Book of Obadiah – Oba 1:11 The Lot has Been Cast Against Jerusalem

[Study Aired February 14, 2024]

Oba 1:11  In the day of thy standing over-against, In the day of strangers taking captive his force, And foreigners have entered his gates, And for Jerusalem have cast a lot, Even thou art as one of them!

Oba 1:11  In the day^H3117 that thou stoodest^{H5975 (H8800 Qal)} on the other side,^{H4480 H5048} in the day^H3117 that the strangers^{H2114 (H8801 Qal)} carried away captive^{H7617 (H8800 Qal)} his forces,^H2428 and foreigners^H5237 entered into^{H935 (H8804 Qal)} his gates,^H8179 and cast^{H3032 (H8804 Qal)} lots^H1486 upon^H5921 Jerusalem,^H3389 even^H1571 thou^H859 wast as one^H259 of^H4480 them.

H3117 – Yome, day, time, year, a working day, a day’s journey, days, lifetime, period (general), today, yesterday, tomorrow, from an unused root meaning to be hot

H5975 – Amad, (Qal) to stand, remain, endure, take one’s stand, be in a standing attitude, stand forth/up/upright/with, take/make a stand, present oneself, attend upon, be or become servant of, stand still, stop, cease, tarry, delay, remain, continue, abide, endure, persist, be steadfast, hold one’s ground, remain standing, rise, be erect, be upright, arise, appear, come on the scene, appear, rise up/against, be appointed, grow flat/insipid, a primitive root

H4480 – Min, from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than, some of, after (of time), from…even to, both…and, either…or, too much for, through, because, from H4482, Mane, musical chord, a stringed instrument from an unused root to apportion

H5048 – Neged, what is conspicuous, what is in front of, in front of, straight forward, before, in sight of, in front of oneself, straightforward, before your face, in your view/purpose, corresponding to, in the sight or presence of, parallel to, over, for, in front, opposite, at a distance, from the front of, away from, from before the eyes of, opposite to, at a distance from, from before, in front of, as far as the front of, from a primitive root H5046, Nagad, to be conspicuous, tell, make known, declare, announce, report, expound, inform of, publish, proclaim, avow, acknowledge, confess, messenger, be told, be announced, be reported

H3117 – see above

H2114 – Zoor, (Qal) to become estranged, strange, another, stranger, foreigner, an enemy, loathsome, strange woman, prostitute, harlot, a primitive root

H7617 – Shabah, (Qal) to take captive, captive, lead captive, a primitive root

H2428 – Khayil, strength, might, efficiency, wealth, army, ability, force, from a primitive root H2342, Khool, to twist, whirl, dance, writhe, fear, tremble, travail, be in anguish, be pained, whirl, whirl about, bear, bring forth, wait anxiously, be made to writhe/bear, be brought forth, be born, whirling, writhing, suffering torture, wait longingly, be distressed (Used five times in OT)

H5237 – Nokriy, foreign, alien, foreigner, foreign woman, harlot, unknown, unfamiliar, from H5235, Neker, calamity, disaster, misfortune, from a primitive root 

H5234, Nakar, to recognise, acknowledge, know, respect, discern, regard, be recognised, observe, pay attention to, pay regard to, notice, perceive, be willing to recognise/acknowledge, acknowledge with honour, be acquainted with, distinguish, understand, make oneself known, act or treat as foreign or strange, disguise, misconstrue, disguise oneself, act as alien

H935 – Bo, (Qal) to enter, come, go, come in/with/upon, fall or light upon, attack, come to pass, attain to, be enumerated, a primitive root

H8179 – Shahar, gate, from a primitive root H8176, Shawar, to split open, reason out, reckon, estimate, (Qal) to calculate, think Proverbs 23:7 (Used once in OT)

H3032 – Yadad, (Qal) to throw lots, cast lots, love, loving-one, friend, a primitive root

H1486 – Gowral, lot, pebbles used for systematically making decisions, portion, recompense, retribution, from an unused root meaning to be rough (as stone)

H5921 – Al, upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against, on the ground of, on the basis of, because of, therefore, on behalf of, for the sake of, for, with, in spite of, notwithstanding, in the matter of, as regards, to, over to, unto, in addition to, with, adjoining, next, at, around, down upon, on, from, up upon, up to, towards, over towards, against, because, although, properly, the same as H5920, Al, height, above, upwards, on high, from a primitive root H5927, Alah, to go up, ascend, climb, meet, visit, follow, depart, withdraw, retreat, come up, to spring up, grow, shoot forth, go up over, rise, extend, excel, be superior to, be taken up/away, be brought up, take oneself away, be exalted, bring up, cause to ascend, cause to go up/ascend, bring against, take away, draw up, train, rouse, stir up, offer, exalt, be carried away, be led up, be taken up into, be inserted in, be offered, lift oneself

H3389 – Yerooshahlahim, Jerusalem = teaching of peace, probably from a primitive root H3384, Yarah, to throw, shoot, cast, pour, lay, set, shoot arrows, throw water/rain, be shot, to point out, show, direct, teach, instruct, and a primitive root 

H7999, Shalam, to be in a covenant of peace, be at peace, peaceful one, one in covenant of peace, make peace with, cause to be at peace, live in peace, be complete, be sound, be finished, be ended, be sound, be uninjured, complete, finish, make safe, make whole or good, restore, make compensation, pay, requite, recompense, reward, be performed, be repaid, be requited, perform, make an end of

H1571 – Gam, also, even, indeed, moreover, yea, neither, neither…nor, but, yet, though, yea though, again, alike, by contraction from an unused root

H859 – Attah, you, a primitive pronoun of the second person

H259 – Ekhad, one (number), each, every, a certain, an (indefinite article), only, once, once for all, one…another, the one…the other, one after another, one by one, first, eleven (in combination), eleventh (ordinal), a numeral from a primitive root H258, Akhad, to go one way or another, to be sharp, (Used once in OT)

H4480 – see above

Sibling rivalry, especially among brothers, is a significant theme in scriptures. Here in Obadiah vs 11, instead of Edom being considered a brother, he is labelled as “one of them”. Edom didn’t act like a brother to the Israelites. Instead, Edom is considered to be just as bad as the invading enemy of Jerusalem, because like Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire, Edom was allowed to participate in looting Jerusalem. Instead of acting as a protective brother, Edom acted with violence and treated his brother as a stranger, acting with violence and spite toward Israel. 

Esau hated Jacob because of the original betrayal:

Gen 27:41  And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

Pro 18:19  A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

Esau hated Jacob in chapter 27 of Genesis, but two chapters prior we are told that in fact it was Esau who hated his birthright and had sold it to Jacob

Gen 25:29  And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
Gen 25:30  And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
Gen 25:31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
Gen 25:32  And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

The spiritual type and shadow of Esau despising his birthright is that Edom despises things of the spirit. Or more accurately, Edom values the things of the flesh (a bowl of pottage, food) more than the things of the spirit (birthright). 

Is it wrong for Esau to be angry for what Jacob did to him? Is it wrong to hate your brother if he trespasses against you? Esau’s hatred for Jacob is contrary to the commandment given in Deuteronomy, Leviticus and in Luke:

Deu 23:7  Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.

Deu 23:19  Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:
Deu 23:20  Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Lev 19:17  Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

Luk 17:3  Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
Luk 17:4  And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him

Here is a further distinction between how one treats a brother versus a stranger

Cain even asks this question concerning how he is to behave toward his brother:

Gen 4:9  And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

We know that ultimately, it is God’s sovereignty that sparked this original murder, and likewise all brotherly division, since, as it says in Luke 12:

Luk 12:49  ‘Fire I came to cast to the earth, and what will I if already it was kindled?
Luk 12:50  but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I pressed till it may be completed!
Luk 12:51  ‘Think ye that peace I came to give in the earth? no, I say to you, but rather division;
Luk 12:52  for there shall be henceforth five in one house divided—three against two, and two against three;
Luk 12:53  a father shall be divided against a son, and a son against a father, a mother against a daughter, and a daughter against a mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.’

It is better to be divided from the world and united in Christ, and as we know, in God’s time, all shall one day be all in all.

Mat 18:8  Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into (aonion) fire.

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

The Hebrew word for brother is H251 (Awkh) and the Greek word is G80 (Adelphos). Here are some of verses of how it appears in the New testament:

1Jn 2:9  He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

1Jn 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

1Jn 2:11  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

1Jn 3:10  In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

1Jn 3:12  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

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

1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Here is how we are commanded to treat our brothers, we are commanded to walk charitably with him (G26: Agape, affection and benevolence)

Rom 14:15  But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

It is encouraging to see we have brothers who are companions in tribulation, as stated by John.

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.

We show agape (love) to our brothers through showing mercy and compassion, as well as executing true judgment.

Zec 7:9  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
Zec 7:10  And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart

It is encouraging to see that Christ loves us more than a brother.

Pro 27:17  Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend

Pro 18:24  A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Edom treated Jacob like a stranger instead of a brother. We reap what we sow, and a consequence for Edom treating Jerusalem with violence was they were, in turn, also to be considered as a foreigner.

Oba 1:11  In the day of thy standing over-against, In the day of strangers taking captive his force, And foreigners have entered his gates, And for Jerusalem have cast a lot, Even thou art as one of them!

In turn, Christ treats our old man as a foreigner. Christ is a stranger to our old man, and a loving friend to our new man; a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Mat 21:42  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43  Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

The voice of a stranger is treated as a heathen man and a publican.

Mat 18:17  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Conclusion & Spiritual Principle: Christ acts as a stranger to our old man, but as a loving friend/brother to our new man. His love “grinds us to powder.”

Pro 27:6  Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

We have nothing to fear, even if our brothers try to trap us and attempt to kill us, as Joseph’s brothers did. Joseph’s brothers treated him like a stranger (Gen 37:20 “Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams”) but we know that Christ orchestrated all that evil for good, to save many alive. We reap what we sow, and as Joseph’s brothers treated him as a stranger, many years later, it was Joseph’s turn to treat them as a stranger:

Gen 42:7  And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food

This was not an easy thing for Joseph to do, but he was executing true judgment (Zec 7:9  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother).

Gen 42:23  And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
Gen 42:24  And he turned himself about from them, and wept

After a period of judgment, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers:

Gen 45:2  And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
Gen 45:3  And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
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.

Like Joseph, Christ does not blame us for our poor decisions. We are told not to be angry with ourselves as Christ shows compassion and mercy upon us as the weaker vessel. Christ treats us as a friend. He guides us and walks with us as a true shepherd. We have nothing to fear because Christ and God is within our midst, and the God of Jacob is our refuge:

Psa 46:2  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Psa 46:3  Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
Psa 46:4  There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
Psa 46:5  God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
Psa 46:6  The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
Psa 46:7  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Psa 46:8  Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
Psa 46:9  He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Psa 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psa 46:11  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Jer 49:1-10 I Will Bring Again the Captivity of Ammon

[Study Aired August 28, 2022]

Jer 49:1  Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?
Jer 49:2  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:3  Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.
Jer 49:4  Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?
Jer 49:5  Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.
Jer 49:6  And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

Edom is also judged

Jer 49:7  Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
Jer 49:8  Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.
Jer 49:9  If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
Jer 49:10  But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

We have spent the last several studies on the judgment of Moab within us. Moab signifies our own flesh because he is the incestuous son of Lot by his eldest daughter. Ammon is the incestuous son of Lot by his younger daughter. Lot is Abraham’s brother’s son. He is Abraham’s nephew, and in that sense he is Abraham’s ‘brother’ as the scriptures put it:

Gen 14:16  And [Abraham] brought back all the goods [of Sodom], and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people [of Sodom].

Therefore, Ammon, who is both Moab’s brother, via having the same father, Lot, is also Moab’s first cousin because their mothers are sisters, the two daughters of Lot. In the same sense that Lot was called Abraham’s “brother”, Moab and Ammon are also Abraham’s ‘brother’. Like Lot and His first-born son, Moab, Ammon also signifies Abraham’s own flesh which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Jer 49:1  Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king [the king of the Ammonites] inherit Gad , and his people [the people of the king of  the Ammonites] dwell in his [Israel’s] cities?

When the Assyrians carried the northern kingdom away into captivity, the Ammonites rejoiced at Israel’s fall and retook all the land of Gad and Manasseh, which the Amorites had taken away from the Ammonites before Israel came up out of Egypt and destroyed Sihon the king of the Amorites and his army and possessed his kingdom, part of which had been taken from the Ammonites.

This fact is revealed to us in the story of the judge, Jephthah, who delivered Israel from the persecutions of the Ammonites many decades before the time of Jeremiah:

Jdg 11:5  And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:
Jdg 11:6  And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.
Jdg 11:7  And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?
Jdg 11:8  And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
Jdg 11:9  And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
Jdg 11:10  And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
Jdg 11:11  Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh.
Jdg 11:12  And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?
Jdg 11:13  And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.
Jdg 11:14  And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon:
Jdg 11:15  And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
Jdg 11:16  But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
Jdg 11:17  Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
Jdg 11:18  Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.
Jdg 11:19  And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
Jdg 11:20  But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
Jdg 11:21  And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
Jdg 11:22  And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
Jdg 11:23  So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
Jdg 11:24  Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
Jdg 11:25  And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,
Jdg 11:26  While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?
Jdg 11:27  Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
Jdg 11:28  Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

Ammon, signifying our own flesh, has always been envious of the son of the freewoman, and wants to be Abraham’s heir, just as Hagar and Ishmael, who were even closer to Abraham, wanted to persecute and destroy the son of the freewoman:

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

These things all happened to these people of the Old Testament, and they are all written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Moab and Ammon both signify the flesh of our “first man Adam” who is always envious of, and at war with, the new man, “the son of the freewoman” within us. Cain, Lot (the son of Abram’s brother), Moab and Ammon all feel they have claim to being the heir because they are indeed the physical firstborn in every case. Not that Haran was born before Abram, but he was born long before Isaac, and Lot had followed Abram long before either Ishmael or Isaac was born. The Truth is that “the first man, Adam is of the earth, earthy”, and therefore he cannot be heir with the child of promise who signifies “the children… of faith”:

Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

If the Lord has written in His book that we are to be faithful to the end, then He has also written that we would first “fall seven times… lose our first love, [and] fulfill the seven plagues” before we would be granted to repent of losing our first love [and have our] captivity returned and brought back to the Lord and given back our inheritance.

Both Moab and Ammon, therefore, typify and signify that part of our ‘experience of evil’ (Ecc 1:13) where we ‘lose our first love’, and we want to take back the throne of Christ, which in type was taken from us by God’s design and was given to our new man. We never attempted to cast out the Amorites who had taken our inheritance from us because we felt that we could not make war with the beast within us, who the Amorites typify:

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

The king of Ammon thinks nothing of warring against Israel over Gilead, which Israel had possessed for over three hundred years. We have no record that they ever once attempted to reclaim their inheritance while it was in the hands of the Amorites. However, in the time of Jephthah, they attempted to reclaim their inheritance which the Lord had given to His people 300 years earlier.

Here in Jeremiah 49 Ammon is again taking back Israel’s inheritance and rejoicing in Israel’s judgment at the hands of the Chaldeans. It all typifies our loss of our first love, which is also signified by the healing of the deadly wound upon the beast within us:

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;
Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

When we ‘lose our first love’ the Lord judges us:

Jer 49:2  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.

It is the Lord Himself who causes us to be carried away captive, giving our inheritance back to Ammon, which typifies the dominion of our flesh being given back to our old man. That dominion is not forever, though it may seem that way at the time.

Israel’s seventy years of captivity signify the fact that the Lord’s elect bow to Esau within them “seven times”:

Gen 33:3  And he [Jacob, whose name had been changed to Israel the night before] passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother [Esau].

It is the Lord’s elect ‘Israel’ who must be “punished seven times more for [our] sins:

Lev 26:18  And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
Lev 26:21  And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

Lev 26:24  Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

Lev 26:28  Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

It is the Lord’s own servant whom He loves who must be the first to “fall seven times” and have the Lord’s seven last plagues poured out upon them:

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

Now we know why “no man could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels” has been poured out upon that man:

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

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God [Isa 42:25], who liveth for ever and ever.
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.

Jer 49:3  Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

Heshbon is the capital city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, which he had wrested from the Ammonites to make it into his capital. It was the first city conquered by Israel when Sihon refused to let Israel pass peacefully though his land.

Num 21:25  And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof.
Num 21:26  For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.

“Chemosh, the abomination of the Ammonites”, had not served the Ammonites very well since he had permitted the Amorites to take Heshbon and its environs away from the Ammonites. Such is the service of all our lying, false, doctrines. Ammon, typifying our own flesh, did not learn a thing from the Lord’s chastening:

Jer 49:4  Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

We may indeed be fruitful and possess much treasure in this world. We might even be militarily superior to every nation on earth, but it is foolish to trust in or take pride in such carnal and temporal passing things because when the Lord comes to “visit” and “to judge” He is not the least bit impressed with such temporary, physical things. It is in His power to strike fear into the heart and mind of the man of sin who is seated on the Lord’s rightful throne in our hearts and minds:

Jer 49:5  Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.

The Hebrew word translated as “wandereth” is:

H5074
נָדַד  nâdad  naw-dad’
A primitive root; properly to wave to and fro (rarely to flap up and down); figuratively to prove, flee, or (causatively) to drive away: – chase (away), X could not, depart, flee (X apace, away), (re-) move, thrust away, wander (abroad, -er, -ing).

Here is how this Hebrew word ‘nadad’ is variously translated:

H5074
נדד  nâdad
Total KJV Occurrences: 30
fled, 8
Psa_31:11, Isa_21:14-15 (2), Isa_33:3 (2), Jer_4:25,
Jer_9:10, Hos_7:13
wandereth, 5
Job_15:23, Pro_27:8 (2), Isa_16:3, Jer_49:5

flee, 4
Psa_64:8, Psa_68:12, Nah_3:7, Nah_3:17
chased, 2
Job_18:17-18 (2), Job_20:8
abroad, 1
Job_15:23
away, 1
2Sa_23:6
could, 1
Est_6:1
departed, 1
Gen_31:40
drave, 1
2Ki_17:21
moved, 1
Isa_10:14
removed, 1
Isa_10:31
thrust, 1
2Sa_23:6
wander, 1
Psa_55:6-7 (2)
wanderers, 1
Hos_9:17
wandering, 1
Isa_16:2

The most common translation is the English word ‘fled’. Even where it is translated as ‘wander’, it is speaking in the context of fleeing from or being pursued by an adversary:

Psa 55:6  And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Psa 55:7  Lo, then would I wander [H5074: ‘nadad’] far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah.
Psa 55:8  I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.

Jer 49:6  And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

Our salvation (‘bringing again our captivity’) must always be preceded by the destruction of the kingdom of our proud, rebellious, self-righteous old man, ‘Ammon’ within us.

What the Judgment of Edom Signifies:

Now the Lord turns our attention to the judgment of Edom, which is Esau, who signifies Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the world. While those who “come out of her” (Rev 18:4) will be brought into the temple of God, spiritual ‘Mystery Babylon’ will be destroyed. Edom is the only nation of the nations who are “Abraham’s brother”, and are in that way close to Israel, of whom we will not read ‘I will bring again the captivity of Edom’:

Jer 49:7  Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?

The answer to every question concerning Edom as a type of ‘Mystery Babylon the Great’ with all of her false doctrines is, “Yes, wisdom is no more in Teman, her chief city. Yes, counsel is definitely perished from her most ‘prudent’ leaders and elders, and yes indeed, wisdom is vanished from Edom, the type of the great whore, Mystery Babylon the Great.” No whore has any great wisdom. If she did, she would not be a whore. Only those who “come out of her” will hear the words, “I will bring again [your] captivity.” We will not see those words applied to Edom or Esau, the twin brother of Israel, the physical seed of Abraham.

Jer 49:8  Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.

This is how the concept of “dwell deep” is expressed in the New Testament:

Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

“The time that I will visit him [is] the great day of His wrath”, and at that time we all become ‘deep dwellers’.

Four times we are told… ‘Esau… is Edom’:

Gen 36:1  Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.

Gen 36:8  Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

Gen 36:19  These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes.

Gen 36:43  Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites.

The fact this statement is repeated four times indicates that the whole of ‘Esau’ is under consideration. It is therefore of utmost importance that we understand who it is that “Esau, the father of the Edomites” foreshadows and typifies in scripture.

Esau is the closest to Abraham of the three nations who are called “His brother”. This tells us that Esau knows Abraham even better than Moab and Ammon who, through their father, Lot, are also called Abraham’s brother. Moab and Ammon came into the promised land via their father, Lot, who came into the land of Canaan with Abraham. It is the scriptures which tell us that Lot is the same as “the brother” of Abraham:

Gen 12:5  And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

Gen 14:12  And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

Gen 14:16  And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Abraham typifies Christ:

Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

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

Christ is the true “faithful Abraham”, and Esau is the twin brother of Jacob who was beloved of God. Esau, on the other hand, was ‘hated’ of God “while they were in their mother’s womb… having done neither good nor evil”:

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.
Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
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.

As Abraham typifies Christ, the True Father of the faithful, Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, is the Biblical type of those who have no “respect unto the recompense of the reward”, treating faith in Christ as if it is no more valuable than a bowl of red pottage:

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

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

“The elder shall serve the younger” reveals that our old man will be supplanted by and will serve our new man. It is a principle which is adhered to throughout the scriptures. Esau was born before Jacob, and therefore had the outward claim to the birthright. The same was true for Cain who was replaced by Abel and then Seth. Ishmael was born before Isaac, Esau before Jacob, and King Saul was anointed before King David. Therefore Esau, who is Edom, signifies all those who came before Christ, and who now persecute “the Lord and His Christ”. That so happens to include all men who are still being ruled over by their carnal-minded old man and who are not in Christ. Esau signifies all religion which is in opposition to the Lord. He signifies the beast which comes up out of the earth with “two horns like a lamb [who] speaks as a dragon”:

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

“Two horns like a lamb” is the same as being the twin brother of Jacob. The mind of Christ has no trouble distinguishing these two, but the natural man cannot discern the things of the spirit and he will always default to the natural mind. To our natural mind Jacob really was a conniving supplanter who obviously has no claim to neither the birthright nor the blessing.

Esau, in type, is not just those who are closest to Christ, and yet are His rejected anointed. Esau is certainly rejected, but he typifies all men who are rejected of God in this age. That is why we are told that the Lord’s ‘Christs’, His saviors, “will arise on mount Zion to judge the house of Esau”:

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 [“and His Christ”]

The only time “saviors… come upon mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau” is when “the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”, followed by a great white throne judgment:

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

The power to judge is given to the elect of Christ at the beginning of the thousand years, and it remains in their hands throughout the time of the great white throne judgment:

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

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

Esau shows no mercy to the Lord and His Christ because he sees Christ as an interloper and a supplanter:

Gen 27:36  And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?

Jer 49:9  If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
Jer 49:10  But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

Esau “is not” simply because he signifies the religious world which is all in opposition to the Lord and His Christ whom this world hates and counts as those who unjustly claim to be “the seed of Abraham”.

We will continue with the Lord’s judgment of Esau in our next study where we will learn that Esau within us thinks he can avoid drinking of the cup of the Lord’s wrath, but he will not be permitted to do so.

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.

If we endure His wrath in “this present time”, it will be well worth it:

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

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Mat 22:34-40 Mar 12:28-34

[Study Aired July 13, 2021]

Mat 22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
Mar 12:28a And one of the scribes, 
Mat 22:35a which was a lawyer, 
Mar 12:28b came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, 
Mat 22:35b tempting him,
Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mar 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Mar 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

What is the scribe lacking from entering into the kingdom of God? Here is the original commandment Christ is quoting from Deuteronomy. The answer to our question is below. In the chapter preceding this the Lord gave the “Ten Commandments”.

Deu 6:1-5 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

There is the first commandment quoted by Christ. The next commandment follows from Leviticus.

Lev 19:9-18 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

There are the two commandments Christ quoted and the scribe agreed with him “discreetly” that they are the two highest commandments. So what is the scribe lacking to enter into the kingdom of God? Continuing in Deuteronomy Chapter six we will see the answer.

Deu 6:6-17 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

Massah is the place in the wilderness where Israel complained to Moses about not having any water to drink.

Exo 17:1-3 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

The scribe’s attitude is the issue.

Mar 12:28a And one of the scribes,
Mat 22:35a which was a lawyer, 
Mar 12:28b came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, 
Mat 22:35b tempting him,
Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

This is showing us that if our attitude is not correct even though we believe what the Lord is saying is true we cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Let’s review everything I emboldened from Deuteronomy chapter 6 and Leviticus chapter 19.

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

These words shall be in your heart. This happens when the Lord sends the holy spirit into our hearts. When this takes place, we are given the ability to stop tempting the Lord and be able to diligently keep the commandments of the Lord our God. As we all know, this is a continual process until the resurrection. The focus of this age is learning the process of judgment within and outwardly. The two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor, and upon these two hang all the law and the prophets.

Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

This is telling us that if we can understand and follow these two laws then every other law will be followed and understood. As we come to understand these two laws, it will give us the ability to do no unrighteous judgment. We are called to judge first ourselves and then the house of God and then the rest of mankind.

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?

We are first the harlot because we tempt the Lord our God and then judgment begins and we become the judges.

Isa 1:21-27 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

How do we tempt the Lord our God?

Num 14:20-22 And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

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

Tempting the Lord ten times means while we are walking in the flesh and not in the spirit, all we can do is tempt God. We must be given the ability to do the things which the Lord says. We can do nothing of ourselves. John and Paul explain how the process of removing the desire to tempt God is accomplished.

Joh 15:1-5 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Joh 15:16-17 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. These things I command you, that ye love one another.

Rom 8:1-11 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

1Jn 2:7-14 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

The Lord gave us an example of how we should pray which if we keep the commandments of God this prayer will be answered.

Mat 6:9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This story shows us that in order to enter into the kingdom of God, we must not tempt the Lord our God. Examine yourselves daily in order to obtain what is lacking.

1Jn 4:7-21 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 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. 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. 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.We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

If we are given to follow these two commandments, love God and love your neighbor, we will have the ability to enter into the kingdom of God.

Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

[The next study in the Gospels in Harmony series is here.]

[Study Aired October 25, 2020]

Isa 66:7  Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
Isa 66:8  Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Isa 66:9  Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
Isa 66:10  Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:
Isa 66:11  That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
Isa 66:12  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
Isa 66:13  As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isa 66:14  And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.

The first two verses of our study today are typical of how scripture is deliberately written in such a way as to cause our rebellious carnal mind to reject it and to say it contradicts itself:

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:
Isa 28:11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Isa 28:12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Isa 28:13  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

“That they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken… to be destroyed.” That has been the fate of our old man since “before the world began”:

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

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

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
2Pe 2:10  But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
2Pe 2:11  Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

It is manifested that these verses are contrasting “the godly” with “the unjust”. Nevertheless, a line upon line application of the scriptures reveals that we are all first “ungodly” by physical birth and by nature, before Christ comes into our lives:

Rom 4:5  But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Rom 5:6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Now that we are reminded of how scripture is meant to be used, let’s examine these first two verses of our study:

Isa 66:7  Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
Isa 66:8  Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

Verse 7 tells us that Zion brought forth “before she travailed and “before her pain came she was delivered of a manchild”.

The very next verse says. “As soon as Zion travailed she brought for her children.” So did they come forth ”before her pain came” or did they come forth “as soon as Zion travailed”?

In scriptural terms, the answer is both. It is both in the same sense that Israel’s enemies were defeated before they ever fought a battle, and yet they had to fight the battle before their enemies could be defeated:

Deu 2:24  Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.

It is already accomplished from the Lord’s perspective, so now “begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle:

Isa 66:7  Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.

Therefore… “for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children”.

It is only “through much tribulation [that] we must enter into the kingdom of God”, but if and when we do endure “much tribulation” the fact of the matter is that it was all accomplished “before the world began”, just as Christ is proclaimed to have been “slain from the foundation of the world”:

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

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

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

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Who is this “manchild” who is brought forth by Zion? Is this manchild Christ? The answer is, yes, but it is Christ in the sense that He says it is Him, and this is that sense:

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

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

So this “manchild” is born of the church which Christ founded, and that is why in the book of “things that must shortly come to  pass” (Rev 1:1), we read of the birth of a manchild who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron:

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:

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

This promise of rulership is given only to those who are “given part in [that] blessed and holy first resurrection. Therefore it follows that this ‘manchild’ who “must shortly come” is the Lord’s elect, His own Body, which is to rule and reign with Him with a rod of iron for a thousand years:

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

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

That is just how much Christ identifies with His body, which we are if indeed He is living His life within us. It is He who is the power behind our throne and our rule. This is what we do in His stead “as [His] Father has sent [Him]:

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you [to rule the nations with a rod of iron and to save the world (Joh 3:17)].

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

When Christ says “He that overcomes shall rule the nations with a rod of iron”, He certainly is not excluding Himself, because we are told explicitly:

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17  Then we [overcomers, Rev 2:27] which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord [“ruling the nations with a rod of iron” (Rev 2:27)].
1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

With all of this in mind the Lord poses a question the answer to which is beyond obvious:

Isa 66:9  Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.

This is characteristic of how the Lord speaks to us. He poses many questions, the answers to which are incontrovertibly obvious, as in:

Amo 3:3  Can two walk together, except they be agreed? [The obvious answer is, No!]
Amo 3:4  Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? [No!] will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? [No!]
Amo 3:5  Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? [No!] shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?  [No!]
Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? [No!] shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? [Contrary to all orthodox Christian doctrine, the answer again is, a resounding No!]

Those who are given to know that “all things are of God [who] makes… even the wicked for the day of evil (Isa 45:7, Pro 16:4, Rom 11:36, 1Co 8:6) will:

Isa 66:10  Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:

This is the ‘Jerusalem’ which is under discussion:

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

This is the ‘Jerusalem’ which is not under consideration here in Isaiah 66:10:

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

It is to the children of “Jerusalem which is above” that this prophecy is addressed:

Isa 66:11  That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.

We all begin our relationship as “carnal babes in Christ”:

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?

In the Lord’s appointed time we grow until we are weaned from “the milk of [His] words:

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 would be best if the chapter break were not here because these are the very next three verses:

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

If the Lord permits us to “go on unto perfection”, we will be the first to partake of “the purchased possession” (Eph 1:12-14) and be given “a part in the blessed and holy… first resurrection” (Rev 20:6), and we will know the full meaning of:

Isa 66:12  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.

The natural tendency for all of us is to apply the Lord’s words anywhere but where they are primarily meant to be applied, and this is to whom these words are primarily addressed:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

If we are the “first [to] trust in Christ” then “all things are [primarily ours], the world, or life, or death, or things present or things to come; all are [primarily ours].” That is what the holy spirit wants us to get out of these words:

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
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.

Is it not true that “all… in Adam… shall… be made alive”? Without a doubt, that is what the scriptures teach. These words were spoken by the Lord Himself to Cain just before Cain killed Abel:

Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto [Hebrew: ‘el’, ‘against’] thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him [sin].
Gen 4:8  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against [Hebrew: ‘el’, ‘against’] Abel his brother, and slew him.

Christ made us this promise:

Joh 12:32  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Paul simply confirms these words of Christ in:

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

Once again Paul emphasizes who are the primary… the first beneficiaries of the Lord’s gift of life to “all in Adam” when He tells us this in the very next verse:

1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

What we have just read is telling us that there is an order in which the salvation of all is to be accomplished, and “we [are to be the] first [to] trust in Christ… to the praise of His glory”. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” is “the secret of His will… which has been hidden from ages and from generations”.

We just read this in:

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

Then in Colossians 1 we are told exactly what is “the mystery of His will”:

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints [“who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12)]:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Salvation is a gift of God to all men, but “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations [is only being] made manifest to His saints… who first trusted in Christ”. To be given this great honor all we must do is:

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

The only way to “fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ in [our] bodies” is to “present ourselves a living sacrifice to God”; suffer for His name’s sake; and be “crucified with Christ [even as we continue to live a life of] “much tribulation” (Rom 12:1, Php 1:29, Gal 2:20, Act 14:22)

As we “suffer… much tribulation… for His name’s sake… the Lord and His Christ” alone are capable of comforting us with the comfort He alone can grant:

Isa 66:13  As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Our comfort is said to be “in Jerusalem”. Jerusalem is being alluded to as our ‘mother’, and true to that doctrine we are told:

2Co 1:3  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
2Co 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2Co 1:5  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

Here is verse 15 in Rotherham’s version:

2Co 1:5  Because, even as the sufferings of the Christ overflow unto us, so, through the Christ, overfloweth, our encouragement also.

When our encouragement overflows, it does so to others. These verses are the foundation for this statement by the apostle Paul:

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

Christ’s own words concur with Isaiah and Paul when He said:

Mat 12:48  But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
Mat 12:49  And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
Mat 12:50  For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

In Christ’s own words, His spiritual brothers and sisters are also His mother. What that means to you and me is that in Him we are “brother, and sister, and mother” to each other. In our function as each other’s spiritual mother, we are to edify and comfort each other.

Let’s read these verses again:

Isa 66:11  That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
Isa 66:12  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.

These words are part of the foundation for this statement by the apostle Paul:

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

The Greek word translated “compacted” is ‘sumbibazo’.  Here is the definition of this Greek  word ‘sumbibazo’:

G4822
συμβιβάζω
sumbibazō
soom-bib-ad’-zo

From G4862 and βιβάζω bibazō (to force; causatively [by reduplication] of the base of G939); to drive together, that is, unite (in association or affection), (mentally) to infer, show, teach: – compact, assuredly, gather, instruct, knit together, prove.

A good mother wants unity in her family. A good mother wants her children to be together and united in association and affection, and she wants to see them supporting and comforting each other. This word ‘sumbibazo’ is translated as “knit together” in these verses in Colossians 2:

Col 2:2  That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together [sumbibazo] in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
Col 2:3  In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Col 2:4  And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.

Col 2:19  And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together [sumbibazo], increaseth with the increase of God.

When we are “knit together in love” we “nourish and minister… and increase” in our knowledge of God, and our “hearts [are] comforted” by our ‘mother… bearing [us] on her side, and dandling us on her knees:”

Isa 66:12  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.

When we see this in each other, then we rejoice in knowing who we are in Christ:

Isa 66:14  And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.

That verse is just the Old Testament way of saying:

Joh 13:34  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Joh 13:35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

These are indeed very comforting words addressed to us if we are in Him. If we know Him and if we know His voice, then these words are addressed to us and only to us as the children of  our ‘mother’, the “New Jerusalem”:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

We need to appreciate what we are being told here. “All things work together for good to them that love God.” According to 1 John 5:2-3, loving God means that we are obedient to Him:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

We are not being told that ‘all things work together for good for all men’. The doctrine of universal salvation does not teach that all things work together for good to those who are cast into the lake of fire at the white throne judgment. The Lord Himself called those in that resurrection “Ye cursed”:

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

It is true the Lord can, and He does “call light out of darkness”, and He alone can make good come out of evil in the end, but in the meantime, while we await the all in all, ‘all things are not working together for good to them who do not love God and who are not the called according to His purpose.’

On the other hand, if we are His predestined “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, no earthly power can change us into anything else, and we can “milk out” the comfort that comes with these words addressed solely to those who are given to overcome their carnal-minded old man “in this present time”:

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long [we are “dying daily” (1Co 15:31)]; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There will be times when the adversary will be given to cause us to doubt the strength of our relationship with our “brother, sister, and mother”. There will be times when we will doubt how our Lord could possibly be working with and through such a weak vessel. When that time comes, remember these words:

1Jn 3:19  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
1Jn 3:20  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

That is our study for today. Our next study will wrap up our studies in this prophecy of Isaiah and will demonstrate that the scriptures, which will never pass away, are first and foremost addressed primarily to us as those ‘upon whom judgment has first begun’ (1Pe 4:17) and “who [are the ]first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12).

Here are the concluding verses of the prophecy of Isaiah for our next study:

Isa 66:15  For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16  For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
Isa 66:17  They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
Isa 66:18  For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
Isa 66:19  And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.
Isa 66:20  And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.
Isa 66:21  And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD.
Isa 66:22  For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
Isa 66:23  And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
Isa 66:24  And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 13 Discussion

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Isa 3:6-10 They Declare Their Sin As Sodom,  They Hide It Not

Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
Isa 3:9  The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
Isa 3:10  Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

Throughout these studies we will be reminding you that Isaiah, as much as any Old Testament prophet, affirms the total sovereignty of God to the extent that the holy spirit inspired Isaiah to reveal that even our sins are the work of His hand and His foreknowledge, and even our sins and errors were written in God's book of our life before we were born, while we are in our mother's womb, having done neither good nor evil.

Isaiah knew what King David had been shown about the extent of the work of the hand of God in all things. This is what King David reveals to us:

Psa 139:15  My frame was not hidden from thee, When I was made in secret, And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 
Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.(ASV)

Isaiah was also familiar with what King Solomon had added to His father's revelation:

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

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

So Isaiah had no reservations penning these words when he was inspired by the holy spirit to do so:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

What all of this reveals for those who understand it is that everything being done is being worked by our God "to do whatsoever [His] hand and [His] foreknowledge determined before to be done" (Act 4:26-28), "after the counsel of His own will" (Eph 1:18).

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

God is "working all things after the counsel of His own will" in the life of every man who has or who will ever live. Mankind, we are told by Christ, must live by every word which has proceeded out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4). Therefore we must live these words from last week's study, as His judgment against the kingdom of our proud, rebellious, old man:

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.

Mankind feels the need to cover up and deny what God is in the process of doing to the sons of men, but God is not the least bit shy about taking credit for the work He is doing to the sons of men (Psa 107:8, 15, 21, and 31). Our God clearly states all of his works in no uncertain terms with no fear at all of what men think of Him for "doing all things after the counsel of His own will" and doing all things only in line with what His hand and His counsel "determined before to be done" (Pro 16:4; Isa 45:7, Isa 63:17, Act 4:26-28).

His advice to each of us, as well as the rulers of the kingdoms of the world, is:

Psa 2:10  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Psa 2:11  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 
Psa 2:12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

The reason we are instructed to "Kiss the Son", is that we do not just naturally do so. What we naturally do is rebel against and hate the Son and attempt to steal His inheritance:

Mat 21:38  But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.

"His inheritance" is in the hearts and minds of His saints:

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

We "seize... His inheritance" when we rebel against His words and His doctrine, and when we refuse to be of the same mind with Christ and His Father.

As we all know, however, there is no honor among thieves, and God causes our own wicked ways to correct us as individuals and as nations:

Jer 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

That "evil thing and bitter" will begin within our own homes and our own families. God is not mocked, we will reap what we sow (Gal 6:7-8). Verse 5 from last week's study tells us how we will reap what we have sown:

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.

Do you think that verse refers to someone you know, but not to you? These prophecies are all fulfilled both inwardly and outwardly in every life in every generation.  Here are a couple of repetitions of this principle of God's judgment being administered "every one by his neighbor":

Hag 2:22  And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. 

Zec 11:9  Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

When God's judgments begin to do their work in our lives, we just never consider repentance toward God as a first option. Rather, we look to the flesh and seek a carnal hero, who will always disappoint us:

Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:

When Israel's sins and rebellion against their own God were met by the judgments of God and they sought an ally against the nation or nations God sent to administer His justice for their sins, Israel, as a type of each of us, always sought help from Egypt and from the nations around her instead of trusting in their own God. Israel is also a type of our nation wherever we live in this world. All nations always seek to this world for help before later being forced to cry out to the Creator for His mercy and His supernatural deliverance.

Trusting in the flesh is what we just naturally do first. These are the words of an Assyrian captain to God's people in Jerusalem, but they proved to be true then just as they are today:

Isa 36:6  Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt [our own flesh, and our own strength]; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

Later this prophecy was fulfilled in Israel under the prophet Jeremiah after Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Judah. We of ourselves just cannot trust in God's salvation and deliverance. The Biblical account of Israel, as a type of our natural tendency to trust our own strength and our own wisdom, will serve to demonstrate how this next verse is fulfilled in our lives:

Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.

"In that day" is the day in which we are being judged, and we are being shown just how little our faith is in Christ and His ways. We are offered rulership, but we cannot accept that blessing simply because we are first commanded to learn to trust in Christ, and we simply don't have the faith to do so. We have "neither bread nor clothing".

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

The history of ancient Israel is the story of our experience, and it is our experience that at the first part of our walk we just do not have the faith to "trust in the Lord" more than we "trust in [our] own understanding" and our own strength. That is the very reason Proverbs 3:5 appears in scripture.  The story of ancient Israel's history is in God's word for our instruction at this time.

One part of that history which demonstrates how we always depend upon our own strength and our own wisdom over the Word of God is the story of God's prophet Jeremiah at the time of Judah's Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah is a type and shadow of God's elect who are always placed in the position of representing Christ and His Father in a world that has no use for Christ or His Father. That is where we all sit at that moment.

At our own appointed time we do not want to "be an healer" because we know we are not yet qualified to heal anyone, and we certainly do not want to "let this ruin to be under [our] hand". The story of ancient Israel is our own story. The story of Jeremiah is a story of how the Lord supernaturally protects his elect even as he destroys the kingdom of our Babylonian old man within each of us:

Jer 40:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon.
Jer 40:2  And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.
Jer 40:3  Now the LORD hath brought it, and done according as he hath said: because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.
Jer 40:4  And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go.
Jer 40:5  Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.
Jer 40:6  Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.
Jer 40:7  Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;
Jer 40:8  Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
Jer 40:9  And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

The kingdom of our old man has been plundered. It is clear that we have not been pleasing our God, our heavenly Father. We are broken, but we are still defiant and proud because we have not yet been crushed to powder by our own wickedness. "All the captains of the forces which were in the fields" have escaped being carried away into Babylon, and they are very proud of that fact. Jerusalem may have fallen, but these men within us are not the least subdued by God's judgment upon Israel and Judah. This, too, is our own old man.

Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

We actually demonstrate by our own actions that we are these "captains of the forces which were in the fields". We actually think we can get by with sticking our finger in "the eyes of [God's] glory" and get by without being punished for our presumptuous, rebellious ways. This takes place within us, and it is taking place outwardly as we continue to demand our constitutional right to take pride in our nakedness and in our perversions of every imaginable sort. It will continue only for a short time simply because God is not mocked, and we do reap what we sow (Gal 6:7-8).

These "captains of the forces which were in the fields", as the proud men they are, cannot live in peace with each other, and one of them with ten men wanted to slay the man who Nebuchadnezzar had made king to represent him with God's rebellious people.

Jer 40:13  Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,
Jer 40:14  And said unto him, Dost thou certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.
Jer 40:15  Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: wherefore should he slay thee, that all the Jews which are gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?
Jer 40:16  But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.

The name 'Babel' means confusion, after the confusion of the tongues of mankind at the tower of Babel. It aptly describes the confusion with which we live in rebellion to our God. Even our "captains of the forces which were in the field" are in constant conflict with each other:

Jer 41:1  Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.
Jer 41:2  Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.
Jer 41:3  Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war.

These murderers are "of the seed royal... princes of the king". These, as Judas was, typify God's rejected elect. These are "the first man Adam... the figure of Him that was to come" (Rom 5:14), and they cannot accept the punishment placed upon them for their rebellion against their God and Creator, even as we cannot.

Ishmael and the ten princes with him carried all the people who had been with King Gedaliah away with them to take them to the Ammonites.

Jer 41:10  Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.

But Johanan and the other captains of the forces which were in the field heard what Ishmael had done, and went and rescued the people Ishmael had captured.

Jer 41:11  But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,
Jer 41:12  Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.
Jer 41:13  Now it came to pass, that when all the people which were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad.
Jer 41:14  So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah.
Jer 41:15  But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
Jer 41:16  Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:
Jer 41:17  And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
Jer 41:18  Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.

Johanan and all the captains of forces that were with him are not all that different than Ishmael as it turns out. And this brings us back to the first verses in today's study:

Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.

Johanan was offered the peace and stability that comes with being obedient to God, and he refused to be obedient because he feared the Babylonians more than God. Johanan and all the captains of the forces with him, and all the people he had rescued from Ishmael, now come to Jeremiah seeking to know what the Lord would have them to do now that the man whom Nebuchadnezzar had made king has been killed by Ishmael. This is what happened after the people came to Jeremiah, the Lord's true prophet, the prophet who had prophesied that Judah would be carried away into Babylon against incredible circumstances which threatened his life. They had enough respect to consult Him, but they could not abide in the Lord's words coming to them through Jeremiah the Lord's proven prophet:

Jer 42:1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
Jer 42:2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) 
Jer 42:3 That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do. 
Jer 42:4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.

These "captains of the forces" are the force and power of the flesh of our rebellious old man over us. This is what we tell our Lord as we are totally unaware of how incapable we are of keeping our own words to Him:

Jer 42:5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
Jer 42:6  Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.
Jer 42:7  And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.
Jer 42:8  Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
Jer 42:9  And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;
Jer 42:10  If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.
Jer 42:11  Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
Jer 42:12  And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
Jer 42:13  But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
Jer 42:14  Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
Jer 42:15  And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
Jer 42:16  Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
Jer 42:17  So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
Jer 42:18  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.
Jer 42:19  The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.
Jer 42:20  For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.
Jer 42:21  And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.
Jer 42:22  Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.

We are not even aware that we are coming to God with our minds already made up. We have no intention of relying on Him for our safety, but we hope He will tell us to depend upon our own strength and upon our own wisdom. The scriptural term for this state of mind is "idols of the heart":

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

That is exactly what happened when these people came to Jeremiah, the Lord's true prophet, the prophet who had prophesied that Judah would be carried away into Babylon against incredible circumstances which threatened his life. They had enough respect to consult Him, but they could not abide his words. They had "come to the prophet" to "enquire of [God]", but they came with their minds already made up, and they were quick to tell Jeremiah what they thought of what the Lord had told them by the words of His prophet:

Jer 43:1  And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words,
Jer 43:2  Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there: 
Jer 43:3  But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.
Jer 43:4  So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.
Jer 43:5  But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;
Jer 43:6  Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.
Jer 43:7  So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.

These are great prominent men whose pride will not let them submit to the Lord's chastening as servants of the king of Babylon. They think they have escaped having to go away into Babylon, and they are proud of that fact. We do well to acknowledge that our time in Babylon is an essential part of God's judgment upon the pride of the kingdom of our old man. But they, as types of us, are proud, and consequently they/we cannot bring themselves/ourselves to be obedient to the words of God. These men are each of us, and we are all predestined to go away into Babylon after we come to the Lord. It has proceeded out of the mouth of God, and we will live by every word. All we need to do is acknowledge that we must all serve Babylon, but the scriptures reveal that our old man just cannot accept such total humiliation. Our old man's boldness in his rebellion is the worst just before his destruction. That destruction is prophesied, and it is sure to come at the appointed time. The longer we refuse to submit to our judgment, the more severe that judgment becomes.

Jeremiah was forced to go into Egypt with Johanan and the captains of the forces, but even in Egypt Jeremiah was faithful to His Lord, and he prophesied of the severity of God's judgment upon His people as a type of us for seeking to Egypt and this world for her strength and her safety:

Jer 43:8  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
Jer 43:9  Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
Jer 43:10  And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.
Jer 43:11  And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.
Jer 43:12  And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.
Jer 43:13  He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.

But we cannot  hear the Lord's words, and our pride is now out in the open, and we no longer make any pretense of seeking to please our Lord:

Isa 3:9  The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

True to our nature, this is what we say when told of the Lord's promised judgments:

Jer 44:15  Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 44:16  As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
Jer 44:17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
Jer 44:18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 
Jer 44:19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
Jer 44:20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,
Jer 44:21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind? 
Jer 44:22 So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. 
Jer 44:23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.
Jer 44:24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:
Jer 44:25 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows. [You will continue to keep the days, months, times and years which make you fit in with the people around you]
Jer 44:26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.
Jer 44:27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.
Jer 44:28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs. 
Jer 44:29 And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: 
Jer 44:30 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

These are all the judgments that must come upon the kingdom of our old man. Pray that he does all His wonderful work of bringing us to our wits' end, and judging us all in this age because:

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

If we are given to be judged first in this age, then we will hear these words:

Isa 3:10  Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

This is what we are told of those who are given to be "the righteous", and this is the promised "fruit of their doings":

Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

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

Dear Mike:

I finished watching your two videos from the Cleveland Bible conference, and very much enjoyed them. I have a question, though, as it pertains to prayer. You made it clear that we are only to pray for other believers. Do you think I should keep praying for specific people on my list? I’m not sure if they are God’s chosen or not, and don’t want to break this commandment. You know them better than I do.

Thanks for your time.

God Bless.
D____

Hi D____,

Thank you for your question.

Christ did indeed tell us “I pray not for the world,” and we ought to follow His example.

Joh 17:9  I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

There are other verses which pertain to this subject which I simply did not have time to include in that study, but they all say the same thing. Our ‘alabaster box of ointment’ and our prayers and affections should be on the “things above,” where Christ is with His Father, and where all of His elect are in Christ.

Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Our prayers and our affections ought not to be on things on this earth. As cold-hearted as it seems, turning a brother or sister over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh is the best thing we can do for that brother or sister. It is designed to produce repentance and restoration, without infecting the whole body with the “leaven of the Pharisees.”

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 5:6  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

The whole purpose of delivering any brother or sister to Satan is “that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” Paul makes the same point again:

2Th 3:14  And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
2Th 3:15  Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

This is the same thing Paul is telling the Corinthians, but he adds something that is not made clear in 1 Corinthians. He says “Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” If we understand “have no company with him” to mean ‘don’t even speak with him’ then it would be hard to “admonish him as a brother.”

Obviously the infamous “shunning,” which is advocated by some churches, where church members are commanded not to even speak to a former brother, is not what Paul had in mind. We can easily “have no company” with a brother, in the sense of not seeking that brother out as a social buddy, and still be capable of speaking to him and admonishing Him if he is receptive to such.

All of this is a perfect parallel for how we should pray for “any man who is called a brother.”

1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
1Co 5:12  For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
1Co 5:13  But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

It is significant that Paul says “no not to eat” instead of ‘no not to speak.’ There is a world of difference between sharing food with a brother and admonishing a brother. In the first case you are receiving, and in the second you are giving. A fornicator has no good food to offer, but you should have good food to offer him, if he is receptive.

So it is with prayer. If a brother requests prayer, and is receptive to his need for prayer, then we should by all means pray for that brother. I do still ask God to show a wayward brother mercy, and to strengthen him to do what he knows needs to be done, but I am not praying for people who have never been granted an interest in the mind of Christ, and have certainly never asked for prayer. “I pray not for the world, but for those you have given me.”

Here are a couple more scriptures to keep in mind concerning prayer for others.

1Jn 5:16  If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
1Jn 5:17  All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
1Jn 5:18  We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
1Jn 5:19  And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
1Jn 5:20  And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
1Jn 5:21  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

“There is a sin that is not unto death,” because we all struggle against “the works of the flesh.” But there is also “a sin unto death” which is somehow connected to “that wicked one” under whom “the whole world lies in wickedness.”

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

John contrasts this “sin unto death,” with these words.

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

It is “an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, ” which keeps us from sinning “a sin unto death.” John concludes with these words.

Joh 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen

There is no indication that either the Judaizers who so persecuted the early Christians, or the Gentile converts to whom Paul was sent, were deeply involved in outward idol worship, but there is every indication that both the Judaizers and the Gentile converts were constantly confronting “idols of the heart,” and there is every reason to believe that this is the “sin unto death” to which John is referring in this very context.

Look at this second scripture concerning those for whom we should pray. It is written by this same apostle dealing with this same situation in his very next epistle:

2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

If you cannot “receive him into our house” nor even bid a false prophet “God speed”, then you surely should not pray for him because he “hath not God” and is therefore of this world. It was those who withstood His doctrine of whom Christ said, “I pray not for the world, but I pray for those you have given me.” It was those who withstood His doctrine of whom Christ said:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devi l, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45  A nd because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

These are those for whom Christ reserved His harshest words. “You are of your father the devil… [ who] abode not in the Truth… When he speaks [ it is] a lie… because there is no Truth in him.”

These are also those for whom Christ’s apostles reserved their harshest words. It was those who could not “understand Christ’s speech, because they could not hear His Word. His Word is spoken by those who “try the spirits to see whether they are of God.” They are not spoken by those who tell you that you need only to “agree with the essentials and to show tolerance for error in the non essentials.” Of course, they are the ones who will tell you what is and what is not essential Christian doctrine.  Christ asked His Father to keep His true disciples as one body:

Joh 17:11  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

Do Christ and His Father “agree on the essentials and tolerate the non essentials?” Here are what Christ said was essential to all Christian doctrines:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

It was those who withstood His Word of whom Christ spoke when He said, “I pray not for the world but for those you have given me.” Those who withstood Christ’s Word simply could not believe that God could exist in sinful flesh, as He does now in our sinful flesh. These are the ones who denied Christ while He was on earth, and they are those who deny Him today:

1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Notice that John does not encourage us to pray for those who have “that spirit of antichrist”. In His next epistle his makes this statement:

2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
2Jn 1:8  Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

Finally Paul says this about those who withstood his words:

2Ti 4:14  Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
2Ti 4:15  Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.

Did Paul encourage Timothy to pray for Alexander the coppersmith? No, he did not. Instead he simply says “Of whom be you ware also: for he hath greatly withstood our words.”

There is a world of difference between those who are fighting against the physical circumstances of life into which God has placed them to show them things about themselves, and bringing false doctrines into the body of Christ.

So please continue to pray for these brethren. Neither one has “withstood our words”, and neither denies “that Christ is come in the flesh, and neither “is a deceiver and an antichrist.” If an unbelieving family member of a fellow believer becomes sick or is injured, then we know that such a situation is going to grieve and in many cases, work a great hardship on our believing brother in Christ. There is nothing at all wrong with praying that an injured unbelieving family member or friend be healed and restored to health for the benefit of our brother or sister in Christ. Indeed it would be less than loving to do otherwise.

It is those who withstand Christ’s Word, who deny that He “is come in the flesh,” either then or now, and it is those who “abide not in the doctrine of Christ,” who have “sinned a sin unto death. I do not say that you should pray for them.” We have all done so in our past, and we were withstanding the Words of Christ and were “turned over to Satan for the destruction of our flesh” until our old man died to those false doctrines which we once espoused.

It is true that we “pray not for the world, but for those you have given me.” It is also true that those who are in our fellowship, in any degree, are never to be “treated as an enemy, but admonished as a brother,” as long as they do not deny that Christ is come in their flesh, and as long as they are not withstanding “the doctrine of Christ.”

“There is a sin that is not unto death.” Let’s continue to pray for any who have requested our prayers.
I hope this helps you to better understand for whom we should pray.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

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Rev 1:17 I Fell At His Feet As Dead

Rev 1:17  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Updated October 18, 2023

Introduction

Last week we saw that this whole revelation of Jesus Christ is really the living out of the admonition contained in the third verse of this chapter one:

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.

We saw all the scriptures which demonstrate that the “one on the throne” in chapter four is Christ, “by whom and for whom all things were created.” We also saw the expansion of Christ into “the Christ” when “the lamb” came and took the book out of Christ’s hand to open its seven seals and to “show these things” in this book to those who would be “keeping the things written therein.” In other words, Christ, which means God’s anointed, gave this book to His Christ, His anointed, who “fill up in [their bodies] what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ.” ‘The Christ’ is the seven angels of the seven churches who are all in the right hand of Christ and to whom this whole book is addressed and which seven angels open the seven seals, which include the seven trumpets of the seventh seal and the seven last plagues of the seventh trumpet, thus “show[ing] us these things.” Here again are the verses which make this clear:

1Co 12:12 For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the one body, being many, are one body, thus also is the Christ. (CLV)

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, 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 which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

So it is John and his “fellowservants” who keep the things written therein who will be “showing these things” to the seven churches. Here are the verses which tell us this is so:

Rev 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a door [was] opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

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 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him [the angels which showed John the judgment of the great whore of chapters 17-18]. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

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

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
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.
Rev 22:10  And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

The seven angels who show all this revelation of Jesus Christ to John, are telling John, and you and me, that they ARE his fellowservants, of John’s brothers, “and of them which keep the sayings of this book.” In other words, John is being told that he and his fellowsevants ARE these seven angels whose commission is to show these things to the seven churches.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

Now we will learn that the only way to become John’s fellowservant and keep the sayings of this book and find our lives, is if we first forfeit our lives and are crucified with Christ and become dead at His feet. “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.” This verse of scripture is just a confirmation of all of these scriptures:

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

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

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

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Rom 6:10  For in that he died [and we “in Him” (vs 4)], he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth [and we “in Him” (vs 5)], he liveth unto God.

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh [“We are His flesh” (Eph 5:30)] through death [“I die daily” (1Co 1:31) “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20) “present your bodies a living sacrifice…” (Rom 12:1)], to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

So as we keep the things that are written therein, we must “fall at His feet as dead.” We are “at His feet” because we place ourselves, and our flesh, “under His feet” in the same sense as we are the earth under His feet as His footstool.

1Ch 28:2  Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:

It is an interesting thing to note that King David refers to God’s house of rest as also being His footstool. It is all Christ. What we are seeing is that the secret which has been hidden from the generations and from the eons is “Christ in us.”

Psa 99:5  Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

This is a privilege reserved for the overcomers and for those who “keep the things written therein.”

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

We are both His temple, “the house of [His] rest” and “His footstool”, before whom our enemies will bow themselves to Christ.

That is what it means to “fall at His feet as dead.”

And he laid his right hand upon me

What does it mean to have Christ’s right hand laid upon us? We have just covered what is the symbolism of Christ’s right hand, and we saw that it was the symbol of His power, His righteousness and His salvation.

We saw that being held in Christ’s right hand is to be in His Father’s hand and to be in His power, favor and protection, just as Christ and those in Christ are protected by His Father.

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my [right] hand [Rom 1:20].
Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

That is what is meant when we are told that the seven stars are in Christ’s right hand. What is meant by the right hand being laid upon us?

We saw last week the significance of Jacob laying his right hand upon Ephraim, when Joseph had arranged for His father’s right hand to be laid on Manasseh. What we learned from that event was that the physical ‘firstborn’ will be ruled over by the spiritual firstborn. That is the significance of the younger son being greater than the elder son. What we learned is that those on whom Christ lays His right hand will be the first to become “that which is spiritual” ahead of those who would appear to be the firstborn of God:

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.

That is what we are being told here. We are being told what Jacob told Joseph:

Gen 48:17  And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.
Gen 48:18  And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this [is] the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
Gen 48:19  And his father refused, and said, I know [it], my son, I know [it]: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

We are all like Joseph here and like Abraham when God revealed to Abraham that Abraham’s first born was not to be his heir. “O that Ishmael might live before thee” and “Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head” is the refrain of us all as we struggle to let go of the things of our flesh:

Gen 17:18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

We cry out for the preservation of our flesh:

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

While the flesh serves a great and vital service to the man of the spirit, nevertheless, God has no covenant with the flesh. His covenant is with the risen new man, the man of promise, the man of the spirit who is symbolized by Isaac, not Ishmael.

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

Both Ishmael and Esau developed into kingdoms with cities and kings, many hundreds of years before Jacob came up out of Egypt to establish the kingdom of Israel. This tells us that our flesh always prospers and matures into a “great nation” (Gen 17:20) long before our spiritual man even begins to mature, which places our spirit at the mercy of our flesh for a very long time. Jacob bowed down to Esau seven times, as he was returning to Canaan from Haran.

Gen 33:3  And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

Jacob also called Esau “My lord” seven times as he was returning to Canaan from Haran (Gen 32:4-5, 18, Gen 33:8, 13-15).

Gen 32:4  And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:

Gen 32:18  Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.

So it is within us. We cannot be the temple of both God’s truth and at the same time be the temple of the lies of Babylon. We all bow down to our flesh before we overcome it. Though the battle may seem to last a lifetime, only one man will, in the end, be our master:

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

We thank God through “Jesus Christ our Lord” that by Him laying His right hand upon us, we are able to overcome Esau within us, and “No man will snatch us out of His hand.”

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

It is knowing Christ that makes us “the son of the free woman.” It is Christ, and knowing Him, that makes us free:

Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

We “cast out the bondwoman and her son” when we reject the heresies of the bondwoman and her son. That is when we are “made free” by the power of the Truth of the word of God. That is what is meant by “He laid his right hand upon me.” That is why Christ then tells us:

Saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Nothing relieves us of fear and anxiety like the deep realization that Christ is both the first and the last. Those are His words, not mine. It is Christ who tells us that He is both the first and the last. It is He who is, who was and who will be. He repeats this twelve times in this book of Revelation. That is just how important it is to understand this Truth.

Now if Christ is “the first and the last” as He claims, what does that say about these verses of scripture:

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.

The first is but a necessary shadow of the last. Is Christ telling us that He is both? What does “I am the first and the last” mean? What “I am the first and the last” means is this:

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

God created the heaven and the earth “in the beginning.” It so happens that the Hebrew Word for ‘beginning’ is ‘reshiyth.’ Here is how this word ‘reshiyth‘ is translated later in the book of Leviticus.

Lev 23:10  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

The “sheaf of the firstfruits” is Christ, and the word here for firstfruits is ‘reshiyth.’ That is right; the word ‘beginning’ is also translated as firstfruits. Both are Christ. God created all things “in the beginning,” that is, God created all things “in Christ.” So when Paul tells the Pagan Athenians…

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

…He is referring to Christ. It is “in the beginning…in the sheaf of the firstfruits…in Christ, that the whole creation lives and moves and has its being. Paul goes to great lengths to make that very point:

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19  For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell;

Christ was before Abraham was because He was before Adam.

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

“It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” It should also please and comfort each of us to know that even the wicked are made for the day of evil, and that “all things (including the day of evil within each of us) work together for good to them that are called of God…”

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

So it is that when we come to see ourselves as dead at His feet, He will always lay his powerful right hand, the hand with the seven angels and the book with seven seals in it, and He will tell us ‘Yea though [you] walk through the valley of the shadow of death… fear not, I am the first and the last… fear no evil, for I am with you.’

Rev 1:17  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Conclusion

We have seen in this study that we must all “fall at Christ’s feet as dead.” We must all place ourselves under our Savior, and consider this physical life as being lost so we can find life in the spirit of Christ. We are to be “crucifed with Christ” and “fall into the ground and die” before we can hope to bring forth fruit. We must come to see ourselves as “dead to sin, but alive to righteousness,” before anyone will ever be caused to come and worship at our feet.

We have seen the spiritual significance of Christ laying his right hand upon us and making us to become, the “younger brother… that which is spiritual” which always comes after, and in the end rules over, “that which is natural.” We saw, too, that having Christ’s right hand laid upon us delivers us from the power of the Adversary to deceive and delude us.

Consequently, since we are at Christ’s feet as dead and since He has laid his right hand upon us, we can now see clearly that we have nothing to fear because He is the first and the last, and that even our sins and transgressions will all work to fulfill in us His predestined goal for our good.

Psa 74:16  The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.

Psa 80:17  Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.

Psa 139:7  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Psa 139:8  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Psa 139:9  [If] I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Psa 139:10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Psa 139:11  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

God has everything written in His book, and He tells us, “Fear not, I am the first and the last.”

Next study, Lord willing, we will cover verse 18, and maybe, because we have already covered so much here at the beginning of the book of Revelation, we might even cover more. Here is the rest of this first chapter:

Rev 1:18  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Rev 1:19  Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
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.

Here are some very wise words from our beloved brother Steve Morris, which will assist us as we go forward in our studies here in the book of Revelation. Thank you, Steve, for sharing this study with all of us:

Little Words

Who in his mind has not probed the black water? – John Steinbeck, East of Eden

If you are like me, amazed by the intricacy with which God has woven the warp and woof of His creation, then read on. It is as if God beckons us to explore further, into the deep pools of the water of His word to give us opportunity to glorify Him in ever increasing ways.

I would like to examine for you four little words. They are all prepositions in the Greek language, none longer than three letters. To begin, let us look at Romans 11:36, a seemingly short and simple verse that encompasses the whole of the creation of God. In the KJV it is as follows:

“For of him and through him and to him are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

A couple of introductory comments and then we can address the prepositions, which I have underlined for identification. First, the verb forms of ‘to be’ that are in italics are not actually words written in the Greek text but implied, and thus placed in the translation. Second, the phrase ‘all things’ is, in my opinion, an unfortunate translation into English because some people tend to differentiate what are things and what are not. There should be nothing left out of this idea so it would be best stated simply “all”.

Now, to the prepositions; as you can see I have identified them as the English words ‘of’, ‘through’ and ‘to’. I’ll make a little chart for you as sometimes it is easier to see relationships when they are illustrated.

English     Greek    Usage

OF	EK	SOURCE
THROUGH	DIA	AGENCY
TO	EIS	GOAL

Now remember, Paul is talking about “all” here in this verse. So, the source of all, the Greek word ‘ek’ (pronounced with a short ‘e’ as in ‘wet’) is translated here as ‘of.’ Sometimes ‘ek’ is translated ‘out of’ or ‘from’ which makes it clearer that God, who is the subject of this passage (referenced in verse 32), is the source of all. ‘Dia’ (pronounced ‘dee- ah’) is translated through and is clearly a statement of transition or agency, God being the one who effects all. ‘Eis’ (pronounced like ‘ice’) is translated ‘to’ but also as ‘into’ making God the ultimate goal of all which Paul says in 1Co 15:28  “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”

What I have just illustrated and described to you is a process. There are other verses in scripture which describe this process and can, God willing, help us get a better look at this process.

The next verse I want us to look at is Hebrews 2:10 “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, perfecting (aorist verb) the captain of their salvation through (‘dia‘) sufferings.” The ‘him’ of this verse is the same as in our starting verse in Romans, God the Father, and it echoes what we just saw. As we delve a little deeper into the sentence, this verse becomes quite interesting.

There are two ‘all things’ phrases and in the Greek they are practically identical, one following the other. The prepositions are the same, the word ‘dia,’ which we saw before translated as ‘through’ and expressing the idea of agency, like ‘water through a pipe.’ There is only one letter in each four Greek word phrase that is different in the two, and it is in the pronouns, both translated ‘whom’ in most Bible versions. To get really technical, one pronoun is genitive and the other accusative. The translators have chosen to translate the word ‘dia‘ in quite a few different ways: ‘by’, ‘for’, ‘on account of’, ‘because of’, and ‘through’. All of these express agency in some fashion. Because of the pronouns, I think Wuest’s translation is closest where “For whom” is literally “on account of whom,” that is, for whose sake all things exist. God is the final reason for all things. “By whom” is literally “through whose agency” all things came into being.

However one chooses to translate it, this sentence has two personalities in view; God the father and God the son. I find it instructive in that it helps me to see the dual agency (two ‘dias‘) that are involved in the creation of all.

Our next verse helps to make that point a little clearer: 1Co 8:6  “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” The phrases here are of (‘ek‘, out of) the Father and by (‘dia‘, through) the Lord Jesus Christ. The well known introduction to the Gospel of John in which the Word of God is introduced confirms Christ’s agency. Joh 1:3 “All things were made by (“dia“, through) him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

So far we have examined three prepositions in the process of the source, agency and goal of everything (all).  Now I want to introduce a final passage into this process which will bring in our fourth preposition; ‘en‘ (pronounced with a short ‘e’ sound) which can be translated as ‘in’, ‘by’ or ‘among’. It is the same word that starts off the Gospel of John: In (‘en‘) the beginning was the word”.

We are going to look at a passage from Colossians which I hope will serve to bring all this together. There are many prepositions in these six verses, and I am going to embolden and underline those at which I want us to look. There are seven of them.

Col 1:15-20 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by (‘en‘) him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by (‘dia‘) him, and for (‘eis‘) him: and he is before all things, and by (‘en‘) him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in (‘en‘) him should all fullness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by (‘dia‘) him to reconcile all things unto himself; by (‘dia‘) him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Our subject in this entire passage is the Lord Jesus Christ. In these verses, we have described for us the participation that Christ had with the Father in the creation of all.

By way of reminder, we started out in Romans with God being the first cause, the source of all as well as the agency and goal of all things. Here in our verses in Colossians you can see the Lord Jesus Christ as the agent in the word ‘dia‘ (which we addressed earlier) emphasized three times and especially strongly at the end of the passage. You will also notice that our word for the goal of the creation of all, the Greek word ‘eis‘, is translated “for him” in this passage. These two statements echo what we have seen in the other passages, namely that Christ, along with the Father, is the agency of the creation of all, as well as the goal. In what we have seen however, the Father God Himself reserves the place as source, as the title ‘Father’ describes.

Now to the little Greek word ‘en‘. In the passage cited above, it is translated into two different English words; ‘by’ and ‘in’. The word itself has the primary idea of a fixed position in time, space or even state of being and as such is most frequently translated in the New Testament by the English words ‘among’ or ‘at.’ Those two English words adequately convey the idea of being in a fixed state, as in being stationary. The first two of the three occurrences of this word ‘en‘ are a reference to Christ the creator and the things He created. So if we apply the idea of a fixed place in time, space or state to Christ, we see the echo of Him who “is, was and will be”, the immutable and unchangeable God. Apply it to all He created and they are and remain in Him, the source of all that has been created.

The third occurrence of our word ‘en‘ is translated “it is pleasing that ‘ in‘ him should all the fullness dwell.” ‘In Him” is a fixed state of being, or to put it more Biblically, a place of rest. Christ ‘is, was and will be’ at rest in His Father, and His Father, the Godhead is at rest in Him. The time will come when the ‘all’ will be at rest in them.

Steve Morris

Hi Mike,

Last Sunday, you and Steve both taught we should consider everyone our brothers (and sisters).  I believe Steve cited God’s covenant with Abraham and Noah, and you cited the parable of the good Samaritan.  Please help me, brother, for I’m having difficulty understanding this doctrine.

In my former church, we were taught that our brothers are the members (and only the members) of our church.  We were taught that the other Christians are members of Babylon and “of your father the devil”.  But after listening to your teachings, I have come to believe that those in Babylon are our brothers who persecute us, just as Joseph and his brothers typify, and Christ and those Jews who believed on Him.

Who are my brothers?  Our Lord has answered this question directly:

Mat 12:48 And He answered and said to him who told Him, Who is My mother? And who are My brothers?
Mat 12:49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, Behold, My mother and My brothers!
Mat 12:50 For whoever shall do the will of My Father in Heaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother.

But I also know that not all of His disciples are disciples indeed (Joh 8:31).  And not all who call Him Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat 7:21).

Mat 5:22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be liable to the judgment. And whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the sanhedrin; but whoever shall say, Fool! shall be liable to be thrown into the fire of hell.

Did Christ consider those Pharisees whom He called fools twice (Mat 23:17, 19) brothers?

I believe He did because He did go through Gehenna fire.  But I’m not saying our Lord sinned by doing so because He did not get angry in vain (Gk.- eike, translated “without a cause” by KJV).  His chastisement are always for a good purpose.

Mar 10:29 But answering, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, There is no one who forsook house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake and the gospel,
Mar 10:30 that will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the coming age, eternal life.

Here I believe our Lord is teaching us that if we forsake our spiritual brothers in Babylon, then we will receive spiritual brothers (the elect) in this life and in the coming age.  But I could not see from the scriptures above that the Lord treated non-believers during His time as His brothers.  I know that everyone will be converted in His image in the lake of fire, but not in this age.  I hope I explained my difficulty clearly.  Right now, I can’t see why we should consider non-Christians as brothers in this age.

Please know that I’m not trying to contradict your and Steve’s teaching.  My goal in this letter is this:

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Your brother in Christ,

V____

Hi V____,

Thank you for your question. I am pleased to see that you understand that Joseph’s brothers are indeed his brothers and are not to be considered as heathen, even though they hate him more than the heathen or Gentiles do.

Act 3:13  The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

That is the point that Steve and I were making Sunday. Neither our brothers in Christ nor our brothers in Adam, who is the figure of Christ, are to be in any way disdained. Here is why, as Steve pointed out:

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

Gen 9:1  And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Gen 9:8  And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
Gen 9:9  And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

So while Paul knew that Abraham had been chosen out of Noah’s apostate children, he still realized that all men were his brothers and were descended from their Creator through Adam and Noah.

You are exactly right, spiritually speaking. The spiritual Gentiles are not spiritual brothers in Christ. What Steve and I were both saying is that we must never forget that all men are our brothers and sisters as being God’s children and “offspring.” As God’s spiritual children, we will be hated by many who consider us to be their enemies, while we consider all men to be our brothers through these verses of scripture:

Gen 3:20  And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Act 17:26  And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

Act 17:29  Forasmuch then as we [Gentile unbelievers] are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
Act 17:30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

While we are all God’s offspring we are also all commanded to repent:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

I apologize if our answer in any way sounded as if we did not think that there was an advantage to knowing Christ. Of course, there is a great advantage to knowing Christ. It is a matter of life and death:

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

However, if we claim the name of Christ and call ourselves sons of God and do not do the things Christ says to do, then our circumcision is counted for uncircumcision; our son of God status is counted as the seed of the serpent status, and we are worse off than a person who had never known Christ.

Luk 12:47  And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few [stripes]. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. 

You have already quoted to me the verses in John 8 where Christ acknowledges that “those Jews which believed in Him were Abraham’s seed,” as ‘brothers in Christ,’ and yet in the same breath Christ says “If you were Abraham’s children you would do the works of Abraham.”

Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

It was in the same sense that both Steve and I were speaking. We must realize that “all things are of God,” and therefore to be appreciated as “beautiful in its time.” So also we should see all men as God’s offspring and in that sense our brothers.

This Biblical and Christlike attitude in no way denies that the seed of the serpent has not been in us all at our appointed time, nor does it deny that we have brothers in Christ who really are not brothers in Christ. Both are true in both cases, and our heavenly Father is not the least confused with Christ’s apparent contradiction when He said “I know you are  Abraham’s seed… If you were Abraham’s seed…”

Samaritans were so hated in Jerusalem because Jeroboam had set up a golden calf in Samaria and had instituted a feast in the eighth month. In other words, Samaritans were hated because they were considered apostates. If we call those who are apostates our brothers, should we not also consider Adam’s children who have never known about the true altar in Jerusalem, our brothers also?

As Steve pointed out, we are all of Adam, and we are all of Noah. God had a covenant with both of them long before his covenant with Abraham. Being a son of God and having brothers in God is a matter of constantly being called out of whatever was before. Adam, Abel and Seth before the flood; Noah was called out of Seth’s apostatized seed; Abraham was called out of Noah’s apostatized seed; Isaac was chosen over Ishmael’s rejection and casting out; Jacob was chosen over his twin brother. Finally, we come to Christ, and in Him we are all called to repentance and to recognize that God loves all His creation and is actually in the process of making all men brothers and sons in Him.

That is what Steve and I were teaching. I apologize if it came across in any other way.

I personally would prefer a brother in Adam as my neighbor over a ‘brother in Christ’ who has two horns like a lamb, but speaks as a dragon. I know the difference because I have been both.

Eph 2:1  And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

So who do we consider to be our brothers? The answer is that God is calling all men to be our brothers, and we must love them all for that reason. That calling is an ongoing process which will continue until Satan himself emerges purified from the lake of fire. Until that time our only true brothers in Christ are:

Mat 12:50 For whoever shall do the will of My Father in Heaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike