The Book of Joel – Chapter 2:12-17, Part 2

“Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” – Rev 2:16

[Study Aired Aug 3 2024]

Return to the Lord

Joe 2:12  Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 
Joe 2:13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 
Joe 2:14  Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? 
Joe 2:15  Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 
Joe 2:16  Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 
Joe 2:17  Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? 

Introduction

In our previous Study, Part 1 of Joel, Chapter 2, we clearly see that the dark and gloomy “Day of the Lord” dawns rapidly through Christ, our rising ‘sun’ in our spiritual understanding. So happy are we for that understanding and the beginning of the spiritual creation of the New Adam within, we gamble like calves released from the stall of Babylonian Christianity’s mouldy hay to be fed in Christ’s ‘stall’ of strong meat.

Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Mal 4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings [a fine sunny dawn of Christ symbolised by an eagle-shaped-wing of high golden cirrus cloud in the east of former gloomy darkness]; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Mal 4:3  And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

By our Lord’s spirit, we now see that the great and dreadful Day of the Lord is an incredibly glorious death of our old man; it exceedingly emboldens us to endure the trials and tribulations given to chastise us and bless our Husband with our ravishing responses to him. We “turn” to worship our Lord with our Body, the very Body of his Bride who delights in his instant and eternal arousal for her devotedness to his righteousness, just as Hosea desired his wife, Gomer, even in weak corruptible flesh to return and honour him.

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 

Significations:

Return to the Lord

Joe 2:12  Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 
Joe 2:13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 

We studied the acceptable fast our Lord requires in Joel Part 1, Chapter 2, for your revision ~ so. What can we extrapolate from the opening verses of Joel Chapter 2?

The key term in this study is the word “turn,” which comes from the Hebrew 7725, representing 1. to return, turn back a. (Qal) 1. to turn back, return 1a. It is strongly associated with the term “again”, expressed 215 times, “turn away” 57 times and returning “back 62 times, and all are identified with going back negatively or positively. Hence, the active intent of Christ through Joel and the term, “turn”, is to repent.

In the study of Hosea, we initially saw that we were like Gomer, a whore to our Lord while in the wilderness of Babylon. Hosea would have loved his wife to turn to him with all of her heart had she been given to study the reasoning for her waywardness revealed by the fast our Lord ascribed to us in Isaiah 58. Upon Christ-given deep introspection, the Gomer that we have been has seen our humiliating condition of flirting with the churches of the world and, with tears, repents. God loves the sinner and more for his heartfelt repentance, even if she is an inveterate Oholah (representing greater Israel) or the younger sister representing the more treacherous of the two sisters of whoredoms, Oholibah (typifying Judah, the Priests, and particularly the Lord’s Elect).

Jer 3:6-15  The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding [H4878 – 1. turning away, turning back, apostasy, backsliding] Israel [Oholah] hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
Jer 3:7  And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah [Oholibah, the incipient Elect of God] saw it. 
Jer 3:8  And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah [Oholibah – the embryonic Bride of Christ] feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 
Jer 3:9  And it came to pass through the lightness [1. voice, sound, noise a. voice b. sound (of an instrument) 2. lightness, frivolity – colloquially; my body to do what I want with it] of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
Jer 3:10  And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah [Oholibah/Elect] hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:11  And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified [Conscience accusing and excusing through her pride] herself more than treacherous Judah.

See in verses 10 and 11 that Israel is “backsliding”; however, Judah representing the priesthood is worse since they held the oracles and testaments of God and didn’t diligently teach them and are thus “treacherous” and most humiliatingly, equal to the heathen Moabites, our flesh! (Eze 25:8  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen)

Jer 3:12  Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel [Collectively inclusive of Judah], saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. 
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family [Rejoin Israel/Oholah with her sister, Judah/Oholibah], and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 

That “turning” to Christ is him reclothing us with his garments since we, in Joel 2:2, have deeply regretted our whoredoms with the fasting by ripping our ‘figleaf’ self-styled clothing revealing a naked heart before our Husband, Christ.

Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 
Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

A carnal wife seeking a deeper emotional connection with her Husband typically wants him and his world to revolve around her, when ‘nature tells us’ that the moon whom she represents, captured by the earth’s gravitational force of humanity, both revolves around the sun, meaning, Christ and our Father. Upon being given to realize her accursed resistance by airily dismissing her physical husband’s desire for her, she now gloriously gives her husband ‘all her heart’ and symbolically, physically, and spiritually worships her husband, depicting the receipt of every good and unimaginable gift from Christ, her Husband.

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we [The Elect in this age since the cross] should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Scripture symbolically and infers literally that the Earth and our solar system came from our Sun, “the Father of [spiritual] lights”, representing God. Man is represented by the Earth, and he is made from its dust, and the Woman came out of the man (the Earth 1 Cor 11:8-12) and is represented as the Moon, inferring that it all came from God, symbolised by the Sun. (funny how the pagans were given some semicorrelating connections by worshipping the Sun] However, Eve’s curse keeps a wife at arm’s length (personifying the centrifugal force from the Earth) from having the unity she yearns for and vexingly can’t, unwittingly, without the holy spirit, attain. Interestingly, science has detected the Moon, ironically, steadily moving away from the Earth, her figuratively ‘fleshy husband’ as harlots do. Yet, possibly literally and guaranteed spiritually, heaven and Earth will melt with the fervent heat of God’s fiery word to be unified as the Sun.

Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Dan 12:3  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

That generation that will not pass away is only fulfilled in the Lord’s Elect given to “be wise” in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. When all of Christ’s words are fulfilled in them, it is their heavens and earth of the Old Adam within that passes away as they are gradually transformed into Christ, as bright as the literal sun. Following them fully passing away at the First Resurrection, then comes those remaining in fleshy bodies in the One Thousand Year reign with the rod of iron will physically pass away.

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.

Joe 2:14  Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? 

It is the Elect of God, the Lord’s Bride in this age since the cross who alone is given to know that they will “return and repent”. They leave behind them a mighty spiritual meat and drink legacy to follow in the Resurrection to Judgement, the Lake of Fire for their brothers, sisters, and Satan and his angels to be utterly consumed in that furnace and come forth purified as fine gold.

Joe 2:15  Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 

It is “today” that the Bride only fully hears her Husband’s voice (Heb 3:15), the trumpet announcing his coming. She is the solemn assembly. She, like her Husband, is the Trumpet and has learned to fast in daily spiritual reflections of her tardily aroused ways to “turn” and revolve around him, draw in closer [as opposed to the literal Moon representing Babylonian Christianity, drawing away], and passionately receive her Husband’s “kisses” (Son 1:2), and he, hers.

Rev 1:9  I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 
Rev 1:10  I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day [“Today” as we hear His voice], and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches [Spiritually one Church, the Bride of Christ] which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

The one Bride, comprising the seven churches of Asia and representing individual Elect out of every tribe and nation in Israel, is gathered and sanctified. She has been at the breast of her harlot mother and likewise walked the streets and broad ways in her lewd trade of worshipping many other Jesus [2 Cor 11:3]. She is being remade from a new lump of clay into a beautiful young Bride raised spiritually on her Lord’s wine, fat and best cuts of meat of her Husband’s word while righteously walking the streets of the New Heavenly Jerusalem within seeking her Lord.

Joe 2:16  Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 

The Bride of Christ has come out of her closet since the cross. Even as her brothers and sisters in Babylon were likewise given to search diligently the scriptures to find Christ, it is only the Bride who found Him in her night visions. She is given powerful curiosity to desire and seek her Husband with her entire body and mind, her Lord’s spirit and excitedly ‘return to her Lord’.

Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Son 3:1  By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
Son 3:2  I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
Son 3:3  The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
Son 3:4  It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. 
Son 3:5  I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

Joe 2:17  Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? 

Internally, with deep regret, the Bride ‘turned’ and remembered that she had wept for Tamuz, the like lusts Solomon never deprived himself while worshipping another Jesus under his altar! ( Tammuz = sprout of life). 1. a Sumerian deity of food or vegetation [shepherd] and every other young and powerful god-like man, as did Oholah and Oholibah (Eze 23)). Our heart of the figurative ‘Tammaus’ we were where we sought a deep emotional connection, unconsciously elevating ourselves as an Inanna-like goddess (Inanna – the same as pagan Ishtar, queen of heaven), the goddess of love and war, and accentuated sexuality. She is represented as the younger sister, Oholibah, who devoted her ‘whole body and mind’ to her lovers in the neighbouring tribes rather than to her Lord and Husband.

Astaroth H6252 = star n pr f deity 1. false Goddesses in the Canaanite religion, usually related to a fertility cult. ‘1. ewe, flock, increase, young’ representing our disappearing false flocks and doctrines of Babylonian Christianity.

Eze 8:12  Then said he unto me [Ezekiel], Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? [As opposed to the Bride’s God-given revelatory night visions] for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth [His people].
Eze 8:13  He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
Eze 8:14  Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north [judgement comes from the north]; and, behold, there sat women [Israel] weeping for Tammuz. 

In contrast, it is now the Bride of Christ who is the Priest on the Temple porch within, where she weeps in repentance before her husband, Christ, her true spiritual ‘altar’. Her tears of regret for her former ways are turned into overjoyed gladness for him not sparing her chastisements since she is given to know that Christ is her inheritance and husband, immutably removing her reproach. In the meantime, her sisters remaining in Babylon staunchly believe that they are the Lord’s chosen bride ruling her husband in Zionist religions and governments of the world today.

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 
Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

Unwittingly, Babylonian Christianity is in lockstep with their slave-master ‘Jews who are not Jews’ who, unconsciously to Christians, violently believe that Christ is an imposter who deserved the painful death of the cross and delight in mocking his resurrection and Lordship. Yet, those Christians, like silly doves (Hos 7:11) and ‘filthy dreamers’ (Jude 1:8-10), fawn on circumcision since they resolutely believe the physical Jews are God’s “chosen”.

Joh 4:22  Ye [Mainstream Babylonian Christianity] worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the [Spiritual Christ-led] 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.

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 

Psa 115:2  Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? [… we, unwittingly, the 10 horns just ‘fact-checked’ and destroyed this Jesus myth!]
Psa 115:3  But our God is in the heavens [within]: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Psa 115:4  Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
Psa 115:5  They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
Psa 115:6  They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
Psa 115:7  They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
Psa 115:8  They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
Psa 115:9  O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back [a turning in the negative], my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Since the cross, the Bride of Christ has been phenomenally brightened by her Husband’s revelations in understanding her treacherous nature in denying Him his espousal dues. And so, the act of repentance is critically central to ‘returning to the Lord’.

Subsequently, and next week (always Lord willing), we shall see that his Bride is his workmanship, having deliberately designed her slow belly desire for him. Temporarily in heartfelt pity, he weeps for her unavoidable condition even as he rejoices with the Wife of his youth as he pours out his spirit. Lord, bring on more powerfully that day!

Song of Solomon 8:1-14 – Part 14

[Study Aired February 11, 2023]

“O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate”. (Son 8:1-2 abridged)

Song of Solomon 8:1-2 embodies the Shulamite’s unparalleled love for her groom, and its committed dynamics are the inherent theme of the Song of Solomon for the spiritual love between Christ and his Wife.

The most “terrible” power of authority quantified as “love”, the “I am”, was aonian before man was breathed into existence by God. That terrible love eternally Is, eternally Was and eternally Will continue to Be intrinsic to God as his exclusively identifying dimension to everything he is. Christ’s wife is his glory and made ruler over his house; only in royal rulership is he greater than her. Collectively with their children, the rest of humanity is the glory of the Father. (Gen 41:37-57)

Pro 17:6 Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers. 

Deu 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, [to fear; against all that opposes his love] which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

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 [love] of life freely. 

Exo 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

In the earlier parts of the Song of Solomon, I went to lengths to express that the seat of a woman’s love, seen in her breathtaking collage of feminine charm, emanates beneath her breasts and conveys her spiritual heart. Her ‘bowels of compassion’ and heart are one and the same love that is the foundation of her every physical and spiritual expression, both negatively and positively. 

The Bride of Christ is becoming the same as He is, the terrible one irrepressibly expressing her love to him and desiring the fullness of her Lord’s love. She, in the flesh, is unashamedly ensuring her Groom’s understanding of her devotion to him in chapter 8:1-2 with the not-so-subtle lesson of her heart’s craving of how she wants him to experience her love as her inextinguishable response to his love. 

If there was to ever be a pre-marriage lesson of paramount importance for single folk, the Shulamite has proven the answer. Never be spiritually unequally yoked!  The spirit of the God above all gods, the “I am”, gives life physically and spiritually to marital intimacies. Any deviation away from His spirit leads to sexual discord and the potential to cascade further strife. The potentially inelegant discussion from the male enquiring if his intended had a Song of Solomon 8:1-2 passion is unnecessary if the couple is united in the Christ. Authentic unity and dedication in Christ will melt all marital difficulties.

Song of Solomon 8:1-2, authentically and enthusiastically expressed by a believing wife to a non-believing husband, is a major step for his perception of Christ. For believing husbands to hope that their unbelieving wives believe, they need to be Christ’s Christs.

It is far more likely that a non-believing husband will respond positively outwardly to a Song of Solomon 8:1-2 wife than a Song of Solomon 8:1-2 husband would be gladly received by an unbelieving wife. The latter is Christ’s personally given heartache in the wilderness with Israel’s haughty dismissiveness of his expressions to her and her defrauding of him.

Let’s see our Lord’s designed response from his Bride signified by the Shulamite.

Longing for Her Beloved

Son 8:1 O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.
Son 8:2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.
Son 8:3 His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. 
Son 8:4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please. 
Son 8:5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. 
Son 8:6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 
Son 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

Final Advice

Son 8:8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? 
Son 8:9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. 
Son 8:10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. 
Son 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. 
Son 8:12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred. 
Son 8:13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.
Son 8:14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

Son 8:1 O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.

Verse one infers that the Shulamite has or had a baby brother. Her soliloquy of sensually powerful imagery graphically muses her looking forward to her fiancé and their mutually intimate interactions with her body, “as [she had delightedly observed her] brother” with their mother (with the accompanying exclamation)! A mother suckling her baby is a mutually deep bonding connection between the two. The Bride of Christ likewise deeply desires the same intimate connection with Him, and their fervid spiritual lovemaking is her aim. Her extravagant giving wholly to him is definitive of the Shulamite, as is Jerusalem, the heavenly city of peace. 

Soon after craving her lover’s kisses, her hidden beautiful desire to fully express her God-given femininity will no longer be held back. She is already “spoken for” [H1696 – communed; declared; promised (2Kg 4:13, Son 8:8)] by her Husband to himself, and is not embarrassed to display discrete affection. As such, she has no need to feel others would condemn her kisses for the appearance of evil and so despise her. The last chapter of the Song of Solomon ties together the Bride’s first passionate desire in the book’s opening verse of intense desire for spiritual arousal.

Son 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.

The entire book of the Song of Solomon emphasises that her private absorption is not to overly ‘awaken her love until He pleases’ until their wedding night. 

Somewhat embarrassingly, we were once at the breast of the Harlot as part of our journey to becoming the “spoken for” Bride of Christ. As Christ’s Bride, her breasts and underlying heart and spirit are full of spiritual richness, her Lord conceived in her. With that unity of spirit, she now passionately looks forward to blessing her Husband with a bountiful harvest for his glory.

Son 8:2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.
Son 8:3 His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. 
Son 8:4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.

Those verses’ sensual imagery is left to the individual’s poetic imagination to glorify God.

1Co 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

The Shulamite is every man’s, and particularly a husband’s, dream.  She uses the potent imagery of her younger brother devotedly hungry at his mother’s breast and wants her Groom’s detailed attention to the “natural” sensuality she passionately desires him to connect with her ~ in fact, not only her breasts but every joint and feature of her body!

So, too, do the Elect of God today absorb herself by Shulamite’s eloquent imagery, having been spiritually at her Lord’s breast, not willingly being pulled away from daily study and its discussions, and gone on to the strong meat of maturity. 

The ‘instruction’ the Shulamite uses at her mother’s house is a deliberately powerful seduction as intoxicating as the kisses of spiced wine that is, for us, spiritual truth.

Of course, we once were at our ‘mother’s’ house in Babylon and got some foundational sustenance from her and handed around by our first father (Satan) to the many wet nurses, the churches of Babylon.

Notice that the Bride dreams of leading her Husband to witness the allegorical counsel of her mother with her baby of how she wants him to devote himself to her; it is not a representation of women’s supposed leadership in the Church.

Christ knows his Wife by her fruits as they drink spiritual wine together in His kingdom. His loving embrace and ardour are everlasting confirmations of His commitment to His Wife. Her Lord’s left hand is under her head; she is His glory. Featured as the 1,000 wives of Solomon, the world will enviously see her glory and praise her as did the daughters of Old Jerusalem.

1Co 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

Deu 33:27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. 

Isa 62:2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. 
Isa 62:3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 
Isa 62:4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, [H2657 – my delight is in her; desire; longing; Jerusalem] and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

Son 8:5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. 

The precise tracking of Solomon’s musing is indistinct. He seems to jump from speaking the Shulamite’s mind to his standpoint as he delights in the beautiful imagery of his devoted Bride strolling along arm in arm with him.

The Bride and the “mother” are one and the same whom Christ brought forth in her birthing blood from the wilderness, raised under his apple tree [H8598 – from H5301: to breathe, blow, breath out] and into the breathtaking young woman she spiritually now is. Through intimate connection, the Shulamite and her groom partake of the cleanliness of each other’s breath and our Husband’s breath for us.

Joh 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

Son 8:6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
Son 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

Christ is the seal “upon” his Bride’s heart and arm. She is sealed, betrothed unto her day of redemption in His heart and “upon” his right arm embarrassing her. Her Lord is righteously jealous over her that none other should inquire of her mind’s spirit or amorously embrace her.

2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. [She and Christ are one spirit, the “us”. Her Lord drinks in the spiced wine of her exalted desire for him “… I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.” Son 8:2. Pomegranate H7416 origin H7426 – to be exalted; lift up]
2Co 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 
2Co 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Unrepentant adultery deserves death, which to Babylonian Christianity is an absurd judgment since God to them is not a vindictive God but just loves without the condition of loving chastisement. In the negative, that ironically is a positive since all unrepented sins, including adultery, result in the “vehement flame” that brings forth refined gold. However, Solomon and his bride mirror Christ and His Bride and are impassioned by their “vehement flame” of love that cannot be quenched!

Mar 9:42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea [Lake of fire].
Mar 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

Noah’s flood never quenched our Lord’s love for his Elect.

(“if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.” Son 8:7)

“Contemned” means to despise or hold in contempt. Since the flesh profits nothing, this life’s worldly goods and pleasures are utterly condemned by the Lord’s little flock. It is the Shulamite’s arousing spiritual flame that connects with her Lord’s spirit she knows gives her life eternal.

The Bible translators broke the scriptures up into verses with captions to make them, by their standards, apparently more readable. Hence, they included the heading “Final Advice” after Song of Solomon 8:7, which we will now review.

The last seven verses of the Song of Solomon 8 are an abstract of his troubled mind. He sees perfectly in all wisdom the breathtaking physical beauty of the Shulamite, the epitome of the perfect wife. However, in Song of Solomon 6:11-13, we witness him pondering the meaning of Shulamite deeply by looking upon her “the garden”.

Son 6:11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. 

Solomon hopes to see the answers in the Shulamite’s guaranteed fruit, unaware of the coming frustration for his unwitting impossibility of understanding their meaning. He will be frustrated since he has more wisdom of discernment than any natural man ever to have lived, yet, he can’t fathom the enigma of Shulamite since she is hidden in spiritual discernment.

Son 6:12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib [chariots were known for swiftness, and built by Amminadib]. 

Solomon’s profound understanding of Shulamite caused his every thought concerning the yoke of her nature to be a light and thus swift and peaceful (Jerusalem) ride for his many chariots of insight, all leading to one earth-shattering significance for which he couldn’t and would never identify. His understanding of her was agonisingly close, yet, for the wisest man ever, he would never understand! 

Son 6:13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies. 

Her mystery dogged him, similar to the image of ponderings that comes to mind from the French sculptor Auguste Rodin in his work, “The Thinker”. So, Solomon continues to deeply ponder the young Shulamite.

Psa 71:5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth. 
Psa 71:6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee. 
Psa 71:7 I am as a wonder unto many; but thou [Christ] art my strong refuge. 

Son 8:8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? 
Son 8:9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. 
Son 8:10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. 

In the first studies into the Song of Solomon, we learned that the little sister becomes the Bride of Christ, and in her maturity, breasts specifically feature. Jacob is the younger ‘sister’ without breasts. The first ‘army’, figuratively Esau, expressly represents Babylonian Christianity, and yet, the entire world and the strength of the thread that the elder will serve the younger, Jacob, cannot be broken.

Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, [Rebekah, Isaac’s wife] Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

The day that the little sister was “spoken for” (promised; betrothed) was before creation, yet it came to fruition in Rebekah’s womb.

Rom 9:9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. 
Rom 9:10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 
Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) [God did the choosing of Esau to serve Jacob, that is Babylon serving the Bride John 15:16]
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

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

In wonderment, Babylonian Christianity and the world unconsciously “look upon” the young girl who is their little sister (the younger of the two armies). She is yet to develop into the most spiritually elegant beauty the world could ever imagine. After which, her spiritual breasts (representing her entire Body) to our Lord dynamically arouse his eternal love.

Her Babylonian brothers and sisters unwittingly prophesy her espousal by asking, “what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?”. Subsequently, they despise her for her high calling, signified by Joseph’s brother’s hating Joseph’s spirit for the meaning of his dreams. They say,

Son 8:9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.

Their little sister does fulfill their prophecy and symbolically becomes a silver palace behind a wall with a door that encloses her with cedar boards.

Shulamite is the walled city of the Heavenly Jerusalem above, built upon the silver of God’s word of atonement through redemption. She was represented by Solomon’s temple made with hands and beautiful furnishings of silver, gold and cedar. She becomes her Lord’s Christs (plural), ruling them through which she becomes the door they enter through the Lake of Fire. Temporarily, they have (by God’s hand) boarded her up to their unconscious spiritual hurt of not understanding the spiritual.

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

The Shulamite affirms her brothers and sisters, surmising she is a wall. By use of your imagination, Jerusalem is a walled city with towers embedded in its walls; hence, her breasts are like towers. The spiritual dynamics of her breasts are like fortified towers that convincingly repel all enemies of the cross from understanding her aroused heart and coming to Christ. Her virgin spiritual purity did find favour through espousal in the eyes of one man, Christ. At present, she is a walled city shut to the world that will always have gates open at the Eighth Day’s end.

Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 
Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

Another meaningful signification of her being a walled or hedged city or vineyard is in the parable of the tenants’ (Mark 12:1–12, Isa 5:1-7) 

Mar 12:1 And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge [walled city] about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
Mar 12:2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.

As we know, spiritually through the parable of the talents, some produced one hundredfold or double what he was given (10 or 1,000 ~ completeness and power of corruptible dying flesh) following their chastisements of love and represented by Solomon’s keepers returning him an increase.  

These scriptures support the continuity that the Bride is a fruitful garden, for the short-term, walled and protected by a tower (breasts) of love for the eventual salvation of all mankind. She has been the man of perdition and has come out of Babylon, having served the completeness of the flesh (number 10, or 1,000). 

Solomon represents Christ as the owner of the vineyard he let out to the world. By design, the world, bar the “little flock”, rejected his atonement and redemption through repentance, represented by the full number (1,000) of his silver. 

Son 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. 
Son 8:12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

Again, the entire world, “my vineyard”, represented by 1,000, witnessed against themselves (two) by the two hundred keepers overseeing the fruit. The keepers beat the owner’s Son and killed him in a vain attempt to steal His inheritance for themselves. (Mat 21:33-46).

Son 8:13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.

Thou that dwellest in the gardens is all of humanity, beginning with Adam and Eve and culminating with the Shulamite, representing the outstanding garden that will eventually bring forth the salvation of the world. And all will “harken to [his] voice: [and] cause [all] to hear it”.

Son 8:14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

The Shulamite, the Bride of Christ in joyful agony, trembles and sighs in spiritual sensuality for her beloved to delicately prance upon her curvaceous ‘mountains’ (mountains/hills within Jerusalem) and cause her heart beneath Shulamite, the city of peace, to skip like lambs (roe, young antelope or lamb).

Psa 114:1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; 
Psa 114:2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. 
Psa 114:3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. 
Psa 114:4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
Psa 114:5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? 
Psa 114:6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? 
Psa 114:7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; 
Psa 114:8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

Our Lord, our Husband, ‘make haste, my beloved, and drink the spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate together in your kingdom!’

[This concludes the study of the Song of Solomon.]

Song of Solomon 5:10-16 – Part 10, The Bride Praises Her Beloved

2Sa 1:26  “… thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

[Study Aired January 14, 2023]

While not claiming to have been inspired to tease out every spiritual understanding in the Song of Solomon, chapter 5, I hesitate to say, and for the most part of the entire book, doesn’t appear to present startlingly new revelations. As I’ve insinuated in its previous studies, the Shulamite frequently speaks in the third person from the standpoint of her assured election above her sisters of physical Jerusalem. From her humble God-given eminence, she often “charges” them with moral (spiritual) cautions. Her sisters in Jerusalem today are Egypt, Sodom and Babylon, and are not yet alerted to the shocking difference between them and her. Her passionate praises for her beloved in the verses to be studied (Son 5:10-16) are only spiritually understood by her and her Husband.

All stops are out, and nobody more enthusiastically believes every word than the Shulamite as she adventurously praises her Lord.

So, we continue with Shulamite’s “primary theme” of “protracted” and enthusiastic anticipation for her wedding since (Lord willing) every joint hearing this study is Her.

Son 5:10  My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.
Son 5:11 His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. 
Son 5:12 His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. 
Son 5:13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
Son 5:14 His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. 
Son 5:15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. 
Son 5:16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. 

Since most of those reading this series of the Song of Solomon are hopefully the Bride, there is no room to edge towards dreariness for understanding the many familiar spiritual meanings of repetitive shadows.

Son 5:10 My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

Christ is the Bride’s beloved and is the chiefest God above all gods who will spiritually put the entirety (10 x 1,000) of fleshy humanity to death. White is Christ’s righteousness given to the Saints who have come out of the ruddiness of the earth they represent, particularly the ruddiness of blood from overcoming their sins as the first fruits. To the rest of humanity, there will be an unexpected glorious ending from their gnawing of tongues for mental pain at the conclusion of the Eighth Day.

Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

The Elect of God is learning to happily take the sword to condemn sin in their ruddy earth in this age and the rest of humanity in the age to come. Peter had yet to learn to take his sword to himself before judging those whose time was not for judgment.

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

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.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

For the resurrection to judgment, the (white) Elect of God under Christ will cause the main harvest of souls to be “ruddy” by the sword of His word.

Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

What delights the Bride and her Lord are the hidden things of God, where even she, the spiritually rich, sometimes has oversight for spiritual discernment and is overjoyed for correction. In them there is no deceit to hide the truth nor bitterness for correction as they happily die daily for life eternal.

The number 10 (10,000) also represents the fullness of the Shulamite’s sisters of Old Jerusalem, whom she frequently conjures up to respond in the third person to her dreaming. She is overwhelmed with joy for her inheritance which she knows they vaguely see. Her sisters are unwittingly powerless, like the rich man to Lazarus, to bridge the massive chasm between those in the first resurrection and the resurrection to judgment ~ after all, they are in Solomon’s court of 1,000 wives and consider themselves, as does Babylonian Christianity, to be the Lord’s chosen.

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

Of course, the Bride painfully knows, as did Joseph to his ten brothers, the ultimate outcome for all of Israel and her Camp without. After all, she is of the ten, yet is the eleventh symbolically hired at the eleventh hour and is instrumental in the ruin and disintegration of their flesh and their yet-to-be-realised infamy and shock of being the man of perdition as she once was. (Man! Talk about the “hidden things of Christ”! If a person is not given to see, he won’t see, period!)

Son 5:11 His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

Most of us quickly correlate our Lord’s headship with the shadow imagery of Nebuchadnezzar’s image in Daniel’s dream.

Dan 2:31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
Dan 2:32 This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
Dan 2:33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
Dan 2:34 Thou sawest till that a stone [Christ, the twelfth of the numbers above] was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Of course, just as Christ is, so are we during our transition to being recreated. Negatively, in our self-righteousness, we think we have a head of fine gold, not realising that we are a terrible beast with iron teeth that gnashes God’s word and the laity to pieces. (Dan 7:1-8)

As discussed in a previous Song of Solomon study, a man who is white with an ivory-coloured belly, a ruddy complexion with black curly locks would be startlingly unusual indeed. “Bushy” locks seem incongruous, though not necessarily long, to the apparent Roman coiffuring (Phonetic – quof-fur) of the day and to our culture, quite unruly, yet possibly typical since barbers, at least to commoners outside of the King’s court, wouldn’t have been easily accessed.

With those above poetic credentials, and since the Shulamite is most certainly not thinking of having a glass of wine with roast lamb and retiring alone to her room, the possibly least coiffured “curly” part of her Husband’s anatomy leaves only the witless in wonderment. Yet, to the spiritually shrewd, the entire imagery focuses on her lover’s head, just as Christ (number 12) is the head of the Bride.

Her husband’s bushy locks are described as “black as a raven”, which I expect is innocent poetry with possibly no connection to unclean birds. Spiritual contortions could justify its symbolism as Christ’s dead flesh and the blackness of death before he was glorified with white hair.

In his vision while on the Isle of Patmos, John speaks of Christ. The following verses lead in perfectly for the rest of chapter five as the Bride continues to focus on her husband in the “natural”. 

1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Rev 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks [the Bride];
Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 
Rev 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

Son 5:12 His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. 

The Lord is the master of detail to perfectly create deep emotions in people. Not all dove’s and pigeon’s eyes are dove or doe-like for their depth of softness since some have fleshy knobs surrounding their eyes and nose. I once accidentally came in very close range with an Australian female Bronzewing Pigeon sitting on eggs, and I don’t know if brooding temporarily changed her looks, as does happen in the bird and animal kingdoms; however, my breath was taken by this dove’s tender ‘liquid’ eyes. She was the poetic epitome of human femininity. A girl’s eyes with those qualities instantly make a man’s heart skip a beat to foolishly fall in love.

Since the woman was taken from man, Christ is the aggregate of the two, with gentle, peaceful eyes that only have pure thoughts toward his Bride ~ and the rest of humanity. Pure snow-fed streams cascade ‘milk’ as He looks arousingly with animated eyes upon his Bride.

Son 4:9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

A king and priest ruling with Christ are to be perfect in the body, representing the Lord’s spirit. Conversely, a harlot has dull, dove eyes of deceit, coolly calculating her next move that doesn’t cascade white as milk with anticipation. Her doltish eyes are blemished and symbolically not “fitly set”. Some of the credentials for a priest in the temple are…

Lev 21:20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken; 

Son 5:13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.

The cheeks of a priest are the outer structure of the jawbone; in Moses’ time, a sacrifice’s cheeks were the priest’s portion. The Bride is honoured to receive her Lord’s cheeks which are instrumental in her arousal.

Deu 18:3 And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw [belly].

The hair of Christ’s beard being violently torn from his face would have made his cheeks “ruddy” with blood, symbolic of His countenance being more marred than any man’s, and thus by his Bride seeing His torture, connecting them with spices and sweet as flowers.

Isa 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

“Lips like lilies” doesn’t require much imagination for its puckered imagery for her to receive the sweetness of his word.

Son 5:14 His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

Every part of our physical body represents a wealth of spiritual correlations, with the work of our hands mirroring the mind of our Lord and husband, the King of Kings. Beryl is a crystal coming in many beautiful and mesmerising colours. It is easy to see in the accompanying link the colour of cut beryl is reminiscent of polished brass (a mixture of copper and zinc).

https://www.gemselect.com/graphics/beryl-large_info.jpg

Beryl is one of the precious stones set in the Mosaic priest’s garments that collectively point to Christ.

Speaking of Daniel’s vision representing God:

Dan 10:6 His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.

Her Lord’s belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. The Bride’s imagination is unashamedly earthy. Possibly her Lord’s belly is ‘ripped’ (highly toned), with veins of sapphire blue adding to his outstanding masculine elegance.

Son 5:15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

As we are familiar, every one of the Bride’s depictions of her Lord’s body in the flesh is the Temple from Moses’ time to Solomon and represents Christ. The cedars of Lebanon prominently featured in Solomon’s temple, as did sockets of gold in both Moses’ and Solomon’s temples. Its overall beauty was the talk of the known world of the time as will Christ and His word in the ages to come.

Son 5:16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

It requires a little private musing, yet, there is something beautiful in the simplicity of being on the receiving end of another person referring to us as his “friend”. Liking another spoken from the heart is loving him, and the Bride voraciously saying in verse 16 that her man is “most sweet” and “altogether lovely” says that she likes him, and is a love expression. Saying to another person that you “like” them somehow seems more personal; authentically impactful than “I love you”.

Joh 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Joh 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

One of the primary reasons this Woman is chosen to be the Bride is because she is given to bring forth much fruit. She regularly, often in tears, asks to be included in the hope of the first resurrection.

There is neither male nor female in the Kingdom of God, and the Shulamite, from her heart, can say that her Lord’s love (his wine) is better than an earthly husband could ever have for a most outstanding wife. Her sisters in Jerusalem were always clothed in scarlet by the sword, never leaving the house of David, and so was she, spiritually, slain in high places.

2Sa 1:24  Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
2Sa 1:25  How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.
2Sa 1:26  I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

Our Lord to us, and we to our Lord in spirit, surpasses the shadowed love of the Shulamite, fulfilling the last part of 2 Samuel 1:26.

Jer 25:1-14 Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, [is] My Servant

[Study Aired November 28, 2021]

Jer 25: 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
Jer 25:2  The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
Jer 25:3  From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
Jer 25:4  And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
Jer 25:5  They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
Jer 25:6  And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Jer 25:7  Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Jer 25:8  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
Jer 25:11  And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Jer 25:12  And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
Jer 25:13  And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
Jer 25:14  For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

The first thing we need to establish is to whom this prophecy is primarily addressed. We are told:

Jer 25: 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;

In our study of Jeremiah 3, we established that “all the people of Judah” are symbolized by the younger of two harlot wives of our Lord. The elder harlot wife is named ‘Aholah’, and the younger, more lascivious wife, is named ‘Aholibah’. Since we want to always remember that “[we] are the man” who has sinned against the Lord, we must acknowledge that we are both these adulterous sisters. Aholah, the elder sister, symbolizes the northern kingdom of Israel, and Aholibah, the younger more lascivious sister, symbolizes the southern nation of “all the people of Judah”.

These two adulterous sisters typify our decent from the position of “carnal babes in Christ” into the proselyte who is “twofold more the child of hell (Greek: ‘Gehenna’) than the Babylonian ministers who have proselytized us.

Here is the link to that study explaining who Aholah and Aholibah symbolize: The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 3:9-19, Part 2 – Only acknowledge Thine Iniquity

The stubbornness of our old man knows no bounds. To demonstrate this point, let’s consider the length of time this prophecy of Jeremiah spans. Jeremiah began to prophesy against the people of Judah in the reign of Josiah the father of Jehoiakim. Josiah is called the best king Judah ever had:

Jer 1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
Jer 1:2  To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

2Ki 23:25  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

Jeremiah’s prophecy began “in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign”, and Josiah reigned 31 years.

2Ki 22:1  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
2Ki 22:2  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

Jeremiah had been a prophet in Judah for 18 years when Josiah died at the hands of Pharaohnechoh.

We are told that Jeremiah lamented for Josiah:

2Ch 35:25  And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

When Josiah was slain, the people made his son Jehoahaz king, but he was an evil king and reigned only three months before Pharaohnechoh replaced him with Jehoiakim his brother.

2Ch 36:2  Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

2Ki 23:34  And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.

The prophecy of this chapter therefore takes place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah. Jeremiah’s prophesied 18 years in the reign of Josiah, through the three months of Jehoahaz’s reign, and now the prophecy of this chapter is given to him in the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign. It is therefore coming to him three months into his 23^rd year of prophesying in the name of the Lord to the people of Judah:

Jer 25:2  The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
Jer 25:3  From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

If we analyze the number “three and twenty”, three is the number of the process of being judged, and twenty is 2×10, two signifying ‘witness’ against our old man and ten signifying the flesh of our old man.

Numbers in Scripture – Three, the Process of Spiritual Completion Through Judgment
Numbers – Two
Numbers – Ten

Jeremiah was certainly not the only prophet of his day. Here is a prophet who was slain by King Jehoiakim during the time of Jeremiah:

Jer 26:20  And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
Jer 26:21  And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
Jer 26:22  And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
Jer 26:23  And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

As Jeremiah makes so clear, everyone who fears for his life and returns to Egypt will still lose his life, and those who give up their lives and remain in the Lord’s hand will keep their lives:

Jer 26:24  Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

This principle is twice repeated in the doctrines of Christ in the New Testament:

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

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

That way of thinking makes no sense at all to our natural man who is made to want to preserve his life in this world. For this very reason, the prophecy of Jeremiah, that God is in the process of sending us into Babylon, is rejected by “all the people of Judah”:

Jer 25:4  And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
Jer 25:5  They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
Jer 25:6  And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Jer 25:7  Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

Our evil ways and worship of other gods is for one purpose: “that ye might provoke [the Lord] to anger”, and His anger brings us hurt from Him. The details of that “anger [and] hurt” are a major part of the revelation of Jesus Christ within our lives. If we are given to see the work of the seven seals, the seven trumpets, climaxing in the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God in our lives, then we will understand that the captivity of “all the people of Judah” by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, foreshadows and signifies our unwillingness to even acknowledge that we are slaves to “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth”:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

It is ordained by the Lord that only great tribulation such as was not since man was upon the earth will wake us up to our stubborn rebellion against the words of the Lord’s prophets:

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.

It is this “great tribulation” which is described in the seven plagues which “fill up the wrath of God”, and begin to drag us out of Babylon:

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

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.

Twice the Lord tells us, “Ye have not hearkened unto me… that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.” Those words appear to put the onus for our deaf ears and our evil works upon us. However, these words of the Lord are the same as the words of Joseph to his brothers who sold him as a slave into Egypt:

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Many years later he even acknowledged that they meant what they did to Him “for evil”:

Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

While both of these sections of scripture appear to the natural man to say that Joseph’s brothers are responsible for their actions, the holy spirit tells us otherwise. Look at the very next verses in Genesis 45:

Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:20 tells us the exact same thing:

Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

When Joseph says “God meant it unto good”… the pronoun ‘it’ refers to the evil Joseph’s brothers did against him by selling him as a slave into Egypt. It was God who made them do that evil deed “after the counsel of His own will”, as with all other deeds of mankind, good and evil:

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

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Very few are even given to see that Joseph told his brothers it was not them who sold him into Egypt, but it was God. Even those who do see that it was God who made them do that evil deed tell us that this is an exception to the rule, and God intervened only in this one instance and perhaps in a few other instances. Is that true? Is the hand of God in the story of Joseph an exception to the rule? What do the scriptures teach concerning the extent of the hand of God in the affairs of mankind? Let us “let God be true and every man a liar” (Rom 3:4).

Here is what scriptures teach concerning the extent of the hand of God in the affairs of mankind:

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

“I make peace and create evil” confirms what Joseph told his brothers… “it was not you that sent me here, but God…”

God’s sovereign hand over all evil is also declared in the book of Daniel:

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

God is ruling in the kingdom of men “and setteth up over it the basest of men.”  If it really were God who sent Joseph into Egypt, if God makes peace and creates evil, and if He ‘sets up over [this world] the basest of men”, then the fact is that He really is working “all things, [the good and the evil], after the counsel of His own will”, which is exactly what He tells us.

Let’s repeat that verse which tells of the extent of His intervention in the affairs of mankind:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

The Lord is working “all things after the counsel of His own will”, yet He tells us, “Because ye have not heard my words…  I will… send… Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, [a very evil man whom the Lord calls] My servant, and will bring them against [My own people] … and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them.”

Jer 25:8  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

The natural man knows nothing about the keys to the kingdom of heaven and therefore does not understand the principle involved in the Biblical statement which tells us that Truth is only to be found in “the sum of Thy word”:

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

We are not told, “Some of your words are true”. What we are told is that Truth, the mind of Christ, who is “the Truth” is to be found only in “the sum of Thy Word”. In other words, we must make ourselves familiar with the overall message of scripture, “line upon line and precept upon precept” concerning any subject if we really want to come to know the Truth of Christ and His mind on any matter.

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

It is not “them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts” who wrest and twist the word of God to their own destruction. It is those who cannot acknowledge that they are or ever have been spiritually “carnal… babes in Christ” who do so. Such people cannot acknowledge their own spiritual blindness, and yet they are today’s spiritual leaders. They are the modern-day Pharisees whose “blindness remains” and who have never so much as heard of a “carnal babe in Christ”, or that Christ came “that they which see might be made blind”:

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 [symbolizing modern denominational ministers] 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.

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?

The Lord’s people of Jeremiah’s day typify the Lord’s people of this day. The church at the time of Christ typifies the church of today, which would even now be the first to say, “Crucify Him”. They do not understand Christ simply because they are not given the ability to hear and perceive His Words:

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

They are not given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Our fate, and the fate of every man is in the Lord’s hands. If He wills to do so then He softens our hearts and makes us fearful of disobeying Him, and makes us subject unto His commandments. If He wills that we be rebellious then all He has to do is to harden our already rebellious carnal mind, thus giving Himself the occasion He is seeking to destroy our old man:

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

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

Our sins were prophesied by the Lord Himself:

Deu 31:27  For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
Deu 31:28  Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.
Deu 31:29  For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

Our own experience of rebelling against the Lord, and being blessed to be judged in “this present time” and having our own self-righteous old man begin to be destroyed in ‘this present time’, is a type and a shadow of what the Lord will do with all the rest of mankind following the short season of rebellion which follows the thousand-year reign of “our Lord and His Christ”. When we “do evil in the sight of the Lord” it gives the Lord the “occasion [He is seeking] to provoke Him to anger through the works of [our] hands”, as Moses prophesied we would do “in the latter days”. Our rebellion has given the Lord the occasion He seeks to deal with our old man and to begin his destruction within us in “this present time”. So, the Lord’s words through Jeremiah apply to us first “for [our] good”:

Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
Jer 25:11  And this whole land [The Lord’s own people] shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

This is exactly what the angel with one of the seven last plagues in Revelation 19 tells us he himself has kept:

Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Here is a statement in “the sayings of this book” concerning the Lord’s people who are being judged in this present time:

Rev 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Rev 18:24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

If we have ever hated the doctrine of Christ, and we have all done so, then we are guilty of hating those who brought us that gospel, and in that sense, we are all guilty of the blood of the prophets and of the saints and of the blood of Christ Himself.

After the Lord has sacrificed nations for our sakes and after He has used self-righteous Babylon to deceive and betray us, then she and all the self-righteous kings over whom she has reigned will also be judged by the Lord:

Jer 25:12  And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

Isa 43:3  For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
Isa 43:4  Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
Isa 43:5  Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

The word translated ‘perpetual’ in verse 12 is the Hebrew word ‘olam’, which is demonstrated to be the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word ‘aion’. Here are four New Testament quotations from the Old Testament where the Hebrew word ‘olam’ is translated in the New Testament with the Greek word ‘aion’:

Old Testament:

Psa 112:9  He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever [Hebrew: ‘olam’, concealed, at any time]; his horn shall be exalted with honour.

Quoted in the New Testament:

2Co 9:9  (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever [Greek: ‘aion’, age].

Old Testament:

Psa 45:6  Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever [Hebrew: ‘olam’, concealed, at any time]: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

Quoted in the New Testament:

Heb 1:8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever [Greek: ‘aion’, age]: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Old Testament:

Psa 110:4  The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever [Hebrew: ‘olam’, concealed, at any time] after the order of Melchizedek.

Quoted in the New Testament:

Heb 5:6  As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever [Greek: ‘aion’, age] after the order of Melchisedec.

Old Testament:

Isa 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever [Hebrew: ‘olam’, concealed, at any time].

Quoted in the New Testament:

1Pe 1:25  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever [Greek: ‘aion’, age]. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Judgment begins at the Lord’s own house, and His elect must come out of His unfaithful wife to begin to become a “chaste virgin espoused to one Husband” (2Co 11:2). In that process of “coming out of her”, Babylon is being judged within us.

Jer 25:13  And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
Jer 25:14  For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

This all has an outward, “will be” application for this world, but this judgment of Babylon must take place spiritually first within us as the Lord’s true and faithful ‘house… [His] wife… [His] sons’:

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.

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.

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?

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.

There we have it. The Lord’s elect are called “My people… an espoused virgin… the house of God [and] sons of God”. Indeed, we are all of those things as it serves to fulfill His purpose for us.

Let’s read Jeremiah 25:13-14 again:

Jer 25:13  And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
Jer 25:14  For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

Here is the New Testament version of these verses:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

The words “every man’s work” here includes the works of the Lord’s elect, just as “no man” includes the Lord’s elect in:

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.

Both the Lord’s elect and “every man’s work” shall be tried by the same fire. That fire is the Word of God:

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

There is a “thousand year… kingdom of our Lord and His Christ” between “the resurrection of life” for the Lord’s elect, and “the resurrection of damnation (Greek: krima, judgment)” for all the rest of mankind.

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.

Notice that this judgment against the Lord’s own people has already been twice referenced here in this prophecy:

Jer 7:34  Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

Jer 16:9  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

“The voice of the Bridegroom” is the voice of our Lord Himself, and “the voice of the bride” is the voice of His bride, His elect, His espoused virgin, who speaks for Him in this world. Their voices are no more heard in “that great city wherein our Lord was crucified”. Their voices are no more heard in the churches and religions of this world. The Lord has taken away from Judah and Jerusalem the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water:

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

“Seven women” are mentioned in the first verse of the next chapter of Isaiah, which simply serves to confirm that “the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water have been take away from Judah and Jerusalem, and as Jeremiah puts it:

Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
Jer 25:11  And this whole land [The Lord’s own people] shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women [the completely apostatized church] 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.

Then in chapter 33 the Lord has dragged us out of Babylon. He has begun the process of judging that great whore within us, and we have begun the process of returning to Him with our whole heart.

Jer 33:11  The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.

“Return the captivity of the land, as at the first” is to bring us back to the Lord with the pure heart of the proselyte who is made “twofold more the child of Gehenna” than the self-righteous Babylonian ministers who were used of the Lord to first bring us to see our need for a savior.

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

It is of utmost importance that we take note that it is the Lord who “causes” the voice of he bridegroom and bride to cease, and it is the Lord who “causes” the voice of the bridegroom and the bride to return to the streets of Judah and Jerusalem:

Jer 7:34  Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.

Jer 33:11  The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever:  and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.

The comforting message for us is that it is Lord who is “the author and finisher of our faith”, and He will finish the work He has begun within us:

Rom 9:28  For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It is a great relief if we are given the faith to believe these words and to rest in “the author and finisher of our faith”.

That is our study for today, and here are the verses for our next study where we will learn that no one can avoid drinking of the cup of the wine of the Lord’s wrath:

Jer 25:15  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:16  And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18  To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
Jer 25:19  Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
Jer 25:20  And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
Jer 25:21  Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
Jer 25:22  And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
Jer 25:23  Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
Jer 25:24  And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
Jer 25:25  And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
Jer 25:26  And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
Jer 25:27  Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

Gospels In Harmony – The Ten Virgins

Mat 25:1-13

[Study Aired August 31, 2021]

Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Mat 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Mat 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Mat 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
Mat 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
Mat 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Mat 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

In this study Christ is continuing to speak in parables about the kingdom of God and His return. The parable is about what is within each of us. We are the ten virgins being prepared as the bride of Christ. Here is the first verses.

Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

The ten virgins are us when Christ first enters our hearts and minds, ten having the spiritual significance of the completeness of the flesh. In our last study, Christ said the coming of the Son of man is like the days of Noah. Noah was the tenth generation, and at that time all mankind were killed, and only eight remained. Here is the link to the study of Numbers in Scripture – “Ten = Completeness of The Flesh” which also shows us the meaning of the two fives mentioned in this parable. Here is the link to the study which shows us the number ten is 5 (grace through faith) twice (first and second resurrections). This also represents the many called and few chosen and the old man and new man within.

Their lamps hold the oil that is fuel for the light. The lamp represents our mind and heart. The oil represents the holy spirit by which we are annointed. When the oil is touched by fire, which represents judgment, light is produced. The light represents the truth, and the bridegroom represents Christ. The lamp is made of copper and represents us as being carnal babes in Christ, the best flesh has to offer and the necessity of copper in bringing us to Christ. Here are study links for Base metals in scriptures: Copper, Part 1;
Copper, Part 2; and Copper, Part 3. Also, here is a link to showing us what oil represents in scripture What is Oil in Scripture.

Now here is the difference between the foolish and the wise.

Mat 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Mat 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

The foolish took no oil, therefore being called to meet the bridegroom, they came unprepared, which means they were called but not given the spirit. This is how we are in Babylon. The wise, on the other hand, came prepared having been given the spirit but are yet carnal babes in Christ until the cry is made and they are awakened. We do not know the hour the cry will come so we must always be prepared. Of course, it is the Lord Who prepares the heart.

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

We are called to go into Babylon, next we are chosen to come out of Babylon, and finally we are given to endure until the end.

Mat 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

The ten virgins who arose and trimmed their lamps represent receiving knowledge of the work which must be done to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Being called as one of the ten virgins and trimming their lamps is where most “Christians” are today. Here is where they are.

Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

The foolish virgins are able to trim their lamps but cannot produce any light because their lamps are gone out. This tells us that they do not believe what they have been told and that is judgment begins at the house of God. Not only this but they do not except that there is any judgment to begin with. The reason they do not believe this is because they are not given any oil. Their wick is lit, but it extinguishes immediately. The foolish take the word of God and twist it to mean something totally different. Here is an example.

Luk 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
Luk 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

The Christians of the world are given to believe they will not face judgment. The reason they believe this is because they have no oil. The spirit is not in them.

Next the wise tell them what they must do.

Mat 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

The wise know that they are not to share their oil and tell them to go on their way. The wise also know that if they were to give up any oil, their own lamps would go out. Their lamps are lit in the middle of the night, and they must stay lit until the fullness of the daylight comes. This represents our time being in these bodies of flesh until the redemption of the purchased possession.

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

The foolish go away to buy the oil they lack and miss out on the bridegroom coming.

Mat 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

The door being shut symbolizes the division between the many called and few chosen, the old man and the new man, and those in the first resurrection and the second. These two groups are separated by Christ either knowing them or not knowing them.

Mat 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

What does this mean? Christ says, “I know you not” because they were not prepared and then gives us the following warning.

Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Being called, chosen and faithful is the only way we can enter into the kingdom of Heaven. We must be given to be diligent in all we do until the end of our walking in these bodies of flesh. In the beginning we are the five virgins who have empty lamps that are turned away and eventually destroyed. If we endure until the end, we are the five virgins that have lamps full of oil and are able to have light throughout the night. Christ is our light, and as he is, so are we in this world.

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

Psa 119:105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Pro 13:9 The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

We hold the lamp (word/doctrines of Christ) in our hearts and minds.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Joh 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Joh 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

1Jn 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
1Jn 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
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.

Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

I have used the following scriptures in several studies, but it is a warning we must have continually.

2Pe 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
2Pe 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
2Pe 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

The book of Genesis reveals mankind’s biggest needs which consume his whole life from beginning to end. The first man Adam was created void of spirit life and was formed in a corruptible earthy body of sin and death (Gen 1:2; Gen 2:7; Psa 51:5-7; Jer 18:4; Mat 6:19; Mat 7:17; Act 13:33-34; Rom 1:23; Rom 6:6; Rom 7:24; 1Co 15:45). God also places in the heart of all mankind the hope of this spirit life, and He will not disappoint anyone in that hope:

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.

God’s plan to bring all in the generation of the first Adam to spiritual perfection is indeed a secret or a mystery which is hidden in His Word, Jesus Christ, through whom He chose to make this all possible (Rom 16:25; 1Co 2:7; Eph 1:9; Eph 3:9-11). Through Christ all will eventually receive this new life as God now reveals to His servants what He is busy doing to bring all to Him (1Co 15:22-28):

Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.

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

This revelation of Jesus includes the unveiling of who the first Adam is and how God is working this process to make all in His image:

Gen 1:27 And creating [this Hebrew verb “bârâ” is used here in the imperfect tense which indicates the action, process or condition is incomplete] is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them.(CLV)

We are still discussing the foundational theme of faith, and in Genesis chapter 24 this process of making man in the spiritual image of God is also highlighted where the Godhead and their work in the hearts of humanity are revealed through the union of the male with the female (1Co 11:3; Eph 5:31-33). Abraham appoints his elder faithful servant to bring a bride for his Son, Isaac, who is a type of Christ (Gen 22:2; Mat 1:1-2; Gal 3:16; Gal 3:29; Heb 11:17-19). Through the faith of Christ, the Father draws all in the generation of the first Adam to be in Christ at the appointed time (Joh 6:44; 1Co 15:22-28; 1Ti 4:9-10):

1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

The faith of Christ brings forth life and works, and these works are visible in our actions (Jas 2:14-18). As with Abraham, the Father made all the necessary provisions for this salvation process to be 100% successful and also give His servants all that is needed to fulfill their task. Everything God created was good for the purpose He is using it, even the evil and the wicked – although evil is never good, and darkness can never be equated to light (Gen 50:20; Pro 16:4; Isa 5:20; Mal 2:17; Isa 54:16; Eph 1:11):

Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

In this story in chapter 24 of Genesis, several role-players are used as types to reveal the works of God through His Christ in the generation of the first Adam. The main players in this scene in Genesis 24 includes a mature in faith and physically aged Abraham, his faithful servant, Abraham’s son Isaac, a young, beautiful virgin named Rebekah and her family, and also ten camels who are also playing their part in this story. We will recap in short each one’s role and will conclude this discussion with the main focus on verses 62 to 67 – the romantic meeting between Isaac and Rebekah which pictures the marriage of Christ and His church. It all starts off with Abraham sending his elder and faithful servant to find a wife for Isaac with very specific instructions:

Gen 24:1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
Gen 24:2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
Gen 24:3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
Gen 24:4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

God the Father placed in Christ all of Himself, which includes all His spiritual blessings needed to make this all possible (Joh 1:1-4; Joh 1:14-16; Col 1:19; Heb 2:1-3; Rev 1:1-3). God then prepares the hearts of those to whom He reveals this Jesus to receive and do His spiritual words and bear this testimony of Jesus Christ faithfully until their task is concluded (Isa 28:23; Mat 7:24-25; Joh 17:6-8; Eph 1:10; Eph 1:23; Rev 19:10). The faith of Abraham in God’s provision and promises was witnessed in his words and in his life by this servant over many years in the company of Abraham:

Gen 24:7 The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.

All God’s true servants know that God works all things to happen precisely at the appointed time and place, as He also prepares the hearts and directs the steps of all, especially as revealed to those whom He humbles to hear His truths (Psa 10:17; Pro 16:1; Pro 20:24; Jer 10:23; Rom 9:16). The faith of Christ removes the fear of failure, although we all will fall and stumble in the process, but God raises up again and heals all wounds (Job 5:17-19; Psa 34:19-20; Pro 24:16). In the performance of their task, the servants of God use this faith of Christ also; first of all in prayer as an important tool to operate in humility and in God’s perspective of things:

Gen 24:12 And he [the servant of Abraham] said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.

The prayer of faith will always produce results as we learn through prayer that the will of God is done in every situation as He alone provides in every aspect of life:

Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.

Whatever we will inherit or receive from God was already predetermined (“having been bound in the heavens”) and is being worked after the counsel of His will, for those who are given to see this truth (Eph 1:11):

Mat 18:18 CLV Verily, I am saying to you, Whatsoever you should be binding on the earth shall be those things having been bound in the heavens, and whatsoever you should be loosing on the earth shall be those loose in heaven.

Before this servant of Abraham finished his prayer, Rebekah already appeared on the scene to prove that his prayer had already “been bound in the heavens” as it will also happen in the sight of this servant of Abraham:

Gen 24:15 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.

Rebekah was from the right family, and her heart wanted to do the right thing, even according to the prayer which this servant prayed in his heart. Here we also see a few pointers on how the true bride of Christ is to be recognised and identified, as typified by Rebekah and her behaviour:

Gen 24:16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
Gen 24:17 And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.
Gen 24:18 And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
Gen 24:19 And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.
Gen 24:20 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.

She was “very fair to look upon”, and this relates to the bride of Christ in terms of their appearance or insight into the word and doctrine of Christ as witnessed by their actions (Mat 7:16-21; Rev 4:8-11). Their words and actions will be in harmony with the doctrine of Christ and always as refreshing as the morning and clear as the sun which will help us also on our path (Psa 119:105; Psa 119:130; 2Co 4:6):

Son 1:15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes.
Son 1:16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.

Son 6:10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

Rebekah was a virgin, which reflects on those who are espoused to Christ having a pure heart. This is achieved by God as He blots out our previous life of sin and transgression through Christ, even as far as the east is from the west, and He never thinks about it again as He indeed makes all things new (Psa 103:12; Isa 43:25; 2Co 5:17):

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.

Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Rebekah did what she had to do in haste, and this also points to those in Christ who know that the time is at hand and that every word of God is applicable in their lives as they do His commandments and work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12-13; Jas 1:25-27):

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.

She was not only diligent to serve this servant of Abraham and those with him, but also serve all the ten camels with fresh water, which are unclean animals in the scriptures. The true bride of Christ is diligent not only in their unconditional service to each other, but also to those who will come to Christ later in the second resurrection (Oba 1:21; Rev 20:11-15). They do not look for vainglory, but deem others more important than themselves (2Co 1:24).

Php 2:3 KJV Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Php 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Rebekah was from the family of Abraham who were still living in the land of the Chaldees, which was situated in the region of Babylon (Isa 47:1; Isa 48:14; Dan 2:1-2; Dan 5:30; Dan 3:8-12; Isa 13:19). This typifies our own route through spiritual Babylon where we also thought we served God while hating His true doctrine and servants. From this state of spiritual delusion all of God’s elect are called to come out of and be humbled to be joined to His bridegroom, Jesus Christ. God’s elect has compassion and understands that although our brothers and sisters in spiritual Babylon recognise and use the words of God, they rather fixate their attention on the physical application of those words and are in captivity and puffed up in their own delusional understanding of His Word (which is His gold and His silver):

Eze 16:15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
Eze 16:16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

This is the status of Rebekah’s family also:

Gen 24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
Gen 24:51 Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the LORD hath spoken.
Gen 24:52 And it came to pass, that, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth.
Gen 24:53 And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.

Those who cannot leave the old earthly Jerusalem with her fleshly attachments are used by God to eventually persecute and kill His elect, for the benefit of the elect. This is very much needed as they are used to crush and kill God’s elect in their streets (in public) and also openly display the bodies of the elect in public retribution and unforgiveness (Act 4:10; Rev 11:3-10):

Luk 13:33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.
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!

Rebekah’s family wanted to keep her a little longer…”at the least ten” days as this is also the time the flesh needs to stay in a spiritual delusion of perfection or maturity and try to cling to those who are called out (the “ekklēsia”), who are being separated and drawn away. However, the call in the hearts of God’s true elect to go and leave the fleshly attachments is stronger than anything any human can resist. This separation is always viewed by the fleshly mind as unloving, very cruel and unjust (Mat 10:22):

Gen 24:55 And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.
Gen 24:56 And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the LORD hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.
Gen 24:57 And they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth.
Gen 24:58 And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.

Now Rebekah is taking the long road as she left with this stranger, in the form of this servant of Abraham, to be with her unknown husband whom she wants to be with, no matter the discomfort and trials along this journey and which is still ahead of her (Act 14:22). Only the Father knows the time of the gathering of His elect, even the marriage feast between His Son and His bride (Mat 24:36; Joh 6:44; Joh 17:11; Php 3:11-14). God caused Isaac to come from the “south country” without any precise time when he will meet his wife:

Gen 24:62 And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country.

This well of Lahairoi is first mentioned in relation to Hagar, the slave of Sarah earlier on in Genesis:

Gen 16:10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
Gen 16:11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
Gen 16:12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
Gen 16:13 And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
Gen 16:14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Hagar gave birth to Abraham’s firstborn after this, but Ishmael was to be the rejected son of Abraham who was “after the flesh” and not like Isaac, who was “by promise”:

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.

This well is also the place where Isaac dwelled after the death of Abraham:

Gen 25:11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi.

Lahairoi means “the well of the Living One seeing me”, and this confirms that God is the Well of living waters from whom all in this creation live and have their being in full view of Him (Luk 8:17; Act 17:28; Heb 4:12-13). It is the same God who brings forth both of Abraham’s sons: one from the bondwoman and the one from the free woman, to be significant for His purposes in their own generation. From this well Isaac also went out to meditate (“chew the cud” of God’s Word), and it is during this time of meditation his vision also cleared to see his wife arriving (Lev 11:4; Deu 14:7; Joh 3:29; Rev 21:1-3; Rev 21:9). As the bridegroom lifted up his watchful eyes, his expectation is met with the coming of the camels which is known to him:

Gen 24:63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.

The true church of God also keeps the lamps burning, because their eyes are fixed on the prize of the high calling in Christ as they also do not know the time of the appearance of the bridegroom (Mat 25:1-13). Rebekah was also watchful and prepared to meet her bridegroom. The bride of Christ is veiled and covered to be His alone:

Gen 24:64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.
Gen 24:65 For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself.

The true spiritual Israel of God after the spirit is the true elect and the chosen bride of Christ whom He prepares and arrays in His righteousness (Isa 54:5):

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.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

The task of the servant was complete, and great joy was also in his heart as he is requested to give a full account to His master’s son:

Gen 24:66 And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.

We all will give an account of all we had done as God works all things in our lives and we rest and account to this truth alone:

Joh 3:29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Now the wedding feast can start referring to those in the first resurrection where they will be comforted and find true love in the “tent” or covering of Christ. “Jerusalem which is above”, referring to Christ and His mind, “is the mother of us all” and is here symbolized by Sarah’s tent. In Christ the church has spiritual intimacy and unity through the mind of Christ – away from the eyes and mind of the world (Isa 62:2-5; Eph 2:6; Gal 4:26; Rev 21:2-4):

Gen 24:67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are:

Revelation 1:3
Revelation 14:1-5
Revelation 21:1-3
New Jerusalem Comes Down From Heaven
The Third Heaven

Audio Links

Video Links

Awesome Hands – part 38

“ The Son of the Right Hand”

As we walk out each day of our lives, we come to know that the will of God is that Christ increases and we decrease daily.

Before we come to that point of understanding however, we must first learn that God is working out a blessing on and for the new man He is growing up in Him and He must likewise work a blessing of death in the old man for this to happen.

Joh 3:29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
Joh 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

In the last study, we saw another example of how the Lord is calling His people unto Himself.

In the example of Joseph and the rest of the tribes of Israel (including their father), God places us in “Goshen” while we are in Egypt, so that we can increase and multiply.

Gen 47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.
Gen 47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

During this time of being in Egypt, God seeks out “men of activity” to accomplish the overseeing of the flock that is also in Egypt.

Indeed, we are “friends of the bridegroom” in this capacity, and we usher in the rest of the “bride of Christ” to the “marriage supper of the lamb”.

In the study today, we are going to glean what is represented in type and shadow of being the first wife versus the second wife, the church of the Living God versus the whore in the wilderness, the second son versus the first, the Spiritual versus the natural.

“Who are these”

Gen 48:1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Gen 48:2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.
Gen 48:3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
Gen 48:4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.
Gen 48:5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
Gen 48:6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.

At the start of chapter 48, we are going to be given a biblical principle that will remain and stretch out through the pages of the bible.

The concept we are reading about is that of the first and the second, the first and the last, the old and the new, so on and so forth.

Here are a few examples of what I am referencing and then we will compare them to what we see in Gen 48: 1-6.

Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

Gal 4:30 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.

Rom 9:8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

Rom 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Gal 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

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

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.

Jacob mentions how the Almighty appears to him blessing Jacob and that God tells him his seed will be blessed. In other words, his seed was promised to be “given the land”.

In the last study, we saw how Jacob’s entire house was given the best land of Egypt, Goshen, which means “drawing near” to God. In all that God can do with mankind, this is by far a very blessed occurrence.

Now, we see Jacob telling Joseph that his two sons will be given inheritance with Israel as if they were Reuben and Simeon. However, what is significant about Reuben and Simeon?

The spiritual significance of what these two brothers represent is the order in which they are born and even the names they are given have significance.

Gen 29:32 And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
Gen 29:33 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.

Most of the church world believes that God wants the best for us personally but somehow we choose not to listen to God so he punishes us or afflicts us.

Leah (the first wife) certainly felt like she was being afflicted because Jacob loved Rachel more.

The truth is that God does NOT LOVE the old man which is represented by the first.

Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

Mal 1:1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
Mal 1:2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
Mal 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Simeon was born to Leah because she was “hated”, yet she is the eldest of two sisters.

Alas, there is a very plain biblical admonition for this. You shall be hated of all men “for His name’s sake,” not for your own names sake or the evil that is done to your flesh.

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.

There is a difference for having evil brought to us because of something in the flesh i. e. Jacob preferred the beautiful Rachel versus of the lazy eyed Leah so she felt hated versus being hated for the name of Christ, which is a spiritual hatred of the doctrine of Christ.

1Pe 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
1Pe 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
1Pe 3:16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
1Pe 3:17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

“Guiding his hands wittingly”

Gen 48:7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.
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.

Jacob continues to let Joseph know about where Rachel was buried because in chapter 37, the chapter is ended with Israel making Joseph swear an oath that he would not bury him in Egypt.

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.

The younger always receives the blessing from the “Angel”, who Christ is, because this is the pattern that the Lord has made clear from the beginning.

Abel over Cain, Rachel over Leah, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, David over Saul …. all are favored and blessed to show us the spiritual significance of the elder shall serve the younger.

This is because the “right hand blessing” that Israel bestows on Ephraim signifies the righteousness

and the strength and power of the Lord in working this and all things after the counsel of His own will.

Exo 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

Psa 20:6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
Psa 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

Psa 48:10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

Psa 118:16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.

Rev 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

The blessing that Jacob is imparting on Ephraim is the same blessing he was given over his brother Esau.

This is all to show us that the Lord works His will through the “hands” and “walks” of those that are His people by giving them His mind, His Word.

The “seed” we produce, that is our fruit of righteousness as the Lord gives it to us, will have this same blessing.

Exo 29:20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

Lev 8:23 And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.
Lev 8:24 And he brought Aaron’s sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.

Of course, the “ways of men” do not like how the Lord works His will.

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.

Jacob couldn’t even see Joseph’s sons, but the Lord had shown this same example to Jacob in his own life. So, Israel knew full well what he was doing.

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.
Gen 48:21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
Gen 48:22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

It is easy to conclude that his was all as Israel had said it would be because Ephraim ends up having the largest tribe of his brothers, but the focus we have been seeing is that the younger will be given preference and dominion over the older.

The “seed of the promise” covenant that God made with Abraham and passed on to Isaac and then to Jacob still lives and is being passed onto Jacob’s seed.

This entire pattern is indicative that what comes naturally and in natural order has no bearing on what God is going to do with what comes AFTER the natural except in that there must be the natural FIRST so that the spiritual can come about.

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.

The story of Gen 48 is there primarily to emphasis that “the seed of the promise” is being made to they who are of the “Jews in Spirit”.

Though the physical Jews came first, the spiritual Jews are being made “greater than the older,” a spiritual multitude of nations, the church of the Living God, the body of Christ.

In living out these historical events, the physical/ natural Jews cannot receive the promise that was not given to them.

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.

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.

Rom 9:8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Rom 9:9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
Rom 9:10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.