Rev 12:1-6, Part 1 – The Woman And The Manchild

[Study Aired Nov 17, 2024]

As we continue our study we must remember that chapters 11-16 are all part of the work of the seventh trumpet within our lives, which work begins to finish within us the mystery of God:

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

The seventh angel begins to sound in:

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 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

The words “art, was, and art to come” and the words “hast reigned” are all in the aorist tense signifying that what follows has begun to happen in our lives in every generation of the lives of the Lord’s elect:

Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
Rev 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

The hail shall wipe away the refuge of [all the] lies of our Babylonian past and it is a traumatic earthquake in our lives when this seventh trumpet “begins to sound”:

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
Isa 28:18  And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

We are commissioned to “read, hear, and keep the things written in the prophesy of this book” (Rev 1:3), because we are this “manchild”, and we are “the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God, and [who] have the testimony of Jesus Christ”:

Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. [‘The man child’, God’s elect].

The Lord and His Christ both are “in heaven” even while being on this earth:

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down [Greek, aorist tense] from heaven, even the Son of man which is [Greek, present tense] in heaven.

The “appearance” of the woman, and the “appearance” of the “great red dragon”, are both in the Greek aorist tense, signifying the ongoing fulfillment of this prophecy in every generation since Christ. The pain of the woman and the casting of the stars of heaven to the earth, are also both in the aorist tense and are being fulfilled in this very generation in the heavens of the hearts and minds of the Lord’s Christ:

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Rev 12:2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Rev 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Rev 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Rev 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days.

Introduction

Chapter 11 deals with those who bear witness to this revelation of Jesus Christ within each of God’s elect. It details, in signs and symbols, the experience our Lord foretold us we would have as those who bear witness to His Words. So the hatred and death of those witnesses is nothing less than fulfilling of Christ’s prophecy that we “shall be hated of all men for my names sake…”

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

This “hatred of all men” is signified and symbolized by these words:

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.
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.

This rejection by all of our families and friends and “all men” is “they of the people and kindreds and tongues, and nations”. It is this rejection of all men which the scriptures refer to as being ‘dead and crucified with our Lord’, and “lying dead in the streets of the great city… where also our Lord was crucified”. This symbolic ‘death’ is central to the revealing of our Lord within us thoughout the New Testament:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

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.

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

Both phrases, “I… am dead to the law”, and “that I might live unto Christ” are in the aorist tense, signifying that this is taking place in every generation of the Lord and His Christ since the death and resurrection of Christ.

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

All those verses describe the “life” we have when we “fall into the ground and die”. All those verses and many others reveal that life comes only “through death”. All these verses reveal the blessing of being found “dead in the streets of that great city… where also our Lord was crucified”:

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.

It is after this symbolic death and crucifixion “in the streets of that great city” that we are raised up from the dead just at the time “when the seventh angels begins to sound his trumpet”. This is what Paul was speaking of when he wrote: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live… [when] the seventh angel sounded”. This is a process that takes many “days”.

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

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 after we are told that the seventh angel sounded that we find this twelfth chapter, with all that is revealed in it. It is followed by chapter thirteen, which deals with the beast in all of his manifestations, followed by the fourteenth chapter dealing with the revelation of the 144,000 firstfruits of God, followed by another grand introduction in chapter 15 of the seven angels who are given seven vials, or bowls, in which are filled up the wrath of God under which we are all born and live our entire lives, until we are brought to cry out to the rocks to fall on us and hide us from the face of the lamb.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

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

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4  When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

In other words, we have a complete summary of story of Adam before we are introduced to the actual event that is this seventh trumpet in chapter 16.

When is this chapter fulfilled?

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

The woman, the manchild and the great red dragon, are the three main principles in this twelfth chapter of Revelation. This is a chapter which we will see makes very clear the absolute necessity of God’s elect “keeping of the things written therein” in every generation since Christ. This woman is the same woman who says:

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

This is the same woman who says of herself:

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

This is the great harlot of Revelation 17 and 18. Christ was born of this harlot, and each of us “come out of her”:

Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

It is this seventh trumpet which is fulfilling this verse in the lives of God’s 144,000 firstfruit elect who are:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

When we forget this admonition, we inevitably are forced to apply these words to someone else at some time other than “the time [which] is at hand”.

“Another wonder in heaven” means another miraculous revelation of what it means for Christ to be revealed in our heavens. The point is that this is just one part of an ongoing process that is being read, heard and kept by those to whom it is addressed.

The spiritual meaning of the woman, the sun and the moon in this verse is explained to us in the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis, where a woman and the sun and the moon are all mentioned. Let’s let the scriptures themselves show us what these symbols signify.

Gen 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
Gen 37:5  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Gen 37:6  And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
Gen 37:7  For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
Gen 37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
Gen 37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

While it is true that there is no indication that Jacob or Rachel ever hated Joseph, they are nevertheless used in this instance as the types of “your father the devil” and of our mother when we were “the children of the bondwoman”. What we are told in this story of Joseph’s relations with his own family members is that we too, “shall be hated of all men”, especially of our own flesh and blood and especially by those of our own household, and we will, in the end, bear rule over our own flesh and over all those of our own household.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Gen 37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

The ‘sun’ is Jacob, and the ‘moon’ is Rachel. These are Joseph’s physical parents, just as the the devil and his doctrines and the bondwoman and her doctrines are our first physical parents in this world.

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.

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

Sinai, where the law was given, “answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”. Who was the apostle Paul before he was struck down on the road to Damascus? He was Saul of Tarsus, the son of the bondwoman, persecuting Jesus of Nazareth, the son of the freewoman, the manchild who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord [son of the freewoman], went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

Hagar and her son, Esau, “answers to [physical] Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”. Saul of Tarsus, spiritually speaking, was ‘of the son of the bondwoman’, before he became the ‘son of the free woman’. We all have to fall into the ground and die before we can be “resurrected in newness of life” as “the son of the freewoman”, and before we can say that, we “were in time past children of wrath, even as others.

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

But just as the last Adam is of the first Adam, and just as the eighth is of the seven, so also does Saul of Tarsus, this manchild, and all who are in Christ, come first through this woman who is first a harlot before she is destroyed and is resurrected with Christ to become the bride of Christ, and “Jerusalem above, the mother of us all”. The church is her doctrines, more than she is those who are in her. The reason those who are in her are there, is because they believe her doctrines. Abraham had two wives, and it is true that we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free. But when we are granted to understand that there is one event to all men (Ecc 9:2), that mankind must all live by every word of God (Mat 4:4), that this generation will not pass away until all these things are fulfilled (Mat 24:34-35), and that all things are ours, life and death, the world, and things present and things to come (1Co 3:21-22), only then we will understand that we are the “manchild who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron”, and we are the children of the freewoman only because we were first “in bondage” with our old mother as “the children of the bondwoman”.

What this all tells us is that “I, and your mother and your brothers” in Gen 37:10, are the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and that even that the ‘sun’ and ‘stars’ of Rev 12:1 are symbols of our first parents, who we once considered to be the source of all light and sight and understanding and knowledge. We now see them revealed as nothing less than our first father, the devil, and his wife, the bondwoman, and now even he, along with our bondwoman mother and our first physical brothers in Christ, are now all bowing down to us and being made subject to us. This must all be done within before it will be seen without.

That we are all first “carnal… in Christ” is made clear in these verses:

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Who is the woman, the twelve stars, and the manchild?

Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

Who is this woman and who are these 12 stars? They are of course, primarily within us, and secondarily they are round about us in the form of all who are the “first man Adam”. They are primarily each of us as we sit in the temple of God, proclaiming ourselves to be God, and demanding the complete and total dedication of our flesh to the service of the pleasures of our flesh. That is why her manchild son is caught up to God’s throne, while the woman herself goes into the wilderness. Here is another symbol of this woman and her sons who will bow down to Joseph as the symbol of God’s elect.

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.

We have already demonstrated with the scriptures that each of us is that “temple of God”, and each of us is that “man of sin [who] sits in the temple of God showing ourselves to be God”.

The “woman clothed with the sun” signifies the church out of which the manchild must come:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

The ‘sun’ signifies the light of the fading law of Moses. The Pharisees in that sense were “clothed with the sun”:

Mat 23:1  Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

The twelve stars signify Joseph and his brothers who one and all signify outward Christians claiming to be the “one seed… the [spiritual] seed of Abraham” even as they hate God’s elect just like Joseph’s brothers who hated their own brother, Joseph, and wanted to kill him. The hatred of Joseph by his brothers signifes the Old Testament shadow of these verses:

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.

Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

The woman’s ‘child’ signifies “the Lord and His Christ”. Here is this spiritual truth in the form of its old Testament shadow:

Gen 37:18  And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
Gen 37:19  And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
Gen 37:20  Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

They certainly were right about the “evil beast” part, but not as they meant those words.

Christ Himself “was made of a woman, made under the law”, and just as Christ came out of “the church in the wilderness”, so we also, must we come out of the church that is in the wilderness, where she is fed by God for the exact same period of time that we spent in the wilderness wanting our Lord and His doctrines dead.

Act 7:38  This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

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:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it [she was “clothed with the sun”]; but now murderers.

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.

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

We will pause our study at this point and resume it in our next gathering.

[Study Aired February 9, 2020]

Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Isaiah chapters 52-54 are the most quoted chapters of the Old Testament which concern the prophesied sufferings endured by our Lord to “bear the sins of many”. The scriptures of the prophets, who were of Abraham’s own physical seed, prophesied that just as they had hated and sought to kill Joseph, David and all the prophets, they would also hate and even kill their own messiah, the Christ.

Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Here are the last two verses from our last study in chapter 53:

Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

“He shall… bear their iniquities… and He shall bare the sin of many… because He has poured out His soul unto death”. This sacrifice which is the subject of these three chapters of Isaiah, is not being offered for the iniquities of the Gentile nations who are sinning against and persecuting the Lord’s people, as the Jewish scholars would have us to believe. These chapters are not speaking of the iniquities of the Gentiles committed against the Lord’s people. 

This is the specific iniquities  and transgressions for whom this sacrifice is being made:

Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

In the anti-type, Isaiah is telling us that it is those who have for so very long considered themselves to be the Lord’s spiritual bride who have “rebelled against [Him]” and have gone after other gods and have believed the doctrines of other gods. It is they for whom this sacrifice is primarily being made. 

The Lord is a jealous God and will not share His wife with another:

Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 

Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 

Deu 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

We must therefore be made aware of what became of all the churches in Asia which Paul had been given to raise up. This is what happened to the apostle Paul and to the apostle John before they died:

2Ti1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

“All they which are in Asia” include “the seven churches of Asia” to whom the apostle John addresses the book of Revelation (Rev 2-3). ‘Seven’ is the number which signifies completion, which is why we are told “He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the [seven] churches”. A link to a study on the number 7 is here.

Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

The reason John addresses the book of Revelation to the seven churches is that they, too, had forsaken him. Notice what the Lord reveals to us:

3Jn 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. 
3Jn 1:10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

It is the Lord’s own people, it is you and I, those who have known Him and then have lost our first love, that have fallen prey to the doctrines of Balaam, the doctrines of those who Lord it over the Lord’s flock. We have all fallen for the false doctrine of the Nicolaitans, the doctrine of Jezebel, and those who have committed spiritual fornication, all the while telling ourselves that we are spiritually rich and in need of nothing. 

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

That is what “Judah and Jerusalem” typify at the very beginning this prophecy:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 
Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Israel, just like Christians, considered themselves to be the Lord’s wife. A rebellious wife has become a harlot and has come to be the very people whom the Lord has sent to carry them away from Him. His own people have become “Babylon the great”. His own people are a “great whore”, and in spiritual anti-type, in spiritual reality it is the Lord’s own people who kill His prophets and His witnesses.

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. 

The Lord’s faithful witnesses are at this very moment dead in the streets of Babylon the great:

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.

Who is “spiritual Sodom”? We need not guess:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Who is the great whore of Revelation 17 and 18, who kills the Lord’s prophets? Again, we need not guess:

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers

The Lord died “for the transgressions of His [own] people”, but as Isaiah reveals to us:

Isa 44:18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

It is the Lord’s own spiritually blinded people, those who want His spiritual name but do not at first want to eat His spiritual food or wear His spiritual apparel, you and I who are the very people who have killed and offered up our own sacrifice for our own sins:

Isa 53:8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women [The ‘seven churches’ of Rev 2-3] shall take hold of one man [Christ], saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel [our own doctrines and our own works]: only let us be called by thy name [‘Christians’], to take away our reproach.

These “seven women” typify the entire nation who, as the Lord’s wife, have turned on Him and have become a harlot (Isa 1:21). They are the unfaithful wife which persecutes the righteous men and the prophets who are sent to the Lord’s apostate people. The other side of the same coin is the few faithful righteous men and faithful prophets who typify ‘the barren wife’, which is typified by all the barren wives of scripture, by Abraham’s beloved wife, Sarah, Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, Samson’s mother, and Hannah the loved but barren wife of Elkanah, the father of Samuel (1Sa 1:5). All these women were beloved by their husbands but were at first barren and could not conceive children.

We have no record of Hannah conceiving again after the birth of Samuel. All we know for certain is that she had one child, and yet this is what she is inspired to say when she dedicates her only son to the service of the Lord:

1Sa 2:1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 
1Sa 2:2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 
1Sa 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 
1Sa 2:4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 
1Sa 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

“The barren has born seven” is a spiritual statement because Samuel was just weaned when Hannah gave him to the service of the Lord’s tabernacle under Eli, the high priest. 

According to Matthew, Christ’s generation was the 42nd generation from Abraham. Christ was not physically married, and He was crucified having no physical offspring.  In the previous chapter Isaiah therefore poses this question concerning the Lord’s family:

Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isaiah 53 is the section of Isaiah the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when he was approached by Philip: 

Act 8:32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
Act 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

Hannah’s words are the answer to the question, “Who shall declare His generation? for His life was taken from the earth.”

1Sa 2:4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 
1Sa 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

“The barren… desolate” wife is the bride of Christ who is plainly stated to be the antitype of the barren wife of Abraham:

Gal 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 
Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 
Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 
Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 
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. 
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 
Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

There it is again in verse 27-29:

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. 
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

Those ‘Christians’ who demonstrate their love for their fellow man by being obedient to Christ’s commandments to ‘speak evil of no man” (Tit 3:2); love your enemies (Mat 5:44); resist not evil but turn the other cheek (Mat 5:39), will never be found speaking evil of, persecuting or killing or crucifying anyone but themselves, and that is being done daily in the spiritual manner we are commanded to consider ourselves (Rom 6:1-4; 1Co 15:31; Gal 2:20, Col 1;24, and Heb 12:1).

Galatians 4 tells us Christ has a wife whose son is bound by the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9-10), by the fear of what men might think of him, and by the flesh, and cannot be heir with the children of the wife whose children are of faith and of promise and are not children of the works of the law for the lawless:

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, 
1Ti 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

A righteous man will never, under any circumstance ever hate, speak evil of, or murder his fellow man. Those who claim Christ but are willing to murder those they deem worthy of death are the children of the bondwoman. The righteous man, on the other hand is the son of the freewoman and is free of the fear of men. However, the son of the freewoman is comparatively barren in this age. Nevertheless, the son of the free woman, the righteous man, in the end, will have far more children than “she that has a husband” and bears many children in this age, because she is the bride of Christ “who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth” (1Ti 2:4), through the mercy which the children of the free woman, the righteous man, will be given to pour out on all men of all time:

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.

As the mother of the few in this age, we are encouraged:  

Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 
Isa 54:2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 
Isa 54:3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Judaism was the church of Christ’s day, and the church of Christ’s day typifies the church of today which would, and still does, spiritually crucify Him and His doctrines until this very day. 

When I say that ‘Christendom would and does crucify Christ today’, that is easily demonstrated by the fact that all the leading ministers of all the major churches, both Protestant and Catholic, encourage their members to get involved in the affairs of this age and join the militaries of their respective nations and be willing to die physically fighting to preserve the lives of their families and their countries, knowing that these words are the doctrine of our Lord:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Those who are faithful to Christ are indeed truly few, fulfilling the Lord’s Words:

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

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

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Luk 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 
Luk 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

The Lord’s children are also called His wife. We are betrothed to “one husband”:

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

We are also called “the sons of God”:

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.

“The world” which did not know Christ was the deceived religious world of His day, and things certainly have not gotten any better: 

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

Christ and His followers were very few and greatly despised. The church of His day was in deep dark deception, and here He is telling us that the deception of that time would only get worse and worse. In spite of these very clear words of warning, our flesh tells us that all these very educated religious men leading the churches of our day cannot all be wrong. What we are taught is that instead of getting “worse and worse” the Christian world grew to dominate most of the world and is even today the largest religion on earth.

However, the Truth still remains:

Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

“He that was born after the flesh” is not speaking of the pagan world. It is referring to the rejected “seed of Abraham” who hates and mocks the Lord’s elect, and who say of His elect, “We will not have this man to rule over us.” (Luk 19:14) It is the Lord’s rejected elect anointed who hate those whom the Lord has sent to replace their old man and to be used as their saviors:

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.

It was all prophesied here in Isaiah:

Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 

The shame of our youth and the reproach of our widowhood are both from the perspective of the unbelieving, rejected seed of Abraham, “the son of the bondwoman”. We are “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ”, and while the rejected seed of Abraham has physically killed our husband, death could not hold Him, and He rose on the third day to become the propitiation not just for our sins but for the sins of the whole 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.

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

‘The son of the bondwoman’ is the rejected ‘seed of Abraham’. ‘The son of the bondwoman is also our rejected old man who simply is not given to know Christ and therefore cannot receive His doctrine:

Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

How can we know we do hear His Word and that we are His children and not the children of the bondwoman?

1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 
1Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Christ is both our Creator and our Husband:

Isa 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 
Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 

These words detail the circumstances of our calling. If we are not forsaken, grieved in spirit, and if we have not been refused by the children of the bondwoman, “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, then we are not the freewoman bride of Christ.

If indeed we are that ‘forsaken, grieved in spirit’ son who is refused by the children  of the bondwoman, then we will be blessed to endure the excruciating loss of the dominion of our flesh and experience the same feeling of being forsaken even of our husband Himself just long enough to experience His wrath upon the kingdom of our old man and to experience the death of our old man to the fear of what men can do to us and to the fear of what others think of us:

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

This experience is what elicited these words from the mouth of our dying Lord as His corruptible flesh and blood were being offered up as the sin offering for the sins of all men of all time:

Mar 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

A very interesting thing about…

Isa 54:6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 

…Immediately followed by:

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

…Very clearly demonstrates that just as we have seen we are both “the sons of God” as well as “His bride” who comes out from Him, even so Christ who also “came out from the Father” and is both the Son of His Father, as well as a wife to the Father as His head…

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 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
Joh 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Just as the first physical ‘wife’ is called ‘the mother of all living’, so we are told that the Father used Christ to be the womb by which He conceived and brought into being everything in heaven and in earth:

Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Christ is following the example of His Father who sent Him “that the world through Him might be saved.”

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.

Then, for those who are given to receive it, Christ tells us:

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

Contrary to all the smooth-talking prophets of Babylon (Isa 30:10), ours is not a calling to a life of ease and luxury, or as I quote one Babylonian minister, ours is not a calling to a life of “coffee and doughnuts”. We are called to “offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), die daily (1Co 15:31), and to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and “fill up in [our] bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24), but if we are given to endure to the end this is what we are told:

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.

Just as the whole creation has waited for the manifestation of Christ, it now waits for the manifestation of Him and His generation, His Christ:

1Jn 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

I pray we are all given to understand that “knowing Him that is true [includes] we in Him that is true” and that having been given that understanding “is the true God, and life eternal.

John makes this exact same revolutionary statement in:

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

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 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

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.

Finally, I also pray we are all granted to “have respect unto the recompense of [our] reward”, because very few indeed do.

Heb 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 
Heb 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

That is our study for today, and here are our verses for next week’s study:

Isa 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 
Isa 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. 
Isa 54:11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 
Isa 54:12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. 
Isa 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 
Isa 54:14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 
Isa 54:15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. 
Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 
Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Isa 42:10-17 I Have Long Time Held My Peace...Now...I Will Destroy - Discussion

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Isa 42:10-17 I Have Long Time Held My Peace… Now… I Will Destroy

Isa 42:10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Isa 42:11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isa 42:12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.
Isa 42:13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
Isa 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
Isa 42:15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
Isa 42:16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
Isa 42:17  They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

In our last study we saw the first nine verses of this chapter are addressed to “mine elect”, which we demonstrated to be Christ and His Christ. In short, we were told that Christ and His Christ, in this age, do not attempt to change anything outwardly. Rather, in this age they themselves are experiencing the Lord’s judgment and His wrath inwardly upon their own sins (Rev 14:8-12). The Lord’s elect are brought to see that they should come to see themselves as “chief of sinners” and repent of their own sins. This is what the scriptures refer to as “return[ing] unto… the Lord”:

Jer 4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.

When we do return to God, we do so only because we are made to do so through the Lord’s fiery judgments:

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.

When we return to the Lord He will then use us, His elect, to witness to other elect whom He is at this moment in the process of dragging to Himself.

Jer 15:19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them [“the vile”] return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.

This process of repenting and returning to the Lord is called ‘removing the beam from your own eye so you can see clearly to help your brother’:

Luk 6:42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

As the story of Job demonstrates in such graphic terms, self-righteousness is the most insidious of sins:

Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Speaking in God’s stead (Job 33:6), Elihu judges Job with Job’s own words:

Job 33:8 Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying,
Job 33:9 I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me.

In blaming Job for his sad condition, His three other “miserable comforters” were just as self-righteous as Job:

Job 16:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.

Through the words of Elihu and the words of the Lord Himself, Job as a type of the Lord’s elect, was the first to repent of his insidious self-righteousness:

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 is a type of the Lord’s elect. Like us he was dragged to, “cast out first the beam that [was] in [his, our] own eye.” Job’s trials typify the daily death of our old man (1Co 15:31).

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

Peter calls this daily dying “[a] fiery trial” and “judgment… [which] begins… first at the house of God”:

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.

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?

It is only those who have part in this “first… judgment” who are promised “a kingdom” and who will also have a part in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, and will be given power over the kingdoms of this world for “a thousand years “and then their preeminence as kings and priests and judges will continue throughout the ages of the lake of fire.

The first resurrection is called “the resurrection of life” and it is contrasted with “the resurrection of damnation" (Greek: krisis, judgment) which follows a “thousand years… reign” over “the kingdoms of this world” by those few who are given to have part in that blessed and holy first resurrection:

Joh 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
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; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation

Christ also tells us that those who are so blessed as to be given part in the first resurrection...

Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

This “kingdom”, along with “a crown of life”, is given only to those who overcome the devil… the wicked one” in “this present time” (Rom 8:18).

1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14  I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

This “crown of life” is part and parcel of “the resurrection of life” which entails ruling the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years and ruling over and judging angels in the lake of fire.

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?

When we are judging angels in the lake of fire, the devil will not at that time be casting us into prison. Neither will he be casting us into prison during the thousand years, because then he will himself be in prison (Rev 20:1-2). Knowing all of this is how we can say for certain that the only people who can possibly be given this “kingdom” and the only people who can possibly “judge angels” are those who Satan can cast into prison in “this present time”, while we are awaiting our Lord’s appearing to His saints and in the presence of this entire world.

We are even told that this present world will suffer “great fear” at His appearing, and because of the resurrection of His saints at that moment:

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.

Who exactly are “them which saw them”? That question is answered in the preceding two verses:

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.
Rev 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

What we are being told is that the first resurrection will not take place in a closet. “Them that dwell on the earth”, all men who are alive at that time will be aware of what has taken place and will be made to know that the Lord’s elect have been given the reins of power over this entire globe, and will now be reigning “with a rod of iron”:

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.

What is the duration of this rulership? The book of Revelation is “signified” (Rev 1:1), and this time of Christ’s elect ruling the nations of this world “with a rod of iron” is “signified” by the symbol of "a thousand years":

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.

When this symbolic thousand-year dispensation has “expired” (Rev 20:7), the Lord will bring all flesh up against Himself for the purpose of giving Himself the ‘occasion He is seeking’ to destroy all flesh and to usher in the final judgment of the entire spirit realm, the great white throne judgment:

Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

It is because of all these blessings to be bestowed upon the Lord’s “elect” that the whole world is told:

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.

We have already read here in this prophecy of Isaiah what the Lord’s judgments produce:

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

The Lord’s elect are the saviors for whom the whole creation is even now ‘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.
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.

For all these wonderful blessings awaiting “the whole creation” we are encouraged to:

Isa 42:10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Isa 42:11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isa 42:12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

Kedar is the descendants of Ishmael, the “son of the bondwoman”, who will “not be made heir with the son of the free woman”, but will nevertheless “become a great nation”:

Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Gen 17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

What is the son of the bondwoman not allowed to inherit? What Ishmael (Kedar) cannot inherit is the “crown of life" which entails being kings and priests during the thousand-year kingdom, continuing on into judging angels in the lake of fire (1Co 6:2-3).

Ishmael (Kedar) will “give glory unto the Lord at a later date than “the son of the freewoman”. However, he will be given life. This is again a witness to two separate judgments and two separate resurrections. The first is to life, and the second is to judgment:

Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves [Even Ishmael and Kedar] shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, [the elect, “the Israel of God” - Gal 6:15] unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: krisis, judgment].

But the Lord wants all men to know that the flesh we all first occupy is just a necessary evil, and “corruption [which] cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co 15:50) and which must first begin to be destroyed before the joy of our “new song” can begin being sung unto the Lord.

This has been ‘plan A’ from the very beginning. Flesh and blood were never for one moment ever intended to occupy the kingdom of God. Here instead was the plan from “before the world began”, and before Christ Himself first formed Adam out of the dust of this earth:

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is [first] a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

If we were called “in Christ before the world began”, that tells us that God knew in advance that Adam and Eve would disobey His commandment to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It also tells us that the death and resurrection of Christ to cover and to  pay for that sin and the sins of all men of all time was the original plan of God… “according to His own purpose and grace which was give us in Christ Jesus before the world began”.

But after the sacrifice has begun its propitiatory purpose, the flesh with its rebellious carnal mind must begin to be judged with “a threshing instrument with teeth”, and begin to die daily and to be crucified with Christ”:

Isa 41:14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Isa 41:16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Judgment will be given to us upon this world only after this world has been judged within us:

1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

It is this judging, this “threshing with an instrument having teeth”, which is the “judgment [which] is [now] on the house of God” (1Pe 4:17) and which is the 'dying daily, [and being] crucified with Christ, [and] the sufferings of this present time'. But all of our sufferings “are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” as the Lord’s instrument for judging all the rest of mankind:

Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
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.

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

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

That is the inward and outward meaning and personal present application of our next verses:

Isa 42:13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.

When judgment begins, Christ is no longer a sheep led silently to the slaughter.

Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Instead, Christ is now here to destroy the man of sin and all of his armies, first within us and then without.

Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Verse 15 tells us that it is Christ Himself who “tread the winepress of the wrath of God”, while Revelation 16 tells us “the seven angels” pour out their vials of His wrath upon this earth, and there is no contradiction because:

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

Revelation 29 is what happens when the Lord does battle with the beast and the devil at the end of the thousand years. The “jealousy” He stirs up is His own jealousy:

Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

Deu 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Now He is no longer the person who ‘would not break a bruised reed nor quench a smoking [wick of] flax’. When judgment begins, whether it is now and within or later and without, things all change dramatically:

Isa 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
Isa 42:15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

That is the work of the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our old man within us to which Isaiah has already alluded in the previous chapter:

Isa 41:14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Isa 41:16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

This is a description of the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our old man within and the kingdoms of this world outwardly and dispensationally.

Now notice this pattern here in chapter 41 and throughout scripture. The Lord’s judgments are always followed by His great blessings:

Isa 41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Isa 41:18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
Isa 41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
Isa 41:20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

Chapter 42 follows the same pattern of chapter 41. These are verses pronouncing our judgment:

Isa 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
Isa 42:15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

Again these words of judgment are followed by the blessings which the Lord’s judgments produce:

Isa 42:16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

“The way they knew not” is “the way of Truth”:

Psa 119:30 I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

“The paths that they have not known” are “the paths of the Lord’s mercy and Truth”

Psa 25:10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

We are all first in the darkness of spiritual deceit which is “the idols of [our] hearts” (Eze 14:1-9), our own false doctrines which are the smooth words of the whore who has deceived the whole world.

Isa 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

It is all the false doctrines, the idols of our hearts and the stumblingblock of our iniquity, which are symbolized by the smoke and the locusts which rise up out of the “bottomless pit… the abussos”. These are the symbols which signify the many false doctrines which blot out the light of the Truth which ‘Truth’ is “The Sun of Righteousness:

Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

“The earth” is each of us as we live in the darkness of the lies and false doctrines of the great whore, “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” (Rev 17:5).

Those ‘locusts’ and that ‘smoke’ are symbols of the pain and torment which the lies of the great harlot bring upon those who have been given to live in the darkness of all those tormenting lies, which are always symbolized by idols and graven and molten images:

Isa 42:17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

Coming out of, and separating ourselves from, all the lies of the great harlot is a very painful and fiery experience. That is what Peter means when he tells us:

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.

That is our study for today. In our next study, Lord willing, we will again see that it is by the Lord’s design that we are all first blinded by the “smooth things” prophesied by all the false prophets of the great harlot. Once again it will be revealed that the Lord’s elect experience everything which is experienced by all the rest of mankind. The only difference between those who are in the resurrection of life and those who are raised up later in the “cursed… resurrection of damnation, Greek, judgment” (Mat 25:41 and Joh 5:28-29), is that the elect of the “first resurrection… the resurrection of life”, endure all their fiery experiences and repent of their sins in “this present time”, whereas “it is not given to [all the rest of mankind to] know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” nor to know the truths of the doctrine of Christ in this age. Here are our verses for next week:

Isa 42:18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Isa 42:19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant?
Isa 42:20 Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.
Isa 42:21 The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
Isa 42:22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
Isa 42:23 Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Isa 42:24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Isa 42:25 Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

Keys To The Kingdom of God – Part 2 – The Sum of Thy Word Is Truth

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ACV, ASV)

Introduction

There are many spiritual Biblical principles which make up “the key of knowledge”. “The key of the house of David” shuts so no man can open, and what it opens no man can shut.

Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 

Rev 3:7  And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 

Obviously “the key of the house of David” and “the key of David”, since they both perform the same function of opening and shutting, are one and the same. Job had made this same observation from his own experience with Christ, long before King David’s time:

Job 12:14  Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. 
Job 12:15  Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job 12:16  With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his. 

As we saw in our previous study, the function of the ‘key of the house of David… the key of David” performs the same function as that of “the keys to the kingdom of heaven”.

Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

What is it that “the key of the house of David”, also called simply “the key of David”, opens or shuts? What is it that the key of the kingdom of heaven binds and loosens? To answer that question we really need to know the truth of Matthew 16:19. Most English translations of that verse, including the King James Version, would lead you to believe that Peter alone had been promised the power to bind all things in heaven and in earth at his own whim”:

However, the Truth is that those who have been given those keys are said to ‘have eyes that see and ears that can hear’, and by that spiritual blessing they are granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God which mysteries are what these “keys to the kingdom of heaven” will “loose” or unlock:

Mat 13:9  He that hath ears, let him hear.
Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  And he answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given [the keys to the kingdom of heaven] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given [it is ‘shut up’].
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Of those who are not given the keys to the kingdom of heaven we are told “to them it is not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”, and Christ tells us that this prophecy of Isaiah is applicable “unto them”:

Mat 13:14  And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive:

Matthew 13:14 is quoted out of Isaiah 6:9-10, the same prophet who reveals to us there is a “key of the house of David” (Isa 22:22). Because of other principles within these keys to the kingdom of heaven which we will be discussing, we know that we are all first ‘bound’, and we are locked out of the kingdom of heaven, and we are first unable to see or hear the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It is only after we first come to acknowledge our own blindness that our sins and our blindness are removed as Jesus told the Pharisees who asked about their own relation to ‘the key of David’, which is Christ and His doctrine:

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

It is counterintuitive and a complete contradiction to the natural man to be told that only the blind can see, and yet that is exactly what that very same prophet, Isaiah, had prophesied many years earlier:

Isa 43:8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.

As the book of Job demonstrates, spiritual blindness itself is a sin, and until we are granted to acknowledge our “blindness”, we will remain in our sins and under the wrath of God:

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.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

As with all things in the Christ-centric word of God, the keys to the kingdom of heaven are found only in Christ, who is also revealed to be the true “ladder unto [the kingdom of] heaven:

Joh 1:51  And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open [with the keys to the kingdom of heaven], and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Without the keys to the kingdom, we are all left where Jacob was, in the darkness of the material realm holding the physical shadow and the type instead of the spiritual reality.

Gen 28:10  And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
Gen 28:11  And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
Gen 28:12  And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
Gen 28:13  And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
Gen 28:14  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 
Gen 28:15  And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

“The Lord [standing] above it” is Christ Himself, and those who have “the keys [the ladder] to the kingdom of heaven” are His body “set up on the earth” through whom “might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God”. The ‘keys’ and the ‘ladder’ are both one and the same; they are Christ and His doctrine, and by Christ’s own decree, they are also all those who have His doctrine:

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

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,

Christ’s Father sent Him to save this world and to be the ladder between heaven and earth, to be the key to the kingdom of heaven, and Christ has sent us here for that very same purpose:

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.

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

It is only with the keys to the kingdom of heaven that we are now given to know that the ‘ladder’ typified the body which is under its head, Christ, and that the fulfilling of the promises given to Jacob were true and are fulfilled only in Christ and in His Christ:

Gal 3:26  For ye [Gentile Galatians] are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 
Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Lord willing, we will be seeing just how Christ-centric the Word of God is as we go through this series on the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

To whom are the keys to the kingdom of heaven given?

The largest single Christian denomination is without a doubt the Roman Catholic Church. This church was the only legal church on earth for many hundreds of very oppressive years. One of the central false doctrines of that particular harlot daughter of the great harlot of Judaism, as we learned in our last study, was the false doctrine that Christ had given the keys to the kingdom of heaven only to the apostle Peter and his successors. That false doctrine was used to maintain control over all those under her sway, and it was all based upon taking this verse of scripture as a stand alone verse of scripture:

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Upon those two verses was based the false doctrine of the authority of the Roman popes, who falsely claimed, and who still claim, to be the spiritual heirs of the supposed authority that was here in these verses given to the apostle Peter by our Lord Himself. Not knowing who was the ‘ladder’ that leads to an open heavens, not knowing Christ, His Christ or His Father, and certainly not even being capable of using the key which is the subject of our study today, the Roman Catholic popes were, and still are, extremely successful at keeping people from using key of “the sum of [God’s] word” to free them from the dungeon of darkness and spiritual blindness to see “how great [was] the darkness” in which they were dwelling:

Psa 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever.

Mat 6:22  The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!

“The darkness…is [so] great” that one twisted and misunderstood verse of scripture can effectively blind us all to all the dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of other verses of scripture which teach otherwise. That is “how great is that darkness!”

As we learned in our last study, Matthew 16:18-19 taken by itself would indeed appear to give some special position to the apostle Peter above all the other apostles. As we saw last week, Matthew 16:18-19 is not “the sum of [the] Word” on the subject of who is given to bind and loose the “things on earth… as [they have been bound and loosed] in heaven.”

Just two chapters later in Matthew 18:18-19, Christ makes clear that His Words in Matthew 16:18-19 were simply contrasting Peter as a petros, a piece of a rock, with the petra, the massive rock, Christ, and that the power to bind and loose on earth that which has been bound and loosed in heaven, is given to all who are in Christ:

Mat 18:18  Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye [any “two”] shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mat 18:19  Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

We are told clearly that Christ Himself is the only foundation of His church:

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Matthew 18 tells us how the keys to the kingdom of heaven serve to keep His church of the same mind and free from the diseases He has placed upon all the ‘earth’, the type of those who do not have the keys to the kingdom of God (Jer 22:29). The ‘earth’ does not know that “the sum of thy word is truth”. Not knowing that one principle keeps the whole Christian world from simply putting John 1:51 together with Genesis 28:12, and coming to know who Christ is and what He does as the key of, and the ladder to, the kingdom of heaven:

Joh 1:51  And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open [with the keys to the kingdom of heaven], and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Gen 28:12  And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

If we are not given to understand that “the sum of thy Word is Truth”, we are still living in darkness. If we are living in darkness, we do not have ears that are capable of hearing the voice of our Lord, and if we cannot hear Him then we cannot be obedient to commandments we cannot hear. Therefore, in that spiritual state, we are still under God’s wrath:

Exo 15:26  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. 

What does the principle of the sum of God’s Word reveal to us?

The principle of “the sum of Thy Word” works in conjunction with the principle of “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established”, and in conjunction with the principle which teaches us that “no prophecy of scripture…is becoming its own explanation”. Here are those three verses, which are all saying the same thing:

Deu 19:15  One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)

2Pe 1:20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture at all is becoming its own explanation. (CLV)

When we learn the foolishness of attempting to establish doctrine on our own, or even if we have a collective understanding of one verse of scripture by itself, we will, Lord willing, never again make that mistake. Using Matthew 16:18-19 is a perfect example of doing that. That section of scripture taken by itself, makes it to “become its own explanation”. That is how that verse has led to the false doctrine of Papal power and infallibility, one of the greatest lies ever told. When we learn to be careful to get “the sum of [God’s] Word” together, rather than ‘some of His word’, and when we learn that, especially in dealing with the scriptures, the principle “at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established”, then the entire Word of God begins to open up to us.

A Few Examples

“The sum of [God’s] Word” shines the light of Truth upon all the false doctrines which are the result of establishing doctrine upon the big mistake of using one verse of scripture as “its own explanation”, like the false doctrine of angels marrying women.

This false doctrine is based upon this verse of scripture:

Gen 6:1  And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
Gen 6:2  That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

That verse says nothing about angels marrying women, yet it is made to say just that by those who are handling the Word of God devoid of the keys to the kingdom of God, and many millions of Christians believe the lie that angels married physical women based on this one section of scripture, of which it is affirmed that “the sons of God” are ‘angelic spirit sons of God’, which of course is not to be found in that verse. The sum of God’s word reveals the fact is that Adam himself is called a son of God.

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Paul tells us that all men are God’s offspring, His children.

Act 17:23  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

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

To take away all doubt about the “sons of God” of Genesis 6:2 being physical sons of Adam who “took them wives of all which they chose”, Christ Himself informs us that “the angels of God in heaven…neither marry nor are given in marriage”:

Mat 22:30  For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Mar 12:25  For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

When we consider the sum of God’s word, we are told that all who die are “in Adam” not ‘in angels’:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Another false doctrine based upon a stand alone verse of scripture is the doctrine that Christ went down to hell and preached to spirits in prison between the time of His death and His resurrection. Here is the section of scripture which is the basis for this false doctrine:

1Pe 3:18  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19  By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

Where in those two verses is one word about the time setting of this event? The answer, of course, is that there is not one word in those two verses giving us the time when Christ preached to spirits in prison, and yet many millions of Christians believe and teach this event took place between the time of Christ’s crucifixion and His resurrection.

By applying the principle of “the sum of thy word” and simply reading the very next verse, we are given the time setting of when we are being told that Christ went and preached to spirits in prison. We need not speculate, all we need do is apply the principle of “the sum of [God’s] Word”. Here is the very next verse telling us when this took place:

1Pe 3:20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

These “spirits in prison” are spirits “which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing”. And whose “spirit” does the principle of “the sum of [God’s] Word reveal was in prison at that time? Who did Christ tell us was in prison when He came to this earth?

Psa 69:32  The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.
Psa 69:33  For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

God’s prisoners are men, and Christ tells us that He came to set the captives free:

Psa 146:7  Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:

Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

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 [Greek: from G259, a prisoner], and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

The sum of God’s Word teaches us that it is those who are living under the wrath of God who are ‘in prison’ even now just as they were “in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing”. It was through Noah that Christ was preaching to the spirits of men in prison while the ark was preparing, just as He is preaching through His church today to spirits in prison who are under His wrath today. Isaiah tells us the meaning of “be[ing] shut up in the prison”:

Isa 24:19  The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
Isa 24:20  The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it [the religions of men] shall fall, and not rise again.
Isa 24:21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
Isa 24:22  And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

Christ tells us that we are to be doing the same thing:

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

Another example of establishing doctrine with ‘some of God’s Word’ instead of “the sum of thy Word” is the false doctrine of a rapture of God’s elect, which is based upon this section of scripture:

Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Where in those verses are we told that God’s elect are raptured out of this world? Of course the answer is that it is not there. However the verses immediately preceding these verses make clear who Christ is warning us will be “taken” and who will be “left”:

Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Righteous Noah and his family were not taken away, and we are even told this much earlier in scripture:

Pro 10:30 The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.

It was the wicked who were ‘taken away’ in the flood of Noah, and it is “the righteous [who] shall never be removed” while it is “the wicked [who] shall not inhabit the earth”. That is the sum of God’s word on the subject of the false doctrine of a rapture.

Our last example of establishing a false doctrine by refusing the admonition to always have two or three witnesses, and by ignoring the sum of God’s Word, and by using one verse or section of scripture as its own explanation, is the doctrine that we must bless and support the physical nation of Israel or else we are living under a curse from God.

Here again are three verses which will give us one of the keys to the kingdom of God, which is nothing less than the mind of Christ:

Deu 19:15  One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)

2Pe 1:20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture at all is becoming its own explanation. (CLV)

Here now are the verses which are used to ignore dozens of other admonitions and to rob you and me of our very lives by tempting us to ignore Christ’s commandment to love our enemies:

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.

Based upon a misunderstanding of who scripturally is the seed of Abraham, millions of Christians have been snared into getting involved in the military affairs of this age, contrary to the commandments of our Lord that we are to love our enemies and stay aloof from the affairs of this age.

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

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.

2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

There is no greater purpose on earth for which to fight than the life of our Lord, whose life is worth more than all the lives of all men of all time, and yet look at what He told his disciples who wanted to fight for His physical life:

Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him [Peter], Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

So what does it mean when Christ told Abraham “I will bless them that bless thee”? If we are granted to remember that this section of prophecy is not of its own explanation, that we must have two or three witnesses, and that truth lies only in the sum of God’s Word, then we will believe what the New Testament tells us about who now, in the New Testament, is to be considered to be the seed of Abraham, and who it is we are to bless if we want to be blessed, and who it now is that we must not curse if we want to avoid being cursed. When we do that, this is who we discover is now to be counted as “Abraham’s seed”:

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

The next chapter reiterates that it is only those in Christ who are now to be counted as Isaac, the children of promise and therefore as Abraham’s seed, and that “Jerusalem which now is [the physical descendants of Abraham]… is in bondage with her children”, and as long as she rejects Christ as her Savior, her children are no more than “the son of the bondwoman [who will] not be made heir with the son of the freewoman”:

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
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. 
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

“We brethren [Gentile Galatians who are in Christ], as Isaac was, are children of promise. Jerusalem which now is… is in bondage with her children… cast out the bondwoman and her son for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman”. That is the Truth of the Word of God, and that doctrine is vehemently rejected by Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and it is rejected by the vast majority of her harlot daughters.

That is our study for today. There are many other stand-alone doctrines and false assertions concerning the proper understanding of the prophecies of scripture. There are few indeed who use these three principles to understand all of the many signified symbols of the book of Revelation, but these three examples will suffice to demonstrate the disastrous results of not having and using the key of knowledge, the key of the house of David and the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Next week, Lord willing, we will learn to apply the principle of  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”. When we learn to use that “key to the kingdom of heaven”, it will make the scriptures come alive as they never have before for all who know Christ and His Father:

Here are our key verses for our next study:

Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Joh 6:35 And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of the life; he who is coming unto me may not hunger, and he who is believing in me may not thirst—at any time;

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

[Part three can be found here.]

Audio Links

The Spiritual Significance of Biblical Locations – Part 1

Zion, Earth, Ephraim, Israel, Admah and Zeboim

Psa 132:13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
Psa 132:14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

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

Hos 11:8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

Introduction

Where is this ‘Zion’ the Lord has chosen for His habitation, and who is the ‘earth’ the Lord wants to hear His word? The fact is that the Lord has not chosen physical Zion for His habitation, and it goes without saying that the physical earth is incapable of hearing the Word of the Lord. Yet the scriptures are full of such instances where the holy spirit uses the names of various Biblical locations to make very deep and important spiritual statements which are completely missed and hidden from those who know nothing about the meaning of those names and what took place there. The meaning of the names and the events which occurred at these various locations tells us what the Lord means by the spiritual statements He makes concerning the various Biblical locations.

A sister asked me, “I wish someone would do a study on the meaning of the names of Biblical cities and places!” I told her that I had been intending to do just that.

A couple of weeks later a brother wrote in and asked:

“If you could please expound on the types and shadows of Ephraim, Israel, Admah and Zeboim and the spiritual anti-type for today?”

He went on to quote:

Hos 11:7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
Hos 11:8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
Hos 11:9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.
Hos 11:10 They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
Hos 11:11 They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.
Hos 11:12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.

While the numbers of places in the scriptures are very numerous and the explanation of the spiritual meanings of all of them could fill volumes, we will cover some of the most prominent and most misunderstood Biblical locations, and demonstrate what the spiritual meaning is of these Biblical locations. In doing this, we will discover once again that the entirety of scripture concerns itself with just two men – the old man and the new man. If we do not know the Biblical meaning of places like ‘Zion, earth, Ephraim, Israel, Admah, and Zeboim’, then these names will be nothing more than rather boring historical information to us.

Let’s start with the spiritual meaning of the names of the places we have just read in the order in which we have mentioned them:

Zion

This is where we first see the name ‘Zion’ in the scriptures:

2Sa 5:4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
2Sa 5:5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.
2Sa 5:6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither.
2Sa 5:7 Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David.
2Sa 5:8 And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.

Not understanding the principle of “the dream is one” many attempt to separate “the city of David”, Zion, from Jerusalem. That is like attempting to separate Christ from His Father, or Christ from His body. The stronghold of Zion, “the city of David”, and Jerusalem are the same in the scriptures, as these verses in 2 Kings 19 demonstrate:

2Ki 19:20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou [Hezekiah] hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
2Ki 19:21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

As with every word, ‘Jerusalem’ also has a negative application as the exact opposite of a “virgin daughter”. Physical Jerusalem, as a type of the physical churches of this world, symbolizes the great whore of Revelation 17-18, and those chapters in Revelation are based upon the fact that spiritually Jerusalem is called ‘Sodom’ and a ‘harlot’ in the Old Testament prophets:

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

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

Isa 3:16 Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
Isa 3:17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.

The symbols of the book of Revelation are based upon the symbols given to us in the Old Testament, where we see Zion and Jerusalem first as our old man whose religion is in rebellion against God, and then after Zion is taken captive into Babylon and she is destroyed for her sins, she will become “conformed to the image of [Christ]” via a spiritual resurrection from that dead and dying state to become ‘Jerusalem above, the mother of us all’:

Psa 87:5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.

Psa 132:13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.

Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

“The dream is one: God [showed] Pharaoh what He [was] about to do”, and the daughters of Jerusalem and the daughters of Zion are one, and God is showing us what He is doing within us:

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

Earth

The earth too, is first seen in its temporal dying state. It is in this state that we all have our beginning, and it is in this temporal dying state that we are all as mere beasts taken out of the ground that is this earth:

Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Gen 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

As ‘beasts of the field’ we are “the beast” of Revelation 13, which comes up out of the sea, just as “the earth” was made to come up out of the sea:

Gen 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Gen 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Christ, called both “The Truth, [and] the tree of life” Himself, also comes “out of the earth”:

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

Psa 85:11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

When we read “not that is first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual” it is manifested that Christ, who created all things, is excepted from that statement:

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

Christ, and Christ alone, had to ’empty Himself’ of His divinity in order to “spring out of the earth” through being “made of a woman, made under the law”:

Php 2:6 who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Php 2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
Php 2:8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. (ASV)

In the very next verses of 1Corinthians 15, Paul tells us who God considers the ‘earth’ to be:

1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Our old “first man Adam” must be “conformed to the image of [Christ]”, and for this to happen our “old man” must first die, because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.”

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

This ‘conformation to the image of His Son’ is the very same thing as “the image of the heavenly” of 1Corinthians 15:49. It is also called “a new earth”:

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 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Paul has just explained to us who the ‘earth’ is in Biblical terms:

1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Yes, Jeremiah 22 is addressed to Judah and Jerusalem as the harlot who is about to be carried away into Babylon to become that very city, and it is in that self-righteous and unrepentant condition that we are all being addressed when our own Creator cries out to us:

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

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel?

As we pointed out concerning the names ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Zion’, the principle of “the dream is one” is again to be applied to the names ‘Ephraim’ and ‘Israel’. As with the Pharaoh, the Lord is showing us what He is doing to us.

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

These words are not primarily for an ancient people, who were indeed “deliver[ed] into Assyrian captivity” and carried away into Nineveh. The spiritual message is for us, and it is the very same message we are given at a later stage when Jerusalem and Zion are carried away captive into Babylon.

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

Babylon and Nineveh were sister cities which were both in the plains of Shinar, and “the dream is one” principle applies to those two cities also. They are both the enemies of the people of God who are used by God to chasten His people.

Ephraim and Israel

Ephraim and Israel are one and the same. Ephraim was the younger of Joseph’s two sons, and in that story, Ephraim is used as the type of God’s elect to replace the older son who represents “that which is first” which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”.

Here is where we first see the name Ephraim:

Gen 41:50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.
Gen 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.
Gen 41:52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

Here is the meaning Strong gives the name ‘Ephraim’:

H669
אפרים
‘ephrayim
ef-rah’-yim

Dual of a masculine form of H672; double fruit; Ephrajim, a son of Joseph; also the tribe descended from him, and its territory: – Ephraim, Ephraimites

So Ephraim was a very fruitful tribe and was the largest of all the tribes of Israel.

Several years later, when Jacob had come down to Egypt, he summoned Joseph to his house so he could bless Joseph’s two sons. This is what happened at that time:

Gen 48:8 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?
Gen 48:9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.
Gen 48:10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
Gen 48:11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.
Gen 48:12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Gen 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.
Gen 48:14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
Gen 48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
Gen 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
Gen 48:17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.
Gen 48:18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
Gen 48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
Gen 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

“Truly his younger brother shall be greater” is a Biblical principle which is demonstrated from Abel to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph to King David to the new man, who is greater than our old man. Joseph’s own story concerning his relationship with his ten older brothers, and Israel’s blessing of Joseph’s sons were both used by God to make us aware of this principle:

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

So Ephraim was placed above his older brother Manasseh, and when the kingdom of Israel was split after the death of King Solomon, Israel’s name was placed upon them as he had prophesied, “Let my name be named on them.” Even with the name of Israel on them, the northern kingdom of Israel completely apostatized long before the southern kingdom of Judah.

Hos 11:12 Ephraim [Israel] compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.

I used to wonder for many years what was the significance of the splitting of God’s nation on this earth. With very little spiritual perception in me at the time, it appeared to me that Judah typified the Catholic Church, while Israel typified the Protestants who had broken away from God’s true people. However, I realized that Catholicism could never have been said to be God’s “faithful… saints”, so I struggled to understand that the spiritual type is that Christianity is typified by Israel, and that though Christianity has Christ’s name, it does not have His doctrine, which is typified by His food and His clothing:

Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

Israel, also known as Ephraim, thus becomes typical of the apostatized Christian religion, while Judah, in this verse of Hosea 11, typifies God’s “faithful… saints. Christendom has the name of Christ, but it is not, in any way, faithful to His doctrine.

It is for that very reason we read:

Hos 11:7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
Hos 11:8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
Hos 11:9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.
Hos 11:10 They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
Hos 11:11 They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.
Hos 11:12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.

Israel placed his name upon Ephraim. That is why we see them so closely connected throughout the prophecies of the Old Testament: “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel?” In this context Israel is the bondwoman wife of Abraham, who we are told is a type of those who are in Christ. What we do not want to acknowledge is that Christ has children by a bondwoman wife before  they become His children of the freewoman:

Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

In Hosea 11 Israel typifies those who want and have Christ’s name, but cannot and will not do what He says to do:

Luk 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Christians who have Christ’s name, but “do not the things [He] say[s]”, like Admah and Zeboim, will be delivered up to be destroyed as those two cities were destroyed.

Hos 11:7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
Hos 11:8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.
Hos 11:9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

Admah and Zeboim

The question we were asked was, “Could you expound on the types and shadows of Ephraim, Israel, Admah and Zeboim and the spiritual anti-type for today?”

To answer that question, as with all the other Biblical names we will be considering in this series of studies, we must first know what happened to Admah and Zeboim. The fact is that these two cities were among “all the cities of the plain” which were destroyed in the destruction of the far more recognized names of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Deu 29:23 And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

God has made it known that having His name, without having His mind and obeying His commandments, is of no value at all, but will rather bring upon us the same destruction by “His anger and … His wrath” like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim.

It is out of this destruction of the kingdom of our “old man” that God brings forth our “new man” who, through that dying process, will be “conformed to the image of His Son”.

Hos 11:9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

Here we have God rhetorically asking how He can deliver up His backslidden people to be destroyed as He destroyed the cities of Admah and Zeboim “in His anger and in His wrath”. At the same time He informs us, “I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not destroy Ephraim.” It all serves as a perfect example of how God pours out His wrath upon His very elect first, and destroys the rebellious, carnal mind within them first, before He drags all the rest of mankind to himself. It all serves to demonstrate that “all things come alike to all [and that] there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked”:

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.

Those verses in Hosea 11 demonstrate that all men of all time are, in the end, “not appointed… to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us [all men of all time] to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

What these verses also demonstrate is that God’s elect are not immune from His wrath upon their rebellious, carnal-minded “first man, Adam”, who will be destroyed by God’s wrath, and will through that destruction, be raised up as a new man who will be conformed to the image of Christ:

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

In this study we have seen that Zion, the earth, Israel, Admah and Zeboim, one and all, are first used to typify our first “old man” who was created “marred… in the Potter’s hand” for the express purpose of demonstrating how incapable he is of inheriting the spiritual kingdom of God. We have also seen that a “new man” is in the process of being birthed through that destruction, fulfilling our Lord’s words:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Joh 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Joh 12:33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.

Next week, Lord willing, we will discuss the spiritual significance of a Biblical place called heaven, where we are told God dwells within His kingdom, which is called “the kingdom of heaven”.

We have already discussed the Biblical opposite of ‘heaven’ which is ‘the earth’. Next week we will discuss what is commonly misunderstood to be the opposite of heaven, a Biblical place called variously, the valley of Tophet in the Old Testament and Gehenna in the New Testament. It is very poorly translated as ‘hell’ in the King James Version, and we will discover once again that there are several Biblical names for this same place, and we will see again that it was the history of this location which gives us its spiritual meaning.

[The next study in this series is here.]

Foundational themes in Genesis – Study 74 (Key verses: Gen 25:12-18)

The book of Genesis is named after the Greek word “genesis” which has its Hebrew equivalent in the word “tôledâh” which appears at least 13 times in the book of Genesis and is translated as “generations” (Gen 2:4; Gen 5:1; Gen 6:9 (2); Gen 10:1; Gen 10:32; Gen 11:10; Gen 11:27; Gen 25:12-13 (2); Gen 25:19; Gen 36:1; Gen 36:9; Gen 37:2). Generational lines are given to help us understand God’s way of working with mankind. First of all the created generations which God works with are divided into two opposing dimensions called heaven and earth:

Gen 1:1 In the beginning [Hebrew: rê’shı̂yth = first in order/firstfruit] God created the heaven and the earth.

Gen 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

Through Jesus Christ, who is “the beginning of the creation of God” (the firstfruit), The Father works all in the generations of the heavens and the earth (Joh 1:1-4; Rev 1:8; Rev 3:14; Col 1:15-17). Only few are chosen by God to see and receive God’s plan with these generations (Mat 22:14). To understand the invisible heavens, we are first given an earthly parable. This earthly parable on the one hand makes the invisible creation of God understandable for those who can receive that, but on the other hand it also restricts the spiritual insight of many – also called the “multitudes” (Rom 1:20; 1Co 2:14; Mat 13:34):

Mat 13:2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Mat 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables….

Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them [the “multitude”] 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.

It was written in God’s book that the generational line of the first Adam was to first go through this earthly eon and all in that Adam will eventually be made in the spiritual likeness of God (Gen 5:1; 1Co 15:22-28; 1Ti 2:1-6). The first man is “the figure” or type of the second man although the first physical Adam is also the total opposite of the spirit man, Jesus Christ (Rom 5:14; Rev 1:8). This opposition or resistance to the belief of new spirit life in Christ is a foundational theme in Genesis but is always further developed and exposed throughout scripture. God created and inspired these oppositional forces which are vital for the purposes of both sides in the final analysis. Here is where these foundations of these general lines are explained by God:

Gen 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Both sides operate as adversaries (Hebrew: “śâṭân”) to each other, but God ordained that His elect in Christ, typified by the woman, will be the first to benefit from these encounters (Eph 1:3-7; 2Ti 2:12; Rev 20:4). The spiritual principle that those who live by the faith of Christ shall suffer under those who wax worse and worse is established early in the first two sons of Adam (Gen 4:1-8; 2Ti 3:12-13):

Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

1Jn 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1Jn 3:12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one [the spiritual seed of the serpent], and slew his brother [the spiritual seed of the woman – Christ]. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
1Jn 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

Our firstborn is our fleshly existence (or the carnal and death eon in us) which cannot please God and is given to think it can do its own thing by disobeying God’s order and commandments (Rom 8:6-8). The fleshly lawless man of sin in us will always oppose and hate the second born, which the new creation of spirit typifies and this new creation is coming through the last Adam, Jesus Christ (2Th 2:3-4; 1Ti 1:9; 1Jn 2:7-9):

1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

But in this long process we are mercifully exposed to all the hidden evils in us first, as we also learn in this process what Godly love and righteousness is all about. Since the beginning God has always preserved a very small remnant who is up against an overwhelming number of adversaries, but they will be victorious against all physical and carnal calculations and scheming (Isa 1:9; Isa 16:14; Rom 11:5). Through the generational line of Seth, whom God gave to Adam and Eve in the place of the murdered Abel, new life came forth. Yet even in this chosen generational line of Seth new adversaries were added, but God kept Noah faithful among these adversaries in his generation also and through the judgement of a global flood all these opponents were removed (Gen 6:9; Gen 7:11-24). After the flood these opposing generational lines between earth and heaven are further developed and exposed:

Gen 10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

Gen 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Gen 11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Gen 11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Through Shem God again emphasized His choice when He brought forth the generational line which will be used as types of those who are enabled by God to follow His commandments (Gen 11:10). Here is a short summary of this generational line from Adam right down to Abraham, and Abraham being one of the major examples who showed through his life what God uses to make the faithful endure until the end amidst their “śâṭâns”:

1Ch 1:1 Adam, Sheth, Enosh,
1Ch 1:2Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered,
1Ch 1:3Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
1Ch 1:4Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

1Ch 1:24 Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah,
1Ch 1:25Eber, Peleg, Reu,
1Ch 1:26Serug, Nahor, Terah,
1Ch 1:27Abram; the same is Abraham.

Through the recurring cycles of expansions and contractions (narrowing) since Adam, we see a pattern being established which is admonishing us to always take note of God’s modus operandi. A big section of the first part of the book of Genesis was taken up by the life and journeys of Abraham (from the last verses of Chapter 11 right into Chapter 25). Abraham was used by God as a type of what the faith of Christ is bringing into those whom God has chosen as the fulfillment of His word for His purposes through Jesus Christ:

Mat 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Faith is a gift from God, and it is not given because of anything we do or even contribute to earn or claim anything from God (Eph 2:8-10). The faith of Abraham is used to introduce many spiritual types which encourage us to recognise the works of the faith of Christ in our own lives, if we are given to receive this. Abraham’s death is our death to fleshly desires which brings forth the spiritual concept of maturing sonship in Christ which we learn so much of through the life of Isaac. As Adam was put to sleep to bring forth the new life of Eve and “all living” through her, so we need to know how dead we are in flesh and why death (our first and last “śâṭân”) needs total destruction before new life can be established in us (Gen 2:21-22; Gen 3:20; Joh 8:52-53; Rom 8:6-8; 1Co 15:26):

Gen 25:8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Ecc 9:6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

1Co 15:26 The last enemy [Greek: “echthros” – opposition/adversary] that shall be destroyed is death.

Several times the scriptures are clear that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Are these scriptures referring to Abraham contradicting this truth that dead people are really dead? (Mar 12:27; Luk 20:38):

Mat 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Mat 8:10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Mat 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

These are not contradicting the truth that Abraham is as dead as a dead beast right now (Ecc 3:18-21). Not only is the Scripture written as a parable to blind the eyes and dull the hearing of those whom God is not giving the truth now, but the very same words of God are spirit and are interpreted differently in those with spiritual eyes and ears (Exo 14:20; 1Co 2:7-10):

Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Abraham sitting in the kingdom of God is a parable – the name “Abraham” is speaking of those who have been given the faith of Christ, even as Lazarus, typifying this elect, are taken into this same “bosom of Abraham” which again refers to Christ and the faith He gives to those whom He embosoms (Mat 1:1; Luk 16:20-22; Gal 2:16; Php 3:9):

Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Although Abraham was a true historical figure who lived on the earth, whenever we read of Abraham in the sum of God’s Word, the spirit of God is teaching us that it is actually referring to Christ and those in whom He instills His faith in this eon (Mat 4:4; 1Co 2:13). Faith is the only way by which we can please God and receive His spirit life to sit in His spiritual kingdom, even now (Heb 11:6):

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

But there are also other sons and daughters of Abraham who are in bondage, like all of us must be before we are loosened by Jesus:

Luk 13:16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

These are the sons from the bondwomen or concubines in Abraham’s life, also representing our own time when we believe on Jesus, but cannot see our own carnal heart and that its true condition is spiritual bondage:

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

These sons and daughters of Abraham from the bondwoman or concubines are an extremely necessary part of the kingdom of God inside and outside, like the tares which God ordained to grow in His field until the time of judgment or all the different kinds of sea creatures (good and bad) caught in the one net and separated at the appointed time (Mat 13:27-30; Mat 13:47):

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.

This seed of Abraham from the bondwoman and concubines could not see and still do not know how to apply the opposing generational lines of the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman in their own lives first and foremost. We all play our role on both sides of this divide, but at first we cannot even see that our own words and actions are openly witnessing to our hostility toward the truth and to those who bare that testimony of Jesus in them. This is our time in spiritual captivity which is for our good:

Jer 24:5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

It comes as a great earthquake when our book is being opened progressively and we can hear these words of Jesus directly spoken to us:

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.

In our time, we do not like the elect of God and despise their calling and words which we cannot see as the very words of God. These immature Jewish converts who rejected Jesus’ admonishing words wanted to kill him when they thought they were following Him. But they were following Him – it was only for the wrong reasons and selfish motives:

Joh 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

One of the offspring of Abraham who needs to fulfill this important task of opposing the generational line of the true son of Abraham was Ishmael (Gal 4:29-31). God indeed blessed Ishmael with a physical offspring of twelve sons which is also spiritually referring to the foundations of flesh which opposes the foundations of the spirit (Gen 17:20; Luk 6:13; Eph 2:20; Jas 1:1; Heb 11:10; Rev 21:14):

Gen 25:12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham:
Gen 25:13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
Gen 25:14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,
Gen 25:15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:
Gen 25:16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.
Gen 25:17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.
Gen 25:18 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.

Ishmael and his offspring settled in the region of Havilah, and they were somehow protected in their towns and castles which were situated in the vicinity of the wilderness region of Shur. Havilah is known in the scriptures for its gold, but the wilderness region of Shur has no water of life there, but only the bitter waters from the rivers of flesh. The flesh does increase in goods, but that is not fulfilling the inward spiritual needs (Rev 3:17):

Gen 2:11 The name of the first [river that went out of Eden] is Pison [meaning “increase”]: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
Gen 2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

Exo 15:22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
Exo 15:23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.

The words “and he died in the presence of all his brethren” in verse 18 of Genesis 25 are from the King James Version, but in other translations we find a deeper meaning to the original written words:

Gen 25:18 ASV And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria. He abode over against all his brethren.

Gen 25:18 GNB The descendants of Ishmael lived in the territory between Havilah and Shur, to the east of Egypt on the way to Assyria. They lived apart from the other descendants of Abraham.

Gen 25:18 GW His descendants lived as nomads from the region of Havilah to Shur, which is near Egypt, in the direction of Assyria. They all fought with each other.

Gen 25:18 ERV His descendants camped throughout the desert area from Havilah to Shur, near Egypt, all the way to Assyria. And they often attacked his brothers’ people.

Gen 25:18 ISV His descendants settled from Havilah to Shur (that’s near Egypt), all the way to Assyria, in defiance of all of his relatives.

These versions reveal much more of the function of these twelve sons of Ishmael and their offspring which confirm the important and helpful role the opposition plays in our own lives. They give us the necessary opposition to develop us stronger in our faith. These twelve princes of Ishmael lived in the wilderness, even unto Assyria. Assyria dwelled in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and they were also used by God as one of His heavy-handed instruments to correct physical Israel (Isa 105-7; Isa 36:1-22; Jer 50:17; Hos 11:4-6). We are all upset when we see evil around us, and we cannot understand God’s work in this creation, as the prophet Habakkuk also approached God with this dilemma. In our immaturity we actually accuse God of being uncaring and slack in answering our prayers to remove all the evil oppositions from our lives?

Hab 1:1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
Hab 1:2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
Hab 1:3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

God indeed answers all prayers but not in the way we like them to be answered. The spiritual Chaldeans or Babylonians, like the spiritual Assyrians are all used by God to fulfil His judgement in order to reveal where the worst evil was being committed, and the biggest criminal is hiding (Psa 17:13; Jer 1:15; Jer 2:19; Jer 50:17; 2Th 2:1-12; Rev 13). It is all inside our own hearts, and our own evil hearts are used by God to judge us:

Hab 1:6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.
Hab 1:7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

God’s answers to our prayers are always to bring more evil, strife and contentions to ‘solve’ the previous problems, and yet there seems no end to it all as Habakkuk also reveals to us. He also found the reason for these increasing oppositions by which we are to be humbled:

Hab 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

When we can detect false solutions and do not expect quick answers to our prayers, then we are ready to receive the more intense trials and tribulations which God brings to move our faith to a deeper and higher level. Our enemies, even our own carnal heart, are given for our benefit:

Joh 16:33 I have said all these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble: but take heart! I have overcome the world.

Hab 3:16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
Hab 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Hab 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Hab 3:19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

Joy in the midst of darkness and pain is not natural – it is the strength of God in operation. We are taught how to use the faith of Christ in us to deal with this through patience and endurance. This is what sonship is about – to be faithful in the things which our Father entrusted to us through faith. This is also what Abraham has left as an inheritance for Isaac. Abraham’s legacy is the good works and fruit which faith produces as the just shall live by the faith of Christ and that faith alone (Gal 5:22-23). Isaac will have to learn, through his own application, how he needs to live by every aspect of life. In Isaac the true generational line of spiritual sonship is developed, and this is the theme we will look at in the following weeks, God willing:

Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Rev 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son [Greek: “uihos”].

—————————————————————————————
Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the www.iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Why Christ Spoke in Parables
Why Are The Multitudes Not Given to Understand?
Was Satan Created as An Adversary?
Satan and The Carnal Mind
Will Abraham, Isaac and Jacob be in The Kingdom?
Lazarus and The Rich Man
The Spiritual significance of Assyria

Mike,

Is Babylon Christ’s body?

Thanks,

J____

Hi J____,

Thank you for your question. The answer is absolutely not! Babylon is God’s divorced wife, she is “the bondwoman… and her son”, she is the seven churches of Rev 2-3, she is Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children” and she is “those Jews which believed on [ Christ, but who] want[ ed] to kill [ Him]”. In short, Babylon is that great city wherein our Lord was crucified”, meaning she is “the body of… another Jesus” who would have the true Jesus of Nazareth put to death.

Isa 50:1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

She is the fallen from grace, “seed of Abraham”, and she is the first, natural “mother of us all”, but we must “come out of her My people” (Rev 18:4). I hope this answers your question. If not please let me know.

Your brother and fellow servant,

Mike>

Understanding the Deception of the Anti-Christ

Mike,

Those calling themselves ‘Jews’ during the days of Jesus were not Israelites, nor are the Jews of today Israelites. Those calling themselves ‘Jews’ are not descendants of Jacob but are mainly of Iranian stock according to DNA testing. Modern ‘Jews’ were once the Khazar people that adopted Judaism as their religion around 1000 CE. The descendants of the Israelites can be identified precisely by the biblical clues given. … Here is how Jesus referred to the Sephardi Jews of his day:

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.

The ancient Israelites had an entirely different understanding of ‘God’s kingdom’, compared to the religion called ‘Judaism’ today. The ancient Hebrew’s understanding was more comparable to what Jesus taught – or tried to teach. During the past 2500 years much has eroded away about what the God of Israel taught his people, how they could progress their souls to a point of ascension – breaking the heavy veil that separates truth from ignorance. Even during King David’s day corruption was taking root among ancient Hebrew society. Today, world- wide, evil is elevated as being good, wrongs are deemed right, knowledge of a higher enlightenment is made taboo, intelligence is mocked, worthiness is of no account, excellence is not preferred, merit has no place in a world of ‘political correctness’. This ‘upside down’ mess has been a process, a long steady decline of values, which sets the stage for the greatest anti- Christ of them all. An opposer of all that is worthy, a promoter of evil, one who elevates and rewards corruption while at the same time diminishes the voice of the Anointed Ones. Think it can’t happen in our modern society? Think again.

1Jn 2:18 Little children, it is the last time [latter days] and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.
2Jn 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not 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. 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.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect.

The word ‘messiah’ means ‘anointed one’, which means ‘one who receives great knowledge and wisdom from above’ and then in turn, shares, teaches, or improves humanity with this higher wisdom, intelligence, or discovery. When we look back at past history, we find many ‘anointed ones’ who have added knowledge, wisdom and improvement to humanity in many different ways, but the expected Messiah is to cover all areas, both political and spiritual, which is mimicked by the anti- Christ. A combination of ruler and spiritual adviser, the Messiah will take the throne as King. He will take over where King David left off, ushering in an era of righteousness. Bringing the chosen ones to a perfected state through the process of ascension [of the soul]. By his fruits you will know the Messiah.

Recently email was sent to me asking if I believe our current president is the Messiah – the answer is NO, he is not. Seems some people get so carried away with a pretty speech that they can’t see what is obvious [to others] behind the pretty speech. They see charisma and overlook the concealment; they see dignity but fail to recognize the deception; they see ‘what this man can do for them’, and fail to ask ‘what they can do for their country’; they see someone who will perform great wonders while others see their Constitution eroding away. Some cry tears of hope at his very words, while others cry tears of sorrow for the end of a great nation that will soon be dissolved for a new socialist country. We can be assured that the truly anointed Messiah does not lie, deceive or reward criminal behavior. Make no mistake about it, the truly anointed Messiah will represent the values of righteousness based upon truth, harmony, peace, worthiness, merit, virtue, excellence, benevolence and purity; balanced with understanding, wisdom and knowledge. The anti-Christ may seem to mimic these qualities to the blinded fools, but the elite see beyond the curtain of disguise.

B____

Hi B____,

I really do appreciate the efforts of those who are attempting to be of service to our Lord. So please receive this in the spirit it is given, which is that of instruction and not of destruction. I am aware that you feel the same way, and I know that the obstacle we all face is the beast of pride which is common to all mankind.

Having acknowledged all of that I will simply quote this email, and then quote the word of God and let His fiery Word do its fiery work. Here are your words:

“Those calling themselves ‘Jews’ during the days of Jesus were not Israelites, nor are the Jews of today Israelites. Those calling themselves ‘Jews’ are not descendants of Jacob but are mainly of Iranian stock according to DNA testing. Modern ‘Jews’ were once the Khazar people that adopted Judaism as their religion around 1000 CE. The descendants of the Israelites can be identified precisely by the biblical clues given. … Here is how Jesus referred to the Sephardi Jews of his day:

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.”

It is of utmost importance to note that all of these words of our Lord are being spoken to “those Jews which believed on Him.”

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Were they really Jews? The holy spirit says they were “those Jews which believed on Him.” Were they really descendants of Abraham, or were they Sephardic Jews? Who will we believe, man or God? Here, out of this very same chapter of John, are Christ’s Words:

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.

Christ knew and acknowledged that the Jews of His day were “Abraham’s seed” physically, but just as is the case today, physical pedigree is no longer an issue. They were Abraham’s physical seed, and “of your father the Devil” spiritually, because “my Word has no place in you.” Physical descent was not even the issue. Christ did not say ‘You are of your father the devil because you are Sephardic Jews.’ On the contrary, these are Christ’s words which I for one must accept:

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.

Does the holy spirit consider the Jews of that day to be Christ’s own Israelite brothers? Who are we to believe, man or God?

Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Does that say, “He came to Sephardic Jews?” Were not Christ’s apostles Israelites? Did He not come to them?

Joh 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

Were not those of the southern tribe of Benjamin considered to be Israelites in Christ’s day? Who are we to believe, men or God?

Rom 11:1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

If the ten tribes were lost, then how could Paul make this statement:

Act 26:7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving [God] day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

If the ten northern tribes were lost, how could James make this statement about all twelve tribes:

Jas 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

Christ had no such issue in His mind. What made “those Jews which believed on Him… of their father the Devil” was what Christ said made them such.

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.

“Because my Word has no place in you” is why they are of their father the devil. Being “of your father the Devil” has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with physical pedigree or of physical descent.

Just as Christ is telling these Jews, who were “Abraham’s seed” back in His day, so it is today. Being the “seed of the serpent” has nothing at all to do with physical descent, but it does have everything to do with what is in one’s heart and mind, and who one is serving spiritually. “I know you are Abraham’s [physical] seed… 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” is the doctrine of the anointed.

Christ reaffirms this Truth with this statement which caused “many of those who had walked with Him to go back and walk no longer with Him.”

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and [they] are life.

And this:

Joh 4:19 The [Samaritan] woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Joh 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

This is how Paul can tell Gentiles that Jerusalem above is the mother of us all:

Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Fleshly, carnal Jerusalem, is now counted as Hagar:

Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

What does this make these Gentile Galatians?

Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

That is why Paul can now take promises made exclusively to Israel and now apply them to the “Israel of God,” Gentile Corinthian converts, who like the Ephesian Gentiles are now part of the commonwealth of Israel and are “one new man.”

2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they [ Israel] shall be my people.
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,
2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you [Israel], and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

To whom do these promises now apply? Here is the very next verse addressed to Gentile Corinthians:

2Co 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

As despised as it is, Christ, Paul, Peter, John and all of the apostles were what is today called “replacement theologists” who truly believed that “the flesh profits nothing” and “He is not a Jew which is on outwardly… but he is a Jew which is one inwardly.”

The doctrine of ‘The Anointed’ being Abraham’s seed is simply a matter of doing what Abraham did, and Abraham obeyed God. Are you obeying God and believing His words rather than the words and doctrines of men? If you are, then you are the commonwealth of Israel, even if you are called a Gentile by the world. In the doctrine of the anointed, being a Jew or an Israelite is a matter of believing and obeying God, and has virtually nothing to do with physical descent.

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.

While you seem to see that modern Jews are not Jews at all, you do not see that being a Jew or an Israelite now is a spiritual matter that has nothing at all to do with whether those who call themselves Jews or Israelites are physically descended from Abraham.

British Israelism, from a New Testament point of view, is a moot point. The holy spirit says the Jews of Christ’s day were indeed physical Jews who “believed on Christ.”

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

At the same time, Christ tells us they were “of their father the devil… because my word has no place in you” just as is the case with the entire orthodox Christian world to this day, who claim the name of Christ and deny His doctrine which teaches that “he is NOT a Jew which is one outwardly.”

So the doctrine of the Anointed is that you can be a physical Israelite and not be a spiritual Israelite.

Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Or as the MSG puts it:

Gal 6:15 Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do– submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life!
Gal 6:16 All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God– his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them! (MSG)

You can be a physical Jew and not be a Jew. In writing to his Gentile converts, Paul agrees with what Christ is here saying to “those Jews which believed on Him.”

Eph 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:19 N ow therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

There is now no physical Jew from God’s perspective. “He is NOT a Jew which is one outwardly.” Of course there is a physical Jew from the perspective of the flesh, but as far as the holy spirit is concerned, there is but one Israel and one Jew, and this is what God thinks of all others…:

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.

Finally, and I say this with the love of the very words you claim are so important to you; If you do not see that all nations are deceived, including our own nation, then it is you who seem to see while you are yet blind.

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Here are your own words:

“Recently email was sent to me asking if I believe our current president is the Messiah – the answer is NO he is not. Seems some people get so carried away with a pretty speech that they can’t see what is obvious [to others] behind the pretty speech. They see charisma and overlook the concealment; they see dignity but fail to recognize the deception; they see ‘what this man can do for them’, and fail to ask ‘what they can do for their country‘; they see someone who will perform great wonders while others see their Constitution eroding away. Some cry tears of hope at his very words while others cry tears of sorrow for the end of a great nation that will soon be dissolved for a new socialist country. We can be assured that the truly anointed Messiah does not lie, deceive, or reward criminal behavior. Make no mistake about it, the truly anointed Messiah will represent the values of righteousness based upon truth, harmony, peace, worthiness, merit, virtue, excellence, benevolence and purity; balanced with understanding, wisdom and knowledge. The anti-Christ may seem to mimic these qualities to the blinded fools, but the elite see beyond the curtain of disguise.”

Is this ‘your country… your constitution?’ Is the United States really a “great nation?” If that is your perspective, then you are not teaching the doctrine of Christ, which teaches us that our “kingdom is not of this world.”

You say this:

For those who believe that Jesus was the Hebrew Messiah, then what he stood for and what he taught should have held more importance than his actual physical body.

Here is what Christ taught concerning our citizenship and our loyalties. It is all right here in this very chapter of John from which you quote. These are the words that Christ, to this very day, is speaking to those who “believe on Him” and at the same time ‘have no place in them for His Word.’

Joh 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

These words are directed to “those… who believed on Him.” And when “those… who believed on Him” brought Him before Pilate to be crucified, Christ repeated these same words to Pilate.

Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world [Greek: kosmos]: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

The day will come when Christ will fight and rule the nations of this world with a rod of iron.

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

Until that day, this is the position taken by all who really do fear and tremble at the words of Christ. These words have nothing to say about ‘our country, our constitution or our great nation,” simply because our “kingdom is not of this world,” but rather “we are ambassadors for Christ” and His kingdom which is coming to this earth at the appointed time.

2Co 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

If Christ had called Israel His country and had started a revolution against Rome, He would have failed His Father and His mission, which was and still is:

Joh 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

It is impossible for those who are not ‘given ears to hear’ to recognize Christ’s voice. The Truth is that “the anointed” came into this world to “bear witness unto the Truth”, to “die daily” to the flesh and to “be hated of all men… Everyone that is of the truth…” will affirm those words and ‘hear Christ’s voice.’ Those who are not faithful to the message of ‘the anointed’ “are that spirit of antichrist,” as you so rightly admit. Here are two more verses which add a little to that verse you quote out of chapter one.

1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh [including our 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 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.

Yes, these are the last days, but it is not because a man will arise as the antichrist, but rather because Christ said that all these things would be fulfilled in His generation and in every generation after that until His return. “The last days” is not a phrase which applies only to our day. The “ends of the world” have been upon God’s elect in every generation since Christ.

Ask God to give you eyes that see and ears that hear these words of our Lord:

Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

These verses and the following verses are in answer to this question: when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

In answer to that question Christ continues:

Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

The gospel of the kingdom is to be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. The abomination of desolation takes place before the end comes. Christ knew well what He meant so He tells us, “Whosoever reads, let him understand.” However, few are given eyes that see and ears that hear the conclusion of this answer to the question: when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? Before we look at Christ’s own answer of when this all will take place, let’s first see what else must happen before the time of the end.

Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Mat 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 A nd then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

There is the answer to the question, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

Earthquakes, persecutions, dying, enduring to the end, the gospel being preached in all the world, the great tribulation; twice false Christs and false prophets are mentioned, all in answer to that one question. “When shall these things be?” Now here is when Christ tells us “all these things” will take place. Can you receive His Words?

Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

That is Christ’s own conclusion. That answer reorients the minds of all who are given to ‘understand what they are reading.’ No wonder Christ made this statement right here in this chapter: ” whoso readeth, let him understand:”

Once our minds are reoriented and we are given eyes to see and understand the truth of verse 29…:

Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

… Only then can we become aware of what Christ meant when He was asked this exact same question earlier. His answer at that time makes His answer here in complete accord with what should be our own approach to the question of “when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and the end of this age?” Here is the answer and the understanding of how Christ can say, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Christ is not saying that the kingdom of God will never come with observation, what He is saying is that you and I need to be aware that it must first be established within ourselves. What He is saying is that the earthquakes, famines, great tribulation, abomination of desolation and the preaching of the gospel to all nations, must be done to the seven heads of the seven kingdoms who constitute the one beast within us all, before the end will come.

Paul agrees with Christ on this approach to prophecy:

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

John agrees with both Christ and Paul, that we are to “keep the things written therein.” Not one of God’s apostles, prophets or writers of the New Testament scriptures even put the fulfilling of prophecy off into the future. They one and all agreed with Christ, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand… even at the door.”

Rev 1:3 Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Who do you know who believes that “that generation did not pass away till all those things were fulfilled?” Who do you know who believes that the kingdom of God is within each of God’s elect? Who do you know who believes the twice-repeated admonition, once at the beginning and once at the end of the book of Revelation, that we must “keep the things written therein, and keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” It all sounds preposterous to those who cannot see that all of this must take place within us before we will be given the privilege of ruling this world and judging angels in a lake of fire.

My prayers are with you, that He will give you eyes that see and ears that can hear “the mysteries of the kingdom of God,” with which all of Christ’s parables, the 24th chapter of Matthew and the book of Revelation, are all concerned. It is few indeed who are given ears to hear.

Mat 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Hi Mike and Sandi,

You are correct of course, and I stand in your shadow until I correct the article on my website. Thank you for taking the time to point this out to me.

I take issue with today’s Jews claiming to be the ‘head’ while the true Israelites are the ‘tail’, and sometimes overlook the fact that the Jews of 2000 years ago, most of whom converted to Christianity, were in fact recognized as being ‘Israelite’. You did a great service to me, and I am grateful.

Also, most Arabs are descendants of Abraham including those of Iranian stock.

B____

Hi Mike,

I was getting some revelation, and I wanted to submit it to you to see if you thought it was sound, as you are to me a trustworthy brother. What do you think regarding this line that I am following:

“seven death blows (plege) for seven heads”
God’s plan for the carnal man in the elect
a beast with seven heads
first one blow (plege) for one head (part of the process ordained of God)

Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound (plege) was healed: and all the world (that Christ will overcome in me) wondered after the beast.

last seven blows (plege) for seven heads

Rev 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues (plege) ; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues (plege) of the seven angels were fulfilled.

So is all this witnessed to here in these verses from Psalms?

Psa 37:10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
Psa 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

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

So the Bride can only be revealed in us after the seven last ‘plege‘ are fulfilled in us else we would not be faithful to all the Word of God and would not be the Bride?

I hope you have a great day and in all things you sense His effective working whether abased or abounding.

F____

Good morning F____,

Thank you for your kind words. I hope what I say is of some help. What you say here certainly is very revealing to me. Of course there is a connection with the seven heads and the seven plagues.

I will only add that virtually everything in God’s Word; the good we experience and the evil we endure, is all part of the revelation of Jesus Christ:

Psa 119:160 The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.

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

So the warning below concerns all of “the sayings of the prophecy of this book”, and “this book” is “the sum of thy word.”

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

‘The book of life… the holy city… and… the things… written in this book’ are all of the same thing. They are all inseparable parts of the revelation of Jesus Christ. That revelation does not begin at Revelation chapter one. It begins at Gen 1:1, and it ends at Rev 22:21.

I know that you know all of this. I mention all of this just to add that it all, like He who is “the Word”, is all ‘Is, Was and Will Be’. And that includes the word ’till’ (until).

Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Notice that the word ‘last’ isn’t even used in this verse. So as I am dying, the beast within me with his seven heads is dying and Christ within is being revealed. Now Christ within me is that bride. As I die, He is being revealed daily. So the bride, too, is being revealed daily. It is all Is, Was and Will Be.

The answer to this idea that since we are a bride right now, then there must be neither male nor female right now, is that ‘neither male nor female’ has nothing to do with being Christ’s bride. Being neither male nor female has only to do with being one body. And in Christ there is only one body, and that one body is the body of Christ.

Look at these two verses:

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if ye [ be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

“Ye are all one in Christ… And if you be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Paul is dealing with two things when he wrote this verse. Under the Old Testament, Gentiles and women were excluded from entering into the rituals of worship:

Exo 23:14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Exo 23:15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exo 23:16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, [which is] in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
Exo 23:17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
Exo 23:18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

“None shall appear before me empty… [of] all thy males” means that only the Israelite men were to partake in the sacrificial rituals of the tabernacle and later the temple. Of course, all Gentiles were excluded:

Ex. 12:43 And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:

And a bondservant was simply a Gentile:

Lev 25:39 And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:
Lev 25:40 But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile:

Lev 25:43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.
Lev 25:44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.

So when Paul tells us…

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

…he is not saying that in Christ and under the New Testament both men and women are now part of the priesthood which was charged with teaching the people the law.

Heb 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need [was there] that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

Paul’s point in Gal 3:28 is that through Christ, the father is now accessible to all. But all having access to God is not to be construed as all having the same place in His body. The fact that all have equal access is not to be construed as all being equal in receiving rewards for works:

Mat 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Luk 19:16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
Luk 19:17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
Luk 19:18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
Luk 19:19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.

Neither is it to be construed as all having the same office or function in the body of Christ:

1Co 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
1Co 12:5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
1Co 12:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
1Co 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

There are many instructions on how each office is to be fulfilled. There are instructions to bishops, to deacons, to teachers, to husbands, to wives and to children. In Greek the word for man and husband are the same word (aner).

Mat 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband [aner] of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man [aner], which built his house upon a rock:

And the word for woman and wife are the same (gune).

Mat 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife [gune]: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman [gune] to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

There are very few men who have been placed into the body of Christ as teachers.

Jas 3:1 My brethren, be not many masters [didaskalos], knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

Joh 1:38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master [didaskalos],) where dwellest thou?
Joh 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Joh 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher [didaskalos] come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

There are no women teaching there:

1Ti 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

1Co 14:34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but [they are commanded] to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
1Co 14:35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
1Co 14:36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
1Co 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

Of course, there are many teachers in the body of Christ, and they are all there for the purpose of bringing “strong delusion” to those who are “the children of the bondwoman”.

So we, as Isaac, are the children of promise. And also ‘as Isaac’ we have brothers and sisters who are also “Abraham’s seed” by a bondwoman wife. These are our brothers and sisters in Christ who are indeed Abraham’s seed. But like Christ said with His ‘Is, Was and Will Be’ Words:

Mat 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Remember, it wasn’t just unbelieving Jews who wanted Christ dead. It was “those Jews which believed on Him:”

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

“Ye seek to kill me… because my word hath no place in you… you are of your father the devil…” all words spoken to “those Jews which believed on Him,” who came by the multitudes to hear Christ’s words. It is exactly the same today.

This is what Ishmael, the son of Abraham, born of a bondwoman, represents. He represents all of the multitudes of Christians who come to Christ and like some of what they hear but simply cannot go all the way with Christ to the cross. They simply cannot accept that Christ really means that we are to love our enemies, and for many Christian women, they simply cannot accept “I suffer not a woman to teach” as a “commandment of the Lord.”

These people actually think that because they have taken of their time to go and sit at Christ’s feet that the very least Christ can do for them is to feed them with His loaves and fishes. To these Christians, much of what Christ teaches is very good, but there are some things that are also very bad. Here are Paul’s words concerning this group of Christians:

Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was [spiritually] born after the flesh [carnal minded brothers] persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
[But we still have a brother who persecutes us]

I know you already know this, but we have spiritual brothers who are “born after the flesh.” This is all being spoken of in the spiritual realm. That “son of the bondwoman” is just another spiritual term for “Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots and of Abominations of the earth (church).”

The answer to this twisting of the scriptures to use the word ‘bride’ as a means of nullifying God’s words regarding the function of women in His body, is answered with your excellent treatise on ‘the fullness now’ doctrine. We are all the things we are promised in Christ. We are all of those things right now. Whether we are speaking of being a son, a priest, a king, a ruler, an angel, a house on a rock, a pillar in the temple, etc. etc. We are all of these things now:

1Jn 3:2 (a) Beloved, now are we the sons of God…

But it is only in earnest, in down payment form:

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.

So we are given the rest of 1Jn 3:2:

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

It is the resurrection of the dead which is “the redemption of the purchased possession” and this ‘fullness now’ doctrine which you dealt with so well is really nothing more or less than a slight twist on the old “the resurrection is past” doctrine which Paul was struggling with in his day:

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Ti 2:16 But shun profane [and] vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

Have you ever thought of “profane and vain babblings” as false doctrines?

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.

So instead of “the resurrections is past,” ‘fullness now’ doctrines, we are given the same assurance we were given in Eph 1:13, the assurance of being sealed and known of God:

2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

And we are also reminded that there is still “the son of the bondwoman” in our Father’s house:

2Ti 2:20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
2Ti 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, [and] prepared unto every good work.

It should not take a spiritual rocket scientist to see that Ishmael and Esau are “Abraham’s children” who have been placed in his house as “vessels of dishonor.” They are there in the “great man’s house” for that very reason; to “persecute the son of the forewoman”.

Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh [carnal-minded brothers] persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

So again, just remember that even the bride is being revealed in a process of which we must say:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

I hope I’ve said something which you will find edifying. I know that I am always edified and encouraged every time I hear from you. I was especially edified by that scripture in Psalms:

Psa 37:10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
Psa 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

It brings this verse to mind:

Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

I appreciate your input, too, so let me know what you think. I’ve learned much since I’ve come to know you.

Mike

Mike,

Thank you for your response.  I will rephrase the question about, “fivefold ministry”.  My question is if we are to come out of Babylon (church), then what does the scripture Eph 4:11-13 really mean and how are they (these gifts) supposed to be used?

:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

Yes, I agree with you that you can have many gifts and yet be carnal, but I still don’t believe you can say that we should can the whole church; the religious system yes, but not the whole thing because some of it works.  I went to church yesterday, and I was edified in my spirit, so how can that be so bad, yes sometimes I am corrected and sometimes I am scolded and sometimes the whole thing (the people and the system annoy me but those instances always help me grow).  Going each week has helped me change into a more MATURE Christian as opposed to sitting home and not getting fed spiritually.

What is confusing for me is the fact that I know I have teaching gifts and prophetic gifts (dreams and visions, and I write prophetically and have had these gifts since a young child) and both pastors that I sit under, one teaching as you do and one teaching differently have both said that I am called to the ministry, full-time and that I am in preparation and truly it is in my heart.  I have not asked for this gift and as a matter of fact because of all the shaking and breaking that has been caused in my life I have asked the Lord to take it out of my heart if it is me that is putting it there, and it won’t go away.  I would love to be a normal 26 yr. old and raise my daughter and take care of my husband, household etc… (I do do all of that with all of my heart) but I still study all the time and this desire won’t go away.  They also have given me so many opportunities to preach etc. (also if I say forget it I am going to try to do something else like go back to school, etc… it seems like something always happens and the door shuts or someone will start prophesying over me concerning ministry).  If God has not called me to this then why is this happening?  I am not saying you are wrong, I just would like someone to explain then what is happening to me.

J____

Hi again J___,

I have never said to “can the whole church.” I have gone to great lengths to explain that the multitudes which came to hear Christ teach are like very same multitudes who come to Christ in the “historical orthodox Christian church” today. Christ spoke in their synagogues and in their temple. Even Christ told those people to do what the scribes and Pharisees said to do. He only warned against doing as they do. Israel learned all about the tabernacle and the priesthood and all of the offerings while they were still “in the wilderness.” I too, learned and am still learning as I am coming out of that wilderness.

If you are being edified in Babylon, which is the bondwoman wife of Abraham who brings forth the “son of the bondwoman” (Gal 4), then that is where you need to be at this time in your life. It is through this bondwoman that we all are “brought to Christ”. I too, was edified for many years while I was first a Pentecostal, then a member of the World Wide Church Of God, and then I participated in the Concordant Conferences. All were very edifying while I was in them. That was what I needed at that time. But then God opened my eyes to Matthew 13, John 8, 1 Corinthians 1 and 3 and Revelation 18:4:

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. [to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven].

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words , many believed on him.

Just as “many” do today…

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

There is a world of difference between simply being at Christ’s feet every Sunday morning and Wednesday night and being “a disciple indeed.” It is the difference in being able to “continue in My Word,” and being unable to “continue in My Word.” Millions hear Christ say to “love thine enemies.” Peter heard those words. And like all the unconverted “historical orthodox Christians” of today, Peter still took out a sword to kill his enemies. Now pay very close attention to what Christ has to say to “those Jews which believed on Him,” because those Jews are typical of the multitudes of Christians who today “believe on Him:”

Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Just as so many “historical orthodox Christians” say today; ‘I am Abraham’s spiritual seed and I am not a slave in Babylon.’

Joh 8:34  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

‘I know you are Abraham’s seed and at the same time you are of your Father the devil. You say you love me but you will not do the things I say.’

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.

Why can’t orthodox Christians understand Christ’s parables to this very day? For the very same reason the multitudes in Matthew 13 could not hear. “It is not given to them…” to understand… the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” “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.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people , that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

So this is whence God’s people all come. Far be it from me ever to say “can the whole church.” Rather, what I do say is ‘don’t stay a child’ under the schoolmaster, tutors and governors of the bondwoman wife, but rather graduate from the six doctrines mentioned in Heb 6:1 into the doctrines to be learned only by “the son of the free woman” (Gal 4).

As long as God does not give us ears to hear His Word, we “cannot hear my word.” And as long as that is the case, we are all “of our father the devil.”

The “seed of the serpent… of your father the devil” are those who “believe on Christ,” but “cannot hear my word.” And that is “historical orthodox Christianity” today. They tell you to love your enemy, and with the same breath tell you to kill your enemies. They tell you God is love, and with the same breath tell you He will burn people in hell for eternity. They say they love God, but they will not do as He says:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

1Co 1 and 3 are simply confirmation of this truth.

Now what are “these sayings of mine”? They are Christ’s commandments. Don’t tell me that you love Christ if you cannot and will not “keep His commandments.”

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

“Not grievous” does not contradict the fact that if we follow Christ’s commandments we “shall be hated of all men… and must enter the kingdom of heaven through much tribulation.”

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

“All men” means those Christians who “cannot receive my word.” It was those who “believed on him” who wanted to kill him at that time. It is those who “believe on Him” today who want his elect dead.

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.

Now if the love of God is to “keep His commandments” which will cause us to be “hated of all men,” Just what are those commandments? I have mentioned a few of them above, but here is but one more which bears on all the prophesies you have been having prophesied over you. “Try the spirits.”

1Co 14:34  Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but [they are commanded] to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
1Co 14:35  And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
1Co 14:36  What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
1Co 14:37  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

Do you “think yourself spiritual”? If you do, “let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the [not grievous] commandments of the Lord.”

This is but one of many scriptures bearing on this subject of women becoming teachers and ministers in the church. They are all very clear and they all agree:

1Ti 2:8  I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
1Ti 2:9  In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
1Ti 2:10  But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
1Ti 2:11  Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
1Ti 2:12  But I suffer not a woman to teach , nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
1Ti 2:13  For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

“For Adam was first formed, then Eve?” What’s the point?

I hope this is of some help to you as you struggle with the questions you have been asking.

Mike