Pro 7:1-27

“Keep My Commandments, and Live”

[Study Aired Jan 2, 2024]

“Blessed are they who read, hear, and keep the sayings of this book” (Rev 1:3) includes this seventh chapter of Proverbs, and there is not one section of scripture that does not have some application to what God is doing in His workmanship that we are (2Ti 3:16 , Eph 2:10).

We are only “reading, and hearing and keeping the words of God” if we have been blessed to have been given eyes that see and ears that hear those words (Mat 13:16).

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

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

These opening verses of (Pro 7:1-5) are full of admonition for God’s elect to be wholehearted in our pursuit of truth as we present our lives to God as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2), knowing that with such a heart and desire we will be kept “from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words”, which represents Babylon’s flattering words and ways, described in these verses, (Pro 7:6-12), that consist of her two hundred million lies (Rev 9:16-18).

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.
Rom 12:2 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.

Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 

Babylon promised our head, Jesus Christ, all the abundant riches that she possesses, through Satan (Pro 7:13-21 , Mat 4:4-11 , 1Jn 4:17). Christ rejected all such abundance, and the church would later confirm that all the riches of this world are not to be compared to the glory of knowing God and his Son Jesus Christ (Php 3:8-9).

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.

Then, the next section of Proverbs we will look at, (Pro 7:22-23), reminds us that we are all overtaken by Babylon and go into her, so that we can ‘come out of her my people’, Lord willing in this age. Christ is typified by Moses having gone into Egypt, the world, the flesh realm, and was called out of it (sinful flesh), called to lose his life as we are, in order to find it (Mat 16:25 , Rev 18:4). Moses is typical of Christ who is the author and finisher of our sojourn of faith (Heb 12:2) that takes the Israel of God out of Egypt, out of Babylon (Hos 11:1 , Gal 6:16 , Rev 18:4).

Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt (1Jn 3:1).

Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people [the Israel of God], that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

The final admonition for God’s elect in this seventh chapter is found in (Pro 7:24-27), where we’re commanded to make our ways ‘straight’ (Mat 7:13-14).

Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction (Mat 7:26-27), and many there be which go in thereat: (Mat 22:14)
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)

Pro 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Pro 7:2  Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple^H380 of thine eye.

This section of scripture gives us instruction on how to wholeheartedly serve the Lord. First and foremost we are to “keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee“(Rev 1:3 , Mat 6:33-34 , Rom 10:17 , Eph 6:16).

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

Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

If we take anxious thought for the morrow, that will become our focus, as opposed to seeking the kingdom of God first, and so it is only when we keep God’s commandments that we can truly enter into life (Mat_19:17), by making His law the apple^H380 of our eye. When we have a singular focus on Christ, looking to the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2), we are putting that relationship of faith above all other relationships. In other words, if we make Christ’s example the apple of our eye, we will find Him, and God will make His strength perfect through those who abide in the truth, which is where our Father and Christ will make their abode (Rom 12:1-3 , Mat 6:33 , 2Co 11:3 , Joh 14:20-23).

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]^G572 that is in Christ.

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 14:22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

apple H380. ‘ı̂yshôn

BDB Definition:

1) pupil of the eye
2) middle of the night (that is the deepest blackness)

Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: diminutive from

simplicity  G572   haplotēs hap-lot’-ace

From G573; singleness, that is, (subjectively) sincerity (without dissimulation or self seeking), or (objectively) generosity (copious bestowal): – bountifulness, liberal (-ity), simplicity, singleness.
Total KJV occurrences: 8

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is (2Co 4:7), there will your heart be also.
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single^G573, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Pro 7:3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
Pro 7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
Pro 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

There is a saying in the earth that goes, “blood is thicker than water”. In other words, Adamic relationships with our family should take precedence over all other physical relationships we have in the world. In principle this is true, “if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1Ti 5:8).

For God’s elect however, [spiritual] water must become thicker than [adamic] blood, through a miraculous relationship that Christ and his body have, where we are commanded to, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10), but not to the exclusion or neglecting of our own physical families. We can take care of the world as we have opportunity, but we can only be washed with the water of the word, or the blood of Christ, via the body of Christ who are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Joh 13:14 , Eph 5:26, 1Jn 5:8 , Mat 12:48-50).

Joh 13:14  If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. 

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

1Jn 5:8  And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. 

The way we interact and treat our physical families is a reflection of our faith or lack of faith with the body of Christ. At the same time having said this, Christ admonishes us that we must be willing to put Christ and His words above every relationship in the flesh, if we are to become disciples indeed of our Lord (Luk 14:26-27 , Joh 8:31-32 , Act 5:29).

Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 
Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 

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

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. 

Seeking the kingdom of God first and his righteousness, is symbolized by these words, “Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart“, that reflect a life that has been bound to the altar of God (Psa 118:27). 

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

It is when we have this type of relationship with God and Christ (Joh 17:3) that we can begin to say to Christ, who is our wisdom (1Co 1:30), that “you are our sister”,  through the church, and “our kinswoman”,  through the church, who ‘brings us understanding’ (Act 9:5): “Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman“. Those words of eternal life that we receive through the church, should be the pearl of great price in our hearts that have us looking nowhere else (Joh 6:68), as they alone can keep us “from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words“.

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 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 

Pro 7:6  For at the window of my house I looked through my casement^H822,
Pro 7:7  And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 
Pro 7:8  Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 
Pro 7:9  In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 
Pro 7:10  And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 
Pro 7:11  (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: 
Pro 7:12  Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) 

We see in these, verses what happens when we are void of understanding, causing us to be overtaken by the harlotries that are found in the churches of this world. 

It is only when we are in the house of the Lord that we can look back at our spiritual adulteries as we see our former conversations (Eph 2:1-3) being played out in others, as we look “through my casement^H822“.  The only other use of the word ‘casement’ is in (Jdg 5:28), where the mother of Sisera, whose name is not given, is lamenting over the death of her son, the former commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor who was killed by Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, in the infamous tent peg episode, that was driven through his skull (Jdg 4:8-22). 

No commentators recognize the lack of leadership that Israel possessed when Deborah became the fourth and only female judge of Israel. It was through her leadership that God would cause Israel to go on to prosper and prevail against the king of Canaan, “on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan” (Jdg 4:24).

It all sounds like a good story for Israel, to see these two woman taking charge where there was a lack of leadership in the nation, Jael who killed Sisera and Deborah who was now the female judge in Israel. However getting back to our study of proverbs, we need to consider that this only other use of the word casement^H822 in God’s word is with another person who is looking through lattice and beholding a male figure being overcome by the harlot going into her house, which is typified by Sisera going into the house of Jael who was the wife of Heber the Kenite. 

What happens when men don’t rule their house well is that women, who typify the church, negatively in this instance, take charge. God gave Israel leaders because they rejected Him as their sovereign leader (1Sa 8:7), and this leadership of Deborah and emboldened actions of Jael is symbolic of how Babylon make strides in this world, even when the leadership roles are reversed, the female being the head and not the man (1Co 11:3). God answers us according to the idol of our hearts, and when men don’t lead by submitting to Christ, it won’t be long until women assume the role of leadership, which is a manifestation of the flesh being against God (Mal 2:14). 

1Sa 8:7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 

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

Mal 2:14  Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 

With these thoughts in mind, let’s look at what we see when we look through the ‘lattice’ of our windows regarding the condition of the Babylonian churches today. ‘Looking through the lattice’ in verse 6 here represents those who are going onto maturity, and looking back and seeing now the harlot system we’ve been called out of. What we see of course is a memory of our simple, misguided and veiled view of God’s word (2 Co 3:13-14) that had us “Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house“. It is “In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night” that we meet this woman, as our heavens are not illuminated, but carnal and blind. This is the status of our minds when we meet “a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart“. That woman is stubborn and convinced that she has done no wrong (Pro 30:20), and these activities are happening on every street corner as the glebes of our world demonstrate, lying in wait to make proselytes of those who come near her door (Mat 23:15).

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

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

Pro 7:13  So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 
Pro 7:14  I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. 
Pro 7:15  Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. 
Pro 7:16  I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. 
Pro 7:17  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 

This is a very descriptive way of speaking regarding the Harlot church of Babylon that we come out of in (Rev 18:12-13). 

Rev 18:12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 
Rev 18:13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 

She snares us and kisses us with a Judas-like kiss (Luk 22:48) that is only to further our deception and perception of what we are truly looking at. Her face is impudent or hardened, like the beast that she plans to ride (Rev 17:7), not knowing that one day that beast will turn on her and destroy her (Rev 17:6). She is full of flattery and claims to know the way of peace (Jer 6:14) as she offers up the conditions that she believes will bring peace, again not in subjection to her head at all, Jesus Christ, who is our peace (Eph 2:14).

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 

She is quick to tell us of the many wonderful works she’s done by saying, “I payed my vows“, in other words, ‘I’m a good person and I’m even a fisher of men and not a harlot who “comes forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee“‘. 

‘Come on in and look at all the beautifully deceitful things I have to offer’, is what these alluring coverings of tapestry, with carved, and fine linen of Egypt represent. It is the sensual, devilish things of the earth, the twisted word of God (Jas 3:15 , Mat 4:3), that the devil always tries to use to draw us away from the fidelity of the true bread from heaven, given to those who are likened unto a virgin who is espoused unto one husband (2Co 11:2-3).

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

The defiled bed that Satan perfumes is likened unto “myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon“, which are symbols of the deceitfulness of corrupt spiritual riches that control the churches of this world, with their sensuality tied to devilish, earthly practices (2Pe 2:19-21).

2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

Pro 7:18  Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. 
Pro 7:19  For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: 
Pro 7:20  He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. 
Pro 7:21  With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 

It is when Satan seduces people into thinking that we won’t reap what we sow (Gal 6:7-9), and that there is no accounting for all our actions (Rom 14:12), including every idol word that we speak (Mat 12:36), that we become careless and give the wicked one the foothold into our lives that we must never let happen (Eph 4:27).

Eph 4:27  Neither give place to the devil. 

The pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:25) are described for us with these words, “Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves“, and they manifest when we refuse to believe that Christ “the goodman” has truly never gone anywhere (Heb 13:5), and like the father of the prodigal son, can see a far off all our actions (Luk 15:20 , Mat 10:29). He is ‘gone away’ in the same sense that the parable of the vineyard discusses how God is not intervening in the affairs of this world at this time (Mat 20:1-16), not that he does not have power at any given moment to put an end to any and all evil (Joh 19:11 , Mat 26:53).

The “long journey” does typify Christ’s being with the Father now in the fulness, and the ‘bag of money’ that he has typifies the true riches of his Word that He holds fast to, and calls the elect to do the same, until the appointed time that He returns to give reward to the elect (Rev 11:18).

Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 

Without God’s spirit in our lives, we all initially succumb to the lies of the devil and through the church, “With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him“.

Pro 7:22  He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 
Pro 7:23  Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. 

We are all overtaken by Babylon and go into her, so that we can come out of her my people, Lord willing, in this age. We go “as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks“, telling us this is an evil experience, which the Lord has ordained (Pro 16:4) that we go into and come out of by God’s grace. We are meant to have the fiery darts of Satan (Eph 6:16) ‘go through our liver as we haste to the snare’, the traps of the carnal church, not knowing that God created that evil day for our good, and not even seeing it coming as we head straightway into spiritual disaster, defiling the temple of God so that our first man can be destroyed by the brightness of His coming when that glorious day occurs (1Co 3:17 , 2Th 2:7-8).

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. 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

Pro 7:24  Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. 
Pro 7:25  Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. 
Pro 7:26  For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. 
Pro 7:27  Her house is the way to hell^H7585, going down to the chambers of death. 

These final admonitions in (Pro 7:24-27) are telling us what we read in (Rev 18:4)

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Our hearts can very subtilty “decline to her ways” when we think above what is written (1Co 4:6). ‘Going astray in her paths’, is following another Jesus, another way that leads to death. Many have “been slain by her“, and she has “cast down many wounded: yea, many strong“(Mat 24:14), telling us that Satan can easily sift us like wheat (1Co 10:12-14). But for the grace of God, demonstrated by the faith of Christ that God’s elect are given, we look through our lattice, and look behind us as John did in the temple, on the day of the Lord, the day of our judgement (Rev 1:10 , 1Pe 4:17), to recognize that we’ve come out of “Her house is [which is] the way to hell^H7585, going down to the chambers of death“, where the dead bury their dead (Luk 9:60).

H7585  she’ôl    she’ôl  sheh-ole’, sheh-ole’

BDB Definition:
1) sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit
1a) the underworld
1b) Sheol – the OT designation for the abode of the dead
1b1) place of no return
               1b2) without praise of God
1b3) wicked sent there for punishment
1b4) righteous not abandoned to it
               1b5) of the place of exile (figuratively)
1b6) of extreme degradation in sin
Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H7592 [ask, enquire, borrow, beg]

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Proverbs Chapter 6 – Part 3

Pro 6:20-35″ Take Heed to Thyself“

[Study Aired Dec 26, 2024]

This last section of Proverbs chapter six is primarily about the benefit that is given to those who are blessed to read, hear, and keep the sayings of the prophecy of God’s word in this age (Rev 1:3).

We may not always think of the book of Proverbs as a form of prophecy, but all of God’s words are prophetic words, and when we understand what they are saying to us with the gift of eyes that see, and ears that hear (Luk 8:10 , Eph 2:8), they become profitable in how they can edify, exhort, and comfort those who are drawn to its spiritual message, which is an eternal message that does not change (2Ti 3:16-17 , 2Ti 2:20-22 , 1Co 14:3 , Joh 6:63 , Joh 17:3 , Joh 6:68).

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 20:21 , Joh 3:17].

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.[Isa 55:11]

Taking heed to ourselves, is a lifelong endeavor that requires an ongoing miracle that is being accomplished in the body of Christ, who are given to die daily and keep under ourselves, so that God’s word does not return void in this age, but rather brings forth much fruit by the grace of God, that requires that we water and plant, labour in the word, and wait on the Lord to give the increase that comes from him alone (Mat 13:8-9 , Joh 3:30 , 1Co 3:6-7).

Mat 13:8  But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 
Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

1Co 3:6   I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Pro 6:20  My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Pro 6:21  Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
Pro 6:22  When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

These first three opening verses of our study remind us that our labour in the Lord is not in vain (1Co 15:57-58). Our father’s commandment that we are to keep and the law of thy mother, is referring to the commandments of God and the order that He establishes in the church, for our good (Jerusalem above the mother of us all), through the manifest knowledge that is foundational in what it is first doing in our lives (Mat 16:18), and ultimately what it will do for the rest of humanity who will come to know God and Christ through the church (Eph 3:10).

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

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.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

The first commandment with promise, spoken of in (Eph 6:1-3), is speaking to God’s elect who come out of Babylon in this age, that is likened unto a mother of harlots (Rev 17:5) and Satan who is the god of this world and our first father (Joh 8:44) whose lies we reject, as sons of God (1Jn 3:1) in this age who have been promised that blessing of being in the first resurrection, being given that extended period of time or life with our Father and Christ and Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Gal 4:26) before the rest of the world (Rev 20:6).

Eph 6:1  Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Eph 6:2  Honour thy father and mother; (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.

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.

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.

Knowing these promises are true and that God is going to destroy the physical realm, we really have nothing to hold onto in this life, and nothing should compare to that which God has set before his people who are blessed to be bound to the altar, meaning we are living by the faith of Christ (Psa 118:27 , Gal 2:20), therefore we are given great incentive to “Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck“. The “them” is the merciful and truthful words of God (Pro 3:3) that, if we continue in them, they will set us free in this life (Joh 8:35-36). The heart represents where our desire comes from (Mat 6:21 , 1Th 2:19-20), and the neck is what we are burdened with, and Christ’s ways are a joyful burden that we bear for each other (Gal 6:2). The apostle Paul was beloved and at the end of his ministry he was kissed on his neck, as a symbol of the body’s appreciation for all that God gave him to suffer and bear for the body’s sake (Act 20:37).

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

1Th 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20 For ye are our glory and joy.[“where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“]

Act 20:37 And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him,

“When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee“, is telling us that the comforter will lead us into all truth (Joh 16:13). The spirit of God will bear witness that we are His in this life (Rom 8:14-17) and when we lie down and rise up, and walk through this life we don’t lose heart (Luk 18:1), as we pray without ceasing and learn that our Creator who we serve is faithful and merciful and will never leave or forsake His own in this life (Heb 13:5 , Php 1:6). It is through the fervent continual prayers of the saints that availeth much that the importunate widow learns that “the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear”(Isa 59:1 , Mat 7:11).

Luk 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

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:

Mat 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Pro 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
Pro 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Pro 6:25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
Pro 6:26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
Pro 6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Pro 6:28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
Pro 6:29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

Where there is no vision, the people perish (Pro 29:18) and that vision comes from the word of God, from his commandments which are “a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life“. What the light of God’s word does specifically for us is “To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman“. This strange woman is Babylon, which we are called out of by the grace and faith of God (Eph 2:8). The admonition for God’s elect is to remember Lot’s wife (Luk 17:32) and don’t look back, “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids“. Rather we need to keep our eyes fixed on Christ (Rom 12:1-2) and the promises that tell us we will be more than conquerors through Him (Rom 8:37).

If it were possible, Satan would deceive the very elect (Mat 24:24), and how would he, or how does he go about trying to do that, is explained in this verse, “by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: (Heb 12:16-17) and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life“.

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.

Contrast this careless spirit of Esau, with that of Moses, one chapter earlier, who typifies the elect of God who are blessed to have a hunger and thirst for righteousness in this life (Heb 11:26 , Mat 5:6).

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.

Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Can we taste of the heavenly things of God (Heb 6:4-8) and then go back into the harlotries of this world and expect to not be burnt by such actions? This is what God’s word reveals on that matter, “Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.” This fire that burns a man who goes into it, is speaking of the strange fire, that is the unholy things that defile a man (Lev 10:1-2), as opposed to the coals from the altar that represent God’s words that sanctify and purify us in this life (Isa 6:7).

Heb 6:4 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,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come
Heb 6:6 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.

Lev 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.
Lev 10:2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Isa 6:7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Pro 6:30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
Pro 6:31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
Pro 6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Pro 6:33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
Pro 6:34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
Pro 6:35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

The thief being talked about here is the one that goes “in to his neighbour’s wife” in the previous verse (v 29), which represents a church that they go into, after they have been in a relationship of fidelity with the body of Christ (2Ti 4:10).

2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

Loving this present world has the unfaithful going toward “Thessalonica, Galatia, Dalmatia“, places of Asia which represent the world! Another way of telling us that these were men who started in the spirit, but would conclude their life in the letter is (Gal 3:3-4), trying to be perfected in the law, in the world, being part of the whole Babylonian system once again that have forsaken God’s word (Rev 1:11 , 2Ti 1:15).

Gal 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

Rev 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

2Ti 1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

We are told to not despise this thieving spirit whose actions parallel with that of Esau whose pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:25) was more important than his birthright, which would require that he suffer in this life (Heb 12:16-17 , Heb 11:25).

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 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

We’re not to think that this thief is not in us, because he is being destroyed day by day as we die daily, and but for the grace of God go we, as we’re permitted by God’s mercy to continue to be apprehended by Christ who gives us the power to forget what is behind us, and press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Him (Php 3:13-14). We are apprehending because we have been apprehended of God through Christ the fit man (Lev 16:21), giving us no reason to despise others who have left us for one reason or another, “do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry“.

That man who satisfies his soul, lacks understanding, and his soul is destroyed in this life as a result of his ignorance, and in this life that dishonour that he gets, and that reproach, shall not be wiped away as mentioned earlier; and this is all being accomplished for the elect’s sake, to remind us of the severity of God, and the goodness of God that He has extended to the body of Christ, if we continue in His goodness (Heb 6:3-8 , Num 16:2-3 , Rom 11:22 , Rom 2:4-6).

Num 16:2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity [the 250 men of renown]; but toward thee, goodness [God’s judgements that destroys those 250 men of renown within us (25×10) or (5x5x10)], if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Rom 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
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?
Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

God is a jealous God (Exo 20:5) and he is the man being spoken of in verse 34, “For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance“. He will have his vengeance on all such who are found in the lake of fire. And when those who are resurrected in the second resurrection say, ‘haven’t we done many wonderful works?’ (Mat 7:22), in other words, ‘why are you judging me, I’m an outstanding citizen’, God will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts“, to the point that even what they thought they had, will be taken away (Mat 25:29 , Rom 11:22 , Heb 12:25).

Mat 25:29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

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:

Our prayer for each other is that our Father will give us the strength to endure His chastening grace today, so that we are received in this age through His judgements upon us, which will burn out the spirit that thinks we’ve somehow contributed to our salvation, or the salvation of others, when it fact it was all a work of God within us that made it possible for each joint to supply in love, to the building up and edifying of the church (Heb 12:6-7 , Php 2:12-13 , Eph 4:16 , Psa 127:1).

Psa 127:1 A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

[Study Aired January 23, 2023]

Exo 34:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 
Exo 34:2  And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 
Exo 34:3  And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 
Exo 34:4  And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. 
Exo 34:5  And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Exo 34:6  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exo 34:7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
Exo 34:8  And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 
Exo 34:9  And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. 
Exo 34:10  And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
Exo 34:11  Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
Exo 34:12  Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: 
Exo 34:13  But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: 
Exo 34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 
Exo 34:15  Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; 
Exo 34:16  And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. 
Exo 34:17  Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. 
Exo 34:18  The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 
Exo 34:19  All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.
Exo 34:20  But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
Exo 34:21  Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
Exo 34:22  And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
Exo 34:23  Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
Exo 34:24  For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year. 
Exo 34:25  Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. 
Exo 34:26  The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. 
Exo 34:27  And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. 
Exo 34:28  And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. 
Exo 34:29  And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 
Exo 34:30  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 
Exo 34:31  And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 
Exo 34:32  And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. 
Exo 34:33  And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 
Exo 34:34  But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 
Exo 34:35  And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

In Chapter 34, we shall look at the spiritual significance of the two tablets of stones, the renewal of the covenant with the Lord and the shining face of Moses. 

Exo 34:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 
Exo 34:2  And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 
Exo 34:3  And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 
Exo 34:4  And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

As we learned earlier, the law of Moses was written on tables of stones but was broken by Moses when he saw the Israelites playing the harlot by worshiping the golden calf. In these verses, the Lord requested Moses to hew two tablets of stones so that He will write the laws on them. From the scriptures, we see that the two tablets of stones represent the nature of our hearts as we receive the law of Moses. That is, we were stiff-necked people when we first received the word of the Lord in the form of the law of Moses. If we are called and chosen, then the Lord will gradually change our hearts of stone to fleshy tables of the heart. 

Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

2Co 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 

Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

In verses 2 and 3, Moses was required to meet the Lord in the morning and he was not supposed to bring anyone along. Meeting the Lord in the morning means that it is when the sun (Christ) starts rising in our hearts that we are able to see the Lord. That is to say it is when the old man is dying and the new man, after the image of Christ, is rising in our hearts that we are able to understand His words or know Him or see Him face to face. 

2Pe 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

The fact that Moses was instructed not to bring anyone along to meet the Lord means that we are to work out our own salvation (meet the Lord) as the Lord enables us. As the Lord’s elect, we are helpers of each other’s faith, but each has to work out his own salvation as our Lord enables. 

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

In the parable of the ten virgins, the five who were wise told the other five virgins, when they requested the five wise virgins to give them some of their oil, that they should go and buy oil for themselves. In other words, the five wise virgins were telling the others that they should work out their own salvation.

Mat 25:8  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 
Mat 25:9  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

We are also told in verse 3 that no man should be seen throughout the mountain. What we are being told here is that no relationship should distract us from knowing the Lord.

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

In verse 3, it is also stated that the flocks and herds should not graze opposite the mountain as Moses comes before the Lord. From the scriptures, flocks and herds stand for our possessions. In other words, what we work for as we live here on earth.

Job 1:3  His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

These possessions stand for the cares of this world which the Lord admonished us to make sure do not distract us from the goal of knowing Christ or seeing Him face to face as Moses did on the Mount.

Mat 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Exo 34:5  And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Exo 34:6  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

In verse 5, the Lord descending in the cloud means that the Lord comes to us through His elect which are symbolized by the cloud.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

When Christ comes to us, we are given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Knowing the mysteries of the kingdom means Christ is being unveiled to us. This unveiling of Christ involves knowing His ways and His key attributes. In verse 6, we are shown some of His attributes which include the fact that He is merciful, gracious, longsuffering and overflows in goodness and truth.  The Lord loves to show mercy, and He has shown us His mercy by choosing us at the expense of others. We are therefore to learn to be merciful as we are to show mercy to the whole of the human race at the fullness of time.

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

Longsuffering here means being slow to anger. His longsuffering is what leads us to repentance.

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?

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

Exo 34:7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Here in verse 7, we are told that the Lord shall visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and the fourth generation. However, we know from the sum of the Lord’s words that the Lord does not punish people for other people’s sins. Let’s take a look at the following scripture:

Eze 18:1  The word of the LORD came to me: 
Eze 18:2  “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 
Eze 18:3  As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 
Eze 18:4  Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

Eze 18:14  “Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise:

Eze 18:18  As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity. 
Eze 18:19  “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. 
Eze 18:20  The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

It appears that the use of the word “visiting” is not the correct word that should have been used. According to Strong, the word “visiting” (H6485) in verse 7 is used frequently (103 times) to mean numbered. The word “visiting” therefore, used in verse 7 should have been numbered. In other words, the Lord has numbered the iniquity of the fathers upon their children and their children’s children.

It is insightful to note that the Lord will number the iniquity of people until the third and fourth generations. As we are aware, the number three means the process of spiritual maturity through judgment. The number four means the whole of the matter under discussion. Thus, the spiritual significance of the statement that the Lord will number iniquity until the third and fourth generation is that it is through the process of the Lord’s judgment (the number three) that the whole of the human race (the number four), will have their sins dealt with or not counted or numbered anymore.  

Exo 34:8  And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
Exo 34:9  And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

To bow down to worship is a symbol of submitting to the Lord in every way as we come to see His mercy towards us. We, His elect, were once a stiff-necked people whom the Lord has pardoned and has taken us for His inheritance. As we can see from these verses, it is when we find grace in the Lord’s sight that He comes to lead us in this wilderness of life. The grace we find in Christ is for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. From the Biblical perspective, grace is defined as Christ coming to us.

Joh 1:16  And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Joh 1:17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

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

What we need to know is that Christ coming to us means coming with His judgment to purify us in order to fulfill His purpose. 

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

As His elect, we have found grace in the Lord’s sight just as Moses who is a symbol of the elect, had found grace in His sight!!

Exo 34:10  And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
Exo 34:11  Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

The Lord has made a covenant with His elect that He will do marvelous work on our behalf for all the world to see. In verse 11, this marvelous work involves driving out the inhabitants of Canaan to give the people of Israel the promised land. As we all know, the land is our bodies and the Canaanites refer to the beast or the old man within us that the Lord is destroying with the breath of His mouth when He comes to us. The destruction of the old man is through the Lord’s judgment, and this is the marvelous work the Lord is doing in His elect.

Psa 105:5  Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

In making this promise of bringing us to possess our bodies to offer as a living sacrifice to the Lord, He swore by Himself so that we who have fled to Him for refuge will have hope.

Heb 6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 
Heb 6:14  Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 
Heb 6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Heb 6:16  For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 
Heb 6:17  Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
Heb 6:18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Heb 6:19  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 
Heb 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Exo 34:12  Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: 
Exo 34:13  But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: 
Exo 34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 
Exo 34:15  Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; 
Exo 34:16  And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. 
Exo 34:17  Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. 

In these verses, we are warned by the Lord regarding the present danger which will disqualify us from being able to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to the Lord. The present danger involves playing the harlot after other gods which is what happens to us when we enter the churches of this world (Babylon) in our initial walk with the Lord, thinking we are serving the Lord. At this stage of our lives, we serve another Jesus – a Jesus who will not show mercy to the human race and a Jesus who has no control over us because he has given us a free will to make our own decisions.

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 that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

As a result of serving another Jesus, this is what happens to us before the Lord comes with His brightness to deliver us:

2Pe 2:18  For when they (leaders in the churches of this world) speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Exo 34:18  The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was the first of the festivals to be commanded by God for Israel to observe in celebrating the exodus from Egypt and the Israelites’ freedom from slavery to the Egyptians. Spiritually, keeping the feast of unleavened bread means being given to know and to walk in sincerity in the truth of the word of the Lord. 

1Co 5:8  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.

Exo 34:19  All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. 
Exo 34:20  But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

All the firstborn of male livestock belong to the Lord including that of donkeys. We are required to redeem the firstborns with a lamb. We, the Lord’s elect, are represented by the firstborn sons who have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

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 14:4  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.

Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

In case we do not want to redeem the firstborn donkeys, then we have to break their neck.  In the scriptures, breaking the neck is related to breaking the yoke of bondage as shown in the following:

Jer 28:11  And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

Jer 30:8  For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:

So, what verse 20 is implying is that if we are not redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ from the burden (yoke) of sin, then we shall face spiritual death through the breaking of our necks.

Exo 34:21  Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 

Jesus has raised the bar spiritually to the law of Christ, by focusing on rest in God as He ceased from His own works. This is Jesus’ experience of observing the spiritual sabbath or resting in God:

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

We also come to rest in Christ when we cease from our own works. This means that we come to see that it is the Lord who does the work in us and therefore, we come to believe in Him that what He has started in us, He will bring to completion.

Exo 34:22  And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. 
Exo 34:23  Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
Exo 34:24  For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

The Feast of Weeks is the second of the three “solemn feasts” that all Jewish males were required to observe. This important feast gets its name from the fact that it starts seven full weeks, or exactly 50 days, after the Feast of Firstfruits. Since it takes place exactly 50 days after the previous feast, this feast is also known as “Pentecost” which means “fifty.”  Since the Feast of Weeks was one of the “harvest feasts,” the Jews were commanded to “present an offering of new grain to the Lord” 

Lev 23:16  You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD.

The festival of ingathering is the same as the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths and Sukkot, is the seventh and last feast that the Lord commanded Israel to observe and one of the three feasts the Jews were to observe each year by going to “appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose.” The Feast of Tabernacles, like all the feasts, was instituted by God as a way of reminding Israelites in every generation of their deliverance by God from Egypt. In verse 22, we are required to observe the Feast of Weeks and that of ingathering. This means that we must offer ourselves as firstfruits of the Lord as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord.

Rom 12:1  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 
Rom 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

Every male appearing three times before the Lord in verses 23 and 24 means that it is through our fiery trials that we become spiritually mature to stand before the Lord. Our spiritual maturity involves the driving out by the Lord of all the nations in verse 24, represented by the old man. 

Exo 34:25  Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.

Leaven means false doctrines. It is impossible to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to please the Lord if our hearts and minds are filled with false doctrines. We are also reminded in verse 25 not to let any of the sacrifices of Passover be left until morning. Letting nothing remain of the sacrifice means that we must not neglect any part of the word of the Lord. We must endeavor to understand the whole counsel of God through His words. 

Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

Exo 34:26  The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. 

We, His elect, are the first fruits of the Lord. This means that we are to be presented to the Lord first before all humanity will appear before God. The fact that we are not to seethe a kid in his mother’s milk means that it is only those who are spiritually mature, as a result of their fiery trials, who can be offered as living sacrifice to the Lord. Babies in Christ or carnally-minded Christians cannot offer themselves as living sacrifices.

Exo 34:27  And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
Exo 34:28  And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

The forty days and nights signify the period of time we go through the Lord’s judgment of our old man to learn righteousness when the Lord comes to us with His brightness. 

Gen  7:4  For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

Gen 7:12  And the rain (the Lord’s judgment) was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

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. 

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

During these forty days and nights that Moses was in the presence of the Lord, He did not eat or drink anything. The Lord knows how to sustain us in this life when we are in Him. That is why He admonished us not to worry about what to eat or drink since He does not only care about our spiritual needs but will surely also provide our physical needs.

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Exo 34:29  And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 
Exo 34:30  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 
Exo 34:31  And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 
Exo 34:32  And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. 

The shining of Moses’ face as he spent forty days and forty nights in the presence of the Lord symbolizes the fact that as we are judged by the Lord through the words we have received, we are gradually transformed into His image. Being in the presence of the Lord is the same as knowing Him through His words. Being transformed into Christ’s image is a gradual process such which we do not see, but those outside see that we are transformed just as Aaron and the children of Israel in verse 30 saw the skin of Moses’ face shine. 

Rev 1:16  In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Mat 17:1  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Mat 17:2  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

Exo 34:33  And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 
Exo 34:34  But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
Exo 34:35  And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Moses putting on the veil to hide the shining of his face is a symbol of the blinding of the minds of many from seeing that the law of Moses only serves as a schoolmaster leading us to Christ and that when Christ comes, the law is abolished. The veil being taken away means the doing away of the law of Moses and coming to know Christ through the spirit.

2Co 3:12  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
2Co 3:13  And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
2Co 3:16  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 
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.

Joh 4:23  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

May the Lord help us to continue in Him as we worship Him in spirit and truth!! Amen!!

[Study Aired October 2, 2020]

Heb 6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 
Heb 6:14  Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

In this section of Hebrews chapter 6 our focus will be on looking at the “two immutable things” spoken of in Hebrews 6:13, which God further declares in verse 18 and how these promises made of God cannot be broken because “in which it was impossible for God to lie”.  This truth of God’s character is reflected in all His words which are eternal words that change not (Joh 6:68).

All the “exceeding great and precious promises” given unto us (2Pe 1:4) can only give us “strong consolation” when we know the One who has spoken these promises cannot lie. As we consider “the hope set before us” and the vision those promises can bring to the body of Christ, there are two specific promises, or “two immutable things”, explained for the elect’s sake in Hebrews 6:14 to give us full assurance in this life that what God has started He will finish in us through Christ, and those two promises are: “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.” These promises of God for the elect are spoken in type and shadow when speaking of Abraham (Heb 6:13), who is a type of Christ and his body. For those who are His workmanship (Eph 2:10) in this age, these promises declare what has been predestined from the foundation of the world for the elect remnant who are the first to trust God (Eph 1:12-15, Rev 12:6, Lev 16:21, Isa 66:7-10, Rev 19:7).

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:15  Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

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:

Isa 66:7  Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
Isa 66:8  Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Isa 66:9  Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
Isa 66:10  Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:

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.

It is by these promises of God that “ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2Pe 1:4) and all that is in the world within us is defined as “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, [and] is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1Jn 2:16).

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.

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.

That lust and pride is what we are dying daily from, and God’s word tells us “you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” that is “in the flesh” (Heb 12:4, Rom 8:3). Notice, sin is “in the flesh” and flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom (1Co 15:50) and we are also told we are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities that our hope of glory Jesus Christ within is greater than. Christ is greater than the sin that is in our flesh and can give us dominion over it (Col 1:27, 1Jn 4:4, Rom 6:14-16, Joh 8:36).

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

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.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace [being under grace is having Christ sent to us as our hope of glory (Col 1:27)].
Rom 6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness [obedience unto righteousness through the faith of Christ (Php 3:8-9)]?

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,
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:

It is the promises of God which tell us we can be “partakers of the divine nature” that, Lord willing, by them we’ll grow into mature sons (Eph 4:13). This section of John (1Jn 3:1-12) explains what that “divine nature” mentioned in 2Peter 1:4 really is and how it can only be achieved through Christ (1Jn 3:11-12, 1Jn 3:8). As we read through the verses, notice how many promises are being made to the sons of God mentioned in 1John 3:2 and how this chapter concludes with talking about “his commandment” that God gives us “that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ” (1Jn 3:23, Php 1:29, Joh 6:28-29) and “love one another, as he gave us commandment”. Verses 23 and 24 of 1John 3:23-24 go on then to make it clear how, with this belief we’re given, we are to love one another and bear each other’s burdens “as he gave us commandment” (Gal 6:2). These verses (1Jn 3:23-24) explain to us what John 14:20-21 is talking about which reads, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

Some of the promises

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.

[that love of God being confirmed through the promises given to us in this life]

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. [promise]
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. [promise]
1Jn 3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1Jn 3:5  And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; [promise] and in him is no sin.

1Jn 3:6  Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him [1Jn 1:8].

[This verse (1Jn 3:6) means sin has no more dominion over you, as explained for the elect in these verses. (Rom 6:14, Tit 2:12) promise]:

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

Tit 2:12  Teaching^G3811 us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

G3811 paideuō pahee-dyoo’-o
From G3816; to train up a child, that is, educate, or (by implication) discipline (by punishment): – chasten (-ise), instruct, learn, teach.

1Jn 3:7  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

[Those works are progressively being destroyed little and by little within those who have God’s spirit abiding in them as opposed to those who are still of their father the devil and don’t have dominion over sin (Rom 8:9)  [promise]

1Jn 3:9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed (Gal 3:16) remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

[A seed (Gal 3:16) grows by the light of the sun of righteousness (Mal 4:2) and we go from glory to glory (2Co 3:18) as we abide in that light and are cleansed of our sins (1Jn 1:7) [promise]

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

[The fruit of Christ’s righteousness that takes time to mature is being born in our lives giving witness that we are the sons of God who are spoken of in 1John 3:2 who are not yet perfected but being purified or sanctified through a life long process (1Jn 3:3) promise]

1Jn 3:11  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1Jn 3:12  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous [no good fruit on the tree by God’s design].
1Jn 3:13  Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. [promise (Rom 5:5)] He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
1Jn 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. [promise]
1Jn 3:20  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. [promise]
1Jn 3:21  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. [Heb 10:35]
1Jn 3:22  And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight [promise].

[therefore if you lack confidence in what God can do for you or rather is doing in you, ask Him for the faith that your lacking and know that He has brought you to this point of asking (Mar 9:24)]

1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment [Joh 14:21 dovetail verse].

Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him [promise].

1Jn 3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. [Joh 14:20] {dovetail verse}

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

These promises that we just read in 1John 3:22-23 are what are needed in our lives to supply the vision that we need to endure until the end, and God has promised to do just that because He knows that “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he”, and He has promised that we can keep His commandments through the faith of Christ (1Jn 5:4) [promise].

Heb 6:13  For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 
Heb 6:14  Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

This opening verse “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself” explains why Christ said in Matthew 5:34 “Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne.” Instead of making oaths, as was done “by them of old time”, we ought to be saying “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (Jas 4:15).

Mat 5:34  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:

Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

We are seated with Christ today (Eph 2:6) in “heaven” which is where “God’s throne” is in our hearts and minds if “that day” is upon us (Joh 14:20, Rom 8:9). This statement of Christ in Matthew 5:34 was preceded by the words, “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths” (Mat 5:32-33). The closest equivalent to “thine oaths” which was of “old time” that we have as believers is found in Matthew 5:37.

Mat 5:37  But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

The context of swearing or making an oath in Hebrews 6:13 is really a type and shadow promise that Christ [typified by Abraham] will have a bride, and their blessings will be multiplied. When God is speaking to Israel of old, it is understood that mankind cannot keep their vows and promises to God, not in their hearts, but through Christ, our communication, our way of life in other words, can be honest saying “Yea, yea; Nay, nay” which “Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths” typified (1Co 10:11).

The spiritual lesson we are learning in this parable of Christ (Mat 5:32-33) is that there is to be no spiritual fornication or adultery found in the bride of Christ, and if we are His bride, all spiritual fornication and adultery (Mat 5:28) will be burned out of us in this age, and we will in fact by the grace and faith of Christ “not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths” because of Christ who is working in us both to will and to do this (Php 2:13).

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

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

This promise that God was making to Abraham in (Heb 6:13) assures the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, that nothing will prevent or separate (Rom 8:35-39) what God has brought together or is bringing together (Joh 6:44), and that blessing of God “Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee” is accompanied with the promise that “and multiplying I will multiply thee” (Mar 10:9, Joh 10:28-29).

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.

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.

Mar 10:9  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

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

“Multiplying I will multiply thee” is a prophecy of this verse that applies to God’s elect and is connected to children (Gal 4:27), who will be grafted into the family of God at the hand of Christ and His bride, the church. The saviours who come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau will do so with the sharper than any two edged sword of God, and it will be with God’s word [doctrine that represent children] that we will be used to bring all mankind to give an accounting of their own lives (Oba 1:21, Rev 20:6, Joh 12:48). In short, we have become as children having been blessed to read, hear and keep the doctrine of Christ and made to endure unto the end (Mat 18:3, Rev 1:3) in order that we may judge the mount of Esau so they can be received as obedient children who have learned obedience through the lake of fire which will purify their lives. God’s elect will administer that lake of fire or great white throne judgement (Luk 12:5).

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

Mar 10:9  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Earthly marriages are a type and shadow of what God is doing with the bride of Christ, and every marriage, in that sense, has been for our sake (2Co 4:15) and foreshadows lessons that we learn from both positive and negative (1Co 10:6-11, how our boldness in the Lord is fashioned Heb 13:3-6).

1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7  Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:8  Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
1Co 10:9  Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
1Co 10:10  Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
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.

Heb 13:3  Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
Heb 13:4  Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Heb 13:6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

(Israel of old was likened unto a wife whose husband was the LORD^H3068 (Isa 54:5), and this union primarily represents our first failed marriage in Babylon where we come out, Lord willing, as the Israel of God, God’s elect who are blessed to be called and chosen  (Gal 6:16) and prepared by the grace and faith of Christ to be that faithful bride because we have been washed with the word by our husband, Jesus Christ (Eph 5:24-26) and been made ready to be partakers of the wedding supper of the lamb Rev 19:9).

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

While we were one with the harlot churches of Babylon we had no children [children represent doctrine] because there was no stay of bread or water within those churches where we were joined unto a woman [church] and were dragged out of her by the mercy of God (Isa 3:1, 2Co 6:17, Joh 6:44). This parable in Matthew 5:32-33 we read tells us we are to put away our wife who represents Babylon because of spiritual fornication, and conversely we are being told to see that we don’t neglect Christ’s bride, but rather come together often and cleave unto her which we will do if God permit (Heb 10:25, Mal 3:16).

Offences come from carnal worldly reasoning within us that can cause a little one “which believe in me” to be offended. Christ tells us we are blessed if we are not offended and that great peace have they who keep his commandment for nothing shall offend them (Mat 18:6-7, Mat 11:6, Psa 119:165). However there are those who Christ likens unto “little ones” who should be carefully received and cared for in the body, and they can be offended. Christ says of that person who offends, “it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea”. Being drowned in “the depth of the sea” represents deep repentance for this careless behaviour of which we can all be found guilty because Christ tells us offences must needs be “but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!”. It is a woe when they come and, God willing, deep repentance will be granted (Rom 2:4) that will lead to this correct way of dealing with one another spoken of in these verses that carry a very identical message (1Co 8:1-13, Rom 14:12-23).

Spiritually we can “put away his wife” by offending another brother or sister with our words, with our meat: “But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.” That is the underlying message in the first part of Matthew 5:32).

The second part of that verse “saving for the cause of fornication”, represents those who were once enlightened and are impossible to graft back in this age, witnessed in these two sections of scripture (Rom 6:4-6, 1Jn 2:17-29). Our goal is not to offend, but we’re going to offend, and God works all things according to the counsel of His will for a good purpose. So yes, we must repent when we offend, and the person who is offended must forgive that brother or sister from their hearts or a root of bitterness will form (Mat 18:35, Eph 4:32, Heb 12:15).

Mat 18:6  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Mat 18:7  Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Mat 5:32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Mat 5:33  Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:

Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at few more verses that confirm who the “heirs of promise” are spoken of in Hebrews 6:17 and how those two immutable promises we discussed are connected to God’s elect.

Heb 6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Heb 6:16  For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Heb 6:17  Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
Heb 6:18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Heb 6:19  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Heb 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

[Study Aired April 21, 2020]

Luk 17:5  And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
Luk 17:6  And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Luk 17:7  But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
Luk 17:8  And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
Luk 17:9  Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not (I think not).
Luk 17:10  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. 

Looking at verses 7-10 first, we see that this process of casting the trees into the sea is not of ourselves. We are only doing what was commanded by the Lord because our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Pro 16:2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.
Pro 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. 

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isa 64:7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. 

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,
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:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 

Our faith must only be small as a mustard seed to accomplish much. But faith alone is not enough to endure until the end. We also need much prayer and fasting, no doubts, belief, forgiveness, and love. 

Mat 17:14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
Mat 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Mat 17:16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
Mat 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Mat 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. 

Mat 21:18 Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
Mat 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
Mat 21:20 And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
Mat 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Mat 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. 

Mar 11:20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Mar 11:21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
Mar 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mar 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Mar 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Mar 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. 

1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1Co 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1Co 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1Co 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1Co 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. [G26 Agape, love] 

As we mature our faith grows. 

2Th 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
2Th 1:4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
2Th 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
2Th 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
2Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
2Th 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2Th 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
2Th 1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 

What is the faith that gives us the ability to cast mountains and trees into the sea?

Gal 2:15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Gal 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
Gal 2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Gal 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. 

Php 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Php 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
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,
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:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 

Jesus Christ is our faith and he is the one casting the trees and the mountains into the sea. 

Pro 13:17 A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health. 

Pro 14:5 A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. 

Deu 32:1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Deu 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
Deu 32:3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
Deu 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. 

Back to our parable. 

Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. 

What do the trees, the sea and mountains represent? 

Mar 8:23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. Mar 8:24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 

Luk 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit.
Luk 6:44 For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
Luk 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 

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

Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 

Psa 36:6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. 

Isa 13:4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. 

Trees, the sea and mountains in this parable represent our old man and the doctrines of our father the devil. 

The faith of Christ in us gives us the ability to cast out our old man and the doctrines of the world. Christ is working this out in the elect in this age. He is casting out all these nations within us. Christ does this by judging us. He has given us commandments to follow, and until He begins to work in us, we cannot follow these commandments. When He does begin, however, He will finish His work. Here is the promise of our Lord. 

Deu 6:1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
Deu 6:2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
Deu 6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Deu 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deu 6:6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
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.
Deu 6:9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Deu 6:10 And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
Deu 6:11 And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
Deu 6:12 Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Deu 6:13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
Deu 6:14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
Deu 6:15 (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
Deu 6:16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Deu 6:17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
Deu 6:18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,
Deu 6:19 To cast out all thine enemies (the trees and mountains) from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.

Psa 135:13  Thy name, O LORD, endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations. 
Psa 135:14  For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants. 
Psa 135:15  The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 
Psa 135:16  They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; 
Psa 135:17  They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. 
Psa 135:18  They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them. 
Psa 135:19  Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, O house of Aaron: 
Psa 135:20  Bless the LORD, O house of Levi: ye that fear the LORD, bless the LORD. 
Psa 135:21  Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD. 

The first verse of this second part of our study with Psalm 135 sets the stage for the rest of the verses we will be looking at which tell us why we ought to “Praise ye the Lord” for these wonderful works He is doing to the children of men. Christ is only truly being exalted “in the congregation of the people” and in “the assembly of the elders” where His spirit is given to those who are blessed to have been dragged to Christ to worship our Father in spirit and in truth.

Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 
Psa 107:32  Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

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. 

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 

We are told in verse 13 “Thy name, O LORD, for ever^H5769; thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations“, reminding us that God’s purpose for mankind is an age-abiding one that will save all men (1Co 15:22), and His purpose being fulfilled within His children, and all of His creation has stages or degrees, starting with His kind of first fruits who ultimately resolves in saving all those other generations which will be part of “thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations“.

Psa 135:13  O Yahweh! thy Name, is age-abiding,—O Yahweh! thy memorial, is to generation after generation. (Rotherham)

H5769   o-lawm’, o-lawm’
From H5956; properly concealed, that is, the vanishing point; generally time out of mind (past or future), that is, (practically) eternity; frequentative adverbially (especially with prepositional prefix) always: – always (-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, [n-]) ever (-lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end). 

Compare H5331, H5703.

H5331 neh’-tsakh, nay’-tsakh
From H5329; properly a goal, that is, the bright object at a distance travelled towards; hence (figuratively), splendor, or (subjectively) truthfulness, or (objectively) confidence; but usually (adverbially), continually (that is, to the most distant point of view): – alway (-s), constantly, end, (+ n-) ever (more), perpetual, strength, victory.

H5703  ad
From H5710; properly a (peremptory) terminus, that is, (by implication) duration, in the sense of perpetuity (substantially as a noun, either with or without a preposition): – eternity, ever (-lasting, -more), old, perpetually, + world without end.

For more on why we understand H447774 to be better translated “age-abiding”, please see the study at IWWB of which I have taken the following excerpt:  http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/prophecy-of-isaiah-isa-4514-25-part-2-every-knee-shall-bow-and-every-tongue-confess/ 

“When we acknowledge that the Hebrew words ‘olam’ and ‘ad’ are the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word ‘aion’ (the English word eon), which means simply a ‘period of time with a definite beginning and a definite ending’, then we must acknowledge that the Lord was indeed very longsuffering in keeping His promise to preserve King David’s physical throne for a very long ‘period of time’. Nevertheless, that period of time had a definite beginning when David was anointed king over all of Israel, and it had a definite ending when Zedekiah was taken off that throne to die in Babylon 586 years before Christ. The next king to sit on David’s throne would be Christ, who will give the kingdom to His Christ.

Luk 22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;” [End Quote]

It is for “mine own sake” or “for his great name sake” as we recently saw in the book of Isaiah (Isa 43:25) and these other verses (Sa 12:22, Psa 25:11, Psa 79:9) which remind us of God’s sovereignty that is making His memorial “throughout all generations” starting with that generation who are blessed to read, hear and keep the sayings of the prophecy and are blessed to receive that “age-abiding” reward that God has predestined from the foundation of the world for the elect first (Rev 1:3, Mat 24:34, Eph 1:5-6).

This truth that many are called and few are chosen (Mat 22:14) to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Rev 20:6) is hidden or concealed from the world (H5956), and when there is no stay of bread or water as we will see in verses (Psa 135:15-18), there is no judgment, and when there is no judgment in our heavens, the Lord has created the perfect breeding ground for the idols of our hearts that can only be destroyed through the life-giving words that are read, and heard and kept by God’s people first (Rev 1:3). As a result of God’s judgment, we are able to put off our flesh and be amongst those who are the first to trust in the living God and to be obedient to his every command, resulting in true worship and praise of our Creator from hearts that have no guile because of what He has done within our heavens through Christ. 

H5956  aw-lam’  A primitive root; to veil from sight, that is, conceal (literally or figuratively): –  X any ways, blind, dissembler, hide (self), secret (thing).

Joh 6:25  And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? 
Joh 6:26  Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. 
Joh 6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 
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. 

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; [Mat 10:22]

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

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 

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

Psa 135:13  Thy name, O LORD, endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations. 
Psa 135:14  For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants. 

God’s name, or his Word, which He sends to heal us first (Psa 107:20), is an “age-abiding” word, and so it is written “Thy name, O LORD, for ever [age-abiding]; thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations“. That memorial or testimony is demonstrated or witnessed through the judgment which first comes upon “his people,” and” he will repentH5162 himself concerning his servants” does not mean ‘repent’ as we initially think of that word. The three words that make up this definition [he will repentH5162] means that God will take vengeance on our man of sin within and redeem us through Christ by destroying the first man Adam with a “strong breath”, which is comforting to know because it is the Comforter or the spirit of God that is leading us into all truth and making this possible (Joh 16:13). 

H5162  nâcham  naw-kham’

A primitive root; properly to sigh, that is, breathe strongly; by implication to be sorry, that is, (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself): – comfort (self), ease [one’s self], repent (-er, -ing, self).

Here’s an excerpt from an FAQ on IWWB to further expound on this Strong’s number H5162 :

It is very revealing to see that the same word used to translate “repent” is also translated as “comfort”. Additionally, seeing the spirit behind the letter shows us that it is through the Lord’s “repentance”, grief with, or vengeance towards the old world (the shadow of our old carnal nature) that he delivers the comforter, Noah (the shadow of the new man, Christ in us). It is the double-edged sword of God’s word that both destroys the old man, and gives life to the new man.  http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/does-i-change-not-contradict-it-repented-the-lord/ 

Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

It is comforting to know that God is judging us, and we are being worked with now, because we know that what God has started in any one of us He will finish (Php 1:6), and He will show pity to us along the way, sparing us “as a man spareth his own son that serveth him” (Mal 3:16-17).

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: 

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 
Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. 
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. 

Psa 135:15  The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 
Psa 135:16  They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; 
Psa 135:17  They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. 
Psa 135:18  They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them. 

These next verses show us what is being destroyed by the brightness of His coming into our heavens. God is destroying the idols of our hearts, the “silver and gold“, the “work of men’s hands,” the things in which we initially trust and don’t see as our own righteousnesses (Isa 64:6, Mat 19:21, Luk 12:32).

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

Mat 19:21  Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

If we are not chastened and scourged of the Lord, we will continue to trust in the idols of our hearts, in the flesh, and believe that we have something to do with our own salvation which we don’t. If God is working with us in this age, then those idols are going to be destroyed by dragging us to the altar where our flesh is put off so that we can receive the blessing of being able to worship God in spirit and in truth as we are given the power to overcome in this life.

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? 

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

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 

Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. [Mal 3:17-18] 

I cut and pasted this section from a previous Psalm study which discusses what it means for us to have mouths that don’t speak, and eyes that don’t see and ears that don’t hear:

“Psa 115:5  They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 

As discussed earlier, the beast that represents our yet carnal relationship speaks and has influence over others and these following verses  (Rev 13:15-16, Mat 24:24, 2Co 11:13-15) demonstrate the ultimate example of a Nicolaitan spirit that rules over the unsuspecting laity. These false prophets and apostles “have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not“.

Rev 13:15   And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.  [This is where we want to be amongst those who “should be killed” Rev 11:8, Rom 6:11]

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:  

Mat 24:24   For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.  

2Co 11:13   For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.  
2Co 11:14   And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  
2Co 11:15   Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.  

Psa 115:6  They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 

By now it should be very apparent to us that the idols that are being spoken of here in this Psalm are not specifically physical idols like a statue of Jesus or Buddha but rather it is a parable discussing the idols that are naturally attached to the heart of every man who does not yet know “THE UNKNOWN GOD” as Paul expressed to a group of men in Athens (Act 17:22-23). These men really did have physical idols and altars that were devotions to various gods, and they were outward expressions of their inward deception, and longing but were ever learning and not able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2Ti 3:7).

2Ti 3:7   Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  

When the scripture says “They have ears, but they hear not” or “noses have they, but they smell not”  we are simply being told what Paul said to the Athenians in regard to their current relationship “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD” where he says “Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you”.

Christ cannot be defined with a carnal fleshly mind, and when we do he remains spiritually unknown unto us. With the mind of Christ we can discern the good and the evil, or judge matters in our heavens through God’s holy spirit, that gives us the ability to hear the voice of the true Shepherd, as the comforter leads us into all truth, and helps us try the spirits whether they are of God or not (Joh 10:27, Joh 16:13, 1Jn 4:1). The holy spirit gives us a mind that is described this way “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” and that spirit helps us judge righteous judgement, because we are not judging after the flesh, but seeking our Lord’s judgment continually, whose judgement is not affected by the appearance, which is why the scripture says the new creature in Christ can say “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” (2Co 5:16-17). Judgement begins at the house of God, the temple that we are, as our Lord helps us examine ourselves to make sure that the plank is not in our own eye as we mature in our ability to judge righteous judgement that will have us not knowing any man after the flesh (2Co 5:16, Joh 5:3, 2Co 10:5, 1Jn 4:17, Joh 7:24). 

“They have ears, but they hear not” because they can hear, but what anyone hears when they are deceived is a lying spirit which God sends to keep that person from hearing the voice of the true Shepherd (Eze 14:9-10, Joh 12:40).

Eze 14:9   And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.  
Eze 14:10   And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; [Psa 135:18]

Joh 12:40  He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 

“Noses have they, but they smell not”  because they can smell, but what we initially smell from true believers is the smell of death, even as we cannot recognize our own odious spiritual condition that has yet to be healed (2Co 2:16, Rev 3:17). Lazarus and the rich man perfectly portrays this principle of how God’s elect are perceived by those who are “clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day” (Luk 16:19-25). 

2Co 2:16   To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?  

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:” [End Quote]

Just as we are commanded to go and preach the gospel to all nations as a witness, and know that God shows us in His Word that there is a very specific way we do that, starting with the lost tribes of Israel which represent God’s elect (Mat 15:24, Jas 1:1-4, Rev 14:12), so, too, the world and those who proselytize (Mat 23:15) are driven to spread another Jesus and a false gospel. They are compelled to do so by the powers and principalities over which they have no dominion in their lives at this time (Joh 8:44-47). We see in the following verses how the spreading of the true gospel is directly connected with “the patience of the saints” who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus”.

Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Mat 15:24  But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 

Jas 1:1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. [Mat 22:14, Luk 12:32]
Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

“They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them” of verse 18 of our study tonight tells us that this making of idols is something that is proliferated over the course of time and that the sins of the Amorites must come to their fullness “throughout all generations” (of verse 13) in order for the great day of “the supper of the great God” to come about (Gen 15:16, Rev 19:17-18).

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

Rev 19:17  And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; [Rev 19:7]
Rev 19:18  That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. [1Co 6:3]

Psa 135:19  Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, O house of Aaron: 
Psa 135:20  Bless the LORD, O house of Levi: ye that fear the LORD, bless the LORD. 
Psa 135:21  Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD. 

If God has made you His workmanship, I cannot think of any better reason to greatly rejoice because it means your names are written in heaven and that the ôlâm God is going to finish something that is holy and pure, which will be perfected on the third day and then be used to save the rest of the world (Luk 10:20-21).

Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. 
Luk 10:21  In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. [1Co 1:26-27]

We “bless the LORD” because Christ abides in this house, the house of Aaron, and we “bless the LORD” because we are chosen out of the “house of Levi” (Num 17:3-10) to blossom and grow, and we “Praise ye the LORD” because of the mercy God has shown to us in this age (Rom 11:30-32, Eph 2:7) which is revealed from Jerusalem above where we are raised together, blessing the LORD and praising His name for His wonderful works to the children of men that will in time have all men to be saved (Gal 4:26, Eph 2:6, 1Co 15:22).

Num 17:3  And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers…

Num 17:8  And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds…

Num 17:10  And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not. 

Everything is “for his name’s sake” (Psa 106:8, Isa 48:9-12) as we fill up what is behind of His afflictions (Col 1:24) so that one day we can bring our brothers who “As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes” into remembrance of His sovereign plan which caused all the circumstances in their life and our life to work according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11) and for his good purpose within us (Rom 8:28). 

Psa 106:8  Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

Isa 48:9  For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. 
Isa 48:10  Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. 
Isa 48:11  For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another. 
Isa 48:12  Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. 

We are His kind of first fruits who were first nourished and matured by being blessed to have His love shed abroad in our hearts, giving us the ability to believe all things (Rom 5:5-10, Php 4:13, Php 4:19) and hope all things and endure all things, which is what his love can do (1Co 13:7-8).

1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 
1Co 13:8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 
1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

We endure in seeing Him who is invisible (1Pe 1:8, Heb 11:27) by the grace and faith of Christ (Eph 2:8) as we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (1Co 2:9, 1Co 13:12, Php 3:13-15), rejoicing, praising the Lord, and thanking Him, for this “joy unspeakable and full of glory”  that is leading to our “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1Pe 1:8-12). 

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. 

1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 
1Pe1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: [Jas 5:10-11]

Rejoicing or praising God and giving thanks for this spiritual healing He has given us is something we pray we never take for granted, and if God is working with us in this age, He will bring us into remembrance through judgment which will remind us of how indebted we are to our Lord for all He has done for us (Luk 17:17, Rom 11:18-20)

Luk 17:15  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 
Luk 17:16  And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 
Luk 17:17  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 
Luk 17:18  There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 
Luk 17:19  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. 

Rom 11:18  Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 
Rom 11:19  Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 
Rom 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 

Marriage and divorce

April 26, 2019

Marriage is a very important topic with the Lord. This study will only touch on the concepts found within the context of Deuteronomy 24, but there have been other writings on this topic placed on IWWB which I encourage anyone who is so inclined to search out. Namely, the marriage series by Mike and also the law of Moses versus the law of the Spirit article.

The Lord takes marriage seriously. It is the institution of marriage that allows us to come into the household, and therefore the family, of God.

The price that had to be paid for this marriage was paid for in blood, the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore, it is important for us to examine the reasons why marriage is important to the Lord when we happen upon scripture discussing this topic.

For this examination today, we are going to cover Deuteronomy 24:1 and the context of this verse.

Deu 24:1  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Deu 24:2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Deu 24:3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
Deu 24:4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

At first glance, it seems like a cruel act for a husband to look upon his wife and decide he is unhappy with her because “she finds no favor in his eyes”. However, we all know that this happens from time to time, but the Lord institutes a way for the woman to find another husband.

This is important because we need to be able to know how to handle these types of situations, but we also know that the Lord is fair and just in giving an order to the process of things, especially to the woman who hasn’t found favor in her husband’s eyes.

Additionally, we are told with these sets of verses that a husband, even with a bill of divorcement freeing the woman, could not take her back as a wife, because the Lord sees this has an abomination.

One of the main reasons this is the case is that when a man and woman leave their father and mother, they will become one flesh with their wives. Once this union happens, it is considered to be permanent.

Therefore, if I “cut off” my hand, how can it be reattached? If I divorce my wife, how then can I take her back as a wife after she has been divorced again from her second husband?

Jesus speaks to this when He is asked about it by the pharisees.

Mat 19:1  And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan;
Mat 19:2  And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.
Mat 19:3  The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
Mat 19:4  And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
Mat 19:5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Mat 19:6  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mat 19:7  They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
Mat 19:8  He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
Mat 19:9  And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Mat 19:10  His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
Mat 19:11  But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
Mat 19:12  For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

I know that is a lot to take in at once but let us break this down a bit.

First, notice when we come together as man and woman we become one flesh. When we understand the full sovereignty of God, and these Jews did not whom Jesus was speaking to, then we understand that it is the Lord who has brought them together.

This is not something that man can separate, even in a court of law. For God, your union as husband and wife was considered permanent. However, knowing the hardness of our hearts, we were given a way for a man to divorce his wife and for the woman to marry again.

These mandates were a way to make it known how to act in this situation, but it wasn’t a get out of marriage free card.

In fact, in order to get a bill of divorcement you had to have witnesses and it was made public. Therefore, it was something that was not taken lightly. You couldn’t just rashly get rid of your wife.

Rather than have a man beat his wife, murder her or otherwise harm her in some way, there was a method given to divorce his wife, but the union was made by God. Therefore, it was always intact.

The answers of the disciples proves the very thing Jesus mentions as the reason why a bill of divorcement was given to them as a method to use, “His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.”

The reason for a bill of divorcement is due to hardened hearts which don’t understand the real meaning of marriage “from the beginning”.

In fact, the very first act of polygamy in the bible was done by man, and specifically from a very familiar line of mankind.

Gen 4:16 (ESV)  Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Gen 4:17  Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
Gen 4:18  To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.
Gen 4:19  And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

The first sign of not being “one man and one wife”, came from the line of Cain which is instructive to us or should be anyways. The Lord is Faithful to one bride, and He expects His bride to be faithful to Him.

Jesus’ answer to, “If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry”, is to tell His disciples what types of eunuchs there are. Most might find this strange to mention in regards to marriage, but what was Jesus getting at?

The first types of eunuchs did not do so of their own volition. They were made eunuchs either by God in from birth or from men.

The last group is a group which has chosen to become eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. This group has chosen to fight the natural tendencies of the flesh and is a form of the spirit conquering the flesh by bringing it into subjection.

This was a way to not be distracted by the things marriage distracts us by, and to serve the Lord wholly.

Also, of great note are those who have a wife but act as if they have none.

You haven’t heard of such a thing? Well, it is scriptural, and it has meaning.

1Co 7:25  Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
1Co 7:26  I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
1Co 7:27  Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

Whatever set of circumstances that Lord has dragged you unto Himself in, married or unmarried, does not disannul you of that life in order to serve Him in a capacity you think you should serve Him.

Serve Him in the same position of life that He has called you in because that is where He has placed you to serve Him.

1Co 7:28  But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
1Co 7:29  But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

When serving the Lord, we need to be doing all that we do to His glory. So, even when I am married, my service to the Lord is first and within the context of my marriage. My marriage compliments and reflects my service to the Lord but it does not diminish it.

1Co 7:30  And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
1Co 7:31  And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
1Co 7:32  But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
1Co 7:33  But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
1Co 7:34  There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
1Co 7:35  And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
1Co 7:36  But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
1Co 7:37  Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.
1Co 7:38  So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.
1Co 7:39  The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
1Co 7:40  But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

When bringing this all back into focus for what marriage is to the Lord, and why a bill of divorcement was needed, we need to also balance that with situations where divorce was not permitted.

Deu 22:13  If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,
Deu 22:14  And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:
Deu 22:15  Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:
Deu 22:16  And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
Deu 22:17  And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.
Deu 22:18  And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;
Deu 22:19  And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

And

Deu 22:28  If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
Deu 22:29  Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.

Simply put, the Lord has given us actions we can take to deal with divorcement, but if we are honest as Christians then we realize that the Lord sees marriage as very important.

To continue this thought of the importance of marriage to the Lord, we must be reminded that Jesus changed things when He told the Pharisees what the rules for divorcement were.

Comparing the laws and liberties of Christ with the law of Moses will show how Jesus changed these things.

The law was for Israel “according to the flesh,” not the Israel who are “the children of promise,” also known as the Israel of God.

Jesus Christ is pointing out to His disciples that God is all powerful and in complete control. If God has joined us in marriage, then no man can put asunder that work, and we should see things this way.

This is what brings us to the ultimate meaning of what it is to be a child of God or the bride of Christ depending on how we are being described by the Lord at that time.

Rom 2:2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
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?
Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

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,

The law of Moses was and is opposed to the inward spiritual new man:

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

What this all means in the context of this study is that our commitment to our physical spouses is a reflection to our commitment to the Lord, but that is not all.

Everything we are and do is a reflection of what the Lord has done, and we need to always strive to see the importance to the actions of the Lord.

Mike wrote a series on marriage which I encourage everyone to listen to or read if you haven’t done so already. He also wrote the law of Moses versus the law of the Spirit which goes over a lot of the concepts behind divorcing according to the law of Moses.

For this study, we briefly covered some of the key points in Deuteronomy 20 concerning divorce and also how that applies (or doesn’t) to us today as Christians.

How Is Love Created Within Us?

Hi Mike,

​We are going through the “What Is Heaven Study” and didn’t get far before we had a question pertaining to the third scriptural reference for Isaiah 66:1.

​We got through the throne and the footstool part, but the last two questions got us thinking about the deeper implications of what is being asked;

Isa 66:1B …where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

​We understand God’s question is rhetorical, and God is telling Israel, through Isaiah, that even though they had a physical tabernacle and temple where God would manifest himself to them in their lives, that God actually wants to sit on the throne which is in the heaven of thei​r hearts, thus producing the new man.

We know God is love. We also know that as His created creatures we do not have the same depth and passion or understanding of what spiritual love is.

Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.’
Mat 22:38 ‘This is the first and great commandment.’
Mat 22:39 ‘And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’

​This is the reason for the process He created, to bring us to the understanding of the depth ​and passion that He possesses?

​Is the per​fect love of God something that God would not create in His creations, because He knows that the only way for us to learn love is through his plan and process? God created Adam and Eve with imperfect knowledge for love, among other things, because perfect love needs to be learned, and is not something that can be created like flesh and blood, because love is Spirit?

Are we on solid ground? We couldn’t site any verses and would appreciate your shepherd’s view.

In Christ,​

S____

Hi S​____,

​Thank you for your question about why we were not created with perfect love.

​You are exactly right when you say:

This is the reason for the process He created, to bring us to the understanding of the depth ​and​ passion that He possesses?”

​By His design, for mankind it all must begin in imperfect, carnal-​minded flesh and blood, and afterward we will all be given spiritual bodies, for the very reason you gave – so we can come to understand good and evil, love and hatred.

​It really helps to notice how these words in Genesis are properly translated:

Gen 1:27 And creating is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them. (CLV)

​This is the proper translation of the Hebrew, which is in the “Qal stem”. The ‘Qal stem’ is the equivalent of the Greek aorist tense,​ and while Strong says it is usually translated as the past tense, even he admits it is a simple statement of fact without regard to tense, and “the sum of [God’s] word” (Psa 119:160) reveals that the CLV nailed it in this case. The Lord IS making man in His image, and the creation process is not yet finished and will not be finished until judgment and resurrection are accomplished. The Lord’s spiritual creation is not completed in us until we have “entered into His rest” (Heb 4:1-11).

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

​I do want to point out that “we have this treasure [Christ within us] in earthen vessels”, and we can, through Him, have the love of God within us even now. It is not of us, but it is within us, through Christ, even though we are still in these earthen vessels.

2Co 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

​What is most significant in light of what is said in Isaiah 66:1 is that we are able to connect “trembling at God’s Word” to “the love of God”. That is a connection that very few indeed have been given to make simply because they have never been given to know the Biblical definition of “the love of God”.

Here is that definition:

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

​We can say we love God while we ignore or are ignorant of His Words, but what we say or think does not affect the Truth which is the Word of God:

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

​His Word tells us that if we do not do the things He tells us to do we do not love Him, even though we may do “many wonderful works”.

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

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

​If we “love God and keep His commandments” only then do we know that we “love the children of God”. We don’t really know whether our children, family members or friends really love us unless they “keep the commandments of God” because “this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments”.

​That is what connects Isa 66:1 to 1 John 5:2-3. Notice that “tremble at my word” is mentioned in both verses 2 and 5 of Isaiah 66. It is mentioned twice to distinguish between those who have done many wonderful works in Christ’s name, but they did not “tremble at His words”, and they did not “keep His commandments”.

Here are verses 1-6:

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isa 66:3  He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4  I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Isa 66:6  A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

​These words carry the same message as Christ’s message in Matthew 7:21-23 and 1 John 5:2-3. If we truly love God, we will “tremble at” and “do the things [He] says”, and we will “keep His commandments”, because that is what constitutes “the love of God”.

It is in Luke 6 that Christ poses the question:

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

Putting these words together with the definition the word ‘love’ found in 1 John 5:2-3… “This is the love of God that we keep His commandments”, Christ is essentially asking us… ‘Why do you say you love me when you do no such thing’. Just look at the words which follow verse 46 of Luke 6:

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

If we think like a U.S. TV star who once said: “I’m a Christian, but don’t think you can slap me on the cheek and expect me to turn the other cheek”, then we are just playing mind games with God, and it doesn’t pay to play mind games with the person who is giving you your very thoughts to do so. The fact in that case would be that He has you building your house on the sand:

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

We all are guilty of thinking we can do something to get God to do what we want, but the truth is that even those thoughts are nothing more than part of the necessary evil we are all given to endure before we are given to see ourselves as the sinners in need of a Savior that we all are:

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.

​You are surmising with the mind of Christ. Yes, it is the process taking place in us while we are in these “earthen vessels” which is teaching us “the love of God”, and it is not being done at the snap of a finger. It entails first being made of corruptible flesh and blood with a rebellious carnal mind which “is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be”, and then dying daily to that mind, and developing through that death a true love of God and of our fellow man.

I hope this adds something to what you are already being shown.

Your fellow servant, Mike

Psa 116:1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. 
Psa 116:2  Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. 
Psa 116:3  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. 
Psa 116:4  Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
Psa 116:5  Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. 
Psa 116:6  The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. 

If we are as Christ is in this life, we will experience the same trials as our Lord (1Jn 4:17-18), the same rejection, the same being “brought low”, and we will be a stumbling block unto the physical Jews, and our soundness of mind that is a gift of God (2Ti 1:7) will not appear as that unto the intellectual Greek in man, but rather as foolishness.

1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 
1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 
1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 

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. 

The solution for overcoming the rejection we are promised from all men as Christ was rejected…  

The mind of the flesh:

Mar 13:13  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 

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. 
Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

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. 

…is to enter into His life, and His mindset which is described in these verses below.

The mind of Christ:

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

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. 
Mat 18:5  And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 

Mat 18:10  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. 

In this Psalm we will look at the process through which God puts his children in order to achieve this mind of Christ which we are blessed to have and grow in by entering into life through the trials He brings our way which burn that very same pride and vanity and hatred out of us that condemned Christ to the cross and that can cause us to not “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones”.

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: [Mat 24:13]

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 
Act 2:37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit. 
Heb 6:4  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, 
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 
Heb 6:6  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. 

What shall we do?

If we are to enter into life, we must keep the commandments of God as stated by Christ who can cause us to be matured throughout this life unto the symbolic third day.

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.

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 

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

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. [increase from God mentioned twice as a witness that the increase that God gives is through Christ “but by me”]

Rom_8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 

It is only through Christ to whom God must drag us that we can endure all things (Php 4:13) and find ourselves not committing spiritual murder (Mat 5:21-26) or spiritual adultery (Mat 5:27-32) or be found spiritually stealing from God by not giving our entire life to him (Mal 3:9-12, 1Co 10:11, Rom 12:1). We can only overcome through Christ who is the true witness whose spirit abides in us giving us the power to be more than conquerors through Him as we (Rom 8:8-9, Zec 4:6) “keep the commandments” (Col 1:27, Rev 11:3).

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. 

In the next verse of Matthew 19 we see everything that God gives us power to do through Christ is given to us so that we can honour our spiritual Father and the church, Christ’s body, that is typified as our spiritual mother.

Mat 19:19  Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [as well keeping God’s commandments is what is required to be loving our neighbor as ourselves]
Mat 19:20  The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 

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: [this is the answer to the young man’s question “what lack I yet?“]

In order to be true overcomers in this life who keep God’s commandments, it will take a miracle of confession from our heart, as the riches of God’s goodness, the forbearance and long-suffering ways of God work within our hearts and minds to give us victory over the powers and principalities with which we wrestle through the night, (Rom 2:4, Eph 6:12, Eph 6:16). Those powers oppose Christ by putting our sin off on someone else which is what flesh naturally does.

“e.g. (the church “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree (representing the law for the lawless  – 1Ti 1:9, Rom 7:13), and I did eat” (Gen 3:12-13), and this is the role of Babylon where God’s people “come out of her my people” (Rev 18:4) through confessing that there is no life within the quarters of Babylon the Great (within and without) as these verses state (Isa 3:1, Isa 4:1, Luk 15:17).”

Therefore entering into life by definition is not by identifying sin through the law for the lawless of (1Ti 1:9) or by saying to Christ “All these things have I kept from my youth up” of Matthew 19:20, but by being given power through Christ to live by the spirit of those laws through the gift of God’s holy spirit which quickens us and gives us the faith to be able to confess our faults and overcome in this life typified by the disciples tarrying in Jerusalem to receive the holy spirit just as we are raised together (Eph 2:6) in heavenly places together in Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Gal 4:26) where we experience “power from on high”.

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. 

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

Luk 24:49  And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 

God’s children have power or life through Christ “from on high” to keep God’s commandments that show us that we are “exceeding sinful” (Rom 7:13), and by His grace and faith He takes away our self-righteous spirit that says we are “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” blessing us to be His branch in this earth that understand that our spiritual sight comes from God as a free gift, and that there is none good, no not one.

Isa 4:2  In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. 

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. 

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

Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 

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

It is through “my people” where the manifest knowledge of God is made known through the church that we witness to the world that we overcome through Christ as our new head of our new body, which has become one bread and one body.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

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 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 
Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. [we become one flesh because we eat his body and drink his blood – Joh 6:54-57]

Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 
Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 
Joh 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 
Joh 6:57  As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 

1Co 12:20  But now are they many members, yet but one body.

Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

1Co 10:17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Becoming ‘one’ cannot happen without the manifest knowledge of God being given to each of us through the church, and it is through keeping His commandments, expressed through that knowledge given through the church, that we can grow and overcome (2Pe 3:18, Joh 6:27) and enter into life.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 

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. 

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 

God has promised us in if we will keep the commandments we will enter into life, and in this study we will see that because God loved us first, we could then in turn say that “I love the LORD” as we learn of his faithfulness to hear “my voice and my supplications” and to incline “his ear unto me“, only because He has set his love on the church, on His kind of first fruits first who have been promised that we will overcome in this life. We are no longer “exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?” as the unconverted disciples were. Because of God’s love being shed abroad in our hope-filled hearts we now believe in regard to entering into the kingdom of God “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Mat 19:26).

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us. 

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 

Luk 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 

1Jn 5:1  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 
1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 
1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Psa 116:1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. 

We can have great joy and confidence in our hearts knowing that our prayers are being heard and that God is able to answer those prayers and “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us”.

Mat 6:8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 

Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 

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

It is “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” that “he hath heard my voice and my supplications“, and as stated earlier it is because he first loved us that we can now say, “I love the LORD.”

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us. 

Psa 116:2  Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. 

A concert pianist inclines their ear to the gift of music given to them, and it can be astonishingly beautiful to hear a skilled orchestra with its many members perform at such high levels, not missing a single note. This physical analogy of an orchestra reminds us of Christ’s body, the church, who are blessed to be directed by Him whose spirit within us bears witness that he “hath inclined his ear unto me [us]” so we can be a living sacrifice through Him and know assuredly, as the Psalmist declared, “therefore will I [we] call upon him as long as I live.” “As long as I live“, as long as Christ is truly abiding in me and I am abiding in him by His power I will have entered into life knowing that “he hath inclined his ear unto me” as he is the treasure in this earthen vessel that makes this relationship possible.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 

Our role as being first or chiefest^G4413 in advance of all the rest of God’s creation is for the express purpose of being a “servant of all” giving our life “a ransom for many” as Christ did for us. We are given this honor to suffer and overcome as Christ did so that “many hearts may be revealed” (1Jn 4:17), and we thank our Father “for so it seemed good in thy sight” to hide these things from the wise and the prudent and to reveal them unto babes first.

Mar 10:44  And whosoever of you will be the chiefest^G4413, shall be servant of all.   For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. 

Luk 2:35  (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. 

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; 

Mat 11:25  At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 
Mat 11:26  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. 

G4413
πρῶτος
prōtos
pro’-tos

Contracted superlative of G4253; foremost (in time, place, order or importance): – before, beginning, best, chief (-est), first (of all), former.

Psa 116:3  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

Having this honour of being first to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life (Joh 17:3), does not come without a cost which Christ gives us the ability to incur through him. 

Luk 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. 

Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 
Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 
Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Joh 8:23  And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. [1Jn 2:16]
Joh 8:24  I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 

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

“The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow” are understood when we come to understand what flesh really is and we see our powerlessness over our own body of death that has all the sin of the world residing in it, that we can only overcome by believing in Christ once the Comforter is sent (Rev 13:4).

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.

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. 

The sacrifice of Christ and the indebtedness which we all have for what He has done for us is the most important cost to consider in our hearts, and God willing, we will never take for granted His sacrifice which has made it possible for all indebtedness to God to be covered.

Mat 18:34  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 
Mat 18:35  So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. 

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? 

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 
Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

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

Psa 116:4  Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. 

It is when God brings the elect to see our helpless and hopeless condition, the powerless soul that Adam has, that we will by His grace call “upon the name of the LORD” and cry out “O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul“. It is those with whom God is working in this age who will be experiencing the much tribulation that brings us to our wits’ end, to the end that we would trust in the Almighty and give thanks for those wonderful works to the children of men.

Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. 

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Psa 116:5  Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. 
Psa 116:6  The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. 

These gracious works of the LORD of working with His children and receiving them through the trials of this life demonstrate the mercy and the righteous mind of our Lord who causes us to be “brought low” but also comforts and helps us “and he helped me” through those things which we suffer today. This life is bringing us to examine and judge ourselves today so that we don’t have to be judged in the lake of fire in the future, and so that we can enter into life today learning obedience by those things which we suffer. Entering into life through Christ is being able to walk in holiness and “cast out devils” and “do cures to day and to morrow” so that on “the third day I shall be perfected”.

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

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

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

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Next week, Lord willing,Declare, we will look at the next few verses of Psalm 116 where we will examine how it is possible to “walk before the LORD in the land of the living” that God says those who are given to keep his commandments will do. 

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

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Awesome Hands – Part 118

“Spiritual Leprosy”

July 5, 2017

Spiritual leprosy is a topic that isn’t very complicated to grasp, but it is a topic which has components which are very hard to recognize and counter in our lives. While physical leprosy is easy to detect, it is spiritual leprosy that needs a “trained eye” to discern.

In our study today, we are continuing down the path of discovering the awesome hands of the Lord and how He works in our lives to reveal that we all, in our given time, have been given spiritual leprosy. However, our High Priest is able to recognize it and is also able to provide the steps needed to cleanse ourselves.

Our verses for consideration today are found in the fourteenth chapter of Leviticus.

Cleansing a leper

The first thing to know about leprosy is that it can be healed. Otherwise, the Lord would not have made an entire chapter to be recorded to show us that there is a process for leprosy to be healed. Many people in ancient times believed this disease to be incurable.  Today, even modern medicine can treat physical leprosy, and depending on the severity, it can be cured with antibiotics.

However, spiritual leprosy is a disease that will produce spiritual death in us if we are not careful to examine and exterminate that source of the issue.

Remember, leprosy is a FLESH disease, and as such it is to be viewed as something that is produced by the old man in us. Why am I making this comparison? Just as that old serpent was given “dust” as his nourishment, those who are “of your father the devil” also find that “dust” or “the things of the flesh” are their nourishment.

Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Psa 44:25  For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.

We are going to look over most of the chapter in Leviticus 14 in order to know what leprosy is and how to combat it. Specifically, this study will concentrate on how to CLEANSE leprosy once it is recognized for what it is.

Lev 14:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 14:2  This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
Lev 14:3  And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
Lev 14:4  Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
Lev 14:5  And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:
Lev 14:6  As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:
Lev 14:7  And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.

Notice that there is a process involved for a priest of God and the infected to go through in order for a leper to be cleansed. In verse 7, the priest pronounces the infected as CLEAN, but that is only the beginning of the work that must be done in order to fully implement the steps needed to fully cleanse the leper.

Notice, “becoming clean” is a process of continuously cleaning yourself in different ways and different levels of cleanliness. That passage of time also requires the application of cleanliness again.

Lev 14:8  And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.
Lev 14:9  But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.

Several times now we have read that “that he may be clean” and “he shall be clean” after having read that he is already “pronounced clean”. So, why are the next steps needed?

Notice, there are seven days required so far in order for a leper to “tarry abroad out of his tent” or to have “seven sprinkles of blood” to be pronounced clean, so what can be gather on why we are being given specific periods of time in order for certain steps to be quantified?

Knowing that 7 represents the completion of judgment, we can see that when we consider that leprosy is a fleshly disease, there must be a connection between the offerings being made for the leper, the blood involved in the cleansing and the completion of judgment on the flesh.

The connection is that these animal sacrifices are always done for a “lawless and disobedient people”, but the sacrifice that covers us in blood is only the BEGINNING of our walk, but it is still an absolutely crucial and required one.

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,

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

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.

1Pe 1:2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Rev 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Now that we can see the connection to judgment of the flesh, and the covering of ourselves by the blood of Christ, what then is needed to continue in this process of cleansing? The first set of cleansing steps allowed the leper back into the camp, but not back into his HOUSE/TENT. Now, we must take care of the house.

Lev 14:10  And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.
Lev 14:11  And the priest that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
Lev 14:12  And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD:
Lev 14:13  And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering: it is most holy:
Lev 14:14  And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:
Lev 14:15  And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand:
Lev 14:16  And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD:
Lev 14:17  And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:
Lev 14:18  And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD.
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.

Notice in these sets of verses that all the offerings made are made by the “restored” leper except for the peace offering. Even more revealing is that in the trespass offering is done differently here with lepers.

Namely, the animal in the trespass offering didn’t need to have value that was as high as normally when a sin was committed. The trespass offering is waved by the priest, whereas normally this is not the case since the offeror normally waved it. Also, oil was presented with the trespass offering.

These details might be a bit perplexing if we only see this as a physical leper. However, we know that the physical things we see are representative of spiritual realities. Though the leper doesn’t necessarily commit a trespass in order to need to offer a trespass offering, we know the Lord requires this offering. This should tell us that there is more going on than meets the eye so to speak.

Lev 14:21  And if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, and a log of oil;
Lev 14:22  And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.
Lev 14:23  And he shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the LORD.
Lev 14:24  And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD:
Lev 14:25  And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:
Lev 14:32  This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing.

What understanding and knowledge then can we take away from this physical plague sent to the flesh of the one who is infected? What can we learn, more than what we’ve already touched on, about leprosy in it’s spiritual form and application?

Mat 8:1  When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
Mat 8:2  And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Mat 8:3  And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Mat 8:4  And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

Then in Mark we see the story given more details:

Mar 1:40  And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Mar 1:41  And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
Mar 1:42  And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.
Mar 1:43  And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;
Mar 1:44  And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Mar 1:45  But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

Leprosy is a plague of uncleanness. That is why the leper asked to be cleansed, and out of Jesus’ own mouth we see that He gave the leper cleanness.

In practical application today, we know that we are sent into the world just as Jesus is, because as He is so are we.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
2Co 10:7  Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.
1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

If loving God is equivalent to showing God the love of God, doesn’t this extend to our brothers?

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

This may sound controversial when you first hear me say it, but whosoever is BORN OF GOD overcomes the WORLD. Who overcomes the WORLD? How do we know who it is that overcomes the WORLD?

Let the scriptures say so:

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, EVEN OUR FAITH.

Therefore, faith is BORN of GOD. It is a GIFT. Therefore, the faith given to us by God, born of God, overcomes the world.

What is in the world? What does the world consist of that needs to be overcome?

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

Act 17:24  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Act 17:29  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

I ask again what is in the world, the world which we are all OF naturally?

1Jn 2:9  He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
1Jn 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
1Jn 2:11  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
1Jn 2:12  I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

"Steven, you’re quoting random scriptures but not answering your own question", you may be saying.

The buildup is intense! I write to you all how it is spiritual leprosy is dealt with and CURED.

1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14  I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

You might now be asking yourself how spiritual leprosy is connected to these verses at all. After all, leprosy is not mentioned at all here. However, it is indeed buried below the surface when connected with “all that is in the world”.

When we are told the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and that the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as you love yourself, we should take heed on how it is we do this. When we know that the scriptural definition of what the love of God is to keep His commandments, then we can start to connect the spiritual dots with how it is we identify and cure spiritual leprosy.

Leprosy in the flesh is a physical disease that separated the leper from all of society. It was a death sentence which lasted many years most times in isolation. This is the same for spiritual leprosy. Just as with physical lepers, spiritual lepers need a priest.

We are all being raised up as kings and priests in training, and we all have Jesus as our High Priest. Therefore, as He is a priest, so are we priests. As such, when someone comes to us or is made known to us to have something pertaining to the WORLD that needs to be dealt with, there is a weapon at our disposal that allows as to OVERCOME the spirit of leprosy.

Leprosy in the spirit will always be something that pulls on our flesh in some way and all that is in the world pertaining to our carnal mind. As we love God with all we have, we too must love our neighbor by keeping the commandments of God.

We do this by BELIEVING that the Lord is Faithful to heal us. We ask for healing, believing it will happen, and one day in the Lord’s timing, it WILL HAPPEN. Obviously, we yearn for it to happen now in this present aion, but we say nevertheless thy will be done as well.

1Jn 2:29  If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

Tit 3:1  Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Tit 3:2  To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
Tit 3:3  For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
Tit 3:4  But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Tit 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Tit 3:6  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Tit 3:7  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
Tit 3:9  But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
Tit 3:10  A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
Tit 3:11  Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

This is how we love one another and offer to help minister to the cure of spiritual leprosy.