“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he”

(Pro 29:10-18)

[Study Aired May 21, 2026]

Pro 29:10  The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.
Pro 29:11  A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
Pro 29:12  If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.
Pro 29:13  The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes.
Pro 29:14  The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever.
Pro 29:15  The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
Pro 29:16  When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall.
Pro 29:17  Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.
Pro 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

This eighteenth verse of our study declares, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he”.  Each proverb we will look at is in some way connected to this verse, (Pro 29:18), seeing we know that it is God’s word that is a lamp unto our feet (Psa 119:105) that gives us “vision”.

Pro 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

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

Christ is that lamp, He is the word, and you and I are that lamp to each other if God’s holy spirit is within us as our hope of glory (Col 1:27). Simply put, what we are learning is that to be the light of the world we must have God’s spirit within us, and we are commanded to let that light shine in this dark world, and in so doing we will glorify our Father in heaven (Mat 5:14-17).

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:

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. “but he that keepeth the law, happy is he”

Pro 29:10  The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just^H3477 seek his soul.

H3477 yâshâr yaw-shawr’
From H3474; straight (literally or figuratively): – convenient, equity, Jasher, just, meet (-est), + pleased well right (-eous), straight, (most) upright (-ly, -ness).
Total KJV occurrences: 119

Saul of Tarsus comes to mind when I read this proverb. He kept the law of God, but not in the spirit, only in the letter. The fruit of his carnal obedience to a carnal commandment had him breathing slaughter against all who were of this way. “This way” of course refers to following Christ who is, “the way, the truth, and the life” (Heb 7:14-16, 1Ti 1:9, Act 9:1, Joh 14:6).

Heb 7:14  For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
Heb 7:15  And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

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

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Joh 14:7  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. (Joh 17:3)

This new doctrine was a threat to Saul as it is to all Christianity today. Saul just represents us in our days in the churches of this world, where we defend the law for the lawless, and the myriad of idols that are tightly wrapped around our hearts, having no power to obey the spirit of the law even if we considered ourselves to be spiritual Jews (Rev 2:9, Rev 3:9).

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

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.

Pro 29:11  A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.

There is a right time and a right way to witness, and continuing our reflection with the life of Saul who has been knocked down on the road to Damascus (Act 9:3-6), we learn of what has to happened to each of God’s elect in order to effectively be used of God in whatever capacity He has ordained for us to be a light in this world (Act 9:8-16). Initially we are that “fool [who] uttereth all his mind” and then after we are knocked down to the ground and come to see that we are blind (Joh 9:41), we then arise from the earth, which represents the church in the wilderness, to then see ourselves as the persecuted manchild (Rev 12:13) who by God’s grace and the faith of Christ will no longer know any man after the flesh: “And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: (2Co 5:16) but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus”. It is in the typical city of Damascus where we are going to begin to mature by being “three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink”. It’s only after we have been chastened and scourged of God that we begin to learn how to hold our tongue and “keepeth it in till afterwards”, that being the word of God that we cast before those who the Lord would have us do so, “afterwards”, and to no one else (Mat 7:6).

Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

Mat 7:6  Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Pro 29:12  If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.

There are many examples of this proverb in God’s word but I would like to focus on King Ahab whose four hundred prophets spoke in agreement with him. Ahab is typical of the mother of harlots and the four hundred prophets represents the whole [4] of Babylon whose mantra is ‘unity in the essentials, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love’. In saying this, Babylon has determined that parts of God’s word is non-essential, which we know is a lie of the devil (Mat 4:4, Joh 8:44, Psa 119:160, Psa 139:17).

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

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

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

Psa 139:17  How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

Pro 29:13  The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes.

The Lord does “make his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mat 5:45), He does  “lighteneth both their eyes”. It’s two men, the poor and the deceitful man, giving us a witness of what we must come to see ourselves as (Pro 16:1, Pro 16:4) if He is working with us in this age.

Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

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. [Both “The poor and the deceitful man”]

Pro 29:14  The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever.

Inwardly we need to continue to acknowledge our blindness without Christ giving us eyes to see and ears to hear (Joh 9:41), and that there is none so blind as God’s servant (Mat 19:27-28) because he knows the poverty that is ours in our flesh. The reward for being blessed to judge ourselves in this age, to die daily, and lose our lives is “his throne shall be established for ever”(Isa 42:18-19).

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

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?

Pro 29:15  The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

If judgement was not upon God’s elect we would naturally bring shame to our mother, Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Gal 4:26). It takes God’s judgement therefore to bring us to be children who are pleasing in God’s sight (1Pe 4:17, Mat 18:3-5). Christ who is our wisdom (1Co 1:30), increases in our lives via that judgement, “The rod and reproof give wisdom”.

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?

Mat 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.[1Pe 5:6]
Mat 18:5  And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:

Pro 29:16  When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall.

A little leaven does leaven the whole lump, and God allows heresies to manifest to show who is approved in our midst (1Co 11:19). The wicked are multiplied for our sakes, both within and without. God willing we see their fall within us as God leads us unto repentance in this age (Rom 2:4).

1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Pro 29:17  Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

We are a delight to God’s soul because of the correction He gives us, and if we are as Christ in this life we are also learning obedience by the things that we suffer through judgement (1Jn 4:17), and being His sons and daughters together in this age, we are also learning to judge spiritual matters in the body of Christ, in love (Mat 7:5, Mat 18:3, Mat 18:15-17).

Mat 7:5  Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Mat 18:3  and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 18:15  And if thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16  But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be established.
Mat 18:17  And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church: and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.

Pro 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

This is the title of our study, and vision is of the utmost importance for the body of Christ. We’ve looked at where it comes from, but in this last verse I want to look at a very important parable that ties all of what we’ve looked at today. Vision comes from knowing God and Jesus Christ (Joh 17:3), and this story in the book of Acts (Act 6:8-15, Act 7:56-60) expands for us the meaning of what that vision is, and how powerful a role it plays in bringing us to be dedicated to God to our last breath (Mat 24:13, Heb 10:25-26).

Act 6:8  And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Act 6:9  Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
Act 6:10  And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
Act 6:11  Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
Act 6:12  And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
Act 6:13  And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:[same pattern of false accusations against Stephen as was against Christ (1Jn 4:17)]
Act 6:14  For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
Act 6:15  And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Act 7:56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.(Joh 17:3)
Act 7:57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Our initial inability to acknowledge our sufficiency that is given to us of God (2Co 3:5) results in our forsaking the assembling of the brethren (Heb 10:23). The context is extremely important here, in (Heb 10:23-31). We are that sacrifice for sin for each other along with Christ (Lev 16:10), and as such we provide vision for each other by coming together and giving each other hope to endure the cross to the end, and in so doing be saved and not perish for the lack of vision in our lives (Mat 24:13).

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Heb 10:26  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:[1Co 6:3]
Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins”
Heb 10:30  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
Heb 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.(Lev 16:10)

Christ has all power over heaven and earth within each member of the body of Christ (Mat 28:18) and that is where the strength of the fit man spoken of in (Lev 16:10, 1Co 10:16) resides for each of us, if we are blessed to avail ourselves of that communion, the cup of blessing which we bless, which is the communion of the blood of Christ, and the bread which we break, which is the communion of the body of Christ, which we are (Mat 24:13, Pro 29:18, Eph 5:30).

Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. [the fruit of iniquity is to separate ourselves from one another, and to say I have no need of the body of Christ, which will lead to blindness and no vision]
Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Pro 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Rev 14:1-5  Part 1, The 144,000 Firstfruits unto God and the Lamb

[Study Aired February 7, 2025]

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred [and] forty [and] four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

Introduction

We have already demonstrated in our study of Revelation 7:1-8 that this symbol of 144,000 who stand with the Lamb upon mount Sion is the symbol of God’s elect. In chapter 7, this numbered group was contrasted with another group “which no man could number”:

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

In our study of chapter seven we took note of the fact that the great multitude which no man could number served God day and night in His temple… which temple we are (1Co 3:16-17):

Rev 7:15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

This numbered group of 144,000 is signified by the “four beasts and four and twenty elders” who sit with Christ on His throne and rule with Him a thousand years and then throughout the time of the lake of fire, beginning at the great white throne judgment which is where this group that no man could number appears.

We will not belabor that subject except to add that these 144,000 firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb, are “firstfruits” because they are the “first [to] believe in Christ” (Eph 1:12), the first to “die daily” (1Co 15:31, Gal 2:20), in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) and be judged now, in this age (1Pe 4:17):

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

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

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

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 [aorist tense] in us.

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

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

It is this numbered group who are pronounced to be that “blessed and holy”, group who will come up in the resurrection to life (Joh 5:27-30) which is also called “the first resurrection”:

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

“And will rule with [Christ] for 1,000 years” prior to the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death. We covered all of this in chapter seven, so why is this “blessed and holy” numbered group of “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” being mentioned again here at the beginning of this 14^th chapter?

The answer is that it is placed here to remind us that:

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.

“The whole creation” is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God ”who are their “saviors” (Oba 1:21):

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.

This reminder that as this numbered group of 144,000 “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, we are to be the saviors of “the creature”, meaning all the rest of mankind of all time is placed at this junction in this prophecy because the rest of this chapter, and the next two chapters remind us in great detail of the severity of the judgment which is at “this present time… upon the house of God”, and to remind us that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us after we have endured the torment in the presence of God and of the holy angels  which we must endure before we will be given to have our part in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, and to rule with Christ for a thousand years and judge all the rest of mankind in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/ second death.

This is another chapter which leads up to and prepares us for the revelation of the events of the seventh trump, which is the pouring out upon our beast the fullness of the wrath of God. The six previous trumpets were sounded and immediately explained, but this seventh trumpet is first mentioned in Revelation 10, then we are told that it is sounded in chapter 11, but it will not be explained until these 14^th-16^th chapters.

Here is how this seventh trumpet is first introduced to us in Revelation 10.

Rev 10:5  And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
Rev 10:6  And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: [no longer any delay]
Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

“The days… when he shall begin to sound…” certainly reveals that this seventh trumpet is part of a process that is taking place within us, which has nothing to do with the literal sounding of a trumpet within just minutes, or even hours. This “mystery of God” was revealed in our study of chapter 10 to be the revelation of “the secret which has been hidden from the ages and from generations”, but we need to be reminded what “that mystery of God” is. So here is that great mystery which was “declared to His servants the prophets:

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
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:

So now we know what this seventh trumpet is all about. “When this seventh angel begins to sound [within our lives] the mystery of God… the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory… should be finished, as He has declared to His servants the prophets.” Christ in us is not just a vague term or phrase. “Christ in you” has a specific meaning to those who truly know Christ. What that phrase means it that Christ is reliving His life of obedience to His Father and rejection by this world in us. What exactly does that entail? It’s not anything we have been taught by the churches of Babylon the Great. Here is what that means. Here is what the seventh trumpet is all about:

Luk 18:31  Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man [Act 22:8, 1Jo 4:17] shall be accomplished.

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

That is what the sounding of this seventh trumpet begins to “finish”. That is what He has declared to His servants the prophets. Christ is the king of the kingdom of God. Where is that kingdom? It just happens to be in the exact same place where the king of that kingdom resides:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is [the mystery which has been hid from the ages and from generations, but now is made manifest… which is Christ] within you [the hope of glory].

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
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:

That is the mystery which God has declared to His servants the prophets. It concerns both Christ in us and His kingdom within us, because those two things are not two things at all. They are both the same thing, and they are both the same event which “begins to be finished, in the days when the seventh angel begins to sound.”

These 144,000 are the symbol for the body of Christ, as those in whom He has taken up His residence.

Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

“Beginning with Moses”, just to be sure we understand, means beginning with Genesis, the first of the “five books of Moses”. “… And all the prophets” means “all of the prophets”, major and minor. “He expounded unto them in all of the scriptures…” means that “all of the scriptures” concern Christ Himself. That is what all of scripture concerns itself with. “All the scriptures… concern Himself”. They all concern Christ, because “He is the beginning and the end”, and that means He is also everything in between.

While this book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ was not written at the time He was speaking to these two men on the road to Emmaus, this book certainly is His own Revelation of Himself, in far greater detail than in the law of Moses and all of the prophets.

Having already discussed the symbolism of the 144,000 as those who comprise the body of Christ who will come up in the first resurrection and rule the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years followed by judging angels in the lake of fire, we will only dwell on the things that we have not mentioned in that past study.

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

“Having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” is the symbol we have just discussed in the previous chapter concerning the mark, name, number and image of the beast. “The mark of the name of the beast” is in our foreheads when we are living that part of our walk. “[Our] Father’s name in [our] forehead” is to have His mark and name and image and number. We cannot receive our Father’s name in our forehead without first being of our father the devil and first “receiving the mark of His name”:

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

We saw that the symbol of “in their foreheads” means that we think and act as our father the devil, when we are His children. Likewise we have our Father’s name in our foreheads as the symbol of the fact that we now, as the elect sons of God, think and act as He thinks and as He acts. We covered this in great detail when we covered this verse of chapter 13:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

This ‘mark’ is called “the mark of His name”, and the number is also called “the number of his name.”

Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Just as God had told Israel that His “mark” would be in their right hand and in their foreheads, so also the name, number and mark of the beast is in our right hands and in our foreheads.

Deu 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:[‘forehead’]
Deu 6:7  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.
Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.[‘forehead’]

The Lamb is said to be “standing upon Mount Sion”:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

Mount Sion is called the place where God will dwell, and it is called the place of God’s rest.

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

Since we are told that God dwells in His people (1Co 3:16-17), and since we are told that He dwells in us (2Co 6:16), it is obvious that “Mount Sion” is just another symbol which signifies the Lord’s elect.

Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

Since we have just established where God dwells, and we have found that He dwells in His people, we have also established that ‘heaven’ is within us, because we are also told that “God dwells in the heavens.”

Psa 103:19  The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Psa 123:1  Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

God’s voice is often referred to as “the voice of many waters”.

Eze 43:2  And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.

This statement in Ezekiel evokes thoughts of the roar that is associated with great waterfalls like Niagara Falls, which are so loud that nothing else can be heard. While that thought is no doubt very valid, we need to also remember that God’s Word is itself referred to in scripture as waters.

Joh 4:10  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

So “the voice of many waters” is the voice of the truth of God’s Word, and the Truth of God’s Word involves the truth that judgment is now on the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). Those words of God speaking of that judgment are referred to “as the voice of a great thunder.”

Exo 9:23  And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder [judgment] and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt [our flesh and the lies we believe].

It is that judgment upon our flesh and all the false doctrines which appeal to our flesh, that this seventh trumpet is all about. This 14th chapter, speaking of these 144,000, assures us that God will see us all through His judgments, but we are never to deny that we are being judged and that God’s judgment against lies and sin is so severe that all lies and liars and all sin and death will in the end be destroyed.

Notice what the presence of God’s thunder reveals:

Exo 9:29  And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; [and] the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD’S.

So even this sinful earth is the Lord’s, and all that takes place within it is His work for His pleasure:

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

The wicked are not wicked by their own free will. They are wicked “for the Lord” and for His own purpose and His own will.

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:

Our ‘will’ is shown to be nothing more than a work of “His own will”, be it for good or evil:

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his [own] good pleasure.

Nevertheless the Lord, according to the previous verse, wants us to act as if our will and our efforts are very much involved in the work He is working in us:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

So even the lies we believe are actually evil, lying spirits which are “from the Lord” by the agency of the Lord’s Satan.

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

1Ki 22:20  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
1Ki 22:21  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
1Ki 22:22  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he [The Lord] said, Thou shalt persuade [him], and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

So “the Lord… puts a lying spirit in the mouth of all” the false prophets of this world. We all hear their lies and believe their lies and propagate those lies ourselves. This all provides the Lord the occasion He is seeking against us, as He was seeking here against Ahab and as He sought against the Philistines.

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD [ Samson’s desire for a Philistine wife], that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

The Philistines in scripture signify those who are in the promised land without the agency or benefit of circumcision. They did not come up out of Egypt as we all must. They are the type and shadow of the lies that deny the need for coming through the baptisms of the Red Sea, the forty years of trials in the wilderness and the baptism of the Jordan River. In short, they are the shadow of all the lies of Babylon, and that is why hail is so often mentioned in connection with the thunder of the voice of the Lord.

Why is hail mentioned in connection with thunder? What does that hail signify and symbolize?

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

There it is. Thunder is connected in scriptural types and shadows with judgment:

Exo 9:23  And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

1Sa 2:10  The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

The judgment of that thunder will bring with it the hail and lightning which will “wipe away the refuge of all the lies” of Babylon within us. In the end, our old man is judged, dethroned and destroyed, and our new man reigns on His rightful throne in our hearts. [“Christ in you… Col 1:27]

1Sa 2:10  The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

That is the meaning and purpose for “the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder”.

“… And I heard harpers harping with their harps”

What is the spiritual significance of “the voice of harpers harping with their harps”? Who are these “harpers”? Here is who these harpers are, and once again we see that there are only two men in the entirety of scripture; our old man and our new man:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

It is the four beasts and the four and twenty elders who are these “harpers harping with their harps.” It is they who “have the harps of God.”

Who do the four beasts and the four and twenty elders with harps signfy? We are not left to guess. The answer is in the very next verse:

Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Where else do we see these redeemed of God with harps?

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Those who “stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire” are “them that had gotten the victory over the beast.” They are but one more symbol for those who “have been redeemed to God by the blood of Christ out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” They are both God’s few, chosen and faithful to the end elect. They are the 12,000 from every tribe of Israel. They are the firstfruits unto God and the lamb. They are this 144.000.

We will pause our study at this point, and we will continue our next study with verse 3 where we will discover who those are who “sing a new song”:

Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

Exo 6:1-30 How Then Shall Pharaoh Hear Me, Who am of Uncircumcised Lips?

[Study Aired April 18, 2022]

Exo 6:1  Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. 
Exo 6:2  And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: 
Exo 6:3  And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. 
Exo 6:4  And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. 
Exo 6:5  And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. 
Exo 6:6  Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: 
Exo 6:7  And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 
Exo 6:8  And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD. 
Exo 6:9  And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. 
Exo 6:10  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Exo 6:11  Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. 
Exo 6:12  And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? 
Exo 6:13  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. 
Exo 6:14  These be the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben. 
Exo 6:15  And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman: these are the families of Simeon. 
Exo 6:16  And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years. 
Exo 6:17  The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families. 
Exo 6:18  And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years. 
Exo 6:19  And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations. 
Exo 6:20  And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years. 
Exo 6:21  And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. 
Exo 6:22  And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri. 
Exo 6:23  And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 
Exo 6:24  And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites. 
Exo 6:25  And Eleazar Aaron’s son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families. 
Exo 6:26  These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. 
Exo 6:27  These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron. 
Exo 6:28  And it came to pass on the day when the LORD spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt, 
Exo 6:29  That the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee. 
Exo 6:30  And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? 

To understand chapter 6, we need to look at the closing verses of chapter 5 where Moses became bothered and discouraged and even asked the Lord why He sent him. Furthermore, Moses said to the Lord, “Neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.”

Many of us have had similar experiences. The more we think we are getting closer to the Lord through the enlightenment of His words, the more we go through certain circumstances of suffering that discourage us. This caused us to become troubled and discouraged just like Moses. Do not think, however, that increased suffering is a negative sign. Our suffering is a sign that God is in the process of delivering us from our enemy within – the old man or the beast.

Exo 5:22  And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? 
Exo 5:23  For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.

Most of the first part of chapter 6 is devoted to the Lord’s response to Moses where the Lord was assuring Moses that what He has said, He is able to execute. The Lord assured Moses of His deliverance by reminding Moses of His name and His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The second part of chapter 6 deals with Moses and Aaron’s election.

Part One – The Lord’s Assurance to Moses

Let’s now examine the response by the Lord to Moses’ discouragement in the prior chapter as follows:

Exo 6:1  Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. 

Here in this verse, we are being reminded that it is the Lord’s work to deal with the old man or the beast within, represented by Pharaoh. All we have to do is believe that the Lord will surely bring into completion what He starts.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

This work of the Lord in delivering us from the power of the beast within or the old man is characterized as being the strong hand of the Lord.

Neh 1:10  Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

Exo 13:9  And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

In the scriptures, the hand of the Lord on a negative note is judgment for the destruction of all that opposes or resists His will. So, the strong hand of the Lord is for the destruction of the beast or the old man within.

1Sa 5:9  And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.

Exo 9:3  Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.

On a positive note, this hand of the Lord is the extension of His mercies to us.

1Ch 21:13  And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.

Ezr 7:28  And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.

Exo 6:2  And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: 
Exo 6:3  And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. 
Exo 6:4  And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.
Exo 6:5  And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.

After Moses expressed his discouragement and bewilderment to the Lord, our Lord came to him to reconfirm His name and His covenant. In verse 2 and 3, the Lord said to Moses that He is Jehovah. and he appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but the patriarchs did not know Him as Jehovah. The name God Almighty, in Hebrew translation, means El Shaddai, the all-sufficient God. What this means is that we start our walk knowing the Lord as God of all supply and promise just like the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all died without enjoying the fulfillment of the promise. In their experience, God was the all-sufficient one but He was not Jehovah, who fulfills promises.

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 

On the other hand, Moses was being introduced to a God who fulfills His promises. When the Lord came to Moses in response to Moses’ discouragement, He came as Jehovah, the One who is and fulfills promises. God’s existence is not dependent on anything apart from Himself. So, what the Lord was telling Moses was that he and the people of Israel’s exit from Babylon is not dependent on Pharaoh’s mood or anything else, but it is solely dependent on Him.  In a similar vein, it is later in our walk with Christ that we come to know Him as Jehovah, the self-existing God and the fulfilling God. This means that we have come to understand that our progress in the faith, or our walk with Him, are all dependent on Him!! That is the time we really find rest in Him.

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

The Lord’s name is what He Himself is, and His covenant is His words spoken with a promise and confirmed with an oath. Our every day words spoken to each other are not covenants. However, a word spoken with a promise and confirmed with an oath is a covenant. The Lord referencing His covenant with the patriarchs in verse 4 is to let us know that what the Lord has promised, He will surely bring to pass. That was the assurance the Lord gave to Moses when he was discouraged. Today, the Lord is reaffirming His name and His covenant to us to assure us that He will never fail us. Although things may happen the way we do not desire, what is important is that His purposes and plans concerning us shall come to pass according to what He has written in our books. Every day the Lord is unfolding to us His will for our lives, and we must embrace it with joy knowing that the road He is taking us through will bring us to our safe haven!!

Psa 139:16  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (ESV)

Exo 6:6  Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: 
Exo 6:7  And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
Exo 6:8  And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.

What we need to understand is that after the first conflict with Pharoah, Moses felt he had failed. The Lord’s reaction to Moses’ perceived failure was to give him further training. God would not send Moses again to Pharoah until he had received more training from Him. The first set of training that the Lord penciled out for Moses was to impress him with His name and covenant. The Lord reminded Moses that He is Jehovah, the self-existing one, who was, is and will be. He also reminded Moses of His covenant with the Patriarchs regarding the good land.

Verses 6–8 relate to the second set of training the Lord gave Moses, and it pertains to God’s word of assurance. We must pay attention to God’s word of assurance, the word that He speaks to us again and again. Have you been discouraged by the fact that you haven’t seen any significant progress with the death of the old man within you? Then, you are in the same place as Moses. Four things are mentioned here regarding the Lord’s word of assurance. First, the Lord said that He will deliver the children of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage. We, like Moses, are also being assured by the Lord that we shall be delivered from the beast or the old man within. We do not know how the Lord will accomplish this, but what we are aware of is that it will be through judgment (strong hand) that the old man would be put to death in our lives. It is the work of the Lord!! My brothers and sisters, what the Lord starts, He is able to finish. Let’s depend on Him!!

2Ki 19:31  For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

Hos 6:3  Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. 

The second assurance given by the Lord to Moses was that He will take the children of Israel to Himself for a people, and He will be our God. Didn’t the people of Israel reject Moses’ words? But here the Lord is saying that they will be His people!! No matter what we are today in our own eyes or that of others, God is assuring us that we will be His chosen people. Sometimes, within us comes the voice of the old man powered by the devil that we are so far away from the Lord’s righteousness and that we are not fit for the kingdom!! Don’t condemn yourself. It’s time to take your eyes off yourself and look to Jesus!! On the day Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples kept looking at Him as He ascended. They were not looking at themselves. If they did so, they would have been extremely discouraged.

Act 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 
Act 1:10  And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 
Act 1:11  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

It was while the disciples were gazing up into heaven that two men appeared to them to assure them that Christ will come to them. The two men in white apparel represent the two witnesses or the elect. The fact that they were wearing white apparel is to assure the disciples that they will be clothed with Christ’s righteousness when He comes to them!!

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

The third assurance given by the Lord to Moses was for Moses to know that the Lord is Jehovah. As we have explained earlier, Jehovah means the self-existing one. This is to assure Moses that his work of delivering the people from their bondage does not depend on him but on the Lord. He does the work!! Our transformation to be children of the Lord is God’s work and does not depend on us!!

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 

The fourth assurance given to Moses was that the Lord will bring the children of Israel into the promised land. Remember that the promised land represents our bodies. Thus, what the Lord is assuring us is that we shall overcome the flesh or the old man.

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Exo 6:9  And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. 
Exo 6:10  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Exo 6:11  Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. 

Moses was also being trained in relation to the children of Israel’s unbelief and Pharaoh’s stubbornness. All the rebellious attitudes of our brothers and sisters who left us are all for our good or learning. As we shall see later, through the unbelief and Pharaoh’s stubbornness, Moses got to know his shortcomings and depended on the Lord alone. All the Lord’s elect ahead of us experienced the rejection by some of our own brothers and sisters and of course, Babylon at large. Let’s look at our Lord’s overwhelming rejection by all his disciples in the time of His need.

Mar 14:50  And they (His disciples) all forsook him, and fled. 
Mar 14:51  And there followed him a certain young man (Mark), having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him: 
Mar 14:52  And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked. 

Mar 14:27  And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. 
Mar 14:28  But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. 

This is what Paul and John also went through:

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
2Ti 1:16  The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: 

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

All these experiences are for our admonition so that when we encounter such opposition or resistance from those we consider as our brothers and sisters in our walk with Christ, we will know that the Spirit of the Lord is with us and that we are doing something in line with His will and purpose.

The fact that we are being made aware of the stubbornness of Pharaoh is to let us know that the beast within, or the old man’s demise, is a process and not a one-day wonder. It takes a whole lifetime to become perfected!! Let us, therefore, not focus on temporal setbacks of sin in our walk with Christ as we desire to please Him. The old man will surely die, and its death is gradual – we die daily giving way to the new man after the image of Christ.

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

Exo 6:12  And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? 
Exo 6:13  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

Here in verse 12, Moses told the Lord that he was of uncircumcised lips. This is reiterating what he said earlier in his encounter with the Lord in Exodus chapter 4 when he said that he was not eloquent and that he is slow in speech and of a slow tongue. Moses was complaining that the Lord had not done anything to make his mouth powerful such that it becomes easier for people to believe. As indicated earlier, Moses here was under training to lead the Lord’s people, and part of the training is for Moses to admit that he can of himself do nothing so that he would depend on the Lord wholly for the Lord’s work. It is not of him that wills or runs, but of the Lord that shows mercy. Success in becoming transformed by the Lord does not depend on ourselves by way of our skills, speaking, wisdom, etc. It depends wholly on the Lord!!

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 

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

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

It is in this context that in spite of Moses realizing his inability to lead the people of God, the Lord was still insisting that Moses, together with Aaron, has the mandate to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Once we have been chosen by the Lord, it is the Lord’s work to bring us to completion. Why then, do we get distracted by what we are going through, knowing that it is the Lord’s work, not ours, to bring us to our safe haven?

Part Two – God’s Election

In verses 14–26, we are given the genealogy of Reuben, Simeon and Levi. The intention for this record of genealogy is to let us know, from Jacob to Moses, who were chosen by the Lord. Although Jacob had twelve sons, only three were represented here. This is to let us know that the elect must go through judgment as part of the process of becoming spiritually mature.

Exo 6:14  These be the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben.

Reuben’s genealogy is mentioned here because Reuben was the firstborn and as firstborn, Reuben should have received the birthright – the double portion of Jacob’s inheritance. However, his act of incest by sleeping with his father’s concubine, Bilhah, made him forfeit the birthright. This birthright symbolizes the Lord’s election. What this means is that Reuben and his families were not called and chosen by the Lord to lead His people out of bondage.

Gen 49:3  Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: 
Gen 49:4  Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. 

Deu 21:17  But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

Exo 6:15  And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman: these are the families of Simeon.

Simeon was the second son of Jacob and Leah. Simeon’s descendants became one of the twelve tribes of Israel. He and his brother Levi tricked the Hivites of Shechem and massacred all the males because one of them had raped Dinah, their sister. Later, Jacob deplored this deed. Simeon, being the second born, should have received the birthright after Reuben, the firstborn was rejected. However, Simeon and his family also missed out on the Lord’s election.

Gen 49:5  Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

Exo 6:16  And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years. 
Exo 6:17  The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families. 
Exo 6:18  And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years. 
Exo 6:19  And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations. 
Exo 6:20  And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years. 
Exo 6:21  And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. 
Exo 6:22  And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri. 
Exo 6:23  And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 
Exo 6:24  And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korhites. 
Exo 6:25  And Eleazar Aaron’s son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.
Exo 6:26  These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. 
Exo 6:27  These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron.

Levi was the third son of Jacob and Leah. As indicated, Levi participated in the massacre of Shechem males in retaliation to Dinah’s defilement. His three sons, Gershon, Kohath and Merari were ancestors of the three main divisions of the Levitical priesthood – the Gershonites, the Kohathites, and the Merarites. On his deathbed, Jacob cursed both Simeon and Levi because of their cruelty and wrath. Despite all the negatives, the Lord called and chose the tribe of Levi for the priesthood and specifically chose Moses and Aaron for the deliverance of His people. These lessons are all written for our admonition, upon the ends of the world 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.

What we are to understand is that our being called and chosen by the Lord is not because of what we have done or are doing. It was all done by the Lord before the foundations of the world. So, what we need to pay attention to here is that He who has called and chosen us will do the work to bring us to our inheritance. It is not our work. Let us therefore have confidence in Him that what He starts, He is able to finish!! This is why this genealogy was written in this part of the word of the Lord by Moses at the time Moses has despaired of leading the Lord’s people out of Egypt. The essence of this genealogy is to encourage us that in spite of all our weaknesses, what is important is being called and chosen like Moses and Aaron. Once our Lord grants us the grace to respond to His call, He is able to accomplish His will concerning what He has written in our books!!

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. 

Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Zec 4:7  Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. 
Zec 4:8  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Zec 4:9  The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. 
Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth. 

The question is, “How do I know that I’m called and chosen?” The fact that we are understanding the mysteries of the kingdom of God is a sure sign that we are called and chosen. Let’s not doubt our election!!

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

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 

Exo 6:28  And it came to pass on the day when the LORD spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt, 
Exo 6:29  That the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee. 
Exo 6:30  And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? 

The fact that Moses recognized his inability to convince the people of Israel and Pharaoh with his speaking by saying that he had uncircumcised lips has been repeated here in verse 30. This is to let us know that it serves as a witness and that it is established.

2Co 13:1  This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 

Gen 41:32  And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

This means that what Moses said in terms of having uncircumcised lips applies to us all and that at a certain point of our walk with Christ we shall come to realize that we do not have what it takes to do the Lord’s work. In other words, as we walk with the Lord, our inadequacies will become obvious to us, and the devil may use this to try to disqualify us from the prize. That is why the Lord brought Moses’ election here at this point by giving us his genealogy to convince us that it is not about our inadequacies that matters but about our election. However, on a positive note, the Lord uses this to let us know that it is not our work but His work so that we will wholly depend on Him!!

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 
2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

In conclusion, we will end this review with the story of Jesus in a boat with the disciples crossing the sea from one end to another. This is because the disciples had the mandate of the Lord to cross the sea just as Moses had been given the command to go to Pharaoh to let the Lord’s people go. Therefore, this story summarizes the import of chapter 6 of Exodus.

Mar 4:35  On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 
Mar 4:36  And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 
Mar 4:37  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 
Mar 4:38  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 
Mar 4:39  And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 
Mar 4:40  He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 
Mar 4:41  And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (ESV)

What we need to understand is that Jesus had already spoken to the disciples that they should cross the sea to the other side. Once the Lord has spoken, it is done!! Crossing the sea to the other side signifies overcoming the flesh (sea) in order to enter the kingdom of God (the other side). This is what the Lord has to say about His words:

Isa 55:11  so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 

Thus, we are in the same shoes as Moses regarding what the Lord had promised. However, in crossing the sea (overcoming the flesh), there are challenges – the great windstorms of life. They come in diverse ways – sickness, financial difficulties, family troubles, distress, loneliness, rejection, etc. These are all part of the Lord’s judgment on our sea of flesh. The good news about all this is that Jesus is in the boat with us, just as the disciples were with him in the boat, and therefore, we cannot perish with Him. However, our natural tendency is to accuse the Lord of not caring while we are going through all these troubles just like the disciples and Moses did.

Mar 4:38  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 

Exo 5:22  And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? 
Exo 5:23  For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.

When the storm was raging, Jesus was asleep. Another way of saying this is as follows:

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

Since the disciples did not perish, we shall also not perish. At the appointed time, the Lord will awake in our situation to rebuke the windstorm. That is when we shall testify just like the disciples said, “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey?” What this means is that our Lord has full control of all that takes place in the spiritual realm (wind) and the physical world of flesh (sea)!!

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

May the Lord help us all to experience like the disciples of Jesus the fact that the Lord is in full control of everything that happens to us!! He is in our boat (within us) and therefore, we shall not perish!! Amen!!

Matt 26:21-30, Mark 14:18-26, Luke 22:21-23, John 13:18-32

[Study Aired November 2, 2021]

Joh 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
Joh 13:19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
Joh 13:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Joh 13:21a When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, 
Mar 14:18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said,
Joh 13:21b and testified, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
Luk 22:21 But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.
Luk 22:23 And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.
Mar 14:19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?
Joh 13:22 Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
Joh 13:23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
Joh 13:24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
Joh 13:25 He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
Mar 14:20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish,
Mat 26:23b the same shall betray me.
Mat 26:24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
Joh 13:26 He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
Mat 26:25 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
Joh 13:27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.
Joh 13:28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him.
Joh 13:29 For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.
Joh 13:30 He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.
Joh 13:31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
Joh 13:32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
Luk 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Mat 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Luk 22:17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
Mat 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom,
Mat 26:30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Mar 14:26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Luk 22:39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

Today’s study picks up after Christ washed the feet of the twelve disciples. Washing feet represents being a servant. Christ gave us this example and commanded his disciples to do the same for each other. We are to be the servants of the body of Christ. We do not serve each other by the ritual of foot washing as many practice. We wash each other’s feet by giving our time, energy, thoughts and support by laying down our lives as a living sacrifice.

Rom 12:1-2  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

This study will focus on those who are and are not able to eat at the Lord’s supper. Our first verses tell us that among the chosen there is a betrayal taking place. 

Joh 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
Joh 13:19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
Joh 13:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Joh 13:21a When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, 
Mar 14:18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said,
Joh 13:21b and testified, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
Luk 22:21 But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.

Being with Christ at the table represents being called and chosen. Being called and chosen, you may partake in the passover and have your feet washed, but that does not entitle you to eat the Lord’s supper. The disciples at this stage cannot determine who is the betrayer.

Luk 22:23 And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.
Mar 14:19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?
Joh 13:22 Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.

Notice the disciples are looking at one another doubting that any of them is a betrayer. It takes Christ in us to determine the betrayer within the group of the called and chosen.

Joh 13:23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
Joh 13:24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
Joh 13:25 He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
Mar 14:20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish,
Mat 26:23b the same shall betray me.
Mat 26:24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
Joh 13:26 He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
Mat 26:25 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.

Judas is the betrayer who has been chosen by Christ since the beginning of the world. The scriptures are now fulfilled.

Psa 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

Judas represents the called and chosen that cannot continue in Christ’s word who fall away without repentance and cannot go on into perfection in this age.

Joh 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Heb 6:1-6 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, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Judas also represents the fornicator within us that must be destroyed.

Joh 13:27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.
Joh 13:28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him.
Joh 13:29 For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.
Joh 13:30 He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.

Christ has now delivered Judas to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

1Co 5:1-13 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. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 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, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 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: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 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. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Judas will not be saved until the lake of fire, and he is used as a warning to the elect to examine their hearts continually for any fornication taking place within themselves.

Psa 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Now is the Son of man glorified. It takes being cast away to Satan for this to take place.

Joh 13:31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
Joh 13:32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.

The Lord’s Supper can now take place.

Luk 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Mat 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Luk 22:17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
Mat 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom,

The new testament is now beginning. The old is passing away.

2Co 5:11-21 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The churches of the world have turned this into a ritual. The Lord is not creating a ritual for mankind to perform. The Lord is telling us what it takes to reign with him in the kingdom of God.

Mat 26:30 And when they had sung an hymn, 
Luk 22:39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

Eph 5:1-21 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-kings-1ki-35-15-behold-what-manner-of-love-the-father-hath-bestowed-upon-us/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-kings-1ki-35-15-behold-what-manner-of-love-the-father-hath-bestowed-upon-us Fri, 20 Aug 2021 02:39:33 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=24171 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ugtpz3g3ohcev48/Tony-1ki-3_5-15.mp3?raw=1

1Ki 3:5-15 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us”

[Study Aired August 19, 2021]

1Ki 3:5  In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
1Ki 3:6  And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
1Ki 3:7  And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
1Ki 3:8  And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
1Ki 3:9  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
1Ki 3:10  And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
1Ki 3:11  And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;
1Ki 3:12  Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
1Ki 3:13  And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
1Ki 3:14  And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
1Ki 3:15  And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

The love that God bestows upon us is revealed by calling us sons who are not known of the world, and is typically being  revealed to us via Solomon, a type of the elect whose father was David, a type of Christ (1Jn 3:1). God’s love is expressed through Christ, and this tells us that we, being as He is in this life, will be sent as Christ was sent (1Jn 4:17, Joh 20:21) to express this same love to the rest of the world (2Co 5:18, 1Co 8:6).

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

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Solomon at first was truly humble and “not known of the world”, but as we know, later in his walk he would be corrupted by the world and have his heart turned by those things which represent our own power and self-willed nature that, if God does not chasten and scourge out of us (Heb 12:6), will cause us to drift back into the world like Demas, Titus and Crescens (Deu 17:16, 1Ki 4:26, Psa 33:17-18, 1Ki 11:2-3, 2Ti 4:10).

Deu 17:16  But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way [negative – running with horses (Deu 17:16) and positive – expression of running with horses (Jer 12:5)].

1Ki 4:26  And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

Psa 33:17  An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
Psa 33:18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy [Heb 5:7];

1Ki 11:2  Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.
1Ki 11:3  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

This turning away of Solomon’s heart was simply because of a lack of fear and reverence toward God’s command that told him you “shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt” as well as his desire to cleave “unto these in love”. Love is obedience to God’s commands, which tells us to forsake the world and cleave unto him who is the author and finisher of our faith (1Jn 2:15, Jos 23:8-11)

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Jos 23:8  But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.
Jos 23:9  For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
Jos 23:10  One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
Jos 23:11  Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

In type and shadow, God was not bestowing upon Solomon the kind of correction that would have prevented him from getting all those horses that represent his own power, his own righteousness (Php 3:9), and God did not prevent him from having all those wives and concubines that add up to one thousand, which represents the same hidden desire that will continue to be in the heart of mankind throughout the thousand year reign until the sins of the Amorites come to their fullness expressed in the rebellion of Gog and Magog against the camp of the saints (Rev 20:8).

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

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.

Solomon did not have any more power than anyone of us to walk in God’s commandments and keep His statutes, which if he would have had, he was promised God would “lengthen his days” of 1Kings 3:14. Yet for his father’s sake, who typifies Christ our olam/father, the whole kingdom would not be taken out of his hands despite himself: “Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes” (1Ki 11:34).

1Ki 3:5  In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

It is in “Gibeon” (“hill city”), which typifies where we are raised in heavenly places (Eph 2:6), that we learn of our high calling that is in the Lord (Php 3:14, Psa 121:1-2).

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

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Psa 121:1  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Psa 121:2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

It is “in a dream by night” that God comes to us and says “ask what I shall give thee“. The elect’s high calling in Christ is being typified at this express moment in Solomon’s life (Psa 2:8-10). The “dream by night” reminds us that light comes out of darkness and that the dream God gives us reveals the singleness that is in Christ (2Co 11:3), a dream that is one that brings us to conclude and be convinced that there is one body with many members (Gen 40:8, Gen 41:25, Rom 12:5).

Psa 2:8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession (Joh 11:22).
Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Psa 2:10  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Gen 40:8  And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.

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

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity [singleness] that is in Christ.

Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another [Joh 17:22]

1Ki 3:6  And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

This verse is central to our study as it shows us that David who was a type of Christ was shown “great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness”. The great kindness that God kept for Christ was the inheritance of the saints [his wife] typified by Solomon who was the son who would “sit on his throne [David’s], as it is this day” which is why the title of our study is what it is “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God [Rev 20:4, Mat 19:28]: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”(1Jn 3:1, Eph 1:18, Rom 8:17, Col 3:24, Col 1:12). Abraham, who also typifies Christ as David does, reminds us of this same inheritance that is in Christ and in the elect (Gen 17:4, 1Co 15:28).

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,

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Gen 17:4  As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

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.

1Ki 3:7  And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
1Ki 3:8  And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

This was a good place where God had Solomon, being able to acknowledge his need on the Lord for everything with these words: “I am but a little child” (Mat 18:3-4) who needed constant direction from God to know how to “go out or come in“, which is a shadow of how we need the Lord to show us how to walk circumspectly in this life as we’re led by God’s holy spirit (Rom 8:14-16), conducting ourselves in a way that glorifies God when we come together in “the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (Eph 5:15-17, 1Ti 3:15). Understanding the will of God is walking circumspectly, and that can only be done by being given power over all that is in the world through Christ, both within and outside ourselves (1Jn 2:16-17, 1Jn 5:4).

Mat 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Eph 5:15  See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Eph 5:16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Eph 5:17  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

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

Solomon was in the midst of so great a people who were chosen,  “which thou hast chosen“, a symbol of how we are in the midst of the few chosen, taken from “a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude“, but who will be redeemed in God’s appointed time (Mat 22:14, Rev 17:14, Rev 7:9-14).

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

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

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

1Ki 3:9  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
1Ki 3:10  And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

This was a most pleasing thing Solomon requested of God: “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.” Again we see the humility being expressed in Solomon’s words who recognizes that the job at hand is one that can’t be accomplished without God’s mercy and kindness being shown to him by giving him a discerning  heart, “for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?“

In the new covenant we have these parallel verses which remind us of the desire God has put in the elect’s hearts to ask for the ability to prophecy (1Co 14:1-3). The way we come to be able to “discern between good and bad” is the lifetime goal to which God has called us, bringing us to that point of maturity where we can partake of strong meat that nourishes us in our life of much tribulation in the Lord (1Pe 5:10, Act 14:22). Strong meat is eaten when we rightly divide that meat, discerning good and evil and light and darkness, understanding the goodness and severity that is required in God’s plan in order to mature (Rom 11:22).

1Co 14:1  Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
1Co 14:2  For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1Pe 5:11  To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

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.

Solomon’s question, “For who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” is answered for us with these verses: (1Co 6:3, Oba 1:21), and as we read earlier it is those who have suffered and are being made perfect and being established and strengthened and settled that God is setting to judge in the church, as opposed to laying hands on those who are least, meaning they are yet carnal babes in Christ (1Co 6:4-5, 1Ti 5:22, 1Co 3:4).

1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

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

1Co 6:4  If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
1Co 6:5  I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

1Ti 5:22  Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.

Our goal then is to all come to that point of being mature sons of God who share in a unity of mind (Eph 4:13, 2Co 11:3) that produces a speech pleasing to the Lord, reflected in this verse: “And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.”

Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity [singleness] that is in Christ.

1Ki 3:11  And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

In type and shadow we are being told that Solomon did not ask amiss to consume these things upon his own lusts, by asking the things that we all would normally ask when we are trying to preserve our flesh from a carnal standpoint (Jas 4:3).

Jas 4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

In the negative sense, Adam seeks “Long Life” and “riches for thyself” and destruction of “thine enemies without, but in the positive sense, God has promised those who lose their life (“thine enemies” all that is within the world within us [1Jn 2:16]) by honouring Him and the workmanship of His hands, the church (Eph 2:10), will be given “Long Life” with ‘the first commandment with promise that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth’ in glorified bodies (Eph 6:2-3, Joh 17:3-5, Joh 17:22).

Eph 6:2  Honour thy father [Christ] and mother [Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Gal 4:26)]; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
Eph 6:3  That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 17:4  I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Joh 17:5  And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

To ask for “understanding to discern judgment” is not something that the first man Adam asks for, seeing there is only a way that seems right unto him that leads to death which prevents him from desiring a discerning spirit (Pro 14:12). The “riches for thyself” represent the self-righteous acts of our life, like the rich young ruler, who we all once were, not being able to discern the true riches found in Christ that can’t be compared with anything (Php 3:8). The true “riches for thyself” begin to be understood when we come to see that we have no riches at all without Christ in our life (Luk 18:21, Rev 3:17, Joh 6:44).

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Luk 18:21  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

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

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. [“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them” in earnest now and one day in the fullness.]

The truth of the matter is there are no greater riches than that which God gives to those who diligently seek him and acknowledge their own blindness and continual need for a physician in this life as we overcome by dying daily to the wantonness within our flesh. Therefore, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2Co 7:1).

1Ki 3:12  Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
1Ki 3:13  And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.

Once again we are shown in type and shadow the outcome of those who are called and chosen and faithful to the end with these words: “I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee“; words that represent the exceeding great and precious promises (2Pe 1:4) God has promised to the elect, all foreshadowed in the life of king Solomon in this book of kings that was written for our sakes.

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

God pours out such incredible blessings upon Solomon as one who typifies those who will be blessed and holy to be in the first resurrection, having all our life given to God, represented by the tithe we bring into the storehouse (Rev 20:6, Mal 3:10).

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.

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

All of this is a gift from God toward Solomon that he inherited through birth and anointing, just as God’s elect who are born again by the will of God (Joh 3:3, Joh 1:13). We are “a little child”, the weak of the world, the not-many-noble brethren (1Co 1:28-29) receive “riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days“. This last typical statement was confirmed by this statement of Christ in the new covenant (Luk 7:28).

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Joh 1:13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

[What an amazingly rich and merciful gift God’s love is (Eph 2:4-6) toward Christ’s body and bride who is born again and has been chosen in this life to be kings and priests under him 1Jn 3:1]

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

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

Luk 7:28  For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

1Ki 3:14  And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

The expression “lengthen thy days” is symbolic of receiving eternal life, and we understand that this is eternal life: to know God and Jesus Christ. As mentioned before, this is connected with the first commandment with promise for God’s kind of first fruits (Joh 17:3).  In the old covenant, ‘walking in my ways and keeping my statutes and my commandments as thy father David did walk’ is also typical of the new walk that we have in Christ Who makes it possible for us to bear each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, of which all these expressions are a shadow “walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments.” We walk “as thy father David did walk” who is a type of Christ, so we walk as Christ (1Jn 2:6) and not the physical man David, knowing that the least is greater than John, or David, or Abraham (Mat 11:11).

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

1Jn 2:6  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked [Col 1:24, Rom 8:14-16, Heb 5:7].

1Ki 3:15  And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

It’s true Solomon’s heart went after his many wives just as we went after many churches in Babylon, and his confidence was in his own flesh just as ours was or can be when we are convinced that we are rich and increased and have need of nothing like the rich young ruler spoken of in scripture. So, in the positive sense, Solomon’s life can be seen as a type of God’s elect who, despite himself and his eventual going after many wives and relying on his own power, was still promised in 1Kings 11:34, “Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes.” This tells us that it is because of Christ, who is typified by David, that if we are the elect of God, we are accepted despite ourselves, and the whole kingdom is not taken out of our hand (Eph 1:6, Luk 17:21).

“Solomon awoke” (Rom 13:11) is a spiritual statement revealing that when we are given eyes to see and ears to hear of all the blessings and promises God is going to bestow, it is done through “a dream” at night, which is the time when our flesh is most inactive and therefore better able to receive the instruction He has prepared for our good in our heavens (Job 33:15-18).

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Job 33:15  In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
Job 33:16  Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,
Job 33:17  That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.

What Solomon did when he awoke out of that dream: “And he came to Jerusalem (Gal 4:26), and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants“, symbolizes for us what we now do as God’s servants, offering our whole life to Him (Rom 12:1).

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Because of that dream, which we know is one in the Lord, we see ourselves as the beloved of God, one body of believers who have been chosen to be His servants in this age who go to Jerusalem above (Rom 12:5, Eph 2:6, Gal 4:26) to worship Him in spirit and in truth standing before our Father and Christ, symbolized by standing “before the ark of the covenant of the LORD” (Joh 14:20).

Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you [Rom 12:4].

In the positive sense, it is at this ark that we will offer up “burnt offerings” in order to be accepted of God and “peace offerings“, with which if not present in our lives, we won’t see the Lord (Heb 12:14-15).

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
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;

Making “a feast to all his servants” (Luk 12:37) reminds us of the love we have for one another as fellowservants who are sharing in our “feasts of charity<supG26” together as one body (Rev 19:7-9, Rom 13:11-13, Jud 1:12). When we sacrifice our lives for each other, we truly are beholding “what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us” and partaking of His life (1Co 10:16, Joh 6:54-55).

Luk 12:37  Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted [Rom 3:27, 1Jn 5:4] that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: [“Solomon awoke“] for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/what-is-the-distinction-between-the-bride-of-christ-and-the-body-of-christ/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-is-the-distinction-between-the-bride-of-christ-and-the-body-of-christ Mon, 01 Jun 2020 17:51:46 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=20914 What Is the Distinction Between the Bride of Christ and the Body of Christ, and God’s Called, Chosen and Elect?​

Hello,

I have no idea how I found your website, but I believe it was the Lord leading me to read it. If the Lord wills, please can you explain this spiritual significance plainly because I am having severe trouble understanding it and believe it to be personal for my life. I have also been looking at the differentiation between the bride of christ and the body, which seems to be completely echoed here, too.

Summed up, is it as simple as Judah’s sin forfeits blessings and even entrance into heaven? ​I​s not salvation eternal and guaranteed, and do we have a choice between being called and chosen?

I am a child in Christ without much understanding and would appreciate any help.

The distinction between God’s, God’s chosen and God’s elect? Is this not only depend​e​nt on our maker but also on us?

Thanks, H____

Hi, H​____,

Thank you for your e-mail and your questions.

You ask:

[What is] The distinction between God’s called, God’s chosen and God’s elect?

I remember well learning with my Wigram’s Englishman’s Greek Concordance that the Greek word translated as ‘chosen’ is the exact same Greek word which is also translated as “elect” as in “the very elect”. Here is a cut and paste from my e-sword, which will demonstrate what I just told you:

G1588
ἐκλεκτός
eklektos
Total KJV Occurrences: 23
elect, 13
Mat_24:24, Mat_24:31, Mar_13:22, Mar_13:27, Luk_18:7, Rom_8:33, Col_3:12, 1Ti_5:21, Tit_1:1, 1Pe_1:2, 1Pe_2:6, 2Jo_1:1, 2Jo_1:13
chosen, 7
Mat_20:16, Mat_22:14, Luk_23:35, Rom_16:13, 1Pe_2:4, 1Pe_2:9, Rev_17:14
elect’s, 3
Mat_24:22, Mar_13:20, 2Ti_2:10

So God’s chosen and His elect are on​e​ and the same. His elect are chosen out of the many called, and that is why we are told, “Many are called but few are chosen [elect].”

Mat 22:14  For many are called,^G2822 but few are chosen.^G1588

Notice, that these two words are used here in this verse being contrasted with each other. Here is the definition of the Greek word translated as ‘called’:

G2822
κλητός
klētos
klay-tos’
From the same as G2821; invited, that is, appointed, or (specifically) a saint: – called.
Total KJV occurrences: 11

Here is where this word appears in the New Testament:

G2822
κλητός
klētos
Total KJV Occurrences: 11
called, 11
Mat_20:16, Mat_22:14, Rom_1:1, Rom_1:6-7 (2), Rom_8:28, 1Co_1:1-2 (2), 1Co_1:24, Jud_1:1, Rev_17:14

Now here is the definition of the Greek word translated as ‘chosen’ or ‘elect’:

G1588
ἐκλεκτός
eklektos
ek-lek-tos’
From G1586; select; by implication favorite: – chosen, elect.
Total KJV occurrences: 23

Here is where this word appears in the New Testament:

G1588
ἐκλεκτός
eklektos
Total KJV Occurrences: 23
elect, 13
Mat_24:24, Mat_24:31, Mar_13:22, Mar_13:27, Luk_18:7, Rom_8:33, Col_3:12, 1Ti_5:21, Tit_1:1, 1Pe_1:2, 1Pe_2:6, 2Jo_1:1, 2Jo_1:13
chosen, 7
Mat_20:16, Mat_22:14, Luk_23:35, Rom_16:13, 1Pe_2:4, 1Pe_2:9, Rev_17:14
elect’s, 3
Mat_24:22, Mar_13:20, 2Ti_2:10

I hope this all helps you to see that ‘klaytos’ means called, and that ‘out of’ , Greek, ‘ek’, the ‘klaytos’ few are ‘eklektos’, elected or chosen.

Your next question is:

“Is this not only depende​nt on our maker but also on us?”

I will again point you to:

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:

I am not going into this question in this e-mail. I have answered this question already in great depth in an article which is in the Essential Reading section on the home page. Here is a link to that article which answers this question in great Biblical detail:
After the Counsel of His Own Will

Read that article, and if you still have any questions on this subject then feel free to get back to me.

You are certainly correct in deducing that the Lord led you to the web site. As I just pointed out, He is the One who is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”:

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:

I hope I demonstrated for you there is no difference between the body of Christ and His bride:

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

If we are Christ’s elect and if we are granted by Him to be faithful to the end of our lives, then we are Christ’s bride and His wife:

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

Paul tells us clearly “the body” is the church, so this is not really a subject for debate if we take Paul’s words as the words of God.

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:

I pray I have answered your questions to your satisfaction. Let me know if I can be of further service to you in understanding the Lord’s mind on these questions.

YbiC, Mike

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-4011-20-all-the-nations-before-him-are-as-nothing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-4011-20-all-the-nations-before-him-are-as-nothing Fri, 19 Apr 2019 23:13:51 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=18649

Isa 40:11-20 All the Nations Before Him Are as Nothing

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Isa 40:11-20 All the Nations Before Him Are as Nothing - Discussion

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Isa 40:11-20  All The Nations Before Him Are As Nothing

Isa 40:11  He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. 
Isa 40:12  Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 
Isa 40:13  Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? 
Isa 40:14  With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 
Isa 40:15  Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 
Isa 40:16  And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. 
Isa 40:17  All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. 
Isa 40:18  To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 
Isa 40:19  The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 
Isa 40:20  He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

This prophecy of Isaiah is founded on all the scriptures which precede it, and in turn, it is the foundation of the prophets who followed Isaiah. This prophecy is the “vision” and understanding of the work the Lord is performing in “Judah and Jerusalem” as types of His elect.

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD , they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Judah and Jerusalem are Old Testament types of the Lord’s elect who were chosen from “before the world began” (2Ti 1:9 and Tit 1:2) to be “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” (Rev 14:4), and to be those “who first trusted in Christ (Eph 1:12).

Neither this nor any other prophecy of scripture was ever intended to be understood by anyone other than the Lord’s elect at “this present time” (Mat 13:9-15 and Rom 8:18). This prophecy of the entire book of Isaiah concerns the apostasy and redemption of the Lord’s first fruits, and it is built upon the truth which had been revealed many years earlier by King Solomon:

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

Those words being the Truth, it follows that the Lord’s elect, typified by Judah and Jerusalem, should be the first to understand that the Lord has given them an evil experience to humble them. It is for that reason this prophecy is addressed to the Lord’s typical elect who are the first to see themselves as ‘rebellious children… a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.’

God’s elect ones are not His elect because they are any better than other people. The fact is the exact opposite. God’s elect must come to see themselves as “the basest of men… chief of sinners”:

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

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

As we have clearly demonstrated in the scriptures, Jacob was far more offensive to Esau than Esau was to him. King David was far more offensive in taking Uriah's wife and then his life than King Saul was in taking the spoils of the Amalekites. Hezekiah was no better than his wicked father, Ahaz. Yet Jacob, King David, and Hezekiah were all given “place for repentance” and were all given the humility to confess their sins and repent. But the scriptures want us to know that the Lord’s elect, you and I, are “chief of sinners… the basest of men”, and that “no flesh should glory in his presence”. Here are our qualifications as the Lord's elect:

1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The verses above are the Biblical list of the qualifications of those whom “God has chosen” as His elect. The Greek word translated as ‘chosen’ is ‘eklegomai’. It appears in the New Testament 22 times and it is always translated as ‘chosen, chose, or choice’. 

G1586
ἐκλέγομαι
eklegomai

Total KJV Occurrences: 22

chosen, 16
Mar_13:20, Luk_10:42, Joh_6:70, Joh_13:18, Joh_15:16 (2), Joh_15:19, Act_1:2, Act_1:24, Act_15:22, Act_15:25, 1Co_1:27-28 (3), Jam_2:4-5 (2)

chose, 4
Luk_6:13, Luk_14:7, Act_6:5, Act_13:17

choice, 1
Act_15:7

This word has the same root as the word translated ‘elect’, which is the Greek word ‘eklektos’, which is also translated as ‘chosen’ seven times in the KJV:

G1588
ἐκλεκτός
eklektos

Total KJV Occurrences: 23

elect, 13
Mat_24:24, Mat_24:31, Mar_13:22, Mar_13:27, Luk_18:7, Rom_8:33, Col_3:12, 1Ti_5:21, Tit_1:1, 1Pe_1:2, 1Pe_2:6, 2Jo_1:1, 2Jo_1:13

chosen, 7
Mat_20:16, Mat_22:14, Luk_23:35, Rom_16:13, 1Pe_2:4, 1Pe_2:9, Rev_17:14

elect’s, 3
Mat_24:22, Mar_13:20, 2Ti_2:10

This prophecy and all of scripture demonstrate that the Lord is just as merciless on the old man of His elect as He is on the old man in all the rest of mankind. In other words, those who are blessed to “find a place for repentance” do so only because of their election; their being chosen by God for that blessing and for that position, and the Lord wants us to know that if we are given that blessing it has nothing whatsoever to do with our own righteousness or anything that comes of ourselves. That is why this book begins as it does:

Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD , they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

It is in spite of our weakness and corruption that we as the Lord’s elect are granted to ‘find a place for repentance’ while all others are not given that grace, even though they might seek to do so:

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 entire story of King Hezekiah, starting in chapter 36 with the Assyrian invasion, the deliverance of Hezekiah from that invasion, His ‘sickness unto death’, the turning back of the sundial, his healing and Hezekiah taking the credit for all the Lord’s works for him and through him, typify how the Lord’s elect do the same things, and yet we are ‘given a place for repentance’, while others, who are no worse than we are, are not given that blessing. The entire story of the experience of King Hezekiah is given to us, not just as a history lesson, but as types of us, to let us know just how special we are to our Lord, and to let us know just how powerful He is on our behalf.

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

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

The Lord is intent on making His elect aware of the work He is doing in and through them for their good and as His tool to bring salvation to all men:

Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 
Eph 3:12  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

At the same time He is intent upon making us aware that we bring absolutely nothing to the table. Everything is being done “by the faith of Him… [and it is all being made] known by the church”, signified by ‘Zion’ and ‘Judah’ in the last two verses of the most encouraging words of our last study:

Isa 40:9  O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! 
Isa 40:10  Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

Being given the commission by the Lord to be the bringer of “good tidings… unto the cities of Judah” and assuring them that their success is “His work” is something special and worthy of our greatest “respect”:

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.

Just as we are being sent to feed and comfort the Lord’s flock, He Himself feeds and comforts us:

Isa 40:11  He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. 

We are in the very best hands anyone could hope to be. Christ Himself is our spiritual ‘insurance policy’, and to keep us aware of His qualifications to keep us safe in Himself, He asks us to consider:

Isa 40:12  Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 
Isa 40:13  Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? 
Isa 40:14  With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 

The answer to every one of those questions is, “Absolutely No one!” So instead, this is what we are given as answers to these questions:

 1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 
1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 
1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 
1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

As our experience has and does and will continue to demonstrate, it is very few indeed who are given to “know the things that are freely given to us of God”.  

Paul drives home this point concerning the promises of God in the second epistle to the Corinthians:

2Co 1:18  But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. 
2Co 1:19  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. 
2Co 1:20  For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 
2Co 1:21  Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 
2Co 1:22  Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

“In Christ”, inwardly and in spirit, we can say with Him, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth:”

Mat 28:16  Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 
Mat 28:17  And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 
Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Here is how we apply these words if we are “in Christ” and as we understand what it means to be “as He is… in this world”.

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

“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” does not give me the power to speed up the Lord’s agenda, or to start at this moment acting as if I have all power in heaven and in earth in an outward manner. That day will NOT arrive until after the first resurrection at the spiritual last ‘trump’, meaning the time of the beginning of the outward judgment of the kingdom of this world as we are plainly told:

Let's put those verses together.

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
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 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.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

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.

No, “in this present time” (Rom 8:18) we are to ‘be subject to the powers that be [because they] are ordained of God [and if we] resist the power [we are] resisting God… and [we] will reap to ourselves damnation’:

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 
Rom 13:2  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

Here is what “all power in heaven and in earth” empowers the Lord’s anointed to accomplish at this time:

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 
Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 
Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

That is what is “freely given to us of God… [at] this present time”:

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.

At “this present time” we are given power over all sin within. We are not yet given power over all sinners outside ourselves or outside the body of Christ because at “this present time… the kingdom of God is within [us]:

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

Where in those two verses do we read that there will never be an outward kingdom? The answer is, it is not there because that is not true. There will be an outward kingdom of God ruling over all the outward kingdoms of this world and not just “the kingdom… within you”:

Rev 11:15  And, the seventh messenger, sounded; and there came to be loud voices in heaven, saying—The kingdom of the world, hath become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign unto the ages of ages. [The “thousand years” and the “second death/ white throne judgment/ lake of fire]”.

We are not yet given “power over the [outward] nations” as we will be given if we are granted to ‘have part’ in the blessed and holy first resurrection’:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection [“of life” Joh 5:28-29]: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The saints of God have never before been raised up from the dead in “the first resurrection”, and those who are “in Christ” have never before been given “power over the nations [to] rule them with a rod of iron” nor to “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel”. Nevertheless, that is exactly what will happen at the appointed predestined time, and all those who doubt and deny these Biblical Truths will be just as astonished as the whole world was when the flood of Noah occurred.

Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.  

However, there will not be one soul in the first resurrection who has not first been humiliated in this present time and granted to dash in pieces all the nations within themselves. Only after having experienced the death of our old man in the first judgment, which begins at the house of God in “this present time”, will we be granted the blessing of being in the “blessed and holy first resurrection to judge this world and then judge angels.

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 4:14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 
1Pe 4:15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 
1Pe 4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 
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.

Why would we not “commit the keeping of our souls to him in well doing” after all:

Isa 40:15  Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 
Isa 40:16  And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. 
Isa 40:17  All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. 

As the Lord’s elect, those words are just as true and as reassuring to the nations inwardly and spiritually as they are outwardly. If indeed our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, then our inward nations and giants and our passions and our flesh is “counted to him less than nothing and vanity”, and nothing can separate us from Him and His love:

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? 
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 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. 

It is my prayer the Lord will give every one of us the faith of Christ to simply believe the Lord’s inspired words here, and to accept it as a true Biblical fact that the Lord is making everything work together for our good as “the called according to His purpose” whom He foreknew and predestined to be the firstborn among many other brothers, who will come to him through our mercy (Rom 11:31), and that Christ is at this very moment in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us, and that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What more can we ask of the Lord?

Isa 40:18  To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 

The answer is obvious considering what we were just told. There is nothing to which our Lord can be likened. Nevertheless, it was only yesterday that even the Lord’s elect were worshipping the man of sin who had set himself up in the temple of God showing himself to be God with a will that was free from the will of God.

It is spiritual adultery to believe and teach that our salvation depends upon anything other than Christ and His work and His will, but because we at first think only physically, we all deny that we have ever been guilty of our last verses in today’s study:

Isa 40:19  The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 
Isa 40:20  He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

According to the scriptures we are this “goldsmith”, and the ‘gold’ we ‘melt’ and ‘spread’ and the ‘silver’ we ‘cast’ is the Lord's words, which we twist to say what we want to hear:

Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

Joe 3:5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

Idolotrous images in scripture are false doctrines and “idols of the heart”:

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 inquired of at all by them?

In our next study the Lord will again reassure us that He is at the helm, and no one and nothing can deter what He is doing, and nothing anyone does is hidden from Him who is working everything after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11):

Isa 40:21  Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 
Isa 40:22  It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: 
Isa 40:23  That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. 
Isa 40:24  Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. 
Isa 40:25  To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. 
Isa 40:26  Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. 
Isa 40:27  Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD , and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Isa 40:28  Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD , the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 
Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 
Isa 40:30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 
Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. 

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/foundational-themes-in-genesis-study-91/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=foundational-themes-in-genesis-study-91 Mon, 27 Apr 2015 01:42:40 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=9415 Foundational themes in Genesis – Study 91

(Key verses: Gen 35:21-29: Gen 37:1-2)

The book of Genesis starts with a general picture of the creation of this physical world with the focus on one individual – the first man Adam. All these physical things or visible things of creation are used by God to serve as types of an inward spiritual process He is working to bring His spirit life through another individual, the last Adam, even Jesus Christ, through whom all things actually have their being from the beginning to the conclusion of this process (Rom 1:20; Rom 5:14; Act 17:28; Joh 1-1-5; Col 1:15-19; Rev 1:8):

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.

This narrowing down process is repeated throughout scripture to also emphasize this important truth which few can accept:

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

God indeed has His chosen favorites through whom He works His plan to bring all to spiritual maturity eventually (Eph 1:3-12). Through the creation of heaven and earth, God also brought about two generational lines through Adam and his wife Eve, which again highlights God’s election and how He works with His chosen few to bring forth His purposes and desires (Gen 3:15; Rom 8:5; Gal 5:17; 1Jn 3:1-3; 1Jn 3:12-13). Naturally, we all start off with the spirit of the world in us, which opposes and hates the new spiritual generation in Christ, but the few chosen eventually become aware of their election in this age (1Jn 2:16; Rom 8:14-17). Through the life of Noah we see that this narrowing-down process applies even within those who are called and chosen as the sons of God, as God has a faithful few that will endure until the end (Mat 24:13; Mar 13:13; Heb 12:7; Rev 17:14):

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

From the whole human population on the entire earth, and from the chosen sons of God of that time, only eight people were saved through faithful Noah (2Pe 2:5):

Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Gen 6:9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Gen 6:10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

After the flood, the narrowing-down process is highlighted again through the generation of Shem, Noah’s one son who received the blessing from God above his other brothers (Gen 9:26-27). Through the offspring of Shem, the focus moves swiftly in the scriptures to the life of Abraham where much more detail is given to us about this man of faith and his descendants (Gen 10:21-32; Gen 11:10-31; 1Ch 1:17-27). Through faithful Abraham, we see the type of spiritual justification which comes through the faith of Christ in us (Rom 4:1-3; Gal 3:6-9). This justification by faith also establishes the foundation from which Isaac, a type of spiritual sonship in Christ, is entrenched and developed (Gal 3:26-29; Rom 8:14-23):

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

Through the life of Jacob, we learn about the rights of the firstborn of the spirit of God, even our inheritance through Christ (Deu 21:15-17; Rom 8:29; Jas 1:18). As sons of God we also learn through the life of Jacob that the process of sanctification is a long and enduring work of God by which He positions us in the right place to function in God’s kingdom and to serve Him and those with whom we are joined in His body (1Co 12:12; Eph 4:16; Eph 5:31; Col 2:19). Sanctification has to do with getting purged from immature lusts driven by pride and self-righteousness:

2Ti 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
2Ti 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

After the experiences of Jacob and his family in Shechem and Bethel, and also after the death of Rachel in Ephrath, they journeyed farther with their tents – now under the new name as the family of Israel (the prince that prevails with God):

Gen 35:21  And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.

A tower usually spiritually refers to an elevation in us, whether it is the high-mindedness of the carnal mind of flesh, or the mind of Christ in us (Gen 6:5; Gen 11:1-6; 2Co 10:5; 1Jn 2:16; Psa 61:3; Psa 144:2; Pro 18:10). The name “Edar” refers to a flock, and it is the flock of Jacob (his own offspring) on whom the spotlight of the scriptures falls in this last section of Genesis. This period in the lives of the sons of Jacob also relates to how the tower of God (His mind) is established to bring in God’s spiritual rulership through the destruction of all human towers, even as typified by the life of Joseph (Jdg 9:51-54; Pro 18:10; Isa 30:25). Jacob was given twelve sons – the first ten sons were all from three different women: Leah, Jacob’s lesser loved wife bore him six sons; two sons from Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, and two sons from Bilhah the handmaid of Rachel. But the last two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, were born from his favourite wife, Rachel:

Gen 35:23  The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:
Gen 35:24  The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:
Gen 35:25  And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:
Gen 35:26  And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram.

With Jacob’s return to Canaan, his father Isaac was on his last days, and Jacob and Esau buried him when he died. Rebekah’s death is not mentioned in scripture, only the place of her grave with the buryingplace which Abraham bought for his family (Gen 49:30-32):

Gen 35:27  And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
Gen 35:28  And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.
Gen 35:29  And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Although both Esau and Jacob came together to bury their father, their two households or generations are used in the scriptures as opposing each other, again emphasizing this theme in scripture of the flesh’s opposition to the spirit (Gal 5:17). But now this opposition or contrast shows its application within the household of Jacob. It is this more intimate division in us which needs to be exposed, although painfully so. This also applies to the church of God as the apostle Paul also warns:

1Co 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
1Co 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

It is indeed through the life of Joseph and what he stood for, that we see how the house of Jacob is divided and disintegrating, to manifest Joseph’s approval by God. It is also through Joseph that the house of Jacob will eventually be reunited after many years of alienation. The theme of spiritual glorification is brought to us through these typical experiences of Joseph – from almost being killed by the brothers who hated him, to be eventually placed in the highest authority at that time, to rule the whole world of his day. What Jesus mentioned, and which was written down in Matthew concerning this road of spiritual glorification for His spiritual generation, sounds very familiar when we look at the life of Joseph, who was to be “separated from his brethren” (Gen 49:26):

Mat 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Mat 19:30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

This is the road of the elect in Christ who are being changed “from glory to glory” to be His true spiritual rulers on this earth, and they will also be the judges who will sit with Him on thrones:

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

Through Joseph we learn so much about how rulership of this world is established (inwardly first), and how this process of spiritual glorification is masterfully worked by God in His elect (Psa 73:24; Isa 60:1-2; Isa 66:5; 2Th 1:12; 1Pe 5:10). This is how the apostle Paul described this process by which the spiritual sons of God are made faithful to be glorified in the Christ

Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Yes, it is only through suffering with Christ that we are glorified to bring fulfillment to God’s plan of salvation for all mankind (Eph 1:4-6):

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.

The experiences of Joseph are first given to us in the scriptures when he was at the age of seventeen where he, even at this young age, showed a strong desire for the truth, even at the risk of losing his life at that age:

Gen 37:1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob [as per Genesis 35:23-26]. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report [Hebrew: “dibbâh” = slander].

The first aspect that is mentioned here in terms of Joseph and his relationship with his ten brothers is this aspect of “their evil report”. In spiritual terms, the number ten relates to the flesh, and this physical age is an evil experience which is the report we must first live by (Ecc 1:13). We are first these ten brothers of Joseph before we are given to see and acknowledge our own evil report to our heavenly Father. The Hebrew word for “report” in verse 2 is the word “dibbâh” which means “slander” and this connects with ‘unbridled’ words and deceitful and evil actions (Rom 2:23-24; Eph 2:2-3; Eph 4:22; Php 1:27; Heb 13:5; Jas 1:26). Joseph’s fearlessness in bringing the slanderous words and deeds of his brothers to his father’s attention is very insightful. This slanderous report also relates to those who honour and glorify themselves believing they are God’s shepherds, but in doing so they rather bring dishonour to God. They twist God’s Word and reject His true doctrines (Jer 23:1-2; Jer 50:6). The faithful sons of God will have no fear or show no favour in bringing to the light these evil slanders of the unfaithful shepherds or the “hireling” who opposes the truth and flee when trouble comes to the flock (Joh 10:1-18; Tit 1:9):

Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Eph 5:12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
Eph 5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Jacob is on the receiving end of all these evil slanders of these ten sons. The evil report of the deeds of Simeon and Levi, which was previously also brought to Jacob, caused him trouble and made his name “to stink among the inhabitants of the land” (Gen 34:30). The evil in the hearts of Simeon and Levi was revealed after their sister, Dinah, was raped by the son of the prince of Shechem (his name was also Shechem). Some of the sons of Jacob made a deceitful deal of forgiveness with Shechem and his father to have all the men of Shechem circumcised to allow intermingling and intermarriage between the two groups. However, Simeon and Levi slaughtered these men of Shechem on the third day after their circumcision while they were still in great pain. After this horrible series of events in Jacob’s household, yet another evil report concerning his family reached Jacob:

Gen 35:22  And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob, slept with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and this slanderous act was severely condemned by Jacob, even in his final words on his deathbed:

Gen 49:3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
Gen 49:4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

The reports of these acts of the sons of Jacob were also not what Joseph agreed with or took part. He was indeed separate from his brothers in these evil slanders against their father. This is not what these brothers wanted him to do as they wanted him to join them in these slanders. Even when they sold Joseph as a slave, they had no problem reporting deceitfully to their father Jacob:

Gen 37:31 And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
Gen 37:32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no.

Joseph is a type of Christ, and the world cannot accept the righteous report of God about His Son (Joh 8:18-19; Joh 8:54-59):

Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

The world also cannot accept the report of the Israel of God who declare with boldness that the Christ is indeed the Saviour of all men and that God “will have all men to be saved…to be testified in due time” (Gal 6:16; 1Ti 2:3-6). The world cannot accept that God has His favour on a few whom He elected because the world cannot stomach the fact that God uses “the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty”:

1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Joseph, like Christ, was seen as an insignificant immature youth by his brothers, and he was despised and not esteemed by them. These evil slanders are what the Christ, Christ and His elected body of believers, will have to face all the time to be glorified (Luk 24:26; Luk 24:46):

Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

When the two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb, who had a “different spirit” than the spirit of the world in their fellow Israelites, came to report to Moses about the prosperous conditions of the promised land and that the inhabitants were actually no problem for God in whom they believed, the majority rejected this report because they preferred to believe the evil and faithless report of the other ten spies:

Num 13:32 And they [the ten spies] brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
Num 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Num 14:36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander [Hebrew: “dibbâh”] upon the land,
Num 14:37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report [Hebrew: “dibbâh”] upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
Num 14:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

This is what Moses also codified for our learning concerning the false reports which elevate human perspectives:

Exo 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Exo 23:2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest [pervert] judgment.

God’s spiritual land and His spiritual promises will bring life to those who can receive His good news report, while the majority or multitude will love the evil and false reports, even coming through modern day news and media agencies highlighting the importance of human efforts and achievements. They do indeed despise the truth that God works all things after the counsel of His will and that nothing is outside of His control. The good report of God includes the judgment of God on our old man and all its false reporting about God (including all human ideologies and false religions). We shall all give an account of our own multitude who murmurs against God and slanders His ways of doing things in this creation:

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

It is in giving this truthful account that we break ranks with our fleshly brothers in the first Adam and become the target of those whose works do not witness to the light and truth of Christ. As it happened to the righteous Christ, who also reflected openly about the evil reports of His physical Jewish leaders and brothers, so Joseph brought his brothers’ evil report to his father. This action of God’s elect will always inspire more intense hatred and despising in the hearts of those who oppose the truth, as it happened with Joseph’s brothers towards him (Ecc 4:4; Mat 10:22; Joh 10:34). At this point in time Joseph had no idea what evils were still ahead of him, especially at the hands of his own brothers. In the end, when they all reconciled with him, he could utter this comforting and truthful report to the same brothers:

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.

The final report that Jacob received about Joseph was the best report of all. The report of death has changed to a report of life, even as all in the body of death of the first Adam will be given the resurrection from that death to be given spirit life in Christ:

Gen 45:24 So he [Joseph] sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
Gen 45:25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,
Gen 45:26 And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.

Jacob revived on hearing the words of Joseph and seeing the wagons, typifying the words of Christ and His provisions through them:

Gen 45:27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
Gen 45:28 And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.

After Jacob’s death, Joseph’s brothers still believed he would take vengeance on them and could not as yet accept Joseph’s truthful forgiveness, neither could they understand the sovereignty of God over all things in this creation:

Gen 50:18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

Joseph indeed mentioned their evil again, but it was not done to bring up old matters which they thought Joseph kept in his heart against them, but rather he did that to show God’s report to them and that they were part of His plan and His acts:

Gen 50:19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Gen 50:21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

Our own evil and slanderous reports will be replaced by God’s truthful report as being the one true God who works all things to bring forth His holy desires (Job 23:13; Isa 46:10). To compile this report of the works which are all caused by our heavenly Father will require us to see that we indeed live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This is also what Job had to learn through his painful trials which brought increasing maturity in Job:

Job 2:10 But he said unto her [his wife], Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Our spiritual glorification as ministers of God comes through the acknowledgement of both evil and good reports – “all things are yours” (1Co 3:21-23):

2Co 6:4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
2Co 6:5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
2Co 6:6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
2Co 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
2Co 6:8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
2Co 6:9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
2Co 6:10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

God created all things for His good purposes, and that is why they are very good as He alone can call evil good (Gen 1:31; Isa 5:20). God is the only one who is accountable or responsible for everything in His creation because He designed and structured all reports and accounts long before we even become aware of this truth – our books are all in His book:

Psa 139:16 (ASV) 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.

————

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

How Does Christ Manifest Himself to Us But Not to The World?

How Do We Know We Are Elect?

Make Your Calling and Election Sure – Part 2

Numbers in Scripture

Did Joseph Slander His Brothers?

Why We Are Hated of All Men

What is The Glory of God?

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/make-your-calling-and-election-sure-part-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=make-your-calling-and-election-sure-part-2 Fri, 02 Jan 2015 13:16:54 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=8637

Audio Links

Download “Make your calling and election sure” – Part 1 by Mike Vinson

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Make Your Calling And Election Sure – Part 2

by Mike Vinson

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence [G4704, spoudazo] to make your calling and election sure:for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

Introduction

In our concluding study we will take Peter’s admonition step by step and apply it to our walk “to make [our] calling and election sure”. In doing so we will note that these words are addressed only “to them who have obtained like precious faith with us…” and that this “precious faith… grace, and peace” comes only through “the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, [and] through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”. What that tells us is that “the knowledge of God and Christ are essential to our salvation. We must “know… God and Jesus Christ”:

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

The reason I mention that is for the same reason Peter mentions it. Peter and all of the apostles of Christ were acutely aware of the truth of these words of our Lord:

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen [to “know… God, and Jesus Christ”.

Peter explains that our grace and peace is multiplied to us “through our knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord”. He tells us that our grace and peace accords with His divine power by which God gives to us “all things that pertain to life and godliness”, and by that gift of “all things that pertain to life and godliness”, we are also given “great and precious promises” which in turn give us access to “the divine nature”, which “divine nature” delivers us from “the corruption that is in [this] world through lust”. It simply is not natural to resist “the corruption that is in the world through lust”

It is our own lust, our own desires, especially our desire to please men rather than God, which robs us of our salvation in this age. The salvation produced by the lake of fire is certain to all men:

Joh 9:22  These words spake his parents [the parents of the man who was born blind, and was healed by Jesus], because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

But the great honor of being in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection” is given to very few of mankind. It is given only to those few who are not asleep and slothful, but are awake and diligent, and who endure to the end, the fires of our judgment in this age, while we are yet in these vessels of clay:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial [“the seven last plagues”, Rev 15:8] 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 [at the first resurrection, Rev 20:6], ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

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.

It is very instructive for us to know that the word translated as “give diligence” in 2Pe 1:10 is the very same Greek word translated as “study” in this verse of 2 Timothy:

2Ti 2:15  Study [G4704, spoudazo -“give diligence”, 2Pe 1:10] to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Ti 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
2Ti 2:20  But in a great house [“You are the temple of God”, 1Co 3:16] there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

Here in 2 Timothy 2 we have another promise. We are told that “if [we] purge [ourselves] from… vessels of… wood and earth… [we] shall be… prepared unto every good work”, which accords with our promise in 2 Peter 2:

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence [G4704, spoudazo] to make your calling and election sure:for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

The source of our faith

Peter begins by informing us that his calling and our calling is only exists because we have “obtained like precious faith”. Where do we get this “precious faith”?

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Our faith “is a gift of  God”, and it is “not of ourselves”.

Where do we obtain ‘grace’?

2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

We are blessed not only to know that we are given God’s favor, His ‘karis’, His ‘grace’, but we are also blessed to know what being given that favor entails:

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;

The Greek word from which the English word ‘teaching’ comes is ‘paideuo’ and it means ‘to chasten’, as in this verse of scripture:

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [Greek, paideuo], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

“Every son” who [God] receives is graced with His chastening and scourging. This places much more meaning upon this statement of scripture:

Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

God’s chastening and scourging are given freely, and they will always overpower the pulls of sin and death upon us, simply because God has declared it to be so:

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

Again, our grace and our faith, and the peace of mind He has given to us, are all “the gift of God [and] not of ourselves”. They come to us “through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord”.

2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

Everything that pertains to life and godliness comes to us through knowing God and His Son, and through knowing that they have called us to glory and to a life of virtue, and not a life of turning the grace of God into lasciviousness:

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. [Don’t speak of the fear of God, and never use the word ‘punish’; use much smoother words]

Those who are given to “know God and His Son” will recognize “the voice of a stranger” when they hear a voice that tells us that Biblical commandments and Biblical phrases are much too harsh. For example, the scriptures teach us to use corporal punishment upon our physical children:

Pro 19:18  Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

Pro 23:13  Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Pro 23:14  Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

That is God’s own method of operation with mankind:

Psa 89:32  Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

Whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges:

Pro 13:24  He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

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?

But this is the spirit God has placed in many of those who have “crept in unawares…”

Isa 30:8  Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

When “Jesus of Nazareth” hears such smooth words, this is what He tells all who come to Him “speak[ing] deceits [and such] smooth things”:

Mar 8:33  But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
Mar 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mar 8:35  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.
Mar 8:36  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Mar 8:37  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mar 8:38  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

How we are “partakers of the divine nature

I have been asked, “Why would anyone want to reign over others?” The question is posed to suggest that anyone who wants to rule and reign with Christ during the thousand years is a vain sort of person who simply wants to “lord it over the Lord’s flock”. But that is not why Christ wants to reign over this world at all. Christ, and all in whom He dwells, wants to reign over this world for the good they will be given to do at that time. They will rule over all of God’s enemies with a rod of iron, and when their reign is completed, they will be used by God to destroy corruption and death. Those are only few of the “great and precious promises we are given in Christ, and it is “by these” that we are made “partakers of the divine nature”, which always has and always will dominate and rule the carnal, lust-filled and  rebellious mind of the flesh and of the realm of darkness.

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

It was by “the exceeding great and precious promises” given to Christ that He was able to “despise the shame” of the cross. Christ esteemed the shame of the cross to be nothing compared to the glory into which He knew He would inherit by being faithful to His Father’s plan and His purpose:

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

If Christ is in us, and if we have “the same mind”, we too, will consider the sufferings of this present life to be unworthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed within us:

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.

“The creature” means all mankind, and just as you and I have waited for the appearing of Christ in our lives, all mankind is awaiting the resurrection of “the Christ… the Lord and His Christ… His body”. That is “the earnest expectation of the creature”.

Being made “partakers of the divine nature” delivers us from the corruption that is in the world because “All that is in the world”, all the corruption that is in this world, comes through these three types of lust:

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Now we come to a principle that will help to simplify every admonition given in scripture:

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence [Greek G4710, spoude], add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence [G4704: spoudazo] to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

These words are not suggestions which we can just take or leave. We must add virtue to our faith or our faith is dead faith with no virtuous works. We cannot have virtuous works if we have no knowledge of the mind and commandments of God. When we have the knowledge of God and His Son, we will add temperance and control of the beast which we are to that knowledge because we want to be “as He is”.

Temperance and self-control are the foundation of patience with all mankind who we know are nothing more or less than tools in the hand of a sovereign God. Living a life that truly believes that God is working “all things after the counsel of His own will” gives us the power to be patient with all men, because we know we are really just being patient with what God is working in all men. The patience of Christ in us can produce nothing short of a Godly, Christ-like life which is a life of kindness toward all men and a life filled with the unconditional agape, love which is what Christ is:

1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

And we are right back to the fact that love is obedience to the God we call our Lord:

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

It is Christ Himself who poses this question:

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

2 Peter 1:1-10 are “the things which [Christ] says”, via His Father’s spirit, and if we are given to listen diligently to these words, we will “study [Greek: ‘spudazo‘, be diligent] to show ourselves approved unto God…”

2Ti 2:15  Study [Greek: spoudazo, be diligent] to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Here is what Christ tells us about those who are diligent to obey Him and to apply every word of 2 Peter 1:1-10:

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

Peter repeats the message of the parable of the house built on a rock or on the sand with these words:

2Pe 1:8  For if these things [these sayings of Christ] be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence [G4704: spoudazo] to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

Conclusion

I will close with a few verses which I hope will give you hope and remind you who you are and therefore remind you how you should “behave yourself in the house of God”:

Ezr 7:23  Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

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.
Heb 12:18  For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Heb 12:19  And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
Heb 12:20  (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Heb 12:21  And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Jud 1:24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Jud 1:25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Who are you, and what is the body of Christ? You and I must know who we are or we cannot make our calling and election sure, and I am telling you that you will be challenged concerning who you are just as the adversary challenged Christ saying “If you be the Son of God…” This is who we all are, if Christ is living His life within us:

1Ti 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

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The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God – Part Five

The Day of Atonement

Why Christ’s Firstfruits Are “Afflicted For Your…Salvation”

Introduction

In this series of studies on the Biblical overview of the plan of God, we are demonstrating that the holy days revealed the progressive steps of that plan. It begins with the passover, which signifies the death of Christ for our sins. Passover is immediately followed by the days of unleavened bread, in which a wave sheaf of the early spring barley harvest is offered to God, signifying the resurrection and ascension of Christ as the first of the firstfruits of God’s harvest and the beginning of the process of putting sin out of our lives while we are “yet carnal… babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4). The next step in God’s plan for mankind is demonstrated by the feast of Pentecost, which signifies our spiritual birth as the firstfruits of Christ on the day after seven sevens of days. It is not until this step in God’s plan that we are for the first time in our lives “converted” and are now finally able to begin to be chastened and judged by our loving heavenly Father (1Pe 4:12-17). This period of being judged is signified by the trumpet judgments which we must endure only after we are, for the first time, spiritually converted on the day of Pentecost. This time of judgment upon the house of God is signified by a day of blowing of trumpets in the Fall of the year, which is the first day of the seventh month. Nine days later, on the tenth day of the seventh month, is the day of atonement, which is the subject of our study today.

We have already covered the feast of trumpets, but we need to briefly review that feast which comes, as we have noted, just nine days before our next holy day, which is not a feast but is instead a fast.

We saw in an earlier study that there is another other Old Testament spiritual type of this day of blowing of trumpets. That other type was the seven priests blowing seven trumpets which brought down the walls of Jericho. So the feast of trumpets, and the seven priests blowing the seven trumpets that brought down the walls of Jericho, were the two Old Testament shadows of the spiritual reality of the seven trumpets of Revelation. It is the seven trumpets of the book of Revelation which bring down the spiritual walls of Jericho within us which withstand the armies of God within our heavens (Jos 6 and Rev 8)

In both cases the opponents of the armies of heaven are destroyed through the judgments of the seven trumpets. Trumpets in scripture were used to call the people together and to call them to war.

This is what we are told about the function of trumpets during the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah:

Neh 4:18 For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me [Nehemiah as a type of Christ].
Neh 4:19 And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another.
Neh 4:20 In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.

That is the most common meaning of the blowing of trumpets in scripture. There is a great battle taking place when trumpets are being blown, and the Lord is the captain of His armies both at Jericho and at Jerusalem and also in the spiritual battles in the book of Revelation. But the battle which the trumpets of the book of Revelation reveal is for the hearts and minds of God’s elect. It is a spiritual battle for the very kingdom and throne of God which is usurped by the sins within the kingdom of the beast who is named “the first man Adam”.

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

This is the real battle with which the trumpets of the revelation of Jesus Christ are concerned, and like the priests at Jericho, there are seven trumpets that must sound in our lives before the spiritual significance of the feast of trumpets will be realized within us.

But notice who is commanded to blow those trumpets:

Isa 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

The judgment of sin in our lives is the first and primary significance of the feast of trumpets, but in the overview of the plan of God, there is also an outward, dispensational fulfillment which will inexorably lead up to the consummation of the aions and will fulfill the plan of God. That outward application will be just as physically painful without as the spiritual is within. We struggle in the heavens, but we do so while we are here on this physical earth just as “Christ our passover” did.

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

In Christ we, too, are simultaneously on this earth and “in heaven”:

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

It is here on this earth, yet seated with Christ on His Father’s throne in the heavens, that the feast of trumpets and the judgments of those trumpets take place in the lives of Christ’s firstfruit harvest. Christ Himself tells us:

Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

This feast of trumpets reveals to us that Christ came to call us to be the first to go to war against the law of sin and death.

Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

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.

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

He did not come to bring peace on this earth. He came to judge it, but only in His firstfruits at this time:

Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword [of judgment].

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

The feast of trumpets signifies the beginning of the judgment of God upon all men. That judgment “begins at us”, and that beginning of God’s judgment is what the feast of trumpets signifies.

Jeremiah 4 gives us the meaning of the feast of trumpets.

Jer 4:5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.

Jer 4:19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Jer 4:21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

Jer 6:1 O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

Jer 6:17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

The feast of trumpets signifies those who do listen, and upon whom the judgments of God are poured out and are received and appreciated for the work those trumpet judgments achieve in our lives.

The day of atonement

The next festival, just nine days after the judgments of the feast of trumpets, is the day of atonement.

Lev 23:26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Lev 23:28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.

Atonement is the result of judgment, and Isaiah shows us why this feast is followed by the day of atonement:

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

The judgments of the feast of trumpets leads to the righteousness of the day of atonement, when we “afflict [our] souls”.

The words ‘day of atonement’ come from the Hebrew words ‘yom kippur’, ‘yom’ being ‘day’ and ‘kippur’ being atonement. Let’s look at the meaning of that word ‘kippur’ so we can know what this day is all about.

Here is Strong’s definition of that word:

H3725
כּפּר
kippûr
kip-poor’
From H3722; expiation (only in plural): – atonement

Here are the entries for this word. It appears only eight times in the Old Testament:

H3725
כּפּר
kippûr
Total KJV Occurrences: 8
atonement, 7
Exo 29:36, Exo 30:16, Lev 23:27-28 (2), Lev 25:9, Num 5:8, Num 29:11
atonements, 1
Exo 30:10

Here is how Webster defines the English word ‘expiate’, which is the definition of the word ‘atone’:

Expiate

1. To atone for; to make satisfaction for; to extinguish the guilt of a crime by subsequent acts of piety or worship, by which the obligation to punish the crime is canceled. To expiate guilt or a crime, is to perform some act which is supposed to purify the person guilty; or some act which is accepted by the offended party as satisfaction for the injury; that is, some act by which his wrath is appeased, and his forgiveness procured.

Christ has performed an “act which is accepted by the offended party as satisfaction for the injury; that is [the death of the cross] by which [His Father’s] wrath is appeased, and his forgiveness [is] procured.”

But the scapegoat is also “with Him” as the atonement for the sins of the people, and God the Father, as the offended party, is appeased, and His wrath and His forgiveness is procured for all mankind by the atoning deaths of both Christ and His Christ.

So the day of atonement, the day we are to “afflict [our] souls”, is the day of those whose lives are used by Christ “to expiate [the] guilt [of all men by] performing [the] act [of presenting their bodies as a living sacrifice, dying daily and being crucified with Christ, ‘afflicting their souls’] to purify the person guilty; [an] act which is accepted by the offended party [our heavenly Father] as satisfaction for the [wages of sin which is death]. That is [the] act by which His wrath is appeased, and his forgiveness procured.”

“Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1Co 5:7), and we are “crucified with Him” (Gal 2:20). That is why the emphasis of this day is a fast, the affliction of our souls, instead of a feast to nourish our souls. Atonement is those first fruits who will blow those trumpets and expose and burn up all the sins that would take us captive to the law of sin and death which is in our members. The emphasis here on the day of atonement is that we are “crucified with Him” as His own soul was afflicted. “As He is, so are we in this world” means that we, too, should be living the day of atonement now, “for the… salvation… of the church which is His body” and Christ will “lift us up”:

2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer,: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

Here we have it stated plainly. Our “affliction… is effectual… for your… salvation”.

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings [afflictions] 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:

Jas 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Notice where this “atonement” is made for the sins of mankind:

Exo 29:36 And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement [H3725 – kippur]: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement [H3722 – kaphar, a covering] for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.

What this verse reveals, along many others just like it, is that an expiating atonement for our sins also covers those sins, “ransoms” the sinner and hides their sins from God’s consideration.

Jas 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Here we have James telling us that we are “saviors”.

Let’s continue to take notice of what makes an atonement for sins:

Exo 30:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 30:12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.
Exo 30:13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.
Exo 30:14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.
Exo 30:15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
Exo 30:16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

This “atonement money” is God’s elect who are the temple of God:

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

Continuing with what makes an atonement for sins:

Lev 14:19 And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering:
Lev 14:20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar: and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

The sin offering, the burnt offering and the meat offering are all to “make an atonement for him…” And who is all these offerings?

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:

And again, who is Christ? Who “makes an atonement for him”?

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

Now consider what we are told we are to do along with our Savior:

Heb 13:10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Heb 13:11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Heb 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Heb 13:13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

We are admonished “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing His reproach“. The apostle Paul, who encourages us to “follow me as I follow Christ”, tells us how we go about ‘going forth unto Him… bearing His reproach”.

Col 1:24 Now, am I rejoicing in the sufferings on your behalf, and am filling up the things that lack of the tribulations of the Christ, in my flesh, in behalf of his body, which is the assembly, (REV)

It was Christ’s sufferings which were on our behalf, and here we have the apostle telling us that his sufferings were also for the same purpose, and we are to follow him as he follows Christ.

1Co 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

The apostle Peter admonishes us to follow in Christ’s footsteps:

1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Those words are read and preached by most churches, but not one in a million would dare to agree with the apostle that you or I following in Christ’s steps “fills up what is behind of [Christ’s] afflictions”, or that our following in His footsteps means that our “affliction… is for your… salvation”. Not one in a million would think that he could “save a soul from death”.

2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

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 bodies of the beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the priest for sin, were “burned without the camp”, and we are told that our sufferings are “on your behalf”, and we are admonished “Let us go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach”. Truly “as He is so are we in this world”, and truly we are to “follow in His steps”:

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

The day of atonement is the day which symbolizes those who “make an atonement, and bear the sins of the people”, along with Christ our passover sacrifice. Those who are sent by our heavenly Father to “make an atonement for, [and] bear the sins of the people” are Christ and His Christ, as typified by the two goats as a sin offering:

Lev 16:20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar [which are all types of Christ], he shall bring the live goat [the Christ of Christ]:
Lev 16:21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
Lev 16:22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited [death, “the wages of sin” Rom 6:23]: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness [dying daily].

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

That being the case, this day of atonement signifies the function of those who bear the sins of the people and make an atonement for them with Christ. This is actually what we, the firstfruits of Christ, are repeatedly told to do:

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

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

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

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:

Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Earlier in Leviticus 16 we are told that both goats, the Lord’s goat and the scapegoat, are sin offerings “to make an atonement with him”.

Lev 16:5 And he [Aaron, the high priest] shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
Lev 16:6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.
Lev 16:7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Lev 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
Lev 16:9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
Lev 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

In Heb 13:13 we are told: “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach“. It was recently pointed out that Simon of Cyrene, who was “compelled… to bear [Christ’s] cross… without the camp”, was a New Testament type of this scapegoat who is also compelled to “bear His reproach, [and] make an atonement with [Christ]”. Indeed, that is exactly what this day of atonement typifies:

Lev 23:27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Lev 23:28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
Lev 23:29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
Lev 23:30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
Lev 23:31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

Mat 27:32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

No one volunteers to die with Christ. “No man can come to [Christ] except the Father… drag him” to do so:

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

All holy days are sabbaths simply because we have no choice and no room to glory in any of the work God is doing to work out His plan and His purpose. It is all of Him, and there is nothing we bring to the table. That is what “whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.” (Lev 23:30)

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

What this tells us is that every step in the plan of God in the life of every man or woman is a work which He is working in the very order in which it is laid out in the holy days. The passover lamb is the same as “the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell”. But the atonement for the sins of all men is not made without both of these goats. The scapegoat is absolutely essential “to make an atonement with him”, meaning with “the Lord’s goat” and with the scapegoat.

So the truth is that Israel, by God’s design, is not cleansed by the blood of the first goat alone. It requires the work of both of these goats “to make an atonement” for the sins of the people. Are we actually told that we are to consider ourselves to be part of the sin offering which is made for the sins of the people? Let’s read it again:

Heb 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Heb 13:13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

Let us also notice once more that “bearing His reproach” is exactly what the scapegoat, the Old Testament type of “our Lord’s Christ” did:

Lev 16:20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:
Lev 16:21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
Lev 16:22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

“The hand of a fit man” refers to Christ Himself, living within His own elect who are symbolized by the goat whose body is offered as “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” As His elect, we are all, at this very moment, being “led by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness” that is this world. The “land not inhabited” is the symbol of the death of the cross.

Jer 6:8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

Eze 26:20 When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;

That death of the cross is being borne by both Christ and His Christ as an atonement for the sins of the people.

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

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

Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

When we lay down our lives as an atoning sacrifice for our brother who has sinned against both us and against his Creator, with Christ in us, we have fulfilled the day of atonement just as Christ Himself fulfilled the passover as the first of the firstfruits. That is the spiritual significance of this “day of atonement”. This is not easy to do, and simply acknowledging its meaning will cause us to be hated of all men. But we have been given mercy from our heavenly Father through those who have done the same for us. If we appreciate the mercy we have been shown, then we will not be demanding retribution from God upon our enemies, inward or outward. It is this “forgiveness… from the heart” which proves us to be fit to be a nation of kings and priests who will be capable and worthy of judging this world and then later judging angels.

This is the joy that is set before those who are represented by the day of atonement:

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

Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 2:25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

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

The “saints”, “us”, and “we” in all of these verses are the elect who identify themselves as the four beasts and the four and twenty elders who are around the throne of God and who are called “overcome[rs] ” in Revelation 2-3.

Rev 5:8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

These are the firstfruit harvest of the feast of Pentecost. These are the atonement of the day of atonement. These are those who are called and chosen and who remain faithful to the end:

Mat 10:21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

This scapegoat is as much a part of the sin offering for Israel and is “the Lord’s goat” and is “presented before the Lord to make an atonement with Him”, with Christ. What we are being told is that we are to drink of the cup of Christ, and we are to be baptized with His baptism as a living sacrifice to fill up what is lacking of the afflictions of the Christ:

Mar 10:39 And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:

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:

While being the firstfruits of the wheat at Pentecost is the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon any man, it is not an honor that is desired or attained except by very few indeed. This is just how popular this calling is which we have been given:

Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

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

Being called and chosen is still not all that is required of those who are given to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection. There is one more gift that must be given to all who are granted to be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, and this is that final requirement:

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

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

Conclusion

The spiritual significance of the day of atonement is the death of Christ and His Christ, “to make an atonement with Him”. Its spiritual significance is also demonstrated by the atonement which is wrought by the sacrifice of the Lord’s goat and the scapegoat:

Lev 16:9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
Lev 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

What is not revealed in the offering of these two goats, one of which is called “a scapegoat”, is the fact that this scapegoat, as “an atonement with [Christ]”, has the same spiritual significance as the day of atonement:

Lev 23:28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.

So the day of atonement symbolizes that part of our lives which are given to Christ and His Christ as a “living sacrifice”:

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice [an atonement], holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

There was much more to being an atonement than simply dying for the sins of God’s people. Christ and the apostle Paul reveal why the day of one’s death is better than the day of his birth (Ecc 7:1). This is why, and this is the fruit of the day of atonement, the afflicting of our souls:

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

2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

Atonement brings forth “much fruit” both for the “living sacrifice” whose afflictions produce life in others, as well as the life that is produced within that “corn of wheat”. Those who are the day of atonement will also be the atoning firstfruits of the first resurrection. It is they who will rule this world first and then judge angels. We are already enjoying the blessing of that first resurrection in down payment form:

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.

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

It is the day of atonement and the giving up of this life which will give us access to that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. It is only those who are in that resurrection who will then live and reign with Christ as the judges of this world “a thousand years”, to be followed by the judging of angels in the lake of fire.

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.

And that will be the subject of our next study, which will cover the spiritual meaning of the feast of tabernacles and the last great day, the last two steps in the plan of God for the salvation of all. Outwardly and dispensationally, we will see what the scriptures reveal about how God will raise up from the grave all who have ever died, and how He will halt the constant influx of new “corruptible… flesh and blood” in the form of millions of babies being born every day. We will see how the aions will come to an end and God will, through Christ and His first fruit harvest, at last be “all in all”.

1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

[Click here to go to the next chapter.]

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