Mal 3:1-5  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me

[Study Aired January 4, 2024]

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Mal 3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
Mal 3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. 
Mal 3:4  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
Mal 3:5  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

The primary inward dispensational message of this chapter of Malachi is that when the messenger is sent to us, when Christ’s spirit is given and indwelling, we will be more than conquerors through him as He prepares the way before us, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: [Php 2:12-13] and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.“

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Christ came to earth and said, “It is expedient for you that I go away” in order to send the holy spirit on Pentecost to suddenly (Act 2:2-3) come to His predestined temple, the body of Christ (Joh 16:7, 1Co 3:16). 

Act 2:2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Act 22:6  And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.

Mar 13:35  Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
Mar 13:36  Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
Mar 13:37  And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

With God’s spirit within us (Rom 8:9) we can become a living sacrifice that can “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4), and “serve in newness of spirit” (Rom 7:6), as God makes us His “able ministersG1249 of the new testament” [we are all servants of the King who are examples of being a servant (Php 2:7-10)]  (2Co 3:6, Joh 6:63, Mat 5:19). 

G1249 διάκονος  diakonos

Thayer Definition:

1) one who executes the commands of another, especially of a master, a servant, attendant, minister

1a) the servant of a king
1b) a deacon, one who, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use
1c) a waiter, one who serves food and drink

Chapter 2 of Malachi focused on the marriage covenant and how treacherously wives were being put away, all this representing our breaking of the covenant we have with Christ and God’s word. The admonition is always for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear the message (Mat 13:16). Those who have God’s spirit are given the ability to carefully consider the warnings of the prophets as we patiently go about keeping God’s commandments which tell us to examine ourselves to be sure there is no root of bitterness that will cause many to be defiled (Heb 12:15). The only possible way that is going to be accomplished is to have one “greater than the temple” abiding within us as our hope of glory (Mat 12:6, Col 1:27). It is in the temple that the cleansing work of grace through faith is being accomplished in those few (Mat 22:14) who are being received by our Father and Christ in this life (1Co 3:13-16, Heb 12:6).

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

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

Mat 12:6  But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple [Col 1:27].

If Christ is working in our lives, there will be evidence of this via the token (Php 1:28-29) of our own afflictions, much tribulation and suffering we endure (Rom 8:18, 1Pe 4:13, 2Co 11:30, Act 14:22) in order to bear much fruit. We are blessed to have a desire and zeal to be careful to maintain good works, which is what the faith of Christ will produce as we die daily (Gal 2:20). 

God willing, Christ will continue to be the exemplary life that our Father gave us and is being reflected more and more as He increases within us and we decrease (Joh 3:16, Joh 3:30), knowing that God is giving that increase (1Co 3:6) so that all glory is His, as it was in the life of Christ when He was on earth, and now in His body the church (Tit 2:11-12, Luk 13:32, Rev 16:15, Rev 19:8, Tit 3:8, Joh 5:30, Joh 15:5, 1Jn 4:17, Col 1:24).

Chapter 3 of Malachi points to the hope of glory within Jesus Christ (Col 1:27) Who calls us to ‘come out of her, my people’ and to rejoice always for the wonderful works He is doing to the sons of men in this age (2Co 6:17, Psa 107:31-32). 

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

It is “the general assembly and church of the firstborn” whose names are written in heaven who will be in that blessed and holy first resurrection. This hope-filled third chapter will go on to explain how God is going to accomplish this work of grace in the lives of the few who have been given this tremendous honor to be made ready as “the spirits of just men made perfect” who are the bride of Christ (Heb 12:23, Rev 20:6).

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 

There are many prophets and kings of old who sought the Lord with all their hearts “even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in“ which is what Christ told us in (Luk 10:23-24).

Luk 10:23  And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:
Luk 10:24  For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Those prophets and kings typify for us the “ever-searching but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” churches of Babylon out of which the elect are called, that ‘have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof’ because it is not given to them in this age to keep the commandments of God in the spirit (2Ti 3:5-9). From such we are commanded to “turn away”, which is just another way of saying “come out of her my people” (2Co 6:17).

2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

Physically, Christ did come to His people as the “the messenger of the covenant“, and anon with joy the people delighted in Christ “whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts“, but then He was rejected of His own (Joh 1:11, Isa 53:3), including all His disciples who forsook Him and fled in His most dire hour of need (Mat 26:31). This is all a witness to us of how we cannot continue in a right relationship with Christ without God’s holy spirit being given to us. Without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb 11:6). It is when the spirit of God is given to us that the messenger is inwardly sent to us (Col 1:27, Rom 8:9) and what He does in the elect’s day of visitation is judge us and make us ready as the bride of Christ, delivering us from sin (Luk 19:44, 1Pe 2:12, 1Pe 4:17, Joh 8:36).

1Pe 2:12  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles [1Th 5:22]: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Mal 3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 
Mal 3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. 

Now the question is asked, “who may abide the day of his coming?“ and “who shall stand when he appeareth?” which tells us right off the bat that some are not going to be able to abide the day of His coming, and were not meant to be experiencing God’s judgment (1Pe 4:17), which is likened to “a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap” that will purge God’s people “as gold and silver” burning out of us the lame, torn and sick offering to become “an offering in righteousness” through Christ who is our righteousness Who prepares the bride (Mat 25:1-10, 1Co 1:30-31). “Who shall stand when he appeareth?” is answered for us in these verses in Luke 18:7-8.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

How the bride is prepared:  a parable of our Lord for his bride:

Mat 25:1  Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 
Mat 25:2  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Mat 25:3  They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Mat 25:4  But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat 25:5  While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Mat 25:6  And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Mat 25:7  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Mat 25:8  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
Mat 25:9  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves [Rev 3:18].
Mat 25:10  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? [Rom 2:4]
Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? 

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

What is being asked in this second verse of Malachi 3:2 is ‘who will be able to abide the chastening grace-through-faith process (Heb 12:6-7, Eph 6:13-14) that is required to go onto perfection on the third day?’ (Luk 13:31-32). Christ gave Peter the answer to this question, which was written for the elect’s sake (Luk 22:31-32), to remind us that salvation is a gift of God given to those who are refined in this age, typified by this statement, “and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness” (Luk 22:32, Eph 2:8, 1Jn 5:4, Rom 12:1-2).

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day [enduring chastening (Heb 12:7)], and having done all, to stand. [“Who shall stand when he appeareth?” (1Ti 6:12)]
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith^G4102 fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren [maintain good works (Tit 3:8)]

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.^G4102

“Faith” G4102 (From G3982) also used as “assurance”, “belief”, “believe”, “faith”, “fidelity” (KJV 244 occurrences).

God knows that in order for us to be part of the process of being one who is sanctified in this age by His word, which is like fire (Jer 23:29), he (Christ) must sit on the throne of our hearts. “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.“

It is only after we’ve been judged that we can offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness, telling us why the trial of our faith is so precious to God (1Pe 1:7, Psa 116:15, 1Co 15:31). It is the sons of Levi who have been promised to be purified (“and he shall purify the sons of Levi” vs 3), and those sons typify for us the bride of Christ who will be made ready through a life of much tribulation (Rev 19:7, Act 14:22). The purifying of silver, the purging of gold and of silver are all being accomplished by the “refiner“, the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ, Who is ‘trying’ or ‘refining’ our faith through a process of which He is in the midst (1Pe 4:12, Dan 3:25-26), “and he shall purify the sons of Levi.“

Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
Dan 3:26  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.

Mal 3:4  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
Mal 3:5  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. 

These verses confirm that judgment is an ongoing process for the body of Christ, and as such our lives can be presented as a living sacrifice which is pleasant to the LORD, “the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.“

The “as in the days of old, and as in former years” is in reference to our first love when we whole-heartedly served the Lord and “came behind in no gift” (1Co 1:5-7) but were the “yet carnal” of 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. The attitude and desire to serve was great, and we did many wonderful works, but when God works with the elect in this life to bring us to perfection on the third day, those works are brought into a proper perspective. After having been refined through a life-time of trials (Act 14:22), He brings us to cease from sinning and from glorying in those things God did through us as if we did it of our own free will (1Co 4:7). That is the strong meat which God prepares us in time to be able to digest and discern by His mercy (Heb 5:14). When we mature in the Lord, we will stop turning aside the stranger who represents our neighbor who we are to love, “and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me“, doing good to all men, especially unto the household of faith (Gal 6:10). When we conduct ourselves in that manner, we are truly moving with fear, knowing it is Christ who is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure, which is to ‘do unto others as we would have them do unto us’ (Php 2:12-13, Luk 12:32, Mat 7:11-12).

Mat 7:11  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Mat 7:12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

We are blessed when this is happening within us, “I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts“, which things would just naturally overtake the temple of God we are without the judgment of God upon us driving sin out of our lives as we die daily (1Pe 4:17, Joh 2:15-17). 

It is by the witness of God’s speedy execution of judgment in the lives of those He is saving in this age that “the sorcerers” and “the adulterers” and the “false swearers” and all those things within that would try to “oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me”, that we can go from that state of mind to practicing pure religion, which is defined for us in this way, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction (Heb 10:25), and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (Jas 1:27).

The order of things is clear: God will “send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.” That preparation will take place in the hearts and minds of God’s people so that in time, saviors will come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (Oba 1:21), being sent as Christ was sent into our lives to bring salvation to this world through the gospel (Joh 20:21, Joh 3:17, Rom 1:16).

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

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. 

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, focusing on these first few verses is a good starting point before we go into the next section of this third chapter. These first few verses really demonstrate for us how we can only ‘make straight the ways of the Lord’ by the Lord Who is the messenger who gives us the ability to fulfill the covenant. This fulfilling of the covenant is a process that takes time, as we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake (Col 1:24), and in the verses to come, the focus will be more on the blessing that now becomes ours if we are blessed to be dragged through this process of judgment while presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1) to God, symbolized by the whole tithe being brought in. 

The results, the fruit of being that living sacrifice being purified by Christ (Mal 3:1-5), is the primary point being looked at in the last section of chapter three, which we will look at next week, Lord willing (Mal 3:6-18). God is faithful to those who are His, and  as a result of being bound to the altar (Psa 118:27) by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9), there will be an abundance of spiritual fruit being produced in the lives of those whom God has called to endure to the end in this corrupt flesh in order to be saved (Mal 3:10, Rom 7:24-25, Mat 24:13).

Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast. 

Mal 3:10  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

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 mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. 

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved [Php 4:13]. 

Jer 1:1-10 To Build and to Plant- The Blessings of Obedience

[Study Aired November 29, 2020]

Because this prophecy of Jeremiah, taken as a whole, appears to our natural man to be so dire and so apocalyptic, our study today will be centered around the last part of the last verse of our last study. These words are designed to prepare our hearts to receive and even appreciate those parts of this prophecy which appear to our natural man to be so negative and seemingly lamentable. For the following couple of weeks, we will examine the curses which will come upon our old man for disobedience.

As we saw in our last study, Jeremiah is at this time a young man who is “set… over the nations”.  Notice what being placed in that position entails:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

As is typical of the Lord’s word, the number of verses concerning our judgment, both our judgment… “first upon the house of God” (1Pe 4:17) and the later the judgment of all mankind, are over twice as many as the words which concern our rewards for being judged in this present time or the consequences of being judged at a later time. In either case the number of verses concerning judgment for disobedience far outnumber the verses which concern rewards for obedience. Jeremiah, as a type of who we are as judges with Christ during the thousand year reign and also the judges of the great white throne judgment, is told that his calling is 1) to root out, 2) to pull down, 3) to destroy, and 4) to throw down. Those four things have a negative implication to our old man. As a type also of those who will become the conduits of the mercy we have been shown and will in return show to all the rest of mankind (Rom 11:31), Jeremiah is told in half as many words that it is also given to him 1) to build, and 2) to plant:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

1Co 10:6 Now these things became types of us, for us not to be lusters after evil things,

This ratio of verses and pages which occupy curses for disobedience, compared to the number of verses and pages of scripture enumerating the blessings of obedience, is first made evident in Deuteronomy 28. The first 14 verses of this chapter enumerate all the blessings for obedience, and that is the subject of this study. We will appreciate these blessings and look forward to “the redemption of the purchased possession” today. Then we will take note of all the curses of disobedience in future studies. There is a particularly good reason why the scriptures which occupy themselves with the curses for disobedience far outnumber the verses and chapters of scripture which concern themselves with the blessings of obedience.

Our study today will center around the function of the blessings for obedience as they are promised in the first 14 verses of:

Deu 28:1  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

We will digress today from our direct study of this prophecy of Jeremiah, a prophecy which is filled with stories of the disobedience of the physical nation of Israel, to analyze why the curses of disobedience occupy far more of the pages of scriptures than do the blessings we are promised for obedience to the Lord’s words. We will also learn what the function is of the blessings we are promised for being obedient to the Lord’s commandments. There is a good reason for why the promises occupy comparatively little space in scripture, and we need to know and understand why it is so.

The short answer for why this is so, it that the scriptures are designed to deal with the lifelong process of bringing us out of death and darkness, and into life and the light. That is why the curses for disobedience occupy so much of the scriptures. However, there must be an incentive to help us see beyond the fact that we are dying creatures who are actually living in total spiritual darkness to begin with. To this end we are given “exceeding great and precious promises”:

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The physical promises of blessings given to ancient Israel typify the spiritual blessings promised to “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16 – GWV). The promise to Jeremiah as a type of the Lord’s firstfruit saints, of being given to rule over all the nations of this earth, is exactly what we, too, are promised to incentivize us as it did Jeremiah:

Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

Both Jeremiah and Israel are merely types and shadows of the New Testament overcomers who keep the words and works of Christ to the end:

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

The true “Israel of God” (Gal 6:16) is an inward spiritual kingdom which is promised rulership over the kingdoms “on the earth”. This promise does not say, “He that overcomes… to him will I give power over the nations within.” These “overcomers” are those who have already been given that inward blessing, and that is why they are now proclaiming, “We shall reign on the earth.”

Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GWV)

The twentieth chapter of Revelation reveals more details about those who are destined to “reign on the earth”:

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

Only those who are blinded by the Lord Himself to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven will fail to see that it is only those who keep the works of Christ to the end in this present time, who will be given a part in the first resurrection to rule with Christ for a thousand years, after which there is “the resurrection to judgment”.

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [The Greek word translated ‘damnation’ is ‘krisis’, and it is much better translated as ‘judgment’].

“The resurrection of judgment” in this twentieth chapter of Revelation is called the “great white throne… judgment”. The fact that the second resurrection follows the first is as obvious as the fact that this is the second group who are only now dying to their old man for the first time, follows those who died to their old man first in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). Those in the first resurrection will rule with Christ for a thousand years:

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

This “thousand years” is without a doubt as much a spiritual signification of a time period as the ‘slain… Lamb’ is of a spiritual signification of death. However, a lamb is not used to signify a period of time and a thousand years is not used to signify a living creature. Both are signified by a counterpart of the same sort.

So, it is with the subject of resurrection. Both are symbolized by a counterpart. As Christ tells us there are only two resurrections – One is to life and the other to judgment. The first resurrection is symbolized by life, while the second resurrection follows the judgment which is now on “the house of God” and is symbolized by judgment.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Peter knew very well where any who are not being judged in this age would appear. They will appear at the second resurrection, “the resurrection of judgment” (Joh 5:27-29), the “white throne judgment”, which we are told is the lake of fire, of which it is written:

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

This “lake of fire” symbolizes the judgment which must take place at this symbolic “great white throne”:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. [“The books” signifies the many who are not the “one seed” (Gal 3:16) while “the book” signifies those who are that “one seed” in the “one Christ” (1Co 12:12)]
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Yet another name for this second judgment is “the second death”:

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years “on the earth”] was cast into the lake of fire.

Getting back to demonstrating that both Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, and indeed the whole of the Lord’s Word, emphasize the process of judgment much more than the reward for being judged in this present time, here are the rest of the first 14 verses of the 68 verses of this 28^th chapter of Deuteronomy:

Deu 28:2  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deu 28:3  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
Deu 28:4  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:5  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:6  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Deu 28:7  The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
Deu 28:8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Deu 28:9  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
Deu 28:11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Deu 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

All these blessings “in the land which the Lord gives [us]” are ours even now spiritually in down payment form.

Here are Christ’s words as they relate to all these promises of blessings:

Mat 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Demonstrating the spiritual downpayment form of these blessings, Mark adds the words “now in this time” and “with persecutions” to those words of Christ:

Mar 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

These spiritual realities here in Matthew and Mark are in complete accord with the shadow and type which are the promises of Deuteronomy 28:

Deu 28:13  And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Deu 28:14  And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Those 14 verses give us the types and shadows of all the “great and precious promises we are given in Christ:

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

We are given “all that pertains to life and godliness “through the knowledge of Him”, and it is only “by these… exceeding great and precious promises” that we are “partakers of the divine nature”. That makes our understanding of these promises the conduit for the “grace and peace [which comes to us only] through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” Therefore it is expedient that we get to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, and familiarize ourselves with the promises we are given, through Christ, because that is the very definition of “life eternal”:

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

These “exceeding great and precious promises” being so very important, we will do well to take note of what they promise us. So, let’s look at what we are being promised in our knowledge of Christ and His Father:

Deu 28:2  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deu 28:3  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

“The city” is contrasted with “the field”, but we are blessed in both because:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

“The city” signifies “the city of our God” whereas “the field” signifies all that which is outside the city… “the field is the world”:

Psa 48:1  A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

Psa 48:8  As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah [We are “Jerusalem above… the city of our God” (Gal 4:26-27)].

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

“The fruit of thy body” is the increase of the kingdom of God within us, the “few chosen” who appear to this world to be as barren as all the wives of the ancient patriarchs:

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

Neither Paul nor Christ nor His Christ hold back from acknowledging who they are… “Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.”

Joh 10:34  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Joh 10:36  Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

Our next promise is:

Deu 28:4  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

The Lord’s blessing is upon us as it was upon Joseph as a slave in Egypt, both in the house of Potiphar and as the servant of the keeper of the prison:

Gen 39:2  And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
Gen 39:3  And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

Gen 39:21  But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Gen 39:22  And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
Gen 39:23  The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.

Joseph’s suffering in Egypt typifies all our suffering in these clay vessels. Both Joseph and Job were exceptionally good men. We are all first self-righteous Job before we are crushed and humbled to become repentant Job.

Solomon was given to tell us why we must be evil before we can become righteous:

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it. (CLV)

We all first contend with, reprove, disannul the Lord’s judgment and condemn His ways before we are dragged to repentance through fiery trials, as the book of Job and the book of Revelation demonstrate clearly (Rev 14: 6-12):

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

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

These “blessed” are only those “who died in the Lord” in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). They are the first, who “by these… great and precious promises, [will be made] partakers of the divine nature [and be given] part in the first resurrection:”

2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

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

What exactly is “the first resurrection”? It is quite easy for the Lord to blind the eye of the multitudes from perceiving what we were just told. The first resurrection is for those who are being judged in this time, “who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12) and who are given a part in the first resurrection which Christ called “the resurrection of life” (Joh 5:27-29). The first resurrection are those who are the firstfruits of them who have died in Christ and are raised up from the dead at the beginning of the thousand years to “live… and reign with Christ a thousand years”.

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [The “blessed and holy first resurrection” at the beginning of the thousand year reign]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920: ‘krisis’… ‘judgment’… “When the thousand years are expired”].

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

This is not “the resurrection to life” to which Christ referred in John 5:29. This is the resurrection of “the rest of the dead” of Revelation 20:5. This is “the resurrection to judgment” before the great white throne of John 5:28. This the resurrection of all the rest of mankind who did not have part in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Let’s now go back to the promises by which those who obey the Lord are given to “partake of the divine nature [in] this present time”:

Deu 28:5  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:6  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

“[Our] basket” includes what we bring in sacrifice to the Lord in His service:

Deu 26:1  And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein;
Deu 26:2  That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.
Deu 26:3  And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.
Deu 26:4  And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.
Deu 26:5  And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:
Deu 26:6  And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
Deu 26:7  And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
Deu 26:8  And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
Deu 26:9  And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.
Deu 26:10  And now, behold, I have brought [“in a basket”] the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:

Our “going out and coming in” is also speaking of our service as the Lord’s soldiers in His army:

Jos 14:11  As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.

King Solomon acknowledged his inadequacy as a soldier because he was a “little child”:

1Ki 3:7  And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

Whatever the phrase “go out and come in” means, it certainly includes being a good soldier in the Lord’s service of which the apostle Paul instructs us:

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Our means of “partaking of the divine nature [and] escaping the corruption that is in the world” continues:

Deu 28:7  The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

The flight of the enemies of the Lord “seven ways” signifies the complete and total defeat of all the false doctrines which are the “arrows” of our enemies.  The Lord’s arrows will nullify any and all of the ‘arrows’ of the lies of the adversary:

Psa 57:4  My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

“Their arrows” are helpless against the Truth, the Lord’s ‘arrows’:

Psa 21:12  Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

Psa 45:5  Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.

Psa 64:7  But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
Psa 64:8  So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.

Hab 3:11  The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

We are blessed with great spiritual reserves in the Lord’s service. We have so much in reserve that we can give freely to others:

Deu 28:8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

The Hebrew word for ‘storehouses’ is:

H618
אָסָם
‘âsâm
aw-sawm’
From an unused root meaning to heap together; a storehouse (only in the plural): – barn, storehouse.

This word appears only in one other place in the Old Testament, where it is translated as ‘barns’, demonstrating that the “blessing of [our] storehouses” speaks to our service to the Lord through our giving freely of our store to our brothers:

Pro 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
Pro 3:10 So shall thy barns [H618: ‘asam’] be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

Eph 4:28  Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give [from our “storehouses, our barns] to him that needeth.

The Lord Himself fights our battles for us, and as “partakers of [His] divine nature:

Deu 28:9  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

That is how the Lord Himself provides for His elect, who are now partaking of His divine nature through these great and precious promises. God makes our enemies to both fear us and live in peace with us:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Yes, of course Revelation 11:11-12 has a ‘will be’ application. I am certainly not of that school which is telling you “the resurrection is past already”:

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

That is a lie of our enemies who have internalized and spiritualized away your crown of life, your rulership with Christ for a thousand years, and your hope of “the redemption of the purchased possession”. Our enemies want you and me to settle for what is nothing more than the downpayment of the “redemption of the purchased possession”.

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

This is not a new false doctrine. It is one of the earliest lies taught in the New Testament church, and Paul warned us against falling for this false doctrine:

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

I am well aware that Revelation 11:11-12 has a glorious “will be… redemption of the purchased possession” future application. However, there is also a present inward application which does not teach “that the resurrection is past already”:

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them [the Lord’s “two witnesses” in every generation], and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

“…And their enemies beheld them… and great fear fell upon them which saw them.” These two verses, Revelation 11:11-12, are the ultimate fulfillment of:

Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

Two verses earlier in Revelation 11 we read:

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

We are at this very moment ‘lying dead in the streets of the great city wherein our Lord was crucified’. Our death of 3½ days is being fulfilled at this very moment. “The spirit of life from God entered into them” and “great fear fell upon them which saw them” are both in the aorist tense, because this is all the process of the revelation of Jesus Christ within us as our old man dies daily and our new man is being raised up from the dead… [to] walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:1-4).

The phrases “they heard a great voice from heaven” and the phrase “come up here” and the phrase “they ascended up to heaven in a cloud” and “their enemies beheld them” are all in the aorist tense because all of this is the revelation of Jesus Christ taking place within us even as we “wait for… the redemption of the purchased possession”… that “blessed and holy first resurrection” where we will be made to rule and reign with Christ for a symbolic thousand years.

Deu 28:11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Deu 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

The ‘rain’ is the Lord’s “words [which] are spirit” (Joh 6:63). This blessing with rain in our land in due season, signifies an abundance of growth in understanding the things of the spirit. “You shall lend unto many, and you shall not borrow” signifies the fact that Babylon has nothing to offer you, but you have an over-abundance of good sound doctrine to offer them, as our next verses demonstrate:

Deu 28:13  And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Deu 28:14  And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Being “the head and not the tail” are words selected by the holy spirit to signify that the blessings of obedience and strict adherence to and trembling at the words of our Lord, makes us the possessors of “The Truth”. Being the head means we possess the Truth, and being the tail signifies that we have been deluded by “the refuge of [the] lies [of the false] prophets” of this age. Isaiah gives us this key to the kingdom of heaven:

Isa 9:15  The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

The apostle Paul took close and careful notice of the three ‘ifs’ in this section of scripture, in verses 1, 9 and 13… “if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God”…”If you listen unto the commandments of the Lord…” and… “if you go not aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right hand or to the left…” neither adding to nor taking away from His words:

Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

“The Lord shall make you the head and not the tail” tells us that if we are granted to be obedient to the words of our Lord we will be Him, in the sense that we agree completely with Him.

These are His words concerning what He means by “You shall be the head…”:

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

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

That, too, is just another “great and precious promise” which is beyond the ability of the natural man to appreciate the depth of its significance. The holy spirit helps us to take hold of this truth with these, our closing words for today:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment [‘Now on the house of God’ (1Pe 4:17)]: because as he is, so are we in this world.

In our next study we will examine and analyze why the curses of Deuteronomy 28 occupy 54 verses, exactly 4 times the number of verses which these 14 verses of “great and precious promises” occupy.

Here are the verses we will begin with which concern the curses the Lord will bring upon us to humble us:

Deu 28:15  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Deu 28:16  Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
Deu 28:17  Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:18  Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:19  Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Deu 28:20  The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
Deu 28:21  The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 28:22  The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
Deu 28:23  And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
Deu 28:24  The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Deu 28:25  The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Deu 28:26  And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
Deu 28:27  The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
Deu 28:28  The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
Deu 28:29  And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
Deu 28:30  Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
Deu 28:31  Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
Deu 28:32  Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.
Deu 28:33  The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:
Deu 28:34  So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
Deu 28:35  The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
Deu 28:36  The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
Deu 28:37  And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
Deu 28:38  Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Deu 28:39  Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
Deu 28:40  Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
Deu 28:41  Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.

[Study Aired September 6, 2020]

Isa 65:7  Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
Isa 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Isa 65:10  And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
Isa 65:11  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
Isa 65:12  Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

The Lord has deemed it essential to our salvation that we know “the pit from whence [we] are digged”.

Isa 51:1  Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

Much of this chapter will be reminding us of the marred condition into which our old man was placed by the hand of the Potter.

Isa 65:7  Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

This verse reaffirms what was said of our rebellious old man in the previous verses:

Isa 65:2  I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
Isa 65:3  A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
Isa 65:4  Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Isa 65:5  Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
Isa 65:6  Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,

The message of our verses for today is essentially the same as the message of chapter 51, a few words of which I will repeat here before going to verse 7:

“Isa 51:1  Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. 

“From what rock are those who “follow after righteousness… hewn”? From what pit are we all digged? It is the same for all men, Abraham included:

Isa 51:2  Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 

What do we see when we ‘look to Abraham and Sarah’ when the Lord called them? We should see a barren, unfruitful couple of idol worshipers who had nothing to offer the Lord. Should not the Lord at least have chosen a couple who were not infertile if He intended to make of them a nation and a multitude of nations and to bless the world through them? That is certainly the way any natural man would go about producing a nation and a company of nations. Neither Abraham, nor any herdsman, would ever have picked a couple of cattle which had produced no offspring for over a decade, much less 98 years, to build up his herds. Nevertheless, the Lord chose an infertile couple, past the age of childbearing, to build a nation and a company of nations through which He would bless all other nations:

Gen 18:18  Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (End Quote)

What both chapter 51 and these verses of this 65^th chapter are telling us that God has chosen and still chooses, only the most despised, weak, and foolish of this world, and He does so deliberately for this express purpose:

1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The first six verses of this 65^th chapter tell us that we are first a rebellious people who provoke our Lord to anger continually to His face” (Isa 65:2-3).

Moses made it clear that our election is not because of us or because we are righteous, rather it is despite us and in spite of our unrighteous, rebelliousness:

Deu 9:6  Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

Deu 9:13  Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

Through the story of King Hezekiah the Lord is even now encouraging us to repent of our “stiffnecked”, rebellious ways and to yield ourselves to Him and to His ways:

2Ch 30:8  Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

The Lord has ordained that it is only through His chastening and scourging justice that we are brought to repentance and to yield ourselves to Him as we read in the last verse of our last study:

Isa 65:6  Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,

However, the Lord does not cause us to reap what we sow just for the purpose of getting even with us for “provoking Him to anger continually to His face”. Rather, His judgments are always out of His love for us:

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.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

In the New Testament, this Biblical principle of reaping what we sow, and chastening us with our own works, is expressed in these words:

Mat 18:23  Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24  And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents [An unpayable debt].
Mat 18:25  But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Mat 18:26  The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:27  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Mat 18:28  But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
Mat 18:29  And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:30  And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
Mat 18:31  So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Mat 18:32  Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33  Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Mat 18:34  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Mat 18:35  So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Two other scriptures are a condensed statement of what we are being told in this parable of this ungrateful, unmerciful servant.

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Jas 2:13  For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

Therefore, the Lord repeats His warning of reaping what we sow in the very next verse:

Isa 65:7  Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

Speaking specifically of this present time and His work with His elect who He has preordained to be the conduit of His mercy to all men, we are told:

Isa 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

This “blessing… in… the cluster” is “found” only by crushing the grapes.  In the time of our own judgment, and in the judgment of the rest of the world, the Lord will destroy all but a few of His ‘grapes’ and through the crushing of those few that are left He will in His time bless all the others. “Destroy it not… destroy… not… them all… for a blessing is in it”. This ‘blessing’ is the Lord’s blessing upon Abraham and his seed in type and in shadow. This ‘blessing in the cluster’ is in anti-type, and in the fulfillment of this type the “blessed and holy… few… who have part in the first resurrection”, which is “the redemption of the purchased possession”.

Gen 12:1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
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:
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.

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Isaiah has prophesied of this very thing twice before:

Isa 17:4  And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
Isa 17:5  And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
Isa 17:6  Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.

Before we go to the next place where Isaiah prophesies of the remnant grapes, let’s first consider the meaning of this phrase “in that day”. This phrase in the Old Testament almost always speaks of the day of our judgment:

Deu 31:17  Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
Deu 31:18  And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.

Isa 10:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them [our unmerciful old man]; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

These “gleaning grapes” are “the remnant… [the] few chosen”. These “gleaning grape” are the elect remnant upon whom “judgment must… first begin”:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

When Christ’s glory is revealed to us, then we should by all means “be glad… with exceeding joy”.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

“The ungodly and sinners… will appear [at the] great white throne… judgment” where they will be judged by those who are being judged in “this present time”, and for whom they unwittingly are “earnestly… waiting”:

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.

It is our fiery trials which are our judgment which is now upon “the house of God”. Those trials and fiery judgments must “first begin at us”. Being judged now is the greatest blessing the Lord can bestow upon us, because it is through Christ’s mercy that we are being judged in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). We are not being judged and saved at “this present time” through the Lord’s mercy upon us simply for our own salvation and nothing more. Rather our “first-fruit” salvation is for the purpose of making us “saviors” and the conduits of our Lord’s mercy upon all the rest of mankind who has ever lived:

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.

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

We judge this world, and we rule it with a rod of iron for “a thousand years”. That is not the end of  our judging. We are also the judges of the “great white throne… judgment” after the rebellion which takes place “when the thousand years are expired”. It is here that we will also judge “the devil and his angels”:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Who is doing this judging of the dead at this “great white throne”? The first thing to note is that the throne is a “white throne”, and the next thing we need to remember is that:

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world [To the later chastening judgment at this great white throne].

As for who is doing the judging of the dead at the great white throne judgment, this is what we are told, and I repeat:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? [“The kingdoms of this world” (Rev 11:15)] and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? [At the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death/ prepared for the devil and his angels] how much more things that pertain to this life?

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again [to be judged with the devil and his angels] until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Judgment is not taken away from these judges when the thousand years of reigning with Christ on this earth is expired. That thousand-year reign was just a period of preparation for a much greater time and a much greater judgment and harvest than the first-fruit wheat harvest, which is being judged now at “this present time”. All who are not given a part in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” are unknowingly “waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God” who will be their merciful judges when “the dead are judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works”:

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.

Verse 19 should remove any doubt about who the judges are of the great white throne judgment.

Why is Paul contrasting “the creature” with “the manifested sons of God”?

Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

“The creature” means all in Adam. It is not referring to cats and dogs. It is only those who are “in Adam” who are “wait[ing] for the manifestation of the sons of God”, and it is “we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the spirit” who are “groaning within ourselves waiting for the adoption… the redemption of our body”.

What we were just told here in Romans 8 is that it is “through [our] mercy” that “all the families of the earth… shall … be blessed”. Yes, that is exactly what Paul tells us just a few chapters later in this same epistle to the Romans:

Rom 11:30  For as ye [Gentiles] in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Knowing that physical Israel will be brought to God via spiritual Israel (Gal 6:15-16) gives these four verses of Isaiah 24 both an inward and an outward application:

Isa 24:10  The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Isa 24:11  There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
Isa 24:12  In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
Isa 24:13  When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God.

The name ‘Babylon’ means ‘confusion’. “The city of confusion” here in Isa 24:10 is the same “great harlot” city of:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! [Physical Jerusalem, verse 1] it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

And:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

That the first Israel is rejected of God and is replaced by the later spiritual Israel is made even clearer by the first recorded sermon given by our Lord, and by the message within the words of the parable of the workers in His vineyard.

Telling the Jews they would be replaced by a spiritual ‘Israel’ almost cost Christ His life:

Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

The parable of the workers in the vineyard conveys this same message inasmuch as the first will be last, and the last will be first:

Mat 20:1  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
Mat 20:2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Mat 20:3  And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
Mat 20:4  And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
Mat 20:5  Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
Mat 20:6  And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Mat 20:7  They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
Mat 20:9  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
Mat 20:10  But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
Mat 20:11  And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Mat 20:12  Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Mat 20:13  But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
Mat 20:14  Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
Mat 20:15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
Mat 20:16  So the last [spiritual Israel] shall be first, and the first [physical Israel] last: for many be called, but few chosen.

It is through Christ living His life within His “few chosen… elect” that the “blessing” mentioned in Isaiah 65:8 and the inheritance of our next verse will be fulfilled:

Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

The “Seed of Jacob [and the] inheritor of [the Lord’s] mountains” is Christ, and “His inheritance [which is] in [His] elect… in the saints”:

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Christ within His Christ are His elect who are the “inheritors of [His] mountains” and those ‘mountains’ are typified by “Sharon… and the valley of Achor”:

Isa 65:10  And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

It is only the Lord’s elect of “this present time whose “flocks” will increase and pasture in peace in “the valley of Achor. Flocks in peaceful pastures typify the peace and prosperity which the Lord’s elect firstfruits will know during the thousand years, and beyond to “the consummation of the ages”. It is the Lord’s elect who will be the first to experience the joys, the glory, and the power of “the consummation of the ages”:

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.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained. (CLV)

The “folds of flocks” in Sharon, and “the herds… lying down in Achor” typify “The glory that shall be revealed in us”. This peace and glory is contrasted with the fate of our old man in “this present time” as well as the rebellious carnal minds of all men of all time who “through [our] mercy… shall receive mercy” in the great white throne judgment (Rom 11:30-31 and Rev 20:11). That contrast is the subject of our last two verses of today’s study:

Isa 65:11  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
Isa 65:12  Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

“That troop [and] that number” is those who “no man could number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Rev 7:9). “That troop [and] that number” also includes our own old man and the old man of all men of all time, who have always resisted Christ, including all men of “this present time” and those who will be living in the “short season” of rebellion which immediately follows the thousand year reign “of our Lord and His Christ”.

This is the marred condition of all men right from “the Potter’s hand”:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Act 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

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.

“Numbered to the sword” is just another way of saying that our old man was “made to be taken and destroyed”:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Outwardly and dispensationally, “that troop [and] that number” symbolizes all the troops of all the armies of all nations which will “compass the camp of the saints about” in the last stand of the carnal mind of mankind against the irresistible power of “our Lord and His Christ”:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

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.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

That is our study for today, and these are the verses for our next study in which we will learn that we are to be given a new name, a new heavens and a new earth, all of which are completely unfamiliar to the “cursed” ‘name’ of our old man:

Isa 65:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
Isa 65:14  Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
Isa 65:15  And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
Isa 65:16  That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
Isa 65:17  For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isa 65:18  But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/awesome-hands-part-159-moses-blesses-the-tribes-of-israel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awesome-hands-part-159-moses-blesses-the-tribes-of-israel Thu, 28 Nov 2019 01:20:50 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=19839

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Awesome Hands - part 159: “Moses blesses the tribes of Israel” - Discussion

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Awesome Hands – part 159

“Moses blesses the tribes of Israel”

November 27, 2019

Before Moses’ death, Moses gave a blessing to Israel. This was after he had just given a warning to Israel concerning their sins and actions towards the Lord in the previous chapter.

In this study, we are going to explore the blessings mentioned, as they pertain to the “hands” mentioned within chapter 33.

The chapter starts off with an introduction:

Deu 33:1  And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
Deu 33:2  And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
Deu 33:3  Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.
Deu 33:4  Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

This is an introduction that wants to make clear that the Lord came forth as Light and brought with Him the law. It is mentioned that He came forward with ten thousand saints, so we need to figure out what is being said here.

It also mentions that all His saints are in His hand and that they will sit down at His feet so that everyone shall receive of His words.

I think we can agree that there is certainly a lot of symbolism happening in these verses before the blessing even starts.

The author of this chapter wants to make sure everyone knows who is giving the blessing, but also, how it is the blessing has any power or “weight” behind it.

Hebrew authors speak in the third person, from time to time, similar to when king David speaks about himself in third person in Psalms 21.

As is the focus for the “awesome hands” series, the first verse of this chapter that mentions the word “hand” is found in verse 3. This verse tells us that all the saints are in the hand of the Lord.

As we have studied in the last few studies, “work of the hand(s)” is a topic which informs us of what comes forth from the hand comes forth from the owner of that hand.

In this case, because we are in the hands of the Lord, we are His workmanship, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise since we are told this directly.

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

This verse says a lot and leaves no other conclusion for us than that we are His creation in Jesus Christ which have been ORDAINED to walk in His good works.

Given that we are ordained to walk in His good works, we can also conclude that others are not ordained to do so.

So, Moses continues to expound to Israel how this is all going to play out when he leaves them.

Deu 33:5  And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.

Contrary to what I have heard some say about this verse, this is not speaking about Moses being the king of Israel. He is never mentioned as a king, but only as a servant, and this verse (verse 5) hearkens back to the same “he” spoken about in verse 3.

Deu 33:3  Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.
Deu 33:4  Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.
Deu 33:5  And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.
Heb 3:5  And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

Now that it is confirmed who is sending forth the blessing, even as it is spoken via Moses, Moses proceeds to dish out the blessings to the various tribes according to the inspiration he is getting from the Lord.

Deu 33:6  Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.
Deu 33:7  And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies.

We know Jesus is a Lion from the tribe of Judah, so we are as He is, so verse 33:7 also is applicable to those who are in Christ and He in them.

We know from our past studies that “our hands” and the work that comes forth from them is something that comes from the Lord. These are the “good works” which glorify God because they are all His works. Moses blessing is type and shadow of the blessing we receive through the work of Jesus Christ in our lives. Notice that Moses prays the Lord to be a help to “him” from his enemies, including the “last” enemy.

Deu 33:8  And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
Deu 33:9  Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.
Deu 33:10  They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.
Deu 33:11  Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.

Again, we can see in type and shadow just how important the Levites are to the priesthood. They are given the portion to teach the judgments and law to Israel. They are given to create works with their hands which the Lord blesses, and of course they are blessed to fulfill the will that the Lord has caused them to fulfill.

There has been a lot written about this before, but I am going to read from an excerpt on another study that I did on this topic.

“The innermost veil has cherubims embroidered right on the veil itself and this reveals to us the difference in who could enter into the holy of holies. In the room of the “holy place”, which was before the veil blocking the way to the holy of holies, we have the altar of incense, the table of shewbread and the golden candlestick.

I mention this because we are going to see a pattern immerge in the layout of the items that make up what the tabernacle is. There is what the tabernacle consists of and then there are those that SERVE the tabernacle.

What precisely does the tabernacle represent?

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (G4637) among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

G4637
skēnoō
Total KJV Occurrences: 5
dwell, 4
Rev_7:15, Rev_12:12, Rev_13:6, Rev_21:3
dwelt, 1
Joh_1:14
Strong’s defines “dwelt / skenoo” this way:
G4637
skēnoō
skay-no'-o

From G4636; to tent or encamp, that is, (figuratively) to occupy (as a mansion) or (specifically) to reside (as God did in the Tabernacle of old, a symbol of protection and communion): - dwell.

Total KJV occurrences: 5

Thayers defines this same word as:

G4637
skēnoō
Thayer Definition:
1) to fix one’s tabernacle, have one’s tabernacle, abide (or live) in a tabernacle (or tent), tabernacle
2) to dwell
Part of Speech: verb

A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from G4636
Citing in TDNT: 7:385, 1040
Here is the root of “dwelt”:

G4633
skēnē
Total KJV Occurrences: 20
tabernacle, 15
Act_7:43-44 (2), Act_15:16, Heb_8:2, Heb_8:5, Heb_9:2-3 (2), Heb_9:6, Heb_9:8, Heb_9:11, Heb_9:21, Heb_13:10, Rev_13:6, Rev_15:5, Rev_21:3
tabernacles, 4
Mar_9:3-5 (3), Luk_9:33, Heb_11:9
habitations, 1
Luk_16:9 (2)
Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (G4637) among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

So the Greek word for “dwelt”, tells us that Jesus Christ was MADE FLESH and tabernacled among us, was full of grace and truth. Doesn’t that sound just like the bride of Christ?

Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Joh 14:18  I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME TO YOU.
Joh 14:19  Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

What is the connection to Christ Jesus abiding in His Father and in us with the tabernacle dwelling among us?

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
2Jn 1:8  Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

1Jn 2:22  Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

And a few verses later:

1Jn 2:25  And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
1Jn 2:26  These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.

What, then, is eternal life?

Joh 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 17:4  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

So a part of glorifying God the Father is to DO HIS WORK and WILL!

The question that now begs to be answered is who is it that would at all consider denying Christ and being anti Christ by denying that He came in the flesh? After all, most Christians even celebrate Jesus’ BIRTHDAY as Christmas, therefore they are celebrating Him PHYSICALLY coming to the earth in FLESH. However, is that what denying He has come in the flesh is?

Bringing this back around to the tabernacle we are studying in Exodus 26, why are the veils important?

The veils separate the rooms of the tabernacle and they even separate those that come from outside the tabernacle from those that can approach the mercy seat.

There are three sets of veils. There is the outside veil that is on the walls of the outer court. This veil is hanging on four pillars. The next veil is hanging on five pillars and leads into the holy place. The final veil blocks the way to the ark of the covenant and mercy seat.

These veils show us, in type and shadow, the progression of the obedience of those that do what the Lord says to do versus not doing what the Lord says to do.

That excerpt is relevant to this study because it party shows that Levites and the priesthood are both equally important, but they both have their place in the will of God for the people of Israel.

What is fascinating for me is that we are all these types and shadows, and live them out at some time in our walk with the Lord. We are Levites and priests at our appointed times, among other things.

Sometimes we want to slay our brother, other times we step in and save our brother from our other brothers just as Reuben did with Joseph, etc. etc.

When Moses gives out the curses and blessings, we are all being given these curses and blessings at our appointed time.

There is a lot that can be said about the individual blessings that Moses proclaims for each of the sons of Israel, but the end of this chapter is revealing for the end game of who we are in the Lord.

Deu 33:29  Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

 

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/awesome-hands-part-158-the-lord-hath-not-done-all-this/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awesome-hands-part-158-the-lord-hath-not-done-all-this Sun, 10 Nov 2019 00:55:24 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=19769

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Awesome Hands - part 158: “The LORD hath not done all this” - Discussion

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Awesome Hands – part 158

“The LORD hath not done all this”

November 9, 2019

Deu 31:29  For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because  ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

Deu 32:26  I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
Deu 32:27  Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

Our study today finds us with a very revealing set of verses about how seriously the Lord takes His glory and the works He institutes to that end.

It had been revealed to Moses that the Israelites would provoke the Lord to anger through the work of their hands.

The past several studies have shown that the negative “work of the hands” is creating idols which are worshipped as gods. This can come as physical creations, or more covertly, as the works of our hands in the form of the work we do in our own spiritual lives.

We indeed create “gods” to be worshipped with the work of our own “crafty hands”.

Deu 27:15  Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

Though the Israelites did fulfill this set of verses when they were told this “song of Moses”, we will see shortly that Christianity has done the same thing.

Isa 48:5  I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

We are all gods; therefore, we all create idols of our own hands.

For us personally, we too have fulfilled these verses in our own timing, but that is not the end of the story on this matter.

Deuteronomy 32:27 says, “Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy”, which alone makes it sound like the Lord could possibly “fear the wrath of the enemy”, but we know this is not what is being said simply because the Lord works all things after the counsel of His own will, and causing Himself to fear the wrath of His enemies is not something you can find witnesses to in scripture.

So, what is being said here, and why is it important to understand? Does the Lord fear “the wrath of the enemy”?

Here are the same verses in the ESV translation:

Deu 32:26 (ESV) I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces; I will wipe them from human memory,"
Deu 32:27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant, it was not the LORD who did all this."'

“It is not the Lord who did all this” is the focus of these verses.

It is very important to the Lord that He has a people who represent Him. In fact, this still holds true today.

When Israel is being told, through the song of Moses, that they will betray the Lord in their actions and hearts, the Lord says He is going to take vengeance (verse 35) on them to avenge His name.

In other words, His “name” is not going to be dragged through the mud without Him having something to say about the matter.

Deu 32:36  For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
Deu 32:37  And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
Deu 32:38  Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

When all this happens, the Lord is NOT utterly going to destroy His people because this is what will be used by the enemy to claim that the enemy is the one who ultimately has the power to destroy the Lord’s people, and the Lord is NOT having that!

The Lord is not going to permit His glory to be lessened by His enemy, by His enemy saying it has power to lessen the Lord’s glory.

Instead of utterly destroying His people, God will leave a remnant to show His glory through and to, and that is where Christian’s come in today.

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Again, lest we think this is only a message meant for the “Jews who are outwardly”, let us examine what the “name of the Lord” is all about and who it is who carries this name with them today.

Anyone who keeps the commandments of the Lord has His name. Therefore, doing, saying, professing, claiming, calling upon or acting in accord with the name of the Lord all means you are keeping His commandments.

“For I am persuaded, that neither death”, tells us that not even the “last enemy” death will have any power of the Lord or His name.

Lam 1:8  Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
Lam 1:9  Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
Lam 1:10  The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

When any of us do not “keep His commandments”, we are appointed to death in its various forms.

Though the Lord will no utterly destroy His people, if you are His people, then judgment must happen. For God’s people now, judgment is NOW on the house of God.

Deu 32:37  And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
Deu 32:38  Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
Deu 32:39  See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
Deu 32:40  For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.
Deu 32:41  If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
Deu 32:42  I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.
Deu 32:43  Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants,   and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to  his people.

This all seems so deadly for the enemies of God, and indeed it is. However, being that we are all the enemies of God because of the flesh that has it’s laws running through it, shouldn’t take our spiritual eyes off of the prize that we have a spiritual race to run to obtain the prize of the high calling.

I know this is a lot of verses, but I am going to read them from the ESV and hopefully this will encourage us all to keep running the race when so many of our enemies (and there are many spiritual enemies to deal with that have nothing to do with the physical) want us to stop running.

Php 3:12 (ESV) Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Php 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
Php 3:16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Php 3:17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
Php 3:18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Php 3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
Php 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Php 3:21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

What is this thing we have just exclaimed to be racing towards and trying to win referred to as the “high calling of Jesus Christ”?

Php 3:7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Php 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Php 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--
Php 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings,becoming like him in his death,
Php 3:11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

The focus of this study is to make sure that the enemies of God do not take the glory of God unto themselves.

The Lord tells the Israelites, through the song of Moses, that He will not allow His enemies to be able to claim, “the Lord has not done this”.

Deu 32:27  Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

What is the “all this” that the Lord is claimed by His enemies to have not done?

When we put it in the context of these verses, it is all the things mentioned in this chapter of Deuteronomy.

However, when we out it in the context of this race we are running the entirety of our Christian lives, it is all of the things “made from our hands”, otherwise known as “gods”, which take credit for what the Lord has done.

When combining the last few studies of the awesome hands series with this one, anything that we do of ourselves is the work of our hands. It is our own work. Where we get in spiritual trouble is that we take credit for even that work being created VIA our hands.

For example, many people cannot forgive themselves for some grievous thing that have done in their lives. This is because you only see the “you” being the cause of the “grievous thing”.

How much more clearer can the Lord make it that “you” just aren’t that powerful?

We just read that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ in Romans, yet we somehow think we are powerful enough to do that in SOME WAY? Listen again to the Lord in Deut 30 to see just how powerful the “god” you are is.

Deu 32:39  See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

Simply put, we cannot kill nor make alive ……. our OWN SELVES in and of ourselves. It simply is not given to us to do this and have this power.

The Lord does not share His glory with another in this way.

If we start evaluating the things in our heavens that we struggle with, and place it under this same spiritual microscope, we will discover that the Lord indeed has things under His control.

This should give us great comfort, and when it doesn’t, it is because “we” have somehow injected ourselves into the scenario as somehow not having the power to stop things as they are preceding or to get things going in the “right direction”.

What part of “BE STILL” is hard to understand? Stand in AWE of the Lord. Though “awesome” is not in the scripture, this is the word (AWE) which inspired the title of this series, “Awesome Hands”.

Psa 46:8  Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
Psa 46:9  He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Psa 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psa 46:11  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Psa 4:1  To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
Psa 4:2  O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
Psa 4:3  But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
Psa 4:4  Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Psa 4:5  Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
Psa 4:6  There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
Psa 4:7  Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
Psa 4:8  I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

What are the “sacrifices of righteousness” we are to offer? I just so happened to highlight it before, but could it be so simple? Yes, indeed it is, because there is simplicity in the Lord.

Php 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes  from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--

The real eye-opener and kicker is that EVEN faith is a GIFT from God, so the righteousness we are to sacrifice is FROM THE LORD! Amen!

Lack faith? Ask for more. We all need more faith, not less! Ever feel like you’ve been cast into the fire or water to be destroyed?

Mar 9:22  And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I  believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Lord, I believe, but help me with the rest of my unbelief … my un-faith. Amen, “father of the child”, amen.

I hope this study will bless you to know who fights on your side.

 

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/awesome-hands-part-156-called-by-the-name-of-the-lord/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awesome-hands-part-156-called-by-the-name-of-the-lord Sun, 20 Oct 2019 00:24:44 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=19653

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Awesome Hands - part 156: "Called by the name of the Lord" - Discussion

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Awesome Hands – Part 156

“Called by the name of the Lord”

October 19, 2019

Last study we covered the curses of the Lord, and for this study we will be blessed to cover the blessings of the Lord.

The verses for consideration today are found in Deuteronomy 28. There are two times that the word “hand” is mentioned here, though they are a few verses apart, so we will cover a few verses in-between as well.

Deu 28:8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Deu 28:9  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
Deu 28:11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Deu 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

Obviously, there is a lot being said here, and while going into depth would take several studies, I am going to focus on a few points of interest as I am led of the Lord to do so.

The first verse tells us the Lord’s blessing will be upon our storehouses, as well as all that we set our hand, i.e. work, to do. Likewise, He will bless us in the “land” which the LORD gives to us.

I looked up the word storehouse to make sure it was what I thought it was, and it is indeed a 'barn'. However, it is only mentioned one other time in Hebrews, so I thought I would read that as well to give us some context on what the Lord thinks about “storehouses”.

H618

'âsâm

Total KJV Occurrences: 2

barns, 1

Pro_3:10

storehouses, 1

Deu_28:8

Pro 3:10  So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

I also read the entire section of Proverbs 3, but the verses that caught my attention during this study are Pro 3:3-10.

Pro 3:3  Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Pro 3:4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Pro 3:7  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Pro 3:8  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Pro 3:9  Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
Pro 3:10  So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

I know there is a lot packed into this set of verses as well, but there are some profound things being said in these verses which lead up to “thy barns shall be filled with plenty”.

Writing mercy and truth upon the tables of your heart, thereby finding favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man, is something we don’t often talk about.

While we do talk about trusting the Lord with all of our heart, and not leaning to our own understanding, is this something we do all the time as is required?

Acknowledging the Lord 'in ALL WAYS' seems to be VERY important to our paths being directed by the Lord. When I emphasize our it seems to that there is a difference between our goals and the Lords from the perspective of us.

The Lord works all things after the counsel of His own will; yet, we live that will from our perspective and under the rule of living in the bounds of time. The Lord isn’t restricted by time.

Being not wise in our own eyes and fearing the Lord is HUGE when you clearly grasp the implications to your spiritual health. When you are not wise in your own eyes and you FEAR the LORD, you have HEALTH to your NAVEL/belly and to the very CORE of your bones.

Examine that statement for a second. Look at your life, and examine what it is YOU are WISE in your own eyes about.

Are you wealthy and have some savings? Are you wise in your own eyes for having built up that savings? Are you healthy as an ox, as the saying goes, and you somehow are wise in your own eyes that you alone accomplished that?

Do you have a healthy marriage which gives you wisdom in your own eyes?

Do you take pride in being “down to earth” because you are not so wealthy, but you are rich in spirit from the Lord?

Do you have a great story of how you are where you are now, but if circumstances would have been slightly different, you might be some where else in this point in your life?

Do you have children who love you, lots of friends, admiration from co-workers and peers, etc.?

I could go on and on, but what is it in your life that can cause you to be WISE in your OWN BLIND EYES?

The Truth is, without the Lord we can do NOTHING.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Rom 13:8  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Joh 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these  also doeth the Son likewise.

If Jesus Christ can do NOTHING of Himself, then what chance do we have of somehow being more powerful than Jesus in doing something of ourselves?

Likewise, Jesus told us in John 15:5 that without Him we can DO NOTHING. Therefore, we can do nothing without Jesus, and Jesus cannot do anything of Himself and tells us we can do NOTHING without God the Father.

Putting this all together, we see that we can do nothing of ourselves, but we obviously  ….. do stuff in life.

Notice the Lord tells us in Deuteronomy 28:15, “The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto”.

What are we setting our hands to do? The answer is: everything we do, we are setting our hands to do. However, what is the purpose of the thing we are doing? Are we “doing all that we do to the glory of God” or are we just getting by?

Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee

The name of the Lord is a specific thing to be named by; yet, how can all the people of the earth SEE if we are not among all the people of the earth? The answer is that we are in the presence of “all the earth” when we interact in any way with anyone we encounter in our lives, whether they be a stranger, foe or friend.

Proverbs 3:4 told us that we will find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man, but how can that happen with the “in sight of man” part if we are not in the sight of man?

Pro 3:4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Brothers and sisters, this world needs a lot of light to shine into it. We are the ambassadors of Christ to the WORLD and to the EARTH.

With all that I have just said, I am not saying that in this ambassadorship we can do anything on our own to be this ambassador. However, that is what and who we are. We cannot be hidden.

Whatever we are doing has an impact on a future son of God, and everyone will be a future son of God. We need to be presenting ourselves in the ways we have learned to be “the light of the world”.

If we be afraid, let it be FEAR of the Lord and not of men. Our ideas, thoughts, emotions, actions and reactions should all be a reflection of the Light that is in US.

I am in front of a lot of people all the time. I interact with customers and people I work with. I see strangers at the store. I interact with people online through texting, websites, web chats, webcams, etc.

In all of these interactions, I pray I am reflecting the light that is in me because I have been called and chosen to be faithful to being the VERY light of the WORLD.

Joh 17:6  I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

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.
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.

Joh 17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Sometimes, I see a lot of judgments of being “in the world”, and these things are not good. You may have all experienced these things yourselves while in the various denominations you were called out of.

Being in the World is our very calling. We are to be among darkness but not be OF that darkness.

Everyone knows what the Lord’s prayer is, but they often ignore one very important ACTUAL prayer which the Lord prayed for us Himself.

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”

Jesus didn’t pray that we be taken out of the world, but that we be kept from evil. Isn’t that interesting? Jesus prayed this and tells us that we are the Light OF THE WORLD.

How then is all of this connected to our verses of study for today?

Look at the mindset we should have if we want:

1) Blessings upon our storehouse

2) Blessings upon all that we set our hands to do

3) Blessings in the land which the Lord gives us (YOU are the LAND)

4) Blessing to be the holy people of God

5) All the people of the earth shall SEE WE ARE CALLED BY HIS NAME and be afraid (fear of the Lord in us)

6) Blessed with plenteous in goods, fruit of the our body, fruit of the cattle, fruit of the ground, IN OUR LAND

7) Blessed in the GOOD TREASURE of the Lord, RAIN unto our LAND in it’s season, to BLESS all the work of OUR HANDS

8) We shall lend but not borrow

How is it we obtain these things?

1) Keep His commandments

2) Walk in His ways

I don’t know about you all, but that seems like a very FAIR list of blessings for LOVING the Lord with all our heart, soul strength and mind and loving our neighbors as ourselves. I simply just restated the verses of Deuteronomy 28:8-12 where we see two listings of the word “hand”.

How can we love our neighbors if we aren’t AMONG our neighbors?

The answer is that we are among our neighbors anytime we are “in the world” among those to whom the Lord desires that we be the Light of the world.

I will end this study by connecting a few thoughts that are often overlooked.

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.

We are not OF the WORLD, but we are IN THE WORLD. When you connect this with being the Light OF THE WORLD, it should be easy to see that you have to be IN the world in order to not be OF the world.

Why?

Light is called from darkness, but it must be IN DARKNESS to be called forth from it.

We must be in the world, while being the Light of this world, so that we can be examples to all of mankind (those to whom we are sent in our lives) in order to plant seeds that can be watered and increased by the Lord.

Who else can give examples to a dying and decayed EARTH and WORLD other than the sons of God following the example of the Son of God?

We are sent to the EARTH that everyone is. We are sent into “all that is IN THE WORLD” to be LIGHT where there is only darkness. We are the conduits being used to accomplish this.

Therefore, while we examine this aspect of it, let us keep reminding ourselves of the reward we are after in the age to come while also not denying that there ARE BLESSINGS we can and do receive NOW in this age.

Review my list above to see some of those blessings.

For now, I hope you were edified and blessed by this study.

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/awesome-hands-part-155-the-work-of-the-hands-of-the-craftsman/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awesome-hands-part-155-the-work-of-the-hands-of-the-craftsman Sat, 12 Oct 2019 23:55:04 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=19612

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Awesome Hands - Part 155: "The work of the hands of the craftsman" - Discussion

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Awesome Hands – part 155

“The work of the hands of the craftsman”

October 12, 2019

 

Our study today covers a very broad topic. It is a topic that has many layers, but it is also easy to understand. Our verse of focus today is Deu 27:15.

Deu 27:15  Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the  people shall answer and say, Amen.

On the surface, and just reading this verse, it is hard to understand why the Lord would consider it an abomination for a craftsman to make a carved or cast image of anything. Indeed, it doesn’t even mention worshipping this creation in this verse, but we know that is the implication by knowing other verses.

However, it is the sum of the word that matters especially with verses such as Deu 27:15. In fact, this is the first of twelve curses that the Lord tells Israel about.

Though it isn’t mentioned here, all of the blessings and curses were read together to the people versus this section telling Moses how he is to tell the Levites to read these curses, etc.

Jos 8:33  And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.

Jos 8:34  And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

Before we get into the specifics of Deu 27:15, I want to read the other curses to help set the stage on what we are being told in this section of scripture.

Deu 27:16  Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:17  Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:18  Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:19  Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:20  Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; because he uncovereth his father's skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:21  Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:22  Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:23  Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:24  Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:25  Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 27:26  Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Notice that these are all things that are done in secret or otherwise hard to be found out excluding the last curse which is a curse covering the entirety of the law.

This tells us that without a doubt no one escapes the law because all are guilty of breaking the law of God except Jesus Christ.

Yet, even Jesus took the curse upon Him, being made a curse, and then crucified it on the cross.

Gal 3:10  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11  But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12  And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Gal 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Today, I do not think many folks are making graven or molten images with their hands and then assigning some deity worship to it. Rather, the majority of all of us worship the work of our own hands and do the worshipping in secret.

Anyone that had done a good days work or who has created something out of their own hard efforts has set back and appreciated and admired the fruit of that hard work.

Likewise, any craftsman can tell you the joy they have in having created something that is useful for what it was created for even if it is only to admire such as a work of art, etc.

For Christians today, Deu 27:15 can teach us a whole lot about the pitfall of self-worship.

While we may not make graven or molten images to worship, we certainly engrave our own hearts and minds with the “works of our own hands”.

If you think that this has no application to you personally, think on these verses and their application to you.

Joh 10:34  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Joh 10:36  Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
Joh 10:37  If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
Joh 10:38  But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

See, just like with Jesus Christ of whom we are to be like in this world, the works we do are either of God the Father or they are not.

Jesus connected “ye are gods” with WORKS! The works we do with our hands are works we make with our spiritual hands and SECRETLY worship them where others can not see not perceive of this happening.

In other words, we are making graven images and worshipping them as gods because it is the work itself we are worshipping. That work came from us, so we are indeed worshipping another god!

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.

What then are the works of our own hands that we need to be aware of in order to combat them and not succumb to self-worship via our idols of our heart?

How do we identify idols?

Eze 6:5  And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
Eze 6:6  In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
Eze 6:7  And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 6:8  Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
Eze 6:9  And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
Eze 6:10  And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
Eze 6:11  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

When we look at what we do, say or act upon in our daily lives, are these things we see being done in Israel?

Remember, for Christians we are looking at “the Jews who say they are Jews” but are not.

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Many Christians, including all of us, believe to be a “Jew inwardly” of the heart and in the spirit. How can we know if we fall into this latter camp or if we are yet in the former camp?

Again, it all goes back to works of the Father versus works of our own hands otherwise known as works of your father the devil.

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Mat 10:20  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

Luk 12:28  If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Luk 12:29  And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
Luk 12:30  For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
Luk 12:31  But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

What is it to love Jesus? To love Jesus is to have God the Father as our Father and to not have the devil as our father.

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.

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.
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 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.

1Jn 4:9  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

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.
1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.
1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

2Jn 1:5  And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
2Jn 1:6  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Indeed, there are many deceivers and the antichrist’s in the world. How do we know this? I just used scripture to define the love we must have to say we love Jesus thereby being of God the Father.

While defining love, I also showed that JESUS MUST COME IN THE FLESH and is indeed IN THE FLESH.

Therefore, when did Christ, while in the flesh, say or do anything contrary to the will of God? When did Jesus Christ say, “Yeah, I have a will separate from the Father’s which isn’t touched by the will of God. I can do some things on my own of my own free will?”

If we cannot find even one example of Jesus doing something outside of the will of the Father while reading the stories of when He walked the earth more than 2000 years ago, then we must conclude that something is wrong with the doctrine that WE can somehow do something outside of the causation of the will of God.

Jesus IS come in the flesh, right now. The Truth is that Jesus is walking the earth RIGHT NOW in the flesh. To say otherwise, is a deceiver and antichrist according to scripture.

What flesh is Jesus walking around with and in? Therefore, what part of the will of Jesus, while walking in the flesh, is somehow SEPARATE from the will of God and can “do its own thing,” sometimes?

The work of the hands of the craftsman are works which build something that God Himself has not being given credit for. Good works are only good because they are works which are accredited to God.

Mar 10:17  And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Mar 10:19  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

Luk 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

If Jesus says NONE IS GOOD, then I believe Him. Jesus’ will is NOTHING next to the Will of the Father.

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/what-does-it-mean-to-cast-their-silver-in-the-streets/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-does-it-mean-to-cast-their-silver-in-the-streets Tue, 23 Apr 2019 23:55:40 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=18671

Hi Mike,

I was hoping I could get your feedback on something.

Ezekiel 7:19 tells us when disaster strikes the land of Israel, the people will be “casting their silver in the streets” because it has become worthless to them.

I was reading your study on the “Negative Application of Silver Part 1” and silver in the negative connotation represents our self-righteousness.

So when we read of the Israelites “casting their silver in the streets” the spiritual application for us is the people had come to realize their own efforts, their own works, and their self-righteousness were all worthless as far as salvation is concerned.

They had given up on their so-called “free-will” and realized their complete and total dependence on God for their deliverance and salvation.

Am I on the right track? I really would like to hear your interpretation of this highly misunderstood verse in God’s Word. Thanks, Mike, for all your help and for everything you do for us.

Your brother in Christ,

C____

Hi C____,

You are on the right track.

The day is coming when every religion on earth will “cast their silver into the streets… because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity”.

Eze 7:19  They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD : they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

This will come upon every Christian who wants Christ’s name but not His food or His apparel. It will come upon every Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew and atheist.

The tribulation which precedes the return of Christ and the resurrection of those who “first trusted in Christ” will strike great fear in the minds of every man and woman on earth at that time. They will want to submit to our Lord and His Christ.​ Christ and His Christ are coming with great power which will instantly make every military device of mankind obsolete and ineffective against the Lord and His Christ.

Rev 11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14  The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

It is my fervent prayer that you realize you and I must have this experience within first and be judged first​ or we will be in the resurrection of damnation/great white throne judgment/ lake of fire​/​second death. We must be judged now, at this present time, or we will not take part in the blessed and holy first resurrection:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

There are great blessings in being counted worthy to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection:

Rev 20:1  And​ I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Your brother in Christ, Mike

Isa 39 (Part 3) Good is the Word of the Lord Which You Have Spoken - Discussion

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Isa 39 - Part 3 - Good Is The Word of The Lord Which You Have Spoken

In our last study we saw Hezekiah as a type of the Lord’s elect who are faithful to the end in spite of being just as weak and just as sinful as the Lord’s rejected elect, typified by King Saul and even Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz.

King Saul had been given a great victory over the Amalekites, but had not destroyed the spoil as he had been commanded. In spite of his disobedience, he had built a monument to himself and attempted to bamboozle Samuel into accepting his disobedience concerning the taking of the spoils as a desire to offer offerings to the Lord. That excuse for his blatant disobedience coming from King Saul was what prompted these words from Samuel:

1Sa 15:12  And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place [Hebrew: a monument], and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
1Sa 15:13  And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
1Sa 15:14  And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
1Sa 15:15  And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
1Sa 15:16  Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
1Sa 15:17  And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
1Sa 15:18  And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
1Sa 15:19  Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
1Sa 15:20  And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
1Sa 15:21  But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
1Sa 15:22  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

The Lord took the kingdom away from King Saul because he did not listen closely to and obey His commandment, and he had made a monument to himself as if it were he, King Saul, who in and of himself had conquered the Amalekites.  King Saul wanted personal recognition for what the Lord had done. He was no longer “little in [his] own eyes”.

But when King David committed much greater sins than taking the spoil of the Amalekites​,​ the Lord did not take the kingdom away from him. Let’s look at the sins King David committed, for which the Lord had commanded the death penalty:

2Sa 12:1  And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2Sa 12:2  The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
2Sa 12:3  But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
2Sa 12:4  And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
2Sa 12:5  And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
2Sa 12:6  And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
2Sa 12:7  And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
2Sa 12:8  And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
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.

Taking a man’s wife and then killing that man to cover up your adultery is a much greater sin than taking spoil you were told to destroy. The Lord did punish King David, but he did not take the kingdom from him. This is what the Lord did to King David, the Old Testament type of His elect.

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.
2Sa 12:11  Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
2Sa 12:12  For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
2Sa 12:13  And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
2Sa 12:14  Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

“The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.” Oh, how King Saul would have loved to hear those words! However, the Lord did not show His mercy to King Saul as He did to King David, an even greater sinner.

The same was true of Esau and Jacob. Esau, hungry and tired, sold to his conniving brother his birthright for a bowl of pottage. His conniving brother went from that self-serving trick to lying to his father and stealing Esau’s blessing. Jacob was forgiven for these sins, but look what we are told of Esau:

Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

We see the same principle at work here in the story of Hezekiah. Hezekiah subjected himself to the king of Assyria, just as his father before him. As his father before him, he disobeyed the Lord’s commandment to “stand and see the salvation of the Lord, [He] shall fight for you.”

Exo 14:13  And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
Exo 14:14  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Nevertheless, the Lord forgave Hezekiah and sent His angel and slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers and delivered Hezekiah from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria.

Isa 37:36  Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
Isa 37:37  So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

This incredible victory was followed by the humbling experience of Hezekiah becoming “sick unto death", and when the Lord gave Hezekiah the humanly impossible sign of his healing of moving the shadow of the sundial back ten degrees, then even the nations around him begin to honor and respect him to such a degree that Hezekiah’s “heart was lifted up”, and just like King Saul before him, he took to himself the credit for all the Lord had done on his behalf.

2Ch 32:20  And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.
2Ch 32:21  And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.
2Ch 32:22  Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.
2Ch 32:23  And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
2Ch 32:24  In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the LORD: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.
2Ch 32:25  But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
2Ch 32:26  Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, took the Lord’s treasures and sent them to the king of Assyria, hoping to win his favor, but to no avail. Hezekiah was not any better than his father, and he did the exact same thing instead of depending on the Lord to deliver him.

So why was Jacob, a liar and a thief, shown mercy, while his brother, Esau, who was simply weak and hungry, was not shown the Lord’s mercy? Why was an adulterous, murderous, King David shown the Lord’s mercy while King Saul, who took the spoils of war, was not? Why was King Hezekiah shown mercy after twice taking to himself the Lord’s glory, while King Saul had the kingdom taken from him? Why was Hezekiah shown mercy after doing the same thing with the Lord’s treasures that his father had done?

The answer to all of those questions is the same. Jacob was favored over Esau for the same reason Esau “found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears.”

Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

King David was given the kingdom of King Saul for the same reason King Saul had the kingdom taken from him. Hezekiah was forgiven for giving the Lord’s treasures to the king of Assyria for the same reason his father was not given to repent. The reason in every case is two-fold. The first reason is that the Lord is working all things after the counsel of His own will, and it was His will that those who symbolize His elect would be given “place for repentance” while those whose lives symbolized His rejected anointed would find no “place for repentance”. The second reason, Jacob’s greater sins against his brother Esau were forgiven, and King David’s greater sins against Uriah were forgiven, and the second reason why Hezekiah’s sins of taking the Lord’s glory to himself after committing the same sins of his father, was for the purpose of helping each of us to see clearly that we must have this view of ourselves:

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

That is one reason why the Lord showed mercy to Jacob, King David and King Hezekiah, but did not show His mercy to Esau, King Saul or King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father.

Hezekiah himself, in his grateful song of praise and gratitude to his heavenly Father for his healing of his “sickness unto death”, made clear how the Lord would pass this knowledge down to all those who are given “place for repentance”:

Isa 38:19  The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

"The Father to the children shall make known your truth" is another way of telling us that "[Christ] to [His children shall make known [His] Truth", because Isaiah calls Christ "the everlasting Father", and Christ tells us that He is sending us to do what His Father sent Him to do:

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Joh​ ​20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Following this “Father to the son” principle, it becomes clear that as Christ’s Father sent Him “even so [Christ as our Father is sending us that as His ambassadors] the world through Him might be saved”. It will be through the Christ of Christ, those He sends to do what His Father sent Him to accomplish, that the "manifold wisdom of God will be made known" and accomplished first within His elect and then through them to all the rest of mankind, past and future. But “the glory is [to be] of God and not of us”!

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

If it is true that Christ will use the church to show all men the manifold wisdom of God, then it is of utmost importance that we know exactly what “the manifold wisdom of God” is which Christ's Father sent Him to “make known… to those who first trusted in Christ.”

Here is a critical part of “the manifold wisdom of God [which He has] made known to us”:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

So why did our heavenly Father send Christ into this world? What is this “inheritance” we have “obtained… in Christ”? Is this “inheritance” common to all men?  Is there no difference in the glory and reward given those “who first trusted in Christ”, and those who get their wages last?

The parable of the workers in the vineyard makes it abundantly clear that those workers who worked all day long and got the same wages as those who came to work at the last hour of the day, felt that a very great distinction had been made by the Lord and they did not like it one little bit.

Not only had those who worked just one hour been rewarded with the same wages, but they were also the first to receive their wages:

Mat 20:9  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
Mat 20:10  But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
Mat 20:11  And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Mat 20:12  Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Mat 20:13  But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
Mat 20:14  Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
Mat 20:15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

Now let us pose again the question: ‘Is there no difference in the glory and reward given those “who first trusted in Christ”, and those who get their wages last?’ One thing should be abundantly clear; those who worked all day and bore the heat of the day certainly thought there was a big difference. It seemed to them that those who came last received a day's wages for one hour of labor, and to them that is not fair.

So here is one big difference in answer to that very important question:

Mat​ ​19:30  But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

As we are about to see the very next verse of the 20^th chapter of Matthew clarifies for us the significance of “the last shall be first”. Such counterintuitive words manifest that there is truly an order in which the Lord is accomplishing His plan for mankind, and the Lord wants us to know that sequence of events which will take place “every man in his own order”. Before we look at the next verse of Matthew 20, let’s take note of what the scriptures reveal to be the order of the sequence of events the Lord is working in His creatures:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the [harvest at the] end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
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.

That is the order of events which “[the Lord] is working after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11), and here now is the meaning of “the last shall be first” as explained in the very next verse of Matthew 20:

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for [G1063: ‘gar’ - because] many be called, but few chosen.

The last are first and the first are last “because” many are called at this time, but few are chosen “at this present time”:

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 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

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.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

We are plainly told, “The world through Him [will] be saved”. If the Father first sent Christ to save the world, then it follows that He gave Christ to know how He plans to get that done, and in the same manner, Christ wants us to know His Father’s plan:

Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

That is an incredible revelation. Christ “has made known to [us]… all things He has heard of His Father”, and that is why soon after His resurrection Christ expounds upon those words:

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Christ has sent us to do just what His Father sent Him to do, and as we saw earlier, this is what His Father sent Him to do:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

The Lord is working out a preordained plan in an orderly manner. Not everyone is being saved in this age. There are those “who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12), there are “the last [who] shall be first” (Mat 19:30), and there are the last to be hired who are the first to be paid (Mat 20:8-16). What is most revealing is that there is a “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” who are blessed above all men to be in “[that] blessed and holy… first resurrection”.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The fact is that very few indeed are being saved in this age. A “first resurrection” necessitates that there must also be a second resurrection at the “second death”. Those who have “the firstfruits of the spirit” necessitate that there are those who do not have “the firstfruits of the spirit”. “A better resurrection” requires that there is a less desirable resurrection, which is exactly what the Lord tells us is the case, and which Peter tells us is the case:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: κρίσις, krisis - judgment].

Heb 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

The fact is that Christ tells us clearly that He is “at this time” in the process of blinding and preventing the masses of humanity from hearing and understanding “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Verse 17 of John 3 is part of “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” which this world simply cannot see, hear or understand. This is what our heavenly Father sent His Son into this world to accomplish:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Our heavenly Father sent Christ into this physical realm “that the world through Him might be saved”. The salvation of all men is not in question. That is what the Lord wants and desires, and what He desires, He does:

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

The Lord is at this time using the false doctrine of “free moral agency” to keep mankind blinded to the fact that He “will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth”.

1Ti 2:3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The purveyors of the false doctrine of 'free moral agency' always tell us that the word translated 'will' here means 'desires all men to be saved', to which I simply repeat the Lord's words… "What His soul desires, even that He does".

That is the message of scripture from Genesis to revelation. The Lord is sovereign over all things, and our will is not sovereign over anything, not even the evil in our lives:

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

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

Pro 16:33  The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

Pro 20:24  Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

There are many other such verses here in the book of Proverbs alone, and they all accord with what is taught throughout the Word of God. The Word of God always negates the will of mankind and emphasizes the sovereign will of our Creator "who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth". Yes, [that sovereignty extends to] “even the wicked" deeds we all just naturally commit during our own "day of evil" (Pro 16:4).

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

Jeremiah certainly agrees with the rest of scripture:

Jer 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Paul comes right out and says it:

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

In even more explicit words, Paul tells us:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

When I was under the delusion of "free moral agency" I used to quote verse 12 to others as scriptural proof that we all have “free moral agency”, blithely unaware and blinded to the words of the very next verse… 'For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure', NOT of my fabled 'free will'!

The Father sent Christ to save the world, and what He was sent to do, He will accomplish through us.

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me ["that the world… might be saved" ( Joh 3:17)], even so send I you.

However, just as we are presently being judged and our old man is presently being condemned and is presently dying daily, so will all the rest of mankind have that same experience of being judged and dying to their own rebellious carnal-minded old man, “each in his own order” (1Co​ ​15:23):

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

"His deeds… are wrought in God" means all our deeds, not just our good deeds which the Lord works in us. While it may seem Hezekiah simply isn't worried about what his actions have brought upon his children, the fact is that he is merely acknowledging the depth of the truth that even his actions are not really of his own will, and even his own evil deeds "are wrought in God" because this is the fact of both the good and the evil which are in this world:

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

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

Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

"Good is the word of the Lord" acknowledges the truth of Proverbs 16:4 and all other such verses of scripture which confirm that even when we sin "It is not [we] who do it, but sin which is in [our] members (Rom 7:17 and 20), and that the Lord is working all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11).

Isa 39:8  Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

In summary Isaiah 39 has taught us four very important lessons: 1) that we are never to give, or even show, the Lord's treasures to His and our enemies, 2) that we cannot of ourselves remain humble under the weight of all the blessings we have been given, 3) that we should always see ourselves as “chief of sinners” and not put that distinction upon others, and number 4) that as Hezekiah was always delivered, and given “place for repentance”, we, too, will be kept humbled by the Lord and will be given “place for repentance”, and will not be permitted to fall away from His love for us as His first-fruits, if indeed we are the Lord's very elect, then we, too, must agree with the apostle Paul who reminds us:

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. [Psa 44:22]
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What wonderful words of comfort for those to whom they apply. What reassuring words for the Lord’s faithful elect.

This concludes our studies in Isaiah 39. Next week we will be examining the even more encouraging words which the Lord has written for our admonition in Isaiah 40:

Isa 40:1  Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Isa 40:2  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.
Isa 40:3  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isa 40:4  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Isa 40:5  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Isa 40:6  The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
Isa 40:7  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
Isa 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Isa 40:9  O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Isa 40:10  Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

Last week’s study was broken up into several sections, and we started off by looking at how God looks at all sinful flesh in which we abide in (Rom 7:5-6, Gal 5:17). We also looked at how the physical feeding and nourishing of the flesh of mankind found in these two sections of scripture, Luke 9:14-17 and Mark 8:6-9, are a parable describing the judgment that God’s word is going to work in the lives of all those who will receive His word in time, a word that is likened unto bread (Joh 6:55-58).

We looked at how all men will be saved through a process of judgment which is unfolding little by little as each man in his own order receives that bread of life, those words of eternal life that won’t return void until it has accomplished what God has determined it to do (Joh 17:20, Isa 55:11).

We then dissected those parables a little further (Luk 9:14-17, Mar 8:6-9) to see how all men, represented by the 4000 who sat down and ate bread (Mar 8:6-9), will be saved through judgment that unfolds in two stages: a physical baptism first, because that which is natural is always first (1Co 15:46). That experience is preceded by a spiritual baptism by fire, represented by the 5000 who sat and ate bread at Christ’s feet in this parable in Luke 9:14-17. Together the two stories add up to around 9000 people, the number which we know represents judgment showing us that judgment is something that unfolds in a very specific process.

The salvational experience of all of mankind as a whole can be likened to the twelve baskets full of the fragments that are gathered up after the multitudes ate at the feet of Christ, and it is that foundational event of twelve baskets which God uses in this parable of the 5000 being fed (Luk 9:14-17) that reminds us that none will be lost, but all will be saved through grace and faith (5000, Eph 2:8). The foundation of how God is going to save all mankind starts with God’s elect as these verses witness – Mat 10:2, Rev 7:4, Eph 3:10, 1Co 15:23.

There is significance to the 4000 being fed seven fish and then seven baskets of fragments which were gathered in this parable in Mark 8:5-9, and what we have been learning is that these fragments which are gathered are the complete (7) experience of mankind that needs to be understood as our experience, our one event which is common to all men (Ecc 9:3). When we’re granted to ruminate on this experience of evil (Ecc 1:13) by which we are humbled, we become sorrowful at this event of the dead burying the dead within ourselves, if God is working with us (Luk 9:60, Rom 2:4). This experience in our first Adamic seed is what God uses to prick our hearts and lead us to a repentance which must precede our being born again so we can inherit the kingdom of God within (Rom 6:4, Gal 3:16, Joh 12:24, Joh 3:3).

This week we will look at how God reserves all mankind unto judgment through the law (2Pe 3:7, Heb 10:27) or the schoolmaster where we are “under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father”, the time when we will be judged with a fiery baptism (Gal 3:24, Gal 4:1, Mat 3:11).

We will also look at some parables that point to the need for the preparation which each of us will experience in our lives prior to the ultimate rest in the Lord that will occur in the first resurrection. God is always preparing our hearts and making us ready for what is coming (Pro 16:9, Pro 16:1), and so we can rejoice in knowing that He is our helper Who is helping us overcome and endure through the fiery process of preparation so that we can be made ready to serve and save the rest of humanity (Rom 8:31, 1Ti 4:16).

The last part of our study will conclude in an email that I will read which witnesses to another example of the order that God reveals to us in His word in regard to how judgment must unfold in each life, and how it is by God’s ordained wisdom and order described in this parable found in 2 Peter 3:8 that we can see there truly is one event unto all men (Ecc 9:3). No one will be excluded from that order and process, even those who died in the womb, or any other instance where life was cut short, through war, for example.

Judged by the law for the lawless until we are judged with fire (Mat 3:11)

Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize 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 baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Giving an accounting or confession ‘in the lake of fire’ for the powers and principalities to which we have been subject even in ignorance is typified in the time when we are judged by the school master, the law for the lawless, and the gentiles (within and without) are not excluded from that time, being a law unto themselves.

Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound [the law is that first baptism]. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound [grace that did much more abound is the fiery baptism we go through that changes the heart]:
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death [Rom 8:2, 1Ti 1:9], even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 7:7 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.
Rom 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

1Ti 1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

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

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

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

There is a negative way to compare among ourselves which is not wise, but there is also a positive way to compare that God will use in judgment to bring people to see that He was the one Who gave different cultures or groups of people at specific times, a specific spirit, which required specific works done in it if they were going to repent.

2Co 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

The wisdom of man, or the vanity of mans flesh compares fleshly wisdom with fleshly wisdom and this is the time when we are not going from glory to glory by faith because we are not granted to look to Christ who is our wisdom and the finisher of our faith.

2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Luk 10:8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
Luk 10:9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Luk 10:11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
Luk 10:13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
Luk 10:14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.
Luk 10:15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.
Luk 10:16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

This judgment or these comparisons which Christ draws are part of the process of letting the dead bury the dead, that must precede the lake of fire baptism where those within that fire will be giving an accounting for all of those things that were done in their body. Those things will be brought to their attention, just as Christ did in the type and shadow event of comparing Chorazin and Bethsaida, which represents that time in the second resurrection when the world will start to be convicted of all of the wickedness of mankind and the sovereignty of God over the sins of the Amorites that must be seen as something that is fulfilled within us.

Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

This event of giving an account is common to all men and is typified by the court where we are trodden under foot for 1260 days [under the law] (Rev 11:2), where we become convinced of our need for not just this ‘baptism by water’, but we begin to understand more clearly what the fearful waiting for of fiery judgement in the lake of “fiery indignation” will conclude in Heb 10:27, Mat 10:28, Rev 11:3 and Rev 11:7-8.

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;
1Co 3:23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
1Co 6:4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

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.

Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Joh 1:26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;

Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

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.

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 11:7 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.
Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

The judgment in the lake of fire will be brought about by men being dragged into the temple of God to be tried with fire, after an accounting is given in the court, typified in the example of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, where these three men gave an accounting of their confidence and faith and ability of God to deliver them, only to then be purified in the fiery furnace with Christ, where there are now four in the fire. The four represents all the world which will be saved yet so as by fire (Joh 6:44, 1Pe 1:7), and the elect have been granted to be the first to abide in that fire through the grace and faith process which will save us in advance of the world so we can judge angels (Mat 13:11, 1Co 6:19, Eph 2:8). It is in the temple where that baptism of fire will unfold for the rest of the world after the dead have buried their dead and the Lord deems it time to add another to the church through the temple which we are.

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.
Dan 3:20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:22 Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Dan 3:23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
Dan 3:25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

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?

Exo 26:37 And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.

Exo 36:38 And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass.

1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

In other words, in the resurrected body of a spirit-being in the second resurrection, there is a symbolic time in the court, and there is a symbolic time in the temple, and that time concludes in the seven typified years which are needed to complete (7) the process of judgment that God will bring upon all of humanity, each man in his order. We must live by all these words (Mat 4:4) and ultimately be found lying dead in the street for three and a half days, which symbolizes our dying daily process that is needed in order to “fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church”.

Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Rev 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

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:

Preparation needed to rest in the Lord

There was a preparation taking place for the physical body of Christ that is a type of the preparation which all of humanity must go through in our heavens before we can rest in the Lord (Luk 23:56).

Joh 12:7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

God deems the time and order for every individual person to be judged and to have his flesh trodden under foot for 1260 symbolic days before they can enter into “the holiest” within the fiery confines of the temple of God, and our Father shows us that Christ’s flesh was sinful flesh, that was symbolically anointed to remind us that through the anointing of the holy spirit we can endure all thing “against the day of my burying hath she kept this”.

Zec 2:5 For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.

Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was

Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

We are as Christ and are being prepared to enter into our eternal rest with God and Jesus Christ. For God’s elect this process is unfolding as we are anointed in this life through Christ, Who is our hope of glory, Who enables us to go through the fiery trials of this life that burnish our feet, Christ’s feet. Christ’s feet represent the body of Christ that was anointed and able to endure the trials, or drink the cup that was given to him and is given to us. We can rest in the Lord and die daily and be raised into heavenly places with our Lord where we are anointed with the holy spirit.

2Co 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts

2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Mat 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

2Co 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

For the rest of creation, it will unfold in the second resurrection starting with an earnest (downpayment) relationship that will grow to a fullness which the elect will have already attained by the grace and faith process we will have gone through and that Christ has gone through as our forerunner (1Jn 4:17, Eph 2:8).

Heb 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Knowing that the physical reveals the spiritual as stated in Romans 1:20, and that that which is natural is first and afterward that which is spiritual (1Co 15:46-47), these verses in 1 Corinthians 15:21-23 give clarity regarding how God will resurrect all men and judge all in a specific order.

1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made [process] alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead [which is a spiritual statement telling us that as kings and priest we can know a tree by its fruit that they are yet spiritually dead and in need of judgement], small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Man and the flesh of man are equated with death, a body of death (Rom 7:24-25), and the second resurrection, “the resurrection of the dead”, is just that; it is the resurrection of those who are yet spiritually dead and in need of being judged. It is only through judgment that we can be “made alive”, and that judgment must proceed from Christ and His body (1Co 6:3, Mat 22:28-32) and is what it will take for the world to be raised in heavenly places where we are known of God and Christ through judgment (Eph 2:6, Mat 7:21-23). God’s elect have been blessed to know God’s love through that process of judgment (1Jn 4:17, 1Jn 3:1, Heb 12:6-8) which is upon us today in advance of all those who will, in their own order, be judged of those saviours who will come up on mount Zion.

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

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.

I would like to conclude this study by reading an email which I believe will help reiterate what we have looked at tonight in regard to the second resurrection and the order in which God will judge all of his creation in time.

Clearly, we have an incredible inheritance in Christ and a blessed and holy family through which God is giving us the support and love so that we can all obtain to that joyous time when we will be able to judge all of God’s children and in so doing wipe away all the tears of sorrow that come with being born in the flesh.

Job 5:7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Thank you for the questions and for your grateful spirit for what the Lord is doing in our very midst both to will and to do as he prepares us for our Lord’s return and the preparation period that will come upon all the earth when the Kings and Priest of our Lord reign during the millennium.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 

Just for the sake of clarity I want to reiterate that no one is converted during the millennium, and no one is resurrected. Christ was resurrected and revealed Himself to His disciples, and in like manner if we are as our Lord (1Jn 4:17) blessed and holy in an earlier resurrection, we will be known as teachers like Christ was. Yes, sometimes people will serve angels unawares as the disciples did Christ, but that specific period will be a time of preparation for the elect, and prior to the lake of fire experience there will be preparation for those who are spiritually raised in the second resurrection, just as there was a time period for us prior to coming to know Christ on our pentecost.

So those who are being worked with during the millennium may come close to the character of which Jesus spoke of John the Baptist, if God allows that of anyone, but the least of us will still be greater than all those who we work with during that time that only typifies the preparation time prior to the lake of fire which all men will experience, including those whom we will rule and reign over during the millennium, each in their order, in the second resurrection. Your question has really helped me see that all the main work of converting the world is not done in the flesh, but in the second resurrection. 

Some men’s sins will come before them and others will be less obvious, but we know that no standard is greater than Christ. Only Christ can be Christ, and therefore the least of us will always be greater than John, and it is only through the process of a schoolmaster and then becoming an heir by way of the lake of fire, that anyone can mature and be saved.

It’s an interesting race which God has written for all men to learn that God is not a respecter of persons, and the race is simply given to those who are blessed to be dragged unto the Lord, and as we know each man will be in time. I like to contemplate that thought, because as I know you know, we are guilty of all, and are represented by every other wheel of creation whether that wheel is being quickened or not at this hour, or dead or alive, etc…

In some ways the remnant which will remain on this earth after all the wars and rumours of wars (and however few there is left on this earth) are a very blessed people who will have the benefit of Christ’s reign on this earth. No one will be converted, and we know that all things are for our sakes, so they really are serving us during this period in their unbelief. We will shepherd them and feed them and miracles will abound, but no conversion will take place, just like Christ with the loaves and the fishes. Amazing how God wants that point to be very, very loud for all of humanity, and as I said they serve us in their unbelief out of which we are blessed to come. 

That second resurrection will occur after the  millennium and not during it, and not until Gog and Magog come down and surround the camp of the saints, only to be destroyed by fire which comes down from heaven and typifies what is to come in the lake of fire after they are prepared for that period. Gog and Magog are from the four corners of the earth and represent all the world that comes up against Gods’ elect, being hated by all men for His name’s sake.

It is still needful for them to be raised and experience a time of judgment or preparation prior to going into the lake of fire. Humanity will one day see themselves, along with all of us, as an offering being made to God, and the preparation that goes into bringing that meat to the altar is something that must precede the lake of fire. There are so many examples of that preparation in the court, and it is all very instructive to tell us how God is in the process of saving all men through fire.

Christ was resurrected and revealed himself unto his disciples and prepared them for pentecost. When we are resurrected like Christ, we will be the gardener preparing God’s vineyard to receive the seed, the word that will eventually be tried in the lake of fire (Joh 20:15). We will also be Christ on the shore feeding the unwashed masses with food who will eventually be tried in the fire (Joh 21:10-12). And we will also be entering into the hearts of men’s lives breaking down their philosophies and ideologies like Paul with Agrippa, knowing that only the lake of fire will convert those whom we have prepared for the altar, like Christ going into a locked room and standing in the midst of the disciples after he was resurrected. We will do the same, but that will occur in that time of preparation in the resurrection prior to the lake of fire.

Everything we do prior to the second resurrection is training for us to be able to judge those spirits which will be raised and judged, each man in his order, and yes, there is symbolic meaning to our rule during the millennium, just as there was in Christ’s time, both when He was on the earth as the Son of God, and when He was raised as a spirit being who appeared in flesh for the sake of His yet unconverted disciples. Symbolically, the disciples could not open the door at this time when Christ went through the locked door, and we all lock Christ out of our hearts until we finally are blessed to hear His voice and have a relationship by opening the door and not just experiencing the miracle of Christ in our presence. The resurrected masses will experience Christ, and we will help prepare them through judgment to be able to finally see them “hear my voice, and open the door”. We are facilitators, or helpers of their joy, even as we are to each other today (2Co 1:24).

Joh 20:15 Jesus saith unto her,  Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?  She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 

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.

Joh 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 

Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

2Co 1:24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand. 

If we are as Christ in this life (1Jn 4:17), we will be as Christ in His resurrected state when He came back to the disciples before pentecost. That means we will not convert anyone during the millennium, just as Christ did not before He was resurrected. So what about those who are raised in the second resurrection like our son Gabriel who died in an ectopic pregnancy, and how will he experience his millennium? He will have to have a time of being prepared for the lake of fire. 

The millennium is typified by the symbolic 1000 years of the verse that says a day is as a thousand and a thousand is as one day (2Pe 3:8). The ‘one day’ in that verse is the day of the Lord, and all men must experience the 1000 and the 1. The 1000 is simply a time of preparation, and not a specific 1000 years, 10x10x10=1000. Then the day of the Lord or lake of fire which is the ‘one’ is also not ‘one day’ as we know, but symbolic of the most important day of all days; the day when we find ourselves in the lake of fire.

Just to be clear there is a time period after Christ returns called the thousand years, which is a symbolic time and not a time of converting, just as Christ’s time with the disciples prior to Pentecost. It is also an is, was and will be statement (to say the saints will reign a thousand years) which can be applied to those who come up in the second resurrection seeing God’s words are eternal and are not limited in where God uses them according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11).

So this really does lend to the thought that there is a fearful waiting for of judgment as the ‘one’ day approaches, especially if we have lived lives that are deserving of many stripes, which God’s elect come to see is true of themselves being the chief of sinners of all men. Moses, John the Baptist, and others have experienced their fleshly experience of 10x10x10 while others have not yet, but everyone will experience some form of preparation before the ‘one day’ of the Lord in the lake of fire, and everyone will experience a 1000 symbolic years in a resurrected body prior to the lake of fire, everyone except those who are being judged today.

One could see the 1000 as John’s baptism and the ‘one’ as Christ’s baptism with fire. They are both needed (born of water and of spirit). We must have both baptisms at some point, and if we don’t experience it in the flesh because we were aborted, then we most certainly will experience that 1000 years in the resurrection. Then we will experience the lake of fire. This is all about the ‘one’ and the 1000 and the 1000 and the ‘one’ of Peter 3:8. Again, not to be a broken record, the millennium period is not a time of judgment, but a shadow of the preparation of that work we will do on all men’s hearts in the second resurrection, each man in his own order.

2Pe 3:8    But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day  is  with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

 

I see that what is common to all men is that, all men must be prepared, whether in this life or the next. There are many who will be raised as aborted children, infants who died in war etc., and they must experience the 1000 and the 1. That has to happen to all men, and where and how it unfolds is all according to the counsel of God’s will. If I’m raised as a child who was killed in war, God will give me that time of 1000 10x10x10, and then I will be given my ‘one’, which is really the time when all that I have experienced in the 1000 will be purified in the ‘one’1, but that also must be true of everyone who comes up. If it is true for the one, it is true for all. The days of our youth are when I was a child and thought like a child under the 1000. I can only put away childish things through the ‘one’ day of the Lord to which these verses below point. We are experiencing that purifying today as God’s elect by being crushed under the stone, but everyone must also stumble unto Christ at first knowing him after the flesh (carnally-minded in a spirit body) for the 1000 year symbolic period so to speak.

Ecc 12:1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; 

Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. 

2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his  body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Someone who is not considered the elect of God, a king and priest in the first resurrection, cannot be said to have not lived by every word of God just because they were not the elect.

Neither can I say that I’m not Jesus Christ even though I was not born of Mary.

My point is that those who don’t experience being in the first resurrection will experience that through (dia) the Christ. The same is true for our filling up what is behind of Christ’s affliction. We are experiencing His suffering on the cross as we die daily. Everyone who is not in the first resurrection must be prepared prior to the lake of fire experience. That preparation is symbolized by the law and order that the schoolmaster brings. As resurrected beings, there is a schoolmaster within the process that God has ordained which leads to the lake of fire. The only thing that will ever convert any one of us is the lake of fire or the ‘one’ day of visitation, but God has ordained some milk doctrines, so to speak, before we are made an heir by being matured in the lake of fire where we finally hear the voice, the words of the true Shepherd, the meat of His word.

All men will go from glory to glory is in the lake of fire, but prior to that event everyone must experience a type a millennial rule or baptism by water, or stumbling unto Christ before they are crushed by the stone.