, and planted them; You brought evil on peoples and cast them out.
Psa 44:3  For they did not get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them. 

Paradoxically to the former Babylonian within, the evil given to chastise us is for our good.

Amo 9:4  And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
Amo 9:5  And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land [afflict our bodies], and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 
Amo 9:6  It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven [including Babylon within, a mighty tower, only to smash it down], and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. 

In verse five, we begin our journey as the ‘land’ that will, for us, melt at his fiery word and in bewildering fearfulness for the entire World of our brothers and sisters; similarly, in the Lake of Fire, a type of baptism of fire in the Israelites crossing of the Red Sea; “the flood of Egypt”.

Jer 31:34  And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. 
Jer 31:35  So says Jehovah, who gives the sun for a light by day and the laws of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divides the sea when its waves roar; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; 
Jer 31:36  if those ordinances depart from Me, says Jehovah, the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever. 

Mat 3:11  I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 
Mat 3:12  Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 

Amo 9:7  Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor [original home of the Philistines] and the Syrians from Kir? [a place in Mesopotamia = ‘wall’]

Israel and formerly, we being the children of the Ethiopians, Egyptians, Philistines, Babylonians and Old Israel, denotes our Gentile Christian origins, the Great Whore from whom we were conceived, confirmed in these next verses:

Hos 2:4  And I will not have mercy on her sons, for they are the sons of adulteries. 
Hos 2:5  For their mother has prostituted herself. She who conceived them has done shamefully. For she said, I will go after my lovers who give my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink [her own clothing representing her self-righteousness]. 

Eze 18:20  The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Eze 18:21  But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Eze 18:22  All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. 
Eze 18:23  Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? 
Eze 18:24  But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. 

In the Old Covenant, righteousness was attained by keeping the Law; what a person did in accordance with the Law caused him to be right with God; it was the person’s righteousness, self-righteousness, and imagined free will to do or not to keep 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

Amo 9:8  Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. 
Amo 9:9  For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
Amo 9:10  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

The negative of grain, a seeded Elect of God not falling to the earth, is him not dying in the earth of his body to bring forth increase and meat for his Lord’s table. Positively, our Lord guarantees that if indeed we are the ‘very Elect’, he will bring us from birth to the fullness of spiritual maturity. Hence, not the least grain will fall upon the earth and be lost. Since mankind are sinners and everyone, inclusive of the Elect, will die by the sword of God’s word, we harken back to the earlier statement that we do have a way of escaping our wretched corruption in and through Christ without being destroyed forever as most Christian harlot churches teach. Those statements are verified in the next verses:

The Restoration of Israel

Amo 9:11  In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 
Amo 9:12  That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. 

Increasingly today, as the Great Whore (out of which comes the Bride) half-sees the end of her reign, she, represented by Zionism and the artificial nation called Israel, becomes more strident, vocalising that they are God’s chosen people and the rest of the World are cattle for slaughter, goyim serving the Jew’s imaginary temple within themselves possibly soon to be reconstructed on the site of the old temple mount. While it is true that they, too, will ultimately be saved, as though fire, Amos 9:11-12 is speaking of the Lord’s very Elect, his spiritual Jews, the remnant that will rule the World, who is symbolised by Edom.

Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Rev 3:8  I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 
Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the World, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

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.

That ‘open door that no man can shut’ spoken of in Rev 3:8, for the most part, is represented in the next verse, illustrating the mighty flood of our Lord’s fiery word baptising the Bride in his truth. The full richness of his words is represented by tender grapes, harvested grain and cup of our Lord’s wine melting our stubbornly remaining hills within.

Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 

Amo 9:13  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 

Jer 49:12  For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink [Gentile Christianity and the World] of the cup have [will] assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it. 

Jer 25:27  Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

As cryptically depicted in the next verses, led by the chosen spiritual Jews, the entirety of humanity conceived from Adam to the end of the One Thousand Year reign will represent the rich harvest of souls in the Lake of Fire.

Amo 9:14  And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 
Amo 9:15  And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God. 

Jer 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

And, led by the Bride of Christ, notice that she is already seated with Christ, her husband in heaven since the First Resurrection,

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

Rom 11:26  And so all Israel [representive of the entirety of mankind] shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 

Lord God, hasten that day!

Amen.

The Book of Amos – Introduction – Chapter 1:1

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

[Study Aired October 26^th 24]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Evil Hebrew 7451: Ra`

– Phonetic: rah

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

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

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

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

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

Significations of Amos Verse One

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

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

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

`Amowc

– Phonetic: aw-moce’

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

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

 

Tekoa H8620 means,

Phonetic: tek-o’-ah

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Richter Earthquake Magnitude

0.2 Not felt by people. Small.

2-3 Felt a little by people.

3-4 Ceiling lights swing.

4-5 Walls crack. Moderate.

5-6 Furniture moves.

6-7 Some buildings collapse. Major.

7-8 Many buildings were destroyed.

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

9 Very Severe. Every 300 years.

10 Super. Rarely. Every 1,000 years.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Summary

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

Hail washes away the refuge of lies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Psa 12:1 To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
Psa 12:2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
Psa 12:3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
Psa 12:4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
Psa 12:5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Psa 12:7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Psa 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

The verses in this study tonight have impressed upon me our need to be grateful for the forgiveness that God grants his people as we grow in being able to hear the word and actively do what we ought to be doing unto our own flesh and bones, the body of Christ.

Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Isa 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

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

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

And tonight’s study comes on the heels of the question posed in last week’s study of Psalm 11 – “How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?”, where we were reminded that in order to grow in compassion and love for the body of Christ we need to be dragged to our refuge (Christ and His body) where we are judged, and made to see that we are lacking in that living sacrifice of Christ and needing to fill up what is behind of his afflictions (the bird that needs to be washed seven times by the blood of the other dove).

Lev 4:17 And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the vail.

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

We are blessed beyond any today to know that this verse applies to us and that our sins are many, meaning all the sin of the world, and if we are given to acknowledge that complete forgiveness that we need for being guilty of all (Rom 2:4), we will be able to love much.

Luk 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Luk 7:45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
Luk 7:46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Luk 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
Luk 7:48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

It is through the critical stripes, trials and tribulations that God is giving that we are maturing in our Lord and being made able to comfort each other with the comfort that He comforts us with through this life which is preparing us through those events to be saviours who come up on mount Zion. The only way we will ever be able to bring healing to the nations will be through the comfort that God has given us in our own life through Christ, which is the experience we go through for their sakes.

Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

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

Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The obstacles that God allows to be in our way in this life are put there to demonstrate His sovereignty over the process of our growth as He gives the increase that manifests as a result of going through the fiery trials. He will not lose any through the fiery experiences that we must go through in order to be purified and become unified through those struggles.

1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Psa 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

1Co 12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

We are not alone in this experience of evil through this life, and these trials are common to the body of Christ and to all men, however our trials are working together for good in our lives if Christ is in the midst of the fire, and that good as we have mentioned will be to bring healing to the nations.

Ecc 1:13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

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

Dan 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Dan 3:17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Dan 3:19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

Tonight we will look at how God is maturing us to be as He is in this world, so that when Christ says “Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none”, we do come to understand that this is made possible through the relationship of love (obedience to his commands Joh 14:15) that God is building in the body of Christ who will be used to save the rest of world one day and lose none.

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

1Ti 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Oba 1:21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Our first verse:

Psa 12:1 To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

It is revealing to see that God lets evil men wax worse and worse at the end of the age, in order for the new man to be formed within His people. Sheminith is a symbol of that new man as his names meaning suggest and he crys out, as do we “help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth”.

2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Christ had many things to say about the faithful failing “from among the children of men”, and in this we learn that it is Christ alone who can bring us through this narrow way that leads to life and few there be that find it.

Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Two stories that demonstrate who we are except by the grace and faith of Christ and written for our edification, exhortation and comfort today can be found in the new covenant (love not this land, this world, Christ tells us in 1Jn 2:15).

Act 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
Act 5:2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Act 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Act 5:4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Act 5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

We must identify with every word written in God’s word and see ourselves as the unfaithful “Ananias and Sapphira who kept back part of the price of the land” and with this mindset do away with the conceit in our flesh that would tell us ‘I would never withhold anything from Christ’. The truth is we are all Demas and Crescens and Titus withholding the land and go back into the world, except God chastens us and receives us through the scourging experience of grace and faith which is going to save few in this age and prevent us from continuing in sin. When we cease from sinning we are living our lives to fulfill the will of God which replaces the natural carnal will of man that wants only to fulfill the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes with hearts that are filled with pride. That is what we do first, to demonstrate that “the faithful fail from among the children of men” and that only Christ can be Christ as our hope of being able to go from glory to glory in this life.

Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

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

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

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;

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

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.

Psa 12:2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

That’s what flesh is; it is all vanity, passing away, and not able to inherit the kingdom of God (Ecc 1:14, 1Co 15:50). So we all start off as the preacher says speaking “vanity every one with his neighbour” even with “flattering lips” and “with a double heart” do we speak.

The only way to destroy this unstable double-minded earthly man is to have him judged as we discussed last week, and it is through those fiery trials of judgment that we gain the singleness of mind that is found in Christ that does away with vanity and flattering lips.

Jas 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

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^G572 [singleness] that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus (a fleshly gospel, a health and prosperity gospel as opposed to acknowledging that ‘all is vanity’), 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.

Psa 12:3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
Psa 12:4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

Christ’s body acknowledges that we are the false prophets at first who worship God in vain (Mar 7:7) and wrap His words around the idols of our double minded hearts (Eze 14:3), that operate our flattering lips that have not yet been touched by the fiery coals that we need to have Christ minister to us in order to purify and circumcise the “flattering lips”, and the “tongue that speaketh proud things”(Isa 6:7).

These verses speak of the unruly tongue spoken of in James that is deceived into thinking it does not have to bring our thoughts into subjection unto Christ and will not let anyone rule “over us”. The end result of the way that seems right unto a man is a great fire, a great fall, and Babylon crashing to the ground, as we will read here in James.

Jas 3:1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
Jas 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word (2Co 10:5), the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
Jas 3:3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body [symbol for us today of running with horses through Christ (running with men in the court first, then running with Christ in the heavens) Jer 12:5].
Jas 3:4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth [symbol of our ability through Christ to overcome the false doctrines of Babylon by being led into all truth with the comforter which is the governor Eze 27:25, Joh 16:13].
Jas 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Jas 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell [this fire can be both positive and negative, but when it is the coals from the altar of God spoken of in (Isa 6:6) it is going to set “on fire the course of nature” the first man Adam].

God has made us subject to this vain tongue for so long, so that the contrast will be there when we see the results of the new purified tongue that is now subject unto God and able to bring forth living waters as a result of the tree of life abiding within us (Joh 7:38, Jas 3:11).

Pro 3:18 She is a tree of life [the church, the body of Christ] to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Psa 12:5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffethH6315 at him.
Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

These two verses show the mercy that God has upon us by destoying the beast by the breath of life that He puffs at us so that the words which are initially wrapped around the idols of our hearts can become the purified words “The words of the LORD [which] are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times”

puffethH6315 [H8686 = Hiphil] pûach
BDB Definition: 1b) (Hiphil)
1b1) to cause to exhale or breathe
1b2) to puff, snort
1b3) to excite, inflame
1b4) to puff, pant for it
1b5) to breathe out, utter
1b6) to blow, blast

Strong’s: A primitive root; to puff that is blow with the breath or air; hence to fan (as a breeze) to utter to kindle (a fire) to scoff: – blow (upon) break puff bring into a snare speak utter.

Eze 21:31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.
Eze 21:32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it.

Psa 12:7 Thou shalt keep^H8104 [guard/hedge] them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve^H5341 [guard/hidden] them from this generation for ever.

In order to be kept/preserved, we must be of the generation which is judged in this age, and only by this chastening and scourging and much tribulation and being dragged to Christ do we cease from sinning and start to truly lay up store in heaven and trim our lamps and make our selves ready for the return of Christ; is, was and will be.

Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Psa 83:3 They [“them from this generation”, within and without] have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

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.

To be of “them” that “Thou shalt keep… [and] preserve from this generation”; “for ever^H5769” is simply telling us that “them” that God keeps^H8104 “keep those things which are written therein” (Rev 1:3) and preserve^H5341 the word or keep as a watchman the word so that we can be of that generation^H1755 who have the gold of God purified in their heavens. Interesting to note the word d’or in French looks very similar to this word for generation^H1755.

Psa 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

As long as we are in this flesh, “wicked walk on every side” (within and without) because God allows “the vilest men” to be exalted in the earth today, again to create contrast and to remind us that our calling is on the backs of their unbelief and that we can only overcome those chief of sinners within us through Christ. Had God not dragged us, being purified in this age, in this generation, we would have continued in our sin and died (Joh 8:24, 1Jn 3:3) and not been preserved from this wicked and adulterous generation that we are in today.

When we all first read the words “Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none” (Joh 18:9), we did not understand that we would have to be shown so much about “the vilest men” within us who could only be dethroned by the brightness of his coming.

We had no idea what we would have to suffer as Paul learned (Act 9:16), so that “the wicked” who “walk on every side” within us could be destroyed and through that destruction of the man of sin, a new life would be born that exalts only God and gives God all the glory for every part of this purification process that we are called unto.

Christ will convince His wife that His love is stedfast for her, and that His desire for her is perfect and holy, as is his ability to save her so that she can drink that cup and be matured through this life so that she can go out and do what Christ has done for us, saying, “Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none”. Saviours will come up on mount Zion (Oba 1:21).

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

Our prayer is that God will help each and every one of us to not neglect so great a salvation by stirring up His spirit, within this little flock, not only providing for the physical as God provides the means, but through encouragement, comfort and exhortation — which is the true spirit of prophesy that we abundantly need as His children in this ever darkening world.

Heb 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

2Ti 1:6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

Joh 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

1Co 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

2Pe 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

1Th 5:20 Despise not prophesyings.

One last question: who is it to whom Christ is giving us to say, “that none shall be lost”?

Joh 18:9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Joh 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.