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The Book of Amos – Chapter 3:1-15: Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing,
but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets”– Amo 3:7

[Aired November 30, 2024]

Although this study and much of the Book of Amos focuses on Israel and, specifically, the Priests directly indicting us, highlighting our guilt and punishment, it is all integral to the Feast of Trumpets and the trumpet blasts in Revelation. Thus, a degree of repetition will be reflected during these studies.

Humanity innately desires an easy life that monetary riches enable. With money, we can make ourselves look more appealing than nature has provided; it vainly authorises greater intelligence and access to the world’s best academic institutions. Monetary riches engender personal wealth on all levels of one’s presentation to the world unchallenged while remaining semiconsciously yet unashamedly naked.

Ecc 10:19  A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.

In succession with those riches, our Lord intentionally created sexual awareness to be part of our daily lives, intrinsically. Even though it is a subliminally and constantly present spontaneity of mind, outwardly, we, and even the most debauched, thankfully, practice social sobriety. Accordingly, the Bible is about the marriage of the Lamb of God to the pinnacle of his creation in the Bride who is first to be blessed to see the spiritual implications of every Old Covenant Law. Consequently, the Bible is equally about two women; one a whore and the other the Bride of Christ, as it is about two men, the old and new Adam in Christ, who, paradoxically to the churches of the world, are one representation of the Bride in transition.

Without the Law in Christ’s commandments, we would never know the spirit of the Law. Amos and all the Bible’s prophets’ prophecies are deeply connected to our sexuality and broken covenant and the most profound aspect of indicting guilt for a guaranteed punishment. Incomprehensibly to Cain (Gen 4:13… “my punishment is greater than I can bear”) and the world who see us as masochists, we have learnt to glorify God for our chastisement and send each other gifts in the form of prayers, psalms, and encouragement for the torment He has given us (Rev 11:10). That response is us joyfully ascending into heaven in a cloud while our old enemies left in the old Adam below, mournfully look upward; a chasm impossible to traverse.

Rom 7:7-25  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

There, in the last sentence of that scripture, is our realisation for our acknowledgment of the subtlety of spiritual transgressions. As seen in the previous study in Amos chapter two under the Old Covenant, we could lust all we liked physically of mind and not transgress God’s Commandments so long as we didn’t physically engage sexually. However, now and in light of the New Covenant (subtlety juxtaposed in John 8:1-11) in our study of physical Judah and Israel, we are aroused most gloriously in righteous spiritual spontaneity by the lyrics of the song only the 144,000 in Revelations 14:1-5  are learning today!

Rom 7:8  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence [meaning, inordinate ‘desire, carving, longing’ in the lust of the mind and spirit insidiously for what is now forbiden]. For without the law sin was dead.
Rom 7:9  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I [learned to] died [daily].
Rom 7:10  And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Rom 7:12  Wherefore the law is holy, and the [spiritual] commandment holy, and just, and good.
Rom 7:13  Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the [spiritual] mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the [disappearing] flesh the law of sin.

Significations:

Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

Amo 3:1  Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family [the twelve tribes inclusive of Judah] which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 
Amo 3:2  You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. 

Just wow! Don’t those first verses make you shiver? Our Lord addresses his Bride, the few, nonetheless the ‘whole family’ he will drag out of Babylon and sobering us with the stark reality of his will that it is “you only [primarily meaning his Bride] have I known of all the families of the earth“! The ‘kicker’ (colloquially ‘usually unpleasant’) for the spiritually immature is that he “will punish you for all your iniquities“! Now, that is too much for our former Gentile Christian selves to stomach and attracts a jolly good spiritual stoning for the consternation it unsettles the Babylonian within.

With the taste of wording common to the Body of Christ, ‘no person will ever see eternal life without the wrath of God through chastisement in his life at God’s appointed time’. This process of chastening brings salvation and teaches us righteousness (Isa 26:9).

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Hos 11:3  I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
Hos 11:4  I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love [hidden chastisement]: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
Hos 11:5  He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return [to God].

Not returning to Egypt and going into Assyria and Babylon is part of our journey towards becoming Christ (Jer 29:3-23).

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared [in their order of salvation] to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [Not all sins are transgression, but are highly apt to lead into transgression. Christ must increase as we decrease the flesh subject to corruption];

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

1Co 11:32 But when we are judged [Hebrew: “krinō”], we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned [Hebrew: “katakrinō” = a later judgement] with the world [to the later “great white throne… judgment”].

Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

It is only the Elect who are being chastened since Christ and the foundation of the world. All of the Gentile Christian Church are bastards in their own time and order.

Psa 119:71  It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

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

It is only the Elect who can hear and live in the fire of his word. The Lord’s Elect, “they that have done good [in] this present time” (Rom 8:18), are being judged in ‘this present time’ and will not need to come up “unto the resurrection of judgment”. “When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world… unto the resurrection of judgment.” Nevertheless, even those who are condemned to the resurrection of judgment are still being judged by God, and when His judgments are in the earth men will learn righteousness, even those in the lake of fire, the second death, the Great White Throne Judgment:

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

It is only by the Lord’s sovereign will that some few are given to be judged in “this present time”. If we are blessed to be part of “the house of God [in] this present time”, then we will also be given to believe these words of the apostle Paul concerning this the greatest of all honours:

Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 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. [God chastises us for our good!]

Jer 24:5  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
Jer 24:6  For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
Jer 24:7  And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Jer 24:8  And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
Jer 24:9  And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
Jer 24:10  And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

The answer to all of the following rhetorical verses is profoundly yes.

Amo 3:3  Can two walk together, except they be agreed? 

That verse makes a subtle connection with marriage. Every spirit-led Elect of God coming out of Babylon and married to an unbeliever, like Lot coming out of Sodom with his wife looking back, immaturely experiences initial ‘bitterness’ for their spouse’s seeming ridiculous blindness in not realising that it is God that blinds all people, including the incipient Elect.

2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

1Co 7:12  But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
1Co 7:13  And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

Isa 42:19  Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’S servant?

Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles [In the Lake of Fire].

And, for the time being,

Isa 42:2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street [in this age unless he is asked about his faith].

Amo 3:4  Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? 

The Lord assuredly will roar as a lion out of Zion when we haven’t fed the spiritually hungry, just as the wolf feeds her young in the evening (Gen 49:27).

Joe 3:16  The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

Amo 3:5  Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [lure for the unfortunate bird we are] is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? 

It is every person since and inclusive of Adam conceived to the end of the One Thousand Year rule who is the bird taken in the snare of our whorish mother, Babylon the Great. Even righteous Gideon bowed to femineity and unconsciously emasculated himself and Israel (Deu 23:1).

Ecc 7:26  And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Jdg 8:27  And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah [female fawn]: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
Jdg 8:28  Thus was Midian [Effectively the Ammorites] subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.

Gideon’s subduing the Midianites is akin to what some Babylonian Christian girls do today, supposedly for Jesus, by deliberately luring unbelieving young men, justifying sex ‘for Jesus’, deludedly thinking that they have done their duty in saving them. Gideon’s action is a classic act of not trusting in God’s strength over appeasing the downright alluring girls next door who, with exposed thighs, are ‘delightfully’ ensnaring (Ecc 9:12. Prov 7:6-27).

Amo 3:6  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? 

Those rhetorical questions asked by our Lord through Amos lead us back to the theme of an earthquake, symbolised by a mighty trumpet blast corresponding to a force of 10 on the Richter scale. The Lord’s Elect, as seen in Isa 42:1, are blessed to have their earth shake their self-styled temple to powder and are wonderfully “afraid” to give Christ all glory. That verse of Amos 3:6 is one of the most profound statements emanating from God’s throne that affects everything we think and do; “shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” However, we all inwardly sigh for it being one of the greatest delusions and “gin” (Amos 3:5) to our family and friends for the ‘snare’ it is and them, as we once were, beguiled by the chief ‘birder’, Satan to oppose themselves stubbornly parroting that God allows sin by our will.

2Ti 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2Ti 2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

For Babylon’s churches, there is no greater enigmatic demonstration of Trumpet blasts than the Seven Trumpets of Revelations. These Trumpets herald the Elect’s swift understanding that the Trumpets, Vials, Woes and associated plagues are different versions of the same great tribulation first to come upon them and, ultimately, all mankind in his order.

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.
Ecc 9:3  This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

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;

Everyone will hear Christ’s voice in his God-given time and order to hear. Understanding Jesus’s “loud voice” on the “great day of the feast” today is the greatest Trumpet blast the Elect will ever hear. The expression, “for three transgressions and four,” adds up to seven and represents the Seventh Trumpet expressed eight times (judgement) in Amos. The rest of humanity, hearing it, will assuredly hear it without understanding at the end of the One Thousand Year rule in death by fire, be that death his fiery word or both in a literal fire, before being instantly resurrected to hear it all again in the Resurrection to Judgment and the Last Great Day, the Eighth Day following the Feast of Tabernacles. Hence, every generation hears that trumpet blast.

Rom 11:7  What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

Rev 1:9  I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rev 1:10  I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

Joh 7:37  On the last day, the great day of the feast, [of Tabernacles] Jesus got up and said in a loud voice, If any man is in need of drink let him come to me and I will give it to him.

For a far more in-depth understanding of the Feast of Trumpets, begin here with other localised links:
https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/revelation-81-6-the-seven-angels-prepare-to-sound-seven-trumpets-part-1/

As is demonstrated in those preceding verses, the Lord says,

Amo 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. 
Amo 3:8  The lion hath roared [Trumpet and Earthquake], who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy? 

Luk 8:10  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others [Everyone who is not given of God to be an Elect] in parables [designed to hide the meanings]; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Amo 3:9  Publish in the palaces at Ashdod [Powerful cities of Egypt, Sodom and Old Jerusalem – Babylon], and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults [confusion] in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. 
Amo 3:10  For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. 
Amo 3:11  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled. 

Today, December 2024, the entire world is living in foreboding fear of nuclear war, but not the Bride. She looks upon worldly, apparently end-time events with immense intrigue since she knows her husband’s mind in blessing her with good and not evil. She glorifies in her Lord identifying her confusion and seeing Satan coming afar off and having her old man within destroyed. She utterly disdains the physical riches of this world and shakes her head for having impudently exposed her beauty validated by a leering world to the point of spiritual adultery.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Amo 3:12  Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch. 

The Bride of Christ is the ‘two witnesses’ represented as ‘two legs’, the shepherd who testifies in transition in hearing her husband’s voice represented as ‘a piece of an ear’ in the house of Jacob. She is embarrassed by her whoredoms and steps out of bed, and on looking back, is temporarily shocked that she was in bed with her sisters still fornicating with Damascus and, in humiliation, flees as did Joseph from Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39).

Amo 3:13  Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, 
Amo 3:14  That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel [house of God]: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. 

Gen 6:1  And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
Gen 6:2  That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Once our Lord has made us aware of our sins and transgressions and, in symbolic frustration, chastised us multiple times, we hopefully become acutely aware of our tendency to oscillate like Old Israel between physical riches and validating our beauty in bed with Babylon, much like Ohola and Oholibah. When this chastisement ceases, we no longer feel His spirit striving with us. This leads us into a dangerously insidious state as we again begin to act as a law unto ourselves, excusing our behaviour in the absence of His guidance and swift correction (Rom 2:14-18). Consequently, Christ, our horns and altar of his strength to overcome, are cut off, and we fall again to the dust of the earth. Accordingly, we return to a wintery fruitlessness in the summertime when we should spiritually harvest in abundance. Where there isn’t a harvest, our spiritual barns are empty, and we starve of Christ’s word.

Amo 3:15  And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD. 

To that end, and again, the indictment is upon the very Priests of God, his Elect; we shall continue to see in the next chapter our enduring guilt and punishment.

Psa 84:1 To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
Psa 84:2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
Psa 84:3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.
Psa 84:4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.
Psa 84:5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
Psa 84:6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
Psa 84:7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
Psa 84:8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
Psa 84:9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
Psa 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Psa 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Psa 84:12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

I recently heard a story about a young boy who told his father that he loved the fish he was eating, to which his father replied somewhat jokingly “is that why you caught the fish and killed it and are now eating it?” “You love the taste of the fish and what it provides for you?”, the father went on to gently explain to his son.

This is somewhat akin to Christ saying these words to His disciples:

Joh 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

The man who told this story used it as a backdrop to explain that real love gives of our own life to others as we invest ourselves in them, not for what we can get out of the relationship, but for what we can give to the other person. He went on to say that we are blessed to give our life to others because with that investment comes the rich reward of coming to know that other person and seeing that part of your life manifest in theirs, and I would add and their life in you.

This thought conveniently follows the pattern of the very next verse in:

Joh 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

The story teller went on to explain that, like this child, we have a misconstrued understanding of what love is, even when we first find the love of our life, that person who fills our emotional needs and provides many things for us (as Babylon does), as we do for them, and this is what he deemed “fish love” referring back to the young boy who loved fish for what it could do for him.

From a physical perspective, I thought how aptly that story makes clear how much higher our Father’s love is for us, and how it was and is manifest through the life of Christ that was given to us. His actions of investing His life in us would ultimately lead to our being able to have their Life manifest within us, so that we in turn could become fishers of men who would go out and be as He was and is in this earth (1Jn 4:17), loving to fish, but not fishing for love. The only way that will happen is to have that first self-centered nature burnt out of us by filling up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ, that is what will give us great reason to rejoice and again I say rejoice.

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.

Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

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:

Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

God does not need our love and praise, and He is not fishing for it, and he knows how blessed we will be if we grow in that nature and mind of His, so He gives us His only begotten son and establishes a means for us to be reconciled to Him through Christ. It is with the mind of Christ that we can praise and love our Father and cry out like the lively stones that we become through him (Rom 5:10, Joh 15:9, Luk 19:40, 1Pe 2:5).

That same bridge that Christ is for us unto the Father is what we are becoming through Christ for the rest of the world.

1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

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

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:

God also uses humanity’s (our) most base carnal instincts to accomplish His purpose of reconciling us to Him, and Christ is that fish who is captured and killed and eaten so we can have true life, which is demonstrated in these parables found in John 6:56, John 21:9-12 and John 12:24.

God does fish for us (Joh 4:23), however, from our carnal perspective, we think He is fishing for our love, when in truth the catch and the calling, the line, the hook and the sinker so to speak have all been predestined by our Father (Joh 21:6).

When we know and believe this, we also believe that all of the casting that did not catch any fish were equally working according to the counsel of God’s will, as was the moment when the fish were caught with a cast on the “right side of the ship”, which symbolizes the power of God that gives the increase at the appointed time (Eph 1:11, 1Co 3:16).

Joh 21:9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
Joh 21:10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
Joh 21:11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
Joh 21:12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

In time, and only by the grace and faith of Christ, do we as God’s children come to learn and understand the true love of God as we’re fed by our Lord the fish and bread He prepares in John 21:9, which represents the fleshly trials that this life presents through all our interactions that are fiery by design (he prepares them). Like the hot coals that are needed to cook that fish and bread, this occurs so it can be nourishing to our souls that are maturing in Him as we go through the consuming fire that purifies His words within us (Heb 5:8<, Rom 5:6-8, Heb 12:29, 1Pe 1:7).

It is important to note that it is fish and bread, and that they work together because the bread is tried on the fire like the word of God, and it is needed to strengthen our hearts (Luk 22:19, Psa 104:15) as we come up against the multitudes in this life who will be against us, the many fish of the sea, the whole world whom Christ has promised would be against us (Mat 10:22).

It is God’s love being shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5) that makes it possible for us to love our enemies and love the world while they are yet sinners whom we now love as God loves us and loved us (Rom 5:8). It is God’s love which enables us to fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ as we present ourselves a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1) who are blessed to learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and that to be a lamb for the slaughter, as our Lord was, is a great blessing as it will provide the food which this world needs and is unknowingly starving for (Isa 53:7, Rom 8:36, Act 20:35, Isa 3:1, Hos 4:6).

I recently saw a video that was heart wrenching to watch, but I can see now how the Lord had me watch this to remember that we are not laying down our lives for ourselves only, as I’m sure we know. At first that is all we can see and understand because of all the wounds that we need to have healed in our own broken down prodigal experiences, but ultimately this experience of evil that we experience (is, was and will be) comes to be better understood through the healing and strength we receive in the inn which represents the body of Christ, the church, in the parable of the Samaritan (Luk 10:34-35, Col 1:24).

Eventually our perception of what has happened becomes something that is not for ourselves but for the lives of others who will come after us, and for each of us who have come into the midst of the garden of paradise today where we “now rejoice” in ‘My suffering for you’ and see that the conclusion of that parable Christ was teaching cannot be reached until we are all the different characters represented in it. That is the narrow road which enables us to become a neighbourly neighbour or good Samaritan as we call it (Eph 2:4-6, Rev 2:7).

The story I watched was simple: the child was on a talk show and his mother was one of many single mothers on the stage who were trying to raise their children without a father. Consequently the children had all sorts of disciplinarian issues that they were going to set straight right in front of the entire world on national television by having a man dressed as a sergeant come out and give some hard advice to the children who were going to go to some kind of children’s’ boot camp. I began to think “why am I watching this?”, and then remembered the title of the short video was about ‘a heart warming experience’, so I trusted that it was going to end well, which it did.

The Lord gave that one particular little boy, who was being drilled by the sergeant, to answer to his question that had the whole audience cheering. He said to the troubled child who would have to spend the next four months with him unless he changed his tune “do you want me to be your father for the next four months son?” to which the scared little child said, “yes, sir, I would like that” to the surprise of the sergeant who then asked “why do you want that, son?”, (and this is the part that is heart-wrenching for us as God’s children who have the spirit of God, which is the spirit that is typified in Elijah who wants to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers (Mal 4:6)) to which he replied “I have no father”.

That is why we are here today, that is why we write emails and do studies and phone each other and build each other up, because this world needs and wants to be loved by a real father, a strong father who will be there for them. After that little lad said what he said, the sergeant bent down and gave him a big hug and walked off the stage with him. It was amazing how the producers had the tables turned on them by a little child, and it makes me think of Christ’s words in Matthew 19:14. God made a way for this little one to say what he had to say, and He is going to make a way for us as the bride of Christ to let the stones cry out, so that reconciliation and healing can begin to take place in the land of all the fathers and children and mothers and daughters (Luk 19:40). Of course we know that age (being older) is not what we are talking about here because we can be hundred years old from the point that we die and be raised as a babe in Christ who has yet to grow into a mature son who must come through judgment (Oba 1:21).

When Christ said “If these should hold their peace”, it reminds me of last week’s title “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace^H2790, and be not still, O God”. In other words, it is going to happen and the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s purpose for the church (Mat 16:18).

This week’s study will hopefully have the Lord directing our hearts to see why it is that we are to become as little children (Mat 18:3) who trust God as our strong Abba Father who we want to turn to, even as we give up our life and lose everything so that we can gain eternal life (Mat 16:25).

The verses we are about to study reminded me of how we are adopted children of God, grafted into His family, unlike Christ who was the only begotten of the Father (Joh 1:14) who never had to have his heart turned to His Father or His Father turned to Him, in the sense that Christ could not and would not rebel and never did anything against His Father because He had the spirit without measure and was learning obedience by the things which He suffered in His sinful flesh, which never manifested as an act of sinning even through the most severe and diverse temptations. He truly cleaved to His Father and is our example of how we ought to cleave unto Him as our refuge (Joh 17:5, Joh 3:34, Heb 5:8, Heb 4:15, Deu 13:4, Deu 4:4).

Usually when physical parents adopt children they take their time, and they plan, and they have to consider many details to know for sure that this is a right and loving decision for the child they are hoping to graft into their life. However, God’s love is manifest in that process while we were yet sinners and he had already determined instantly that we would be His children that He would love; and so we read:

1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

We are called to be fishers of men, to love fish who we will graft into the body as God grafted us in, and ultimately, with the mind of Christ, we will not fish for love for selfish motives (Mat 23:15) but rather love to fish.

Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

When someone loves you with the love that God loves us, and your heart has been prepared to receive that love, you cannot help but want to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the father (Mal 4:6), and that’s a good thing and the starting point that God is using within those in the body of Christ who have many fathers and sons being reconciled today in the spirit, so that we can be the fishers of men who will be used to reconcile the rest of the world in His perfect time (Mat 4:19).

Psa 84:1 To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. How amiable are thy tabernaclesH4908, O LORD of hosts!

“How amiable are all thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts”?

This is our prayer, to grow to love those tabernacles who don’t love us back (Mat 5:44, Luk 14:14), because those tabernacles are God’s, and He loves them, and Christ loves them. It’s just that he has not yet actively set his loving work of chastening and scourging them to receive them as sons today (Joh 3:16, Joh 10:16, Rom 9:13, Heb 12:6).

If we are truly to be considered His sons today, we must love those whom we see, which gives evidence that we love God who we don’t see, and demonstrates that His love is being shed abroad in our hearts (1Jn 4:20, Rom 5:5).

If we are God’s “Gittith” (harp) today, then that song that He is playing on our heart strings will be for the sons of Korah^H7141, which word demonstrates the process of ‘three Israelites’ and ‘two Edomites’ – a witness of our flesh that will be destroyed by the combination of the names, just like the fish and the bread we read about earlier on the fiery coals of John 21:9: ‘three Israelites’ and ‘two Edomites’ which equals five (5), which number symbolizes grace and faith.

Psa 84:2 My soul longeth^H3700, yea, even fainteth^H3615 for the courts^H2691 of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

This longing and fainting “for the courts^H2691 of the LORD” occurs within our heart and our flesh that cries out for the living God. With the mind of Christ, we long to be judged within those courts, to be cleansed by abiding in the word even when that chastening ‘smarts’. We learn not to despise it because we know that it is for our good.

Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Psa 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Psa 139:24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Rev 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
Rev 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Pro 3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

This is the longing that Christ spoke of to his disciples to drink within the temple which we are. It is that longing to be with the living God that is going to purify the temple, and that longing is a gift from God that drags us unto Christ who in turn satisfies our thirst and hunger to walk in these courts “in the way everlasting” that is pleasing before our Father.

Mat 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

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.

Psa 84:3 Yea, the sparrow^H6833 hath found an house, and the swallow^H1866 a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.

The sparrow which finds its house is the elect who find their rest in the Lord (Heb 4:11), and the swallow likewise witnesses to the fact that in His courts there is a haven where we, she, the church, can “lay her young” at God’s altar which is the cross, “O LORD of hosts^H6635” “and my God”.

The context of Matthew 10:28-32 also bears witness to God’s provision that helps us see why the word “hosts”^H6635 is connected to war and an army, which we are part of (Eph 6:12), and fighting together with God as our helper (Heb 13:6), my King, and my God.

Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Mat 10:31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Mat 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

What God is doing within his “two sparrows“, which represent the witness of Christ within us today, is of more value than what is happening within the world, the “many sparrows“. Christ does not say that the Father loves these sparrows more than the “many sparrows” (Joh 3:16), but rather is telling us that our experience of being sacrificed at the altar is for them. This section of the parable “and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father” is a reference to the one seed that we are which must die in order to bring forth fruit, which is what God has called us to do for the benefit of all those who will come after us (Joh 12:24, Gal 3:16) and that is why those “two sparrows” that represent Christ in us are more valuable than the “many sparrows” who are yet to be saved and who don’t have Christ in them yet (Rom 8:9).

(Sparrow^H6833 (of this verse) = “bird”(s) in Leviticus 14) speaking of leprosy in the house (our tabernacle of verse 1, our dwelling place) and it being cleansed with the blood of this bird:

Lev 14:48 And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.
Lev 14:49 And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds^H6833, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
Lev 14:50 And he shall kill the one of the birds^H6833 in an earthen vessel over running water:
Lev 14:51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird^H6833, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird^H6833, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:
Lev 14:52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird^H6833, and with the running water, and with the living bird^H6833, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet:
Lev 14:53 But he shall let go the living bird^H6833 out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean. (This is what will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the father)

Swallow^H1866 is only used once in this Psalm and once in Proverbs 26:2. Interestingly, that number is related to H1865 which is used in the old testament as “liberty” and “pure” which only confirms that sound pattern of what God is doing with his “two sparrows“. Every sacrifice is made pure with fire, and it’s important to note that the sparrow is a small but significant sacrifice, just as we are the weak of the world, but nevertheless blessed to be the kind of first-fruits who first offer our lives as a living sacrifice (Mar 9:49).

Swallow A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: the same as H1865
H1865 derôr   Total KJV Occurrences: 8
liberty, 7
Lev_25:10; Isa_61:1; Jer_34:8; Jer_34:15; Jer_34:17(2); Eze_46:17
pure, 1
Exo_30:23

This Psalm is really a comfort to our souls, and this verse in particular reminds us that we have been blessed to find refuge in the house of the Lord because God has made a way for us in the wilderness to keep His words through Christ so that they can abide with us in liberty and purity.

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.

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

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

2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Psa 84:4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.
Psa 84:5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
Psa 84:6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
Psa 84:7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

These verses Psalms 84:4-7 witness to the fruit that comes about as a result of abiding in the (pure/purified) house of God.

Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Joh 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Joh 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

The fruit of “praising thee” is on our lips with songs of thankgiving.

Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Psa 95:2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
Psa 95:3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

We are told that when the Lord is our strength, the one through whom we can endure all things (Php 4:13), that our hearts are set on “the ways” of “the way” (Joh 14:6) and we will find ourselves “passing through the valley of Baca (weeping^H1056) make it a well”, which is a beautiful reminder for God’s elect that our weeping, our sorrow in this life, will be turned to joy (Psa 126:5-6).

God will fill our lives with “the rain” that “filleth the pools^H1293” which symbolize the spirit of God that makes it possible for us, who are blessed to go from “strength to strength” or “glory to glory” (2Co 3:18) appearing in heavenly places before God “in Zion” (Eph 2:6, Eph 4:6) and ultimately coming up on mount Zion to provide living waters for the rest of the world from the “well”^H4599 which is Christ who is the fountain of life, the source of life, the vine (Oba 1:21, Rev 22:2, Joh 15:5).

Pools^H1293 berâkâh Total KJV Occurrences: 69

[64 times mentioned as some form of blessing/blessed]

– Strong’s: From H1288; benediction; by implication prosperity: – blessing liberal pool present

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.

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.

Psa 84:8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
Psa 84:9 Behold, O God our shield^H4043, and look upon the face of thine anointed.

Give ear and behold “O LORD God of hosts” is our prayer and we need to “Selah” [pause] for a moment to consider the magnitude of the promises that have been given to us, and to remember that God is “our shield” and He is looking “upon the face of thine anointed”, those two sparrows that He is working with in this age, as the apple of His eye.

Zec 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Zec 2:9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.
Zec 2:10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD.

Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

We are called unto this blessing to know God and Jesus Christ (Joh 17:3) so that one day we can bless the multitudes with those living waters that will come forth from the fountain of life, or well of life, Jesus Christ and his Christ.

Psa 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Psa 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield^H4043: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Psa 84:12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

“For a day in thy courts” is a reference to the day of the Lord where we are being measured against the measuring rod or plummet, Jesus Christ, so that we can show the house to the house (Rev 11:1, Eze 43:10).

God has called the weak of the world to inherit this greatest inheritance and honour (1Co 1:26) to be in the midst of the true body of Christ, raised in heavenly places together right now. We are blessed to be broken by the Lord so that we have a contrite and broken spirit as the weak of the world, who now want to take the lower seat, and to only be a doorkeeper (Isa 66:2, Luk 14:10).

Luk 15:17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Luk 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
Luk 15:19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

Luk 17:10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

God is also in the process of making our face like a stone in the positive sense (Isa 50:7, Mal 3:6) – or like a impenetrable shield^H4043 – and it is that quality of changing not and appreciating the day of the Lord that we are experiencing within the house of God that is spoken of in this Psalm as “the LORD will give grace and glory”.

We need to confidently standing fast against the enemies within and without (Heb 10:35, Php 1:28-29) and know that it will be through the chastening and scourging that every son receives that we will be dragged to Christ (Heb 12:6, Joh 6:44) who blesses us so that we can trust in Him even to drink the cup that our flesh could never drink without His life within us making that possible (Mat 20:23, Col 1:27, Mat 19:26).

God will not “withhold from them that walk uprightly”. He will not withhold from accomplishing the process of making it possible for us to drink the cup indeed, and go through a lifetime of pruning (Act 14:22) so we can bring forth much fruit and lay up store, or treasure in heaven, through this life (Mat 6:20). God has called us to be blessed (1Pe 3:9, 1Pe 2:21, 2Th 2:14, Rom 12:14) and again will not “withhold from them that walk uprightly”.

We are blessed today to understand that our commission as the body of Christ is to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” which is something that is going to take a long period of time, but ultimately every heart will be turned to God when He is “all in all”, and that is our hope which we labour and suffer reproach for together.

Gen 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing^H1293: [that word translated “pool” in verse 6]
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Audio Links

Earth, My Footstool

[Posted May, 15, 2015]

The interesting thing about a footstool is the various functions it can perform. A footstool can be a place of rest, a stepping stool and some sturdy footstools can even be used to stand on completely.

The study today is inspired by the Lord due to some events which have taken place in my heavens that brought home the concept of the Lord speaking about “footstools” in scripture.

We are going to discuss various spiritual applications of the footstool in scripture in hopes of broadening our understanding of who we and others are in Christ Jesus and to get to know Jesus Christ and God the Father a little more.

“Step On Up”

The inspiration for this study starts with the phrase “earth, my footstool” taken from Acts 7.

Act 7:49  Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

When looking at the word “footstool” in its original language, there are only a handful of scripture that mention this particular word. Each of those instances reveals what the Holy Spirit inspired to be written for our admonition.

What and where heaven is has been covered many times throughout various studies, so we’re going to briefly cover the comparisons of heaven and earth to try and determine the spiritual significance of what we are being told. However, we must look at the scripture as a whole to figure out the message the Lord is giving us.

David adds an interesting dynamic to speaking about the footstool.

1Ch 28:2  Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:
1Ch 28:3  But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood.
1Ch 28:4  Howbeit the LORD God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel:
1Ch 28:5  And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
1Ch 28:6  And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

There is great insight to be had about who David is in relation to his “many sons” and having a particular son be “chosen out” of those sons to “sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord.”

In this type and shadow of our relationship to God the Father, and how we relate to the footstool, we see two men being talked about here. We see the old man type and the new man type.

• David, in type, is the “old man” who is a man of war and has shed blood.

Gen 9:6  Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

1Ch 22:8  But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.
1Ch 22:9  Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.
1Ch 22:10  He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.

Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Rom 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Rom 3:13  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
Rom 3:14  Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
Rom 3:15  Their feet are swift to shed blood:

Shedding of blood is representative of the primal and carnal nature that is in us all just as it was in Cain who received it from his parents. The first Adam is from the earthy, earthy.

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Notice, the earth is the Lord’s footstool. However, heaven is His throne, and here is the contrast.

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

And:

Luk 11:47  Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
Luk 11:48  Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
Luk 11:52  Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

Where is it that the blood goes to perish?

Gen 4:10  And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the GROUND.
Gen 4:11  And now art thou cursed from the EARTH, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
Gen 4:12  When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

Who and what then is the earth in this type and shadow?

Jer 22:1  Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

Jer 19:3  And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36  Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

With the earth being the footstool of the Lord, what then are we to make of the following verses?

Mar 12:35  And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?
Mar 12:36  For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

And:

Heb 10:9  Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Heb 10:10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11  And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Heb 10:12  But this man, AFTER he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, SAT DOWN on the right hand of God;
Heb 10:13  From henceforth expecting till HIS ENEMIES be made his footstool.

See, scripture that we have just covered clearly state that the earth, earth, earth is clearly the footstool of Jesus. We also just read that the footstool also represents the ENEMIES of Jesus.

You might ask yourself how this can be?

Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

Like David in type, we all are called to be kings. Like David, we represent the people of God, the church of God which has children/sons. Out of those sons, we have one son who is “chosen out” to carry on the work of building God’s temple. In type, this is who Solomon represents.

The ONLY method by which this building of the temple can be accomplished is to recognize that the VERY CHURCH God has established is the same BODY from which God tells His faithful bride to COME OUT OF.

Therefore, the ENEMY of God is “earth, earth, earth”.

Look at the “cup” we must all drink from and compare it to the statement made in Matthew 23.

Luk 22:17  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
Luk 22:18  For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
Luk 22:19  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Luk 22:20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Why are these being contrasted and compared?

The cup, which is the New Testament in His blood, is SHED for us. We know that Jesus Christ is the sacrifice which was made which also was a sacrifice that was made with Jesus Christ never having been guilty of sin.

Everything that makes humanity “of the earth, earthy” is the enemy, the footstool of God. The footstool is cutoff in its negative application.

Lam 2:1  How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!
Lam 2:2  The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
Lam 2:3  He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

However, the wonderful good news of the Gospel is that there is positive application of the footstool which all of humanity is moving towards.

Mat 23:39  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

That is to say…

Luk 22:18  For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

We are able to sit down and being seated with Christ, in type just like Solomon, when the NEW MAN in us is born.

1Ch 28:5  And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
1Ch 28:6  And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

Another positive attribute of a footstool is that it is a place of rest. Feet represent the walk we have with the Lord.

A footstool or footrest is used to prop one’s feet up for rest. So when the enemy of the Lord is put under His heel, then we can see that it is the very thing with which DEATH is conquered.

Look at these two spiritual concepts.

Mat 8:20  And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Jesus wasn’t telling the multitudes that He didn’t have a place to sleep at night. Foxes and birds represents spiritual things just as the Son of MAN represents having a HEAD which has nowhere to REST.

What is in a HEAD? Is it not a MIND? Where is HEAVEN? Is it not ABOVE? Where is the throne of God? It is in HEAVEN. Where are we seated? We are seated with Christ in in heavenlies. What did Christ come to do? He came to do the WILL of GOD.

Act 7:47  But Solomon built him an house.
Act 7:48  Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49  Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

And…

Act 7:54  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
Act 7:56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

The rest I speak of is:

Heb 3:10  Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11  So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
Heb 3:12  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
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 4:9  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.

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore COME BOLDLY unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

COME BOLDY unto the THRONE of GRACE and find REST with your HEAD who has gone before you like a child being born into the world HEAD FIRST.

When Jesus Christ made the statement He had nowhere to lay His head, He was still walking this earth. When He went onto perfection, He FOUND a place to LAY His HEAD…HIS FATHER.

Here then is the Lord using His place of rest in a positive application. It’s negative for the old man which must die, but positive for the new man which WILL LIVE!

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
2Co 12:11  I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

Do any of you have infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions and distresses? What is the difference in these things being worked in us and in the rest of the world?

It is the FRUIT that is BORN. It is the FRUIT of the SPIRIT that springs forth into newness of Life.

Mar 14:24  And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
Mar 14:25  Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the FRUIT OF THE VINE, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
Mar 14:26  And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

Let us sing a hymn, and be merry and of good cheer. We head toward the mount of Olives, to BECOME the OLIVE TREES. We will BECOME just like our MASTER.

Rom 11:15  For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Rom 11:16  For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17  And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

Here is our race and the reward for running it:

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Do you possess the power to SHUT and OPEN heaven?

Do you possess the power of the Word of God, the washing of water by the WORD, to turn that water into LIFE given BLOOD, which was shed and is now being used to CLEANSE and SAVE all of humanity in God’s timing?

Yes!

Let us SMITE the EARTH with PLAGUES, the same footstool of God, which will later produce His True Church of God.

Have lips and praise of thanksgiving and be of good cheer, for the Lord loves you!

Amen and Amen