[Study Aired June 3, 2023]

Chapter 12 and 13 of Joshua is mostly dedicated to the registery of the names of the kings defeated by Israel at the hands of the Lord and their geographical locations. As seen in the preceding studies, it spiritually acknowledged our sins by the meaning of each King and his city’s name. This methodical documentation in subsequent chapters included establishing the Promised Land’s boundaries.

Israel’s geographical tracking confirmed that ‘trouble comes out of the South’ for the evil kings and their cities since Mt. Sinai is far to the south of the Promised Land and Israel’s jubilant push northward.

The conquering of Jericho, immediately north of the Dead Sea, established the Lord’s power and might, mostly Eastward of the Jordan and Jerusalem just a little further West, the heart of the Promised Land. 

From Israel’s position in the south, she moved north, mostly on the west of the Jordan, toward Mt. Hermon in the far north, killing every man, woman, child, and every breathing thing, confirming that our enemies are troubles coming from the South.

Isa 30:6 The burden of the beasts of the South: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying Serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

That verse denotes the Lord’s people coming with their burdens of sin from the south eventually to Christ, where with much anguish, we rout our Promised Land, the Temple of God, from our self-righteousness. Joshua is the ‘young lion’ and Moses the ‘old lion’, a secondary representation of the two armies (Son 6:13) of the Old and New Covenant. Christ is the viper and the fiery Serpent whom we mirror as we gain our Lord’s riches on the “young asses” depicted as a ‘young Israel’ under Joshua’s rule.

Indeed, all the peoples conquered thus far in the Promised Land had nothing of physical value to profit Israel except where the Lord chose to keep items for Israel’s benefit, even if it were a couple of Gebonites. If it were possible, the Lord’s people likewise have nothing of the physical or spiritual value of this Babylonian system worthy of carrying forward into the Kingdom.

Chapters 12 and 13 document the kings and their lands defeated by Israel. Moses didn’t lead Israel in their campaign, as the heading of chapter 12 suggests, since he wasn’t permitted to go into the Promised Land with the children of Israel.  However, he directed what was to come before his death (Deu 3:13-29).

These conquests are the first of very many for Israel to secure the entire Promised Land. Israel’s shoddiness at precisely following all that the Lord commanded and culminating in not being detailed in the taking of Jericho and the subsequent horrific stoning of Achan and his seemingly innocent family made Israel sit up and take the Lord seriously, at least for a few short years.

Every king of his city and its inhabitants – man, woman, child and beast, everything that had breath – was utterly destroyed, and the city set on fire, except very occasionally where the Lord specified items for Israel’s use. Such are our sinful cities within utterly burnt with the Lord’s fire.

Why did the Lord, through Joshua, curse Jericho that it should never be rebuilt and not the other cities of Canaan? 

Jos 6:26 And Joshua charged them at that time, saying, Cursed before Jehovah is the man who rises up and builds this city of Jericho. He shall lay the foundation of it in his first-born, and in his youngest son he shall set up the gates of it.

A detailed understanding of that curse is in this link:  https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-joshua-part-7-fame-and-fear-of-the-sword-wielded-by-the-elect-of-god-will-go-globally-joshua-618-27/

Jericho, being the first city (“one”) of the Promised Land to be erased, represents the entirety of Canaan’s cities and people. It represents our mind and body before being dragged to Christ. Except where the Lord chose not, everything in this polluted land is cursed from Jericho north to Mt. Hermon and turning south through Jerusalem to the land of the Amalekites bordering Egypt.

Even though the Lord, for the most part, didn’t verbally curse every city in Canaan, Jericho represented the entire land cursed, and so are we while in Babylon. Noah’s son, Ham, represents the entire land. You will remember that Ham, Canaan’s father, ridiculed his father’s nakedness by attempting to entice his brothers to join his ‘party spirit’ to dishonour their father’s headship.Gen 9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan. He shall be a servant of servants to his brothers.

Satan is our first father, and we share his curse as his symbolised progeny.

Gen 3:14 And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because you have done this [Deceived Adam and Eve] you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You shall go upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

Ham cursed Noah and subsequently and unwittingly cursed all the land of Canaan with its kings and people before Israel’s entry.

Lev 20:9 And any man who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be on him.

As such, the entire land of Canaan was cursed in the duality of Joshua’s curse on Jericho and Ham’s impropriety towards his father.

Shortly we will see the meanings of the names of the kings, the people and the land, and our biblical knowledge will remind us that many hundreds of years later, low and behold, these very same people show up! What spiritually does this tell us?

As seen in Joshua Part 7, the ‘dig’ in the mound called a “tel” of Jericho reveals many attempts to rebuild this city today. Each dig’s project manager probably remained ignorant of the curse on his children; nonetheless, each rebuild failed with no doubt much family sorrow.

These peoples of Canaan, along with their cities, arose from their ashes to trouble Israel until Israel became almost indistinguishable from them!

Isa 1:21 How has the faithful city become a harlot? It was full of judgment;  righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

What spiritually does this tell us? God deliberately let Israel be slothful in routing their land to show His Body that we are sin! Sin is like thorny blackberry briars. We dig them out, burn them, even poison them, and still a root of bitterness springs up succulent and full of vigor amid the ashes. While we are flesh and blood, our field’s cities, kings, men, women, children, and beasts will sucker back up  (sprout from roots remaining in the soil) afresh to alarm our inward land; this requires vigilance to watch for that arrogant little weed.

Just as Jericho was rebuilt several times in history, as the ‘tel’ indicates, we mostly unwittingly rebuild on the debris of our past sins and have a ‘blackberry root’ sucker up to curse us.

We are not to be slothful with sin and worse, raise Jericho or any remnants of those yet-to-be-conquered cities back to life. However, lamentably, that is precisely what we tend to do following the bloody death of that city.

Hab 2:12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!

Soon we will see in detail the meaning of the names of the kings, cities and lands and how they relate to our vigilance against sin. After years of having someone daily say that we need to be rid of all the giants, kings, cities, men, women, children and beasts, we could yawn inwardly for its now rudimentary understanding. If a sluggish spirit resides within, and we rebuild our city upon the daily death (blood) of sin, we shall not prosper and are effectively cursed for its breath. Faith comes from frequently hearing the word of God.

Jos 7:13 Up! Sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, A cursed thing [Achan’s sin] is in the midst of you, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the cursed thing from among you.

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) 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.

2Pe 2:9 The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust for a day of judgment, to be punished, 
2Pe 2:10 and especially those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness [we are inherently unclean by default], and despise dominion. They are darers, self-pleasing; not trembling at glories, speaking evil. 
2Pe 2:11 Where angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reproaching accusation against them before the Lord. 
2Pe 2:12 But these, as unreasoning natural brute animals having been born for capture and corruption, speak evil of the things that they do not understand. And they will utterly perish in their own corruption, 
2Pe 2:13 being about to receive the wages of unrighteousness, deeming indulgence as pleasure in the daytime, and reveling in spots and blemishes, feasting along with you in their deceits, 
2Pe 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and never ceasing from sin, alluring unstable souls, having a heart exercised with covetousness. They are cursed children 
2Pe 2:15 who have forsaken the right way and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

Joshua was told to kill the kings and their related cities, which he mostly did, except for the God-given laxity for believing the Gibeonite’s deception (Jos 9:1-27). Killing the kings and their cities is killing the trunk of the tree. However, many trees have live roots that sucker up to grow new and more vigorous trees. If we don’t methodically kill our land’s collective ‘beasts’, any remaining will ‘sucker’ back to life and curse future generations. Achan hid a suckering root in the ground beneath his tent. If the Lord hadn’t dealt swiftly with Achan’s sin, similarly to us, he would have presented a substantially rooted tree of sin to further curse our spiritual development.

Following Israel’s routing of their land of the heathen cities and their peoples, no doubt a sprinkling of countryside dwellers escaped the massacre. Subsequently, when Israel settled the land much later after fully taking Canaan, those ‘roots’ suckered to establish more evil ‘beasts of the field’, and as we know, Israel did take on their ways.

Jericho served as an unstated example not to rebuild any destroyed city and its people. God cursed Jericho to never be rebuilt, but the rest of the totally destroyed cities in the Promised Land, he didn’t curse! Hence, each name of the kings and their cities have significant meaning since root remnants of their peoples retained breath and suckered back their evil nature to curse Israel.

In the exposition following these verses in chapters 12 and 13 are the meanings of every king, people, and city’s names for our spiritual consideration is what’s spiritually important. In that capacity, I won’t belabour the mundanity of re-reading the names or each tribe’s geographical inheritance nor the meaning of those names; the process is just too tedious. However, and only for this occasion, at the very end of the study, I’ve included those meanings for your leisurely consumption. Yet: 

2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, that if anyone would not work, neither should he eat.

Below I’ve included links to maps for Israel’s path north on the West of the Jordan and back south to below Jerusalem. That pictorial provides a far better ‘mind map’ than visualising geographically the names that don’t mean anything without personal study.

Here is a map of the kings, cities and their people to be conquered by Israel:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.j9nez5_PvmRAsgpRgEkt3QHaKs%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=6e9cfb07db7321285e568fcb38c26cbd384461aea1ed24c656bc2c87af3e3007&ipo=images

Following is a link to a map of Israel’s journey north and back to the south. Notice that Jerusalem is central to the land. Also, the yet-to-be “treacherous Judah” is in the south, next to the Dead (Salt) Sea and indicative of her stubbornness in rightly dividing truth from the oracles of God

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8HtU_O0mpFQ/V1y-38RRMqI/AAAAAAAAB2o/_W2sbxXE-Cg5SjhE2k5NQmMxlBj5ovpZQCLcB/s1600/MAP05_BorderPromisedLand.jpg

Following is a map showing each tribe’s inheritance:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.tNBRkckaDZ-

[Study Aired July 30, 2020]

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

In this verse of our study we see in the words that describe God’s spiritual Word, which is likened to a sword, that the elect are the first recipients to benefit from its use regarding becoming a new creation (Eph 1:12).

All the attributes of His word described in Hebrews 4:12 are used against our old man in a judgment which is currently on the house of God today and the sword of His Word is not meant to depart from us (1Pe 4:17, 1Jn 4:17, 2Sa 12:10).

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment (Heb 4:16): because as he is, so are we in this world.

2Sa 12:10  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

God’s word, “the sword of the spirit” (Eph 6:17), is not departing from our house for a Godly reason that will bring us unto perfection on the third day, and His love will be perfected in us, if we are granted to endure until the end. (Luk 13:32, Mat 24:13).

The certainty of Christ being able to accomplish this work in us is then discussed in the verses that follow which we will look at next week, stating that He has “passed into the heavens“, meaning He is in our hearts and minds as our hope of glory (Col 1:27). Therefore we ought to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy” before the one who has endured the cross and knows how to comfort and deliver us as we come boldly before His presence where we will “find grace to help in time of need” (1Jn 3:2-3).

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be (Eph 1:14): but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope (Col 1:27) in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

As we are led by the spirit of God, “the sword of the Spirit” (Rom 8:14), the mind of Christ will give us victory over every possible enemy that may come up against us in this lifelong battle against the powers and principalities God created for our sakes to overcome through Christ who is far above all those principalities (Eph 6:12, Eph 1:21). We are learning to let our speech be “alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man”.

Through the word, through Christ, God’s elect are called to learn that all things work together for good “to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” It is with the mind of Christ (1Co 2:16) that we can be as Christ (1Jn 4:17) and apply these most encouraging promises of scripture to ourselves as a kind of first fruits (Rom 8:27-30).

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God [with “the sword of the spirit” Heb 4:12].
Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

This next section of Romans 8 confirms the promises we just read and reassures us of what we can expect God to do for His children against any and all enemies within and without that come up against Christ, our hope of glory within (Col 1:27).

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter [Mat 16:25].

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

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.

Peter’s actions found in this section of John 18:8-10 reveal that he was willing to die for Christ in his flesh but not die with Christ on the cross, which none of us can do without God’s holy spirit within us making that possible (Rom 8:9).

Dying on the cross is described as this spiritual dissection of our old man which is accomplished by God’s word “the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart“, and these very actions we are discussing in Hebrews 4:12 (quick, powerful, sharper, piercing, dividing) define the process of judgment that is upon our carnal beastly nature which is being overcome through Christ against our flesh (Gal 5:17), and it typifies in the sacrifices of the many beasts in the book of Leviticus the very specific order of those sacrifices to the glory of God – just as God’s elect are today being nourished through the beasts being driven from our heavens (“the land”) little and by little as we present ourselves a living sacrifice (Rom 8:36, Exo 23:30, Rom 12:1).

In this same section of scripture (Joh 18:8-10), Christ is contrasted with Peter’s fleshly response to the circumstances God created, with words that explain how we are to truly fight a good fight of faith: “I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way.”

Christ lays His life down for us, willing to go through the process of suffering, despising the shame and looking to the joy that was set before Him (Heb 12:2), not just for the joy of knowing he would be going back to the fullness of the relationship with our Father but also for the joy of knowing He would now be equipped to accomplish the joyous task of being able to redeem the rest of the world, starting with the propitiation of our sins as our drink offering (1Jn 2:2, Mat 26:29, Luk 17:21).

This is the same joy of serving that has been set before us helping us and giving us vision so we can endure through this life knowing there is a purpose behind all our suffering and affliction as we fill up what is behind of His afflictions for His body’s sake, which is the church (1Jn 4:17, Joh 15:13, Col 1:24).

Peter is used to make the point that our flesh witnesses against us (the cock crows 2 times) until we go through a process of judgment (flesh denies Christ three times). This process is accomplished by grace (5) through Christ (2+3=5 [Eph 2:8]) as we learn that Christ won’t deny Himself the purpose for which He has come into our heavens (2Ti 2:13).

Christ being a mature son was able to discern Peter’s present condition of being yet carnal, and prophesied for our sakes the process each of us must go through in order to become mature sons by putting “up again thy sword into his place” and loving our enemies “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven” (Mat 26:33-36, Mat 5:44-45).

Joh 18:8  Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:
Joh 18:9  That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.
Joh 18:10  Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

[Peter’s violent action of cutting the ear off “the high priest’s servant” typifies our trying to force conversion on someone; and then Christ heals the ‘deadly wound’ so to speak, and puts the babylonian ear back on him because it was not Malchus’ time to know the truth, but he was witnessed to through all these actions]

Mat 26:33  Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Mat 26:34  Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mat 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

All these stories were written for our sakes and were given to us to inspire us to “give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” as we “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” God is working with each of us so that our speech can always be with grace, “Seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

1Ti 4:12  Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
1Ti 4:13  Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
1Ti 4:14  Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
1Ti 4:15  Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
1Ti 4:16  Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Col 4:6  Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Christ is our example in showing us how to overcome the adversary through a life time of vigilantly looking to God for the power we need to overcome our otherwise helpless flesh as we die daily and cry out to him in that we fear (1Co 15:31, Heb 5:7). While we are in this valley of the shadow of death, we are in our time of need (Heb 4:16) and can rest assured as we labour to enter into the rest of our Lord (Heb 12:1-4) that He can make us more than conquerors over every power and principality that is against us as we come to be convinced that nothing can separate us from His hand (Eph 6:12, Eph 1:21, Mat 24:24, Joh 10:28-29, Rom 8:38-39).

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

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,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

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.

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.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick,^G2198 and powerful^G1756, and sharper^G5114 than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart [Heb 5:14].

It takes the quick^G2198 and powerful^G1756 and sharper^G5114 than any twoedged sword word of God to discern the heart of man within us and without us. The question is asked therefore “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” The answer is in the next verse of Jeremiah: “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways [Pro 14:12], and according to the fruit of his doings” [Jer 17:10].

God’s word has to be quick^G2198 and powerful^G1756 and sharper^G5114 than any two-edged sword, to cut through the two-edged sword which represents the witness of man’s knowledge, or the wisdom of men, which is not the power of God (1Co 2:5-8). ‘Knowledge is power’, as the saying goes, but it is the words of eternal life (Joh 6:68) in which we are to have faith as we continue in His word (Joh 8:31-32). Those words sanctify and justify us as we are granted to be established and built on upon our Rock, Jesus Christ (Mat 16:18, Joh 17:17, Mat 16:18).

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.

1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

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

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.

The body of Christ needs to be confident in what we have and never cast away that confidence in the promises found within God’s word that are exceedingly great and precious. They declare the victory that will be ours through Jesus Christ who is working in us both to will and to do of our Father’s good pleasure (2Pe 1:4, Php 2:13). (What Godly confidence is and is not, is explained in these verses – Php 1:6, Heb 10:35, Php 3:3)

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:

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

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.

Again, in this example of Peter’s confidence in his flesh found in John 18:10, Christ resolved the damage Peter was caused to do – for our sakes – by the quick^G2198 and powerful^G1756 and sharper^G5114 word of God that healed the servant’s ear, and quickly told Peter to “put up again thy sword” (Mat 26:52). Knowing that God’s word has both a positive and negative application, we know that Peter’s example was demonstrating how we all at first want to defend our position in life and strike down anything that gets in our way, especially regarding religious belief, as opposed to dying daily and seeing the need to constantly see the greatest enemy we will ever face is ourselves as we pray the Lord will never let “the sword of the spirit” depart from our house (1Co 15:31, Eph 6:17, 2Sa 12:10).

Here now is some of the etymology of these three words: quick,G2198 and powerful,G1756 and sharper G5114 that will be used to divide asunder “soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart“.

These words that define what God’s word can do within our heavens, will be needed to sharpen us (Pro 27:17) so we can overcome the conditions described in these verses (Mat 24:4-13).

Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9  Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

The “sword of the spirit” has to convict us and quicken us (Joh 6:63) in order to die daily and overcome through Jesus Christ.

quick G2198   zaō
Total KJV Occurrences: 144
live, 55
Mat_4:4, Mat_9:18, Mar_5:23, Luk_4:4, Luk_10:28, Luk_20:38, Joh_5:25, Joh_6:51, Joh_6:57-58 (3), Joh_11:25, Joh_14:19 (2), Act_17:28, Act_22:22, Act_25:24, Act_28:4, Rom_1:17, Rom_6:2, Rom_8:12-13 (3), Rom_10:5, Rom_14:8 (3), Rom_14:11, 1Co_9:14, 2Co_4:11, 2Co_5:15 (2), 2Co_6:9, 2Co_13:4, Gal_2:14, Gal_2:19-20 (4), Gal_3:11-12 (2), Gal_5:25, Phi_1:21-22 (2), 1Th_3:8, 1Th_5:10, 2Ti_3:12, Tit_2:12, Heb_10:38, Heb_12:9, Jam_4:15, 1Pe_2:24, 1Pe_4:6, 1Jo_4:9, Rev_13:14

living, 34
Mat_16:16, Mat_22:32, Mat_26:63, Mar_12:27, Luk_15:13, Luk_20:38, Luk_24:5, Joh_4:10-11 (2), Joh_6:51, Joh_6:57, Joh_6:69, Joh_7:38, Act_14:15, Rom_9:26, Rom_12:1, Rom_14:9, 1Co_15:45, 2Co_3:3, 2Co_6:16, Col_2:20, 1Th_1:9, 1Ti_3:15, 1Ti_4:10, 1Ti_6:17, Heb_3:12, Heb_9:14, Heb_10:20, Heb_10:31, Heb_12:22, 1Pe_2:4, Rev_7:2, Rev_7:17, Rev_16:3

liveth, 25
Joh_4:50-51 (2), Joh_4:53, Joh_11:26, Rom_6:10 (2), Rom_7:1-3 (3), Rom_14:7, 1Co_7:39, 2Co_13:4, Gal_2:20, 1Ti_5:6 (2), Heb_7:8, Heb_7:25, Heb_9:17, 1Pe_1:23, Rev_1:18, Rev_4:9-10 (2), Rev_5:14, Rev_15:6-7 (2)

alive, 15
Mat_27:63, Mar_16:11, Luk_24:23, Act_1:3, Act_9:41, Act_20:12, Act_25:19, Rom_6:1, Rom_6:13, Rom_7:9, 1Th_4:15, 1Th_4:17, Rev_1:18, Rev_2:8, Rev_19:20

lived, 4
Luk_2:36, Act_26:5, Col_3:7, Rev_20:4

quick, 4
Act_10:42, 2Ti_4:1, Heb_4:12, 1Pe_4:5

lively, 3
Act_7:38, 1Pe_1:3, 1Pe_2:5

livest, 2
Gal_2:14, Rev_3:1

life, 1
2Co_1:8

lifetime, 1
Heb_2:15

powerful G1756   energēs  Total KJV Occurrences: 3

effectual, 2
1Co_16:9, Phm_1:6

powerful, 1
Heb_4:12

sharper G5114 tomōteros  Total KJV Occurrences: 1
sharper, 1
Heb_4:12

I’ve spent a lot of time on this one verse (Heb 4:12) that describes God’s word, His voice, that we are to hear in hearts that are entreatable and miraculously not hardened (Heb 3:15, Isa 66:2), setting the stage for the verses we will look at next week (Heb 4:13-16), which describe what God’s word is able to accomplish right now in our lives through our great high priest, Jesus Christ, who is where He is, in our heavens, so that we can “obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need“.

Lord willing, we will look at these last four verses of our study next week that we pray will help us see how we are to be “stedfast in the faith“, moving with fear to the saving of our spiritual house (Heb 11:7) as we overcome the adversary through Christ, and learn that Godliness with contentment is great gain (1Pe 5:8-10, 1Ti 6:6-10).

Heb 3:15  While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain [Heb 12:2].
1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Isa 40:21-31 They That Wait Upon the Lord Shall Renew Their Strength - Discussion

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They That Wait Upon the Lord Shall Renew Their Strength

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

Today’s verses are a continuation of the Lord’s words assuring us of His ability to keep us secure in Him. The Lord wants us to know and trust in His promise to us:

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.

This part of the prophecy of Isaiah is the story of how King Hezekiah followed in his father’s footsteps and looked to the king of Assyria for his safety instead of looking to the Lord, and yet this lack of faith did not keep the Lord from giving King Hezekiah “a place for repentance” and the faith to withstand the king of Assyria. This is an account of how Hezekiah  usurped the Lord’s glory when the Lord destroyed 185,000 of the armies of the Assyrians sending Sennacharib home shamefaced, and yet Hezekiah’s pride of heart, and his theft of the Lord’s glory, did not keep the Lord from giving Hezekiah “a place for repentance”. Instead, the Lordstruck Hezekiah with “a sickness unto death” to humble him, and once again, the Lord gave King Hezekiah the faith to cry out to God for His mercies. When for the third time the Lord heard Hezekiah’s prayer and healed him of his “sickness unto death”, even bringing back the sun 10 degrees as a sign of the healing to come, Hezekiah again takes all the glory for these great miracles to himself, and for the third time usurps the Lord’s glory unto himself. Still the Lord had mercy on Hezekiah. This all “happened to [him]… and [it was] all… written as types of us” (1Co 10:6 and 11) to show us just how special we are to Him, and to show us that it really is impossible for anything to separate us from the love of our heavenly Father if we are His elect.

Like his predecessor, King David, Hezekiah typifies the Lord’s elect with whom the Lord has an unbreakable covenant. But the Lord’s elect are now His spiritual elect, and His covenant is now with those who are “a Jew which is one inwardly (Rom 2:28-29) and with “the Israel of God”:

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

This is the Old Testament covenant with King David which typified the spiritual covenant Christ now has with His elect:

2Sa 7:12  And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

2Sa 7:13  He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
2Sa 7:14  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
2Sa 7:15  But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
2Sa 7:16  And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

Now we continue to be reassured of just how powerful our God is and how weak anyone or anything is that withstands Him as He fights for us:

Isa 40:21  Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Isa 40:22  It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

The point being made is that God is both omnipotent and omnipresent both in the heavens and in the earth and therefore we need never be anxious about anything. But for the sake of being complete in this study, I will digress and comment on the Hebrew word translated ‘circle’ here. It is H2329, ‘chug’.

Here are the three entries for this word:

H2329
חוּג
chûg
Total KJV Occurrences: 3
circle, 1
Isa_40:22
circuit, 1
Job_22:14
compass, 1
Pro_8:27

Here are the only two other entries for this Hebrew word:

Job 22:14  Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit [H2329: chug] of heaven.

Pro 8:27  When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass [H2329: chug] upon the face of the depth:

The Lord walks in the circuit of heaven (Job 22:14), and He sits on the circle of the earth (Isa 40:22). If the heavenly bodies move in a circuit, as we can observe, then it must be noted that these scriptures apply this same word to the earth… “He set a ‘chug’ upon the face of the depth”.

If the heavenly bodies move in a circuit, then so does the earth, which all serves to demonstrate that everything God does has been predetermined “before the world began”, and it is all simply fulfilling the ‘circuit’ the Lord had laid out in advance of “the beginning of the Creation of God” (Rev 3:14).

If Christ is the anti-type of Adam (1Co 15:45), then heaven is the anti-type of the earth, because we are told that God “dwells in heaven” (Psa 11:4). Therefore our old man as the “earth” is the type of heaven, because our new man as the anti-type of the earth is said to be seated with Christ in “the heavens” and we are therefore the “earthen vessel”, and the “earth, earth, earth”, as well as the “temple” to whom He speaks and in whom He dwells:​

Psa 11:4  The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

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

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

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

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

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.

The question of whether the earth is flat as a doctrine of this group of believers was settled by taking this to the elders three years ago. The Lord has always spoken to mankind from mankind’s perspective, just as all weathermen do until this very day. We speak of ‘sunrise’ and ‘sunset’ from our earthly perspective. The Lord did the same when telling us:

Jos 10:12  Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

He speaks to us from our perspective when discussing His works in our lives with words like:​

Jos 24:15  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

2Ki 17:17  And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

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.

“The sum of [the Lord’s] word” (Psa 119:160] reveals that we can do nothing of ourselves, but these verses taken by themselves certainly make it sound as though we “choose… whom [we] will obey”… and as if “they caused their sons to pass through the fire… [and] sold themselves to do evil”, and as if we “work out our own salvation”.

As with all doctrinal matters we obeyed the Word of the Lord and sought “a multitude of counselors” as we are thrice commanded (Pro 11:14; 15:22, and 24:6). The conclusion at which the elders unanimously arrived was that the scriptures teach the earth is a moving sphere which is “swaddled” with a blanket of clouds and moves in a “circuit” around the “Sun of Righteousness”, and not the other way around.

Mal 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Here is the link to that in depth study we gave to this subject from three years ago: http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/is-the-earth-flat-or-a-sphere/

The sphere is the signature of our Creator whether in the microcosm of our bodies and the bodies of all living creatures or in the macrocosm of the universe. The moon and all the observable planets are spheres. Eggs, whether of chickens or of humans, are spheres, and the very cells of our bodies are visible spheres.

Let’s return now to the encouraging and wonderful message of this chapter of Isaiah. The Lord continues to tell us of His power which is on our side if indeed we are His elect:

Isa 40:23  That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

That is the Lord’s answer to Sennacherib’s questions to the Lord’s people at the beginning of this story:

Isa 36:13  Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
Isa 36:14  Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
Isa 36:15  Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Isa 36:16  Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
Isa 36:17  Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Isa 36:18  Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Isa 36:19  Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
Isa 36:20  Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

“Who… among all the gods of these lands… have delivered their land out of my hand?” It was the Lord who sent His angel and destroyed the armies of “the great king, the king of Assyria”:

Isa 37:36  Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

This story symbolizes our spiritual life as it stares us all in the face. The question the adversary poses to all of us is, “Who can make war with the beast?” (Rev 13:4). Sennacherib is the symbol for our own flesh, assuring us that we cannot overcome him. After all, just look around yourself. Who has ever made war with the beast and won? All we see at first is our immediate circumstances and the corruption of our own flesh, and the examples of the vast majority who are never “given… place for repentance”:

Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he [Esau] would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Esau, as Jacob’s twin brother, born of the same mother, typifies the masses and multitudes of Christianity who are never given the gift of the faith of Christ to wage that war against the dragon and the beast and be “more than [a] conquerer, through [Christ]”.

We all, as Hezekiah did at the beginning of His trials, see only how few have been given to overcome the beast and his father the devil. Like Hezekiah, we all, at first, lose faith and bow down to the beast and to his father within us. This is common to all men:

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?

The scriptures themselves tells us that not one man who has ever lived, not even the saints of God, have of themselves ever won this war against the beast within every person who has ever lived. No one, other than Christ Himself, and then only with His Father’s spirit strengthening Him, has ever overcome the power which the great red dragon is given to rule over the beast within us:

Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him [the beast] to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Look at what we have just read… the patience and faith of the saints is to acknowledge that even those whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb are at first “overcome [by and] worship” the beast and must ‘kill and be killed’ with the sword of the Word of God… “here is the patience and the faith of the saints”. What the Lord is telling us throughout His Word is that we of ourselves are no better than those whose names are not in the book of life of the Lamb, and that our names are in His book of life only because the Lord has predestined that our names be there. The Lord has deliberately chosen the weak, despised and basest of men to be dragged to repentance and then to be given the faith of Christ to endure being hated of all men and to be given the patience to endure to the end all the trials and tribulations we must be able to deal with if we are given to show that same mercy to all the rest of mankind:

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

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 [As rulers with Christ over the nations of this world, and later over all men in the  lake of fire].

Another verse which confirms that God’s elect are no better of themselves than any other is found in:

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.

Again we are being told that ‘the patience and faith of the saints and of those who keep the commandments of God’ is to realize that they are just as guilty of worshipping the beast and his image as those who are not given a place for repentance, and that we, too, must first “drink of the wine of the wrath of God [and] be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of Lamb before it can be said, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandment of God and the faith of Jesus.”

It will be good for us to see Revelation 13:10 beside Revelation 14:12:

Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

And:

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

Revelation 13:10 is informing us that we are under the power of the beast before we are given a place for repentance, and Revelation 14 informs us that God’s elect are dragged to Him through the same fiery judgment which befalls all men who are cast into the lake of fire.

But there is a great difference. The difference is that those in the lake of fire suffer the loss of the great honor bestowed upon the “few… weak… foolish… and the base” who are granted a “place for repentance… in this present time” rather than in “the resurrection of damnation [Greek: krisis, judgment]” (Joh 5:28-29). Those “few… despised” of this world are given to have a part in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection” (Rev 20:1-6).

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and [a thousand years later] they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920: krisis, judgment].

The ‘fire’ which is now judging the house of God is the exact same ‘fire’ which will judge those who are cast into the lake of fire. It is the fire of the Word of God which we are told is a fiery sword proceeding forth from the mouth of Christ and His Christ:

Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

This is the very same ‘fire’ which judges every man who is ever judged:

1Co 3:10  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, [in “this present time”] he shall receive a [“Blessed and holy" - Rev 20:6] reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work [“in this present time” - Rom 8:18] shall be burned, he shall suffer loss [of that “reward of having part in the blessed and holy first resurrection - Rev 20:5-6]: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire [the lake of - Rev 20:14-15].

The ‘fire’ of “the lake of fire” is the same fire, but it does its work at the second resurrection… “when the thousand years are expired” (Rev 20:7). Hence that second fire is called “the second death”:

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.
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

The only people in all of mankind over whom “the second death has no power" are the “blessed and holy [who] have part in the first resurrection”. Anyone not in the first resurrection is cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life [those who were in the first resurrection]: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [“the resurrection of life” a thousand years earlier] was cast into the lake of fire.

Those who are in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death/resurrection of damnation are not “blessed and holy” are not given “a crown of life”, and their names are not found in “the book of life of the Lamb”. That is what it means to “suffer loss” in the lake of fire.

Here is the loss which is suffered by those who build on the foundation of Christ with the “wood, hay, and stubble” of the lies and false doctrines of “this present time” (Rom 8:18).

Luk 22:27  For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.
Luk 22:28  Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. [“… of this present time” Rom 8:18]
Luk 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
Luk 22:30  That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us [at the “blessed and holy… first resurrection”].
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature [which will suffer loss] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

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

If we have no “respect unto the recompense of [this] reward”, then it will not be ours:

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.

This is what “the manifested sons of God” will do for “the creature”, meaning all mankind, who are not in the “blessed and holy first resurrection”:

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.

The faith and belief we are given as a gift come only “through the unbelief” of the Lord’s typical elect, and through the unbelief and the lack of faith of all the rest of mankind, as has been demonstrated with the examples of Jacob versus Esau, King David versus King Saul and King Hezekiah versus his Father Ahaz. These are just three examples of what is the subject of the entirety of scripture, which is… the old man versus the new man. Jacob, King David and Hezekiah are all types of our new man. In every case the new man’s flesh is demonstrated throughout scripture to be as bad or worse than the flesh of those who typify our old man. The message being that God has chosen the weak and base and foolish to confound the strong and exalted and wise of this world.

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

That is exactly what this 40th chapter of Isaiah is all about. It is about glorying in the Lord and in the power of His hands to deliver His elect, as undeserving as they might be in the flesh:

Isa 40:21  Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Isa 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Isa 40:23  That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
Isa 40:24  Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

This is certainly “speaking of those things that are not as though they were”:

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

When the Lord does “quicken [give life] to the dead”, then all the earth will sit up and take notice of the few weak, foolish, base and despised of this world who were given to put their faith in these words:

Isa 40:25  To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
Isa 40:26  Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
Isa 40:27  Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD , and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Isa 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isa 40:30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

All those whose names are written in “the Lamb’s book of life” were written there “before the world began”, and we are one and all in the ‘awesome hands’ of the powerful Creator, God, who Himself is “the author and finisher of our faith”:

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

So, we are informed:

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

Mankind, “the creature”, does not yet know that he is “earnestly expecting… the manifestation of the sons of God”, but the Lord has made us to know what He has given us:

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Even the mouth of the false prophet Balaam, was forced to speak the words of our salvation. I will end this study with these verses sent to me by our sister, Wendy last Thursday:

Num 23:19  God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Num 23:20  Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.

If we are the Lord’s elect, neither we nor anyone else can revoke that calling.

In our next study we will see how the Lord calls us a “worm”, all the while reassuring us of His protection and His salvation:

Isa 41:1  Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
Isa 41:2  Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
Isa 41:3  He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
Isa 41:4  Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
Isa 41:5  The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
Isa 41:6  They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
Isa 41:7  So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
Isa 41:8  But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Isa 41:9  Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
Isa 41:10  Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isa 41:11  Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
Isa 41:12  Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
Isa 41:13  For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Isa 41:14  Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 41:15  Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

Mike… Please read attached, which is an email exchange between a troubled man and you…. after, or during reading my previous email of despair.  At least long enough to get the idea that the attached  has helped me considerably. I have no idea why I looked in my Bible file and chose this email that I have had on file for at least a couple of years.  But, it has helped to bring my understanding up somewhat… that my falling apart is just a temporary thing that must be coped with.  That I must endure ’til the end. There is no turning back.  This is not a battle of the wits… but a battle with the seven- headed beast, who may have twenty heads, depending on how long we live. I can’t believe how quickly we can be turned from joy to utter despair.
I am sorry that I dumped such a truck- load on you… pouring out what is on my heart… but I think I can rise above it… with your patience. Thanks, Mike, for hanging in there for me. 
J____

Hi J____,
I have read both of your letters and the attachment,
I too, am aware of my own shortcomings, but I can say honestly and truthfully that sin is no longer my master, and while I still reside in a body of “sinful flesh”, I am finding much comfort in these words:

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

I feel certain that you are now aware that all things are of God and as you told me yourself in your last letter:
“Everything, every situation, every person, every character, every flaw, every weakness, every strength, every failure, every win, every defeat, of everyone who ever existed… is us.”

Well, it so happens that God has arranged things so that Rom 8:37 is the outcome of your life and mine. So the despair you now feel is good for you in the long run. We must all be overcome with the impossibility of getting a camel through the eye of a needle before  we can acknowledge that what God is doing in us is the impossible, at least for us on our own power.
You are actually in a very good spiritual spot when you are humbled to the point of being able to see your faults. What you cannot do is listen to the Adversary tell you that your situation cannot be overcome by Christ in you. If indeed He is in you, then you will not listen to that lie. But whether you do or do not is already written in His book. In the meantime we are admonished to:

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.

Why are we told to do what we have been told elsewhere we cannot do on our own? For that very reason, we work out our own salvation because we realize it is really Christ in us doing it. But He isn’t working out your salvation in me. He is working out my salvation in me and yours in you, as the very next verse asserts:

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

Our willing and our doing are real, but they are caused by God. They are His achievement and not our own, and yet we are told to “Work out you own salvation, because He is working in each of us individually.
My prayers are with you both. You will come through this time of despair victorious, “more than a conqueror.”
Your brother in Christ,
Mike