[Study Aired August 14, 2022]

Jer 48:16  The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.
Jer 48:17  All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!
Jer 48:18  Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.
Jer 48:19  O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?
Jer 48:20  Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,
Jer 48:21  And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
Jer 48:22  And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethdiblathaim,
Jer 48:23  And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmeon,
Jer 48:24  And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
Jer 48:25  The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.
Jer 48:26  Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
Jer 48:27  For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy.
Jer 48:28  O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth.
Jer 48:29  We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.
Jer 48:30  I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it.
Jer 48:31  Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.

Both Moab and Ammon are the sons of Lot, and Lot is Abraham’s brother’s son. Abraham fought several eastern kings for the purpose of rescuing his nephew Lot when those kings fought with and conquered Sodom. Notice how scripture refers to Lot’s relationship to Abraham:

Gen 14:14  And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
Gen 14:15  And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
Gen 14:16  And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Abraham risked life and limb to save ‘his brother Lot’. It was only because of Lot that Abraham later attempted to bargain with the Lord to spare Sodom if He found at least ten righteous men in the city. The point being made is that Lot signifies Abraham’s own flesh, just as much as Ishmael was his own flesh when Abraham was informed of the Lord that Sarah would have a son:

Gen 17:15  And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
Gen 17:16  And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
Gen 17:17  Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
Gen 17:18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
Gen 17:19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Gen 17:20  And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Gen 17:21  But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

Ishmael was Abraham’s own son by a bondwoman. The Lord promised to make of him ‘a great nation [of] 12 princes”. Look at what we are told of this ‘great nation [of] twelve princes’:

Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Notice how the holy spirit went from physical Sarah to spiritual Sarah, “Jerusalem above”, without as much as a pause or explanation. The holy spirit even likens “Jerusalem which now is” with Hagar and her son, “the son of the bondwoman”. The mind of the natural man cannot follow the mind of the spirit in making that transition.

This fourth chapter of Galatians reveals that there is little spiritual difference between Ishmael and Moab. Both signify the rejected seed of Abraham, and neither Ishmael nor Moab will be made heir with the son who is born of promise.

Lot separated from Abraham and moved into Sodom. Ishmael was cast out of Abraham’s house and will not be made heir with the son of the freewoman. Both Lot and Ishmael typify our dying flesh whose kingdom of twelve princes are “in bondage with [their] children” and will not be made heir with the son of the freewoman, “Jerusalem above”.

‘All flesh is as grass’ and, like grass, flesh is very short-lived.

Isa 40:6  The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
Isa 40:7  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
Isa 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

1Pe 1:24  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1Pe 1:25  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Moab, as a type of our flesh, is ‘as grass’ which withers, fades and falls away. Moab signifies our carnal mind which is enmity with God’s mind:

Jer 48:16  The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.

Everyone upon whom the judgment of the house of God has come knows that the calamity of Moab is near and ‘hasteth fast’. Peter tells us the same thing in these words:

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

Jer 48:17  All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!

‘Knowing Moab’s name’, like knowing the name of the Lord, is to have Moab’s mind. Moab’s name is one of opposition to everything that reflects the mind of the Lord. Moab’s name is associated with a carnal mind:

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Jer 48:18  Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.

Here is how Strong deals with the name ‘Dibon’:

H1769
דִּיבֹן    דִּיבוֹן
dı̂ybôn    dı̂ybôn
dee-bone’, dee-bone’

From H1727; pining; Dibon, the name of three places in Palestine. Dibon, the name of three places in Palestine – Dibon.

The name means “pining” which indicates grieving. “Thou daughter” reveals that our flesh thinks of itself as being in the Lord’s service as His church. Moab is called ‘daughter’ to let us know there is such a thing as a carnal-minded church, which is full of “carnal babes in Christ”.

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, [40,000 divisions] are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

The ‘thirst’ of the daughter of Moab… “And sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee”, signifies the drought of the Word we suffer as carnal babes in Christ:

Deu 28:48  Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

It does not seem possible to be so blind, but this is what our own flesh, our ‘Moab’ within us, is capable of:

Deu 29:19  And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

Isa 5:13  Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

Jer 48:19  O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?

‘Aroer’ is a city of Moab, and the instruction is to enquire what has the Lord done to Moab. Verse 20 is the answer to that question.

Jer 48:20  Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,
Jer 48:21  And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
Jer 48:22  And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethdiblathaim,
Jer 48:23  And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmeon,

Nebo is already “spoiled”, and Kiriathaim is already confounded and taken by the Chaldeans according to verse one:

Jer 48:1  Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed.

Jer 48:24  And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

These are all cities of Moab. Not one small village is exempt from the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our rebellious carnal-minded old man.

Jer 48:25  The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.

A horn in scripture signifies power, and our arm indicates our strength. The power of our flesh is cut off, and our carnal strength is literally broken.

Jer 48:26  Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

This is very graphic language which simply reveals our stubborn old man for who he is and of what he is capable. A dog returns to his vomit, and the sow returns to her wallow in the mire:

Pro 26:11  As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

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.

Our flesh, proud Moab within us, is capable of being insanely foolish and stubborn to the extent of combining the dog and the sow, and wallowing in his own vomit. It is not natural or possible for either a dog or a sow to be anything but what they are, and so it is with each of our stubborn, rebellious, old first man Adam, until Christ comes and cuts off Moab’s horn and breaks his arm. If the Lord is merciful in this present time, we are actually brought to the realization that we are given to wallow in our own vomit. If we have been made to see just how self-righteous we are, then we can say with Job:

Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.

Job at this stage of his experience has been made to “wallow in his own vomit” before coming to see just how vile he was. Long before Moab, Job had also “magnified himself against the Lord”. The spirit of ‘Moab’ and the spirit of ‘the daughter Moab’ convinces us that our own righteousness is a gift to the Lord for which the Lord should be grateful to us:

Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

Oh, how foolish and how fateful is such nonsense! Nothing is further from the Truth. The Truth is that we of ourselves can do nothing and much less place our Lord in our debt. Such mental gymnastics is truly ‘our own vomit’, and the Lord makes us wallow therein until He knows we are brought to say, “Behold I am vile… I will lay my hand upon my mouth”.

Here is what we do while wallowing in our own vomit:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

Job had said, “Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous”. Job had already acknowledged to his wife that it was the Lord who had risen up against him, and yet he made that statement:

Job 1:21  And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
Job 1:22  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly [yet].

Job 2:9  Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
Job 2:10  But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips [yet].

Later Job did “charge God foolishly [and] sin with his lips” when he accuses God of taking away his judgment even as the Lord was in the process of judging Job.

Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

While we wallow in our own vomit, we do not think that is what we are doing. We think we are making ourselves even more righteous than God. Wow! That is indeed “vile”. We 1) contend with the Almighty. We have the temerity to question why He would afflict such a righteous person as we think ourselves to be. Then we actually 2) reprove God for afflicting such a righteous person as ourselves, and when we do that, we 3) disannul His judgment and 4) we condemn the Lord Himself rather than acknowledge that we are wallowing in our own vomit. That is the extent of the pride of our rebellious old man.

Our old man hates and despises our new man and takes great joy in assisting in the death of the new man within us. Israel had attempted to befriend the king of Moab and buy bread and water from the Moabites when they came up out of Egypt.

Deu 2:28  Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;
Deu 2:29  (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.

Nevertheless, Balak, the king of Moab, hired Balaam the prophet to curse Israel, and the Lord turned the curse into a blessing:

Deu 23:5  Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.

Jer 48:27  For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy.
Jer 48:28  O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth.

This is just another version of:

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

This admonition is repeated in:

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.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

We are admonished to help even our enemies:

Pro 25:21  If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
Pro 25:22  For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

Moab rejoiced when Assyria carried the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity, and now they rejoice that Judah is being carried into captivity by Babylon. Moab’s heart was glad when Israel stumbled, and the Lord now has Moab in the queue to be carried away captive of the same Babylonians. We just naturally love it when our enemy gets what we see as his comeuppance, his just deserts. Moab has no fear of these words of the Lord:

Pro 24:17  Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Pro 24:18  Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

Jer 48:29  We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.
Jer 48:30  I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it.

Nothing changed in over 70 years because Isaiah had earlier made the same observation concerning Moab’s extreme pride and self-righteousness:

Isa 16:6  We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.

“His lies shall not so affect it” is demonstrated by how little Job’s lies against the Lord affected the Lord’s judgment of Job’s pride and self-righteousness:

Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Job is each of us before we come to see just how vile and self-righteous we just naturally are.

Job 27:7  Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

The enemy of Job’s self-righteousness was the Lord Himself, and Job is condemning his own Maker with his proud, self-righteous words. However, Job’s pride does not keep the Lord from His work in Job’s life, and our pride and our lies do not restrain the destruction of our self-righteous proud old man with “the brightness of His coming”:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
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:

Jer 48:31  Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.

As a type of our flesh, Moab is a necessary evil which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God” and was made to be taken and destroyed:

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

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

It is all part of ‘plan A’. The first man Adam was designed to be temporary and to be dispensed with:

Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

The Hebrew word translated as ‘unto’ in this verse is ‘el’ and it is translated as ‘against‘ in the very next verse:

Gen 4:8  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against [H413: el] Abel his brother, and slew him.

‘Sin’ is personified, and we are told its desire will be ‘against’ us, but then we are assured right here in the book of Genesis “thou shalt rule over him”.

Immediately after telling us…

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

… we are given these very encouraging words:

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

This promise of the destruction of death will not be kept until the last person who ever died is made alive. This promise Paul references in:

Hos 13:14  I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

Christ Himself made the same statement:

Joh 5:21  For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
Joh 5:22  For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
Joh 5:23  That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Joh 5:25  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
Joh 5:26  For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
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 they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [G2920: krisis, judgment]

In the end it is the Lord’s judgments which will bring life to all who are in Adam:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
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.

This is not the time for “the inhabitants of the world” to be judged. When the time does arrive for the Lord’s judgments to be “in the earth, [then] the inhabitants world will learn righteousness”, and death will not claim one single soul of all who are in Adam.

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

Jer 4:10-20 Your Way and Your Doings Have Procured These Things Unto Thee

[Study Aired February 28, 2021]

Jer 4:10  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
Jer 4:11  At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
Jer 4:12  Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
Jer 4:13  Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
Jer 4:14  O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
Jer 4:15  For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
Jer 4:16  Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
Jer 4:17  As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
Jer 4:18  Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
Jer 4:19  My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Jer 4:20  Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.

Our first verse refers to what the Lord said earlier in this chapter:

Jer 4:1  If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
Jer 4:2  And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
Jer 4:3  For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Jer 4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

As we pointed out earlier, these words alone would lead us to believe that if we repent, then we can avoid being judged for our sins. However, ‘the sum of the Lord’s words’ (Psa 119:160 ASV, ESV, etc.) reveals otherwise, and the prophet goes on to reveal that judgment is already on the way:

Jer 4:6  Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
Jer 4:7  The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
Jer 4:8  For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

The sum of the Lord’s Words reveals that as surely as the Lord has ordained that all men must first be made of corruptible dust and clay, He has also ordained that judgment for our corruption must precede our deliverance from these sinful dying bodies. That is what is meant by these very general words which speak to “every man” who has ever or will ever live:

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.

We are not at first given to see “the sum” of the Lord’s Word, and thereby the Lord Himself first deceives us, makes us all wicked men for our own ‘day of evil’, and hardens our hearts and makes us to err from His ways:

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 [judgment] of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

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

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

To our flesh these words are as repugnant as anything can get. We just naturally ask, “Why have you made me thus?” In doing so, we are contending with God.

Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

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

Jeremiah was as perplexed as any man and tells the Lord:

Jer 4:10  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.

We cannot help but ask, “Why have you made me thus? Why have you made me wicked for my own day of evil, and then lead me to believe that all I must do is repent, and you will not judge me? Then You send a sword that reaches to the soul?”

In being deceived by the Lord, we are totally unaware that by questioning the Lord we are self-righteously ‘contending with and reproving’ our own Lord. We are disannulling His judgment and condemning our own Maker to make ourselves righteous’:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

The entire book of Job deals with the Lord’s judgment of Job’s insidious sin of self-righteousness, and it is a fiery judgment indeed. However, if the Lord loves us above all others in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), then He will judge us first with His fiery judgments with the promise of a glory to follow which will make our suffering in this time unworthy to be compared to that impending glory.

Jer 4:11  At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
Jer 4:12  Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
Jer 4:13  Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.

“At that time” refers to this previous verse:

Jer 4:7   The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

“A dry wind” is an unprofitable, destructive ‘wind’ akin to ‘clouds without water’:

Jud 1:12   These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

A “dry wind” withers everything and produces “a famine of the Word”:

Amo 8:11   Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

This ‘famine’ has long been upon all of Babylon, yet the Lord uses this ‘famine’ to try “the daughter of My people”. This is all a prophecy of the coming of Nebuchadnezzar to carry the Lord’s people off into Babylonian captivity where the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water is taken away from Judah and Jerusalem:

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

“Not to fan or to cleanse” was understood by all to mean ‘not to blow away and cleanse away the chaff’ when the wheat or barley are being processed. This ‘wind’ is not being sent from the Lord for that purpose. The ‘fanning and cleansing’ will now be accomplished only through a fiery experience of being carried away into the bondage of Babylon, where we will spend a symbolic “seventy years” serving our Babylonian masters:

Jer 25:11   And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Seventy years completes the time of our total deception. After a symbolic ‘seventy years’ we begin to be given eyes that see and ears that hear the things of the spirit.

“This wind”, this evil ‘ruach’ (spirit), refers outwardly to Nebuchadnezzar who is called a destroying lion in this verse:

Jer 4:7   The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

Inwardly this ‘wind’ which destroys our cities and our land and our entire kingdom, typifies the many false doctrines which we have formulated from our youth. They are who we are. Our doctrines are our children. They make up our cities and our villages and become our whole land. Every one of them must be destroyed and burned up by the word of God in the mouths of His prophets:

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

It is “written in [our] book” to be spoiled by Babylon for a symbolic seventy years. It is “seventy years” because ‘seven’ signifies ‘completion’, and its multiple, ten times seven, simply intensifies the message of the necessity of enduring the Lord’s fiery judgments right down to the last dregs of the seven bowls which “fill up the wrath of God” upon the kingdom of our rebellious old man. That ‘fiery judgment’ is the invincible Word of God which is in the process of judging the works of every man of what sort they are:

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.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 15:2   And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
Rev 15:3   And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
Rev 15:4   Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
Rev 15:5   And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: [His “judgments are made manifest”]
Rev 15:6   And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
Rev 15:7   And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

Jeremiah and all the prophets of Israel typify and foreshadow both this ‘beast’ who gives the seven angels the seven bowls of the Lord’s wrath, as well as the seven angels themselves. Both are types of you and me if we are His redeemed in this present time. Just look at what both symbols reveal about themselves and about who it is they symbolize:

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

These four beasts represent the Lord’s redeemed who will reign with Him a thousand years prior to the rebellion which precedes “the resurrection of judgment… the great white throne… judgment”.

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 they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment, the great white throne judgment (Rev 20:11)].

The seven angels also tell us who they symbolize:

Rev 17:1   And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Rev 19:9   And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Rev 19:10   And I fell at his feet to worship him [“The angel that showed (John) these things” (Rev 22:8)]. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Lest we fail to believe what we have read here, it is repeated for us in:

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9   Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

The Lord’s call for our repentance does not nullify His justice or His judgments. “The fire shall [still] try every man’s works” (1Co 3:13), and “no man can enter the temple till the seven plagues [of the wrath of God] of the seven angels is fulfilled” (Rev 15:17).

As Jeremiah said earlier:

Jer 2:22   For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. [Until the seven plagues of the seven angels us fulfilled in our lives].

The judgments pronounced by the Lord’s prophets must be fulfilled in the lives of every man who is blessed to enter the temple of God. It is only through the pain which the Lord’s words inflict upon the kingdom of our old man, signified by the word ‘fire’, that any of us come to know our God who “is a consuming fire”:

Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken [the things of the spirit of God] may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

It is through His fiery words that He pleads with us as His children whom He loves:

Jer 4:14  O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

Our “vain thoughts lodge with [us]… till the seven plagues of the seven angels have been fulfilled”:

Jer 4:15  For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
Jer 4:16  Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.

This may sound like Nebuchadnezzar has sent Rabshakeh to tell us to surrender to him (2Ki 18:28-32), but the phrase “far country” is also used to indicate the heavens from which the Lord speaks through His prophets:

Mat 25:14   For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

Luk 19:12   He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.

This same message of judgment “against Jerusalem” is found in the New Testament:

1Pe 4:12   Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

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

Jer 2:22   For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. [Until the seven plagues of the seven angels us fulfilled in our lives].

1 Peter 4:12 and Jeremiah 2:22 inform us of our imminent unavoidable judgment:

Jer 4:17   As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
Jer 4:18   Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.

These words are common to all men of all time. The wickedness of every man “is bitter, because it reaches unto [our] heart”. Corruption is our very DNA:

Jer 4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

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

The following three sins are common to all men and there is no one, other than Christ, who has not succumbed to these three sins:

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.

The only difference between the Lord’s Israel, His Judah and Jerusalem, and all the rest of mankind is “the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). That judgment is indeed a fiery judgment which is so severe that it makes us cry out:

Jer 4:19   My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Jer 4:20   Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.

Our wicked, bitter ways and doings are the work of our flesh, which is a work of our Lord. The sound of the trumpet that makes us afraid of the impending war we are facing is also “of the Lord”:

Amo 3:6   Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

Jeremiah 4:19-20 are addressed to the Lord’s harlot wife, Judah and Jerusalem:

Isa 1:21   How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Here is the New Testament version of these two verses:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2   And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3   For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
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.
Rev 18:5   For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6   Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7   How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8   Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10   Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

The destruction of this great harlot is first accomplished within us. “[This] is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and who have the faith of Jesus” (Rev 14:8-12).

Isa 1:21   How is the faithful city become an harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Then we are told what her destruction is inwardly within us back in Revelation 14:

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
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. [What does this accomplish?]
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

There is much more to be revealed here in the prophecy of Jeremiah about our judgment in this present time. The Truth is that we just naturally do not have any faith of our own in the Lord, and we certainly do not want to hear what is facing us in our certain judgment. This instead is our natural response when anyone begins to tell us where our ways are leading us:

Isa 30:8   Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10   Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Isa 30:11   Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

Those verses are speaking of each of us. We ask the Lord what we should do. We have seen it time and again when we are asked, “What does the Lord say?” Then the person asking rejects what the Lord reveals to be His mind on the question at hand. The reason is always the same. We want the Lord’s name, but we do not want to eat His food or wear His apparel:

Isa 4:1   And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

That is the same as telling the Lord, “I want to be associated with your powerful name, but don’t think for one moment that I am willing to give up my own will or my own opinions and doctrines just because a few of the Lord’s counselors agree together that what I think or what I have said is wrong.” It is the same we have witnessed time after time. An individual or a group of individuals comes to the elders in the Lord’s body, seeking their input, and then they ignore the counsel they sought and do the exact opposite. We want to have the Lord’s name, but we have no use for His righteousness, His apparel, or for His food… His doctrines and His way of thinking.

Jeremiah had this very experience when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and let Jeremiah and a remnant of the Jews remain in Judah. Nebuchadnezzar placed a man named Gedaliah as governor over those who were left in Judah (Jer 40:5). Another man named Ishmael, who was of royal descent, was sent by the king of Ammon to kill Gedaliah. Gedaliah was informed of this plot by a man named Johanan who had learned of this plot and warned Gedaliah that the king of Amon had plotted with Ishmael to take his life. The governor, Gedelaliah, ignored Johanan’s warning, and he lost his life at the hand of Ishmael. Ishmael then killed all the men at the governor’s house and took the women and children to return to Amon, before the Babylonians returned to settle the score.

Word immediately got to Johanan and his men about what Ishmael had done, and Johanan and his men rescued those who were kidnapped and brought them back to a place called Chimham near Bethlehem. They went there in preparation of fleeing into Egypt for fear of a Babylonian reprisal for what Ishmael had done:

Jer 41:15  But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
Jer 41:16  Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:
Jer 41:17  And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
Jer 41:18  Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.

Before leaving for Egypt, they actually sought word from the Lord concerning what they should do. The truth was that they had already made up their minds to go to Egypt. This is what is within each of us:

Jer 42:1   Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
Jer 42:2   And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us)
Jer 42:3   That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.
Jer 42:4   Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
Jer 42:5   Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
Jer 42:6   Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.
Jer 42:7   And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.
Jer 42:8   Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
Jer 42:9   And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;
Jer 42:10   If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.
Jer 42:11   Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
Jer 42:12   And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
Jer 42:13   But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
Jer 42:14   Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
Jer 42:15   And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
Jer 42:16   Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
Jer 42:17   So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
Jer 42:18   For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.
Jer 42:19   The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.
Jer 42:20   For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.
Jer 42:21   And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.
Jer 42:22   Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.

This story is telling us what is within us. It is we who seek the mind of the Lord and then spit in His face and disobey His words which He has given us. Here is what the next prophet calls such actions:

Eze 14:1   Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. [Just as with Jeremiah]
Eze 14:2   And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3   Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity [Their own righteousness, their own opinions and doctrines] before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; [You want to go to battle against Ramothgilead, go ahead and go to battle (1Kg 22:14-15); You want to go down to Egypt, go down to Egypt (Jer 42:15); You think I am a hard man, then I will show Myself a hard man towards you (Mat 25:26); etc.]
Eze 14:5   That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Eze 14:6   Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7   For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
Eze 14:8   And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
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;
Eze 14:11   That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 33:13   When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

When we become self-righteous and place “[our] own righteousness” and our own doctrines above that which is written, and above the counsel of those whom the Lord has given us as our counselors, then the Lord “will stretch out [His] hand upon [us], and will destroy [us] from the midst of [His] people Israel.”

We are all full of self-righteous iniquity, and we all trust in our own self-righteous iniquity in our own time. Let us all pray that the Lord judges us and destroys our self-righteous old man in “this present time” (Rom 8:18).

That is our study for today, and here are our verses for next week:

Jer 4:21   How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet.
Jer 4:22   For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
Jer 4:23   I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Jer 4:24   I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
Jer 4:25   I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
Jer 4:26   I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
Jer 4:27   For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
Jer 4:28   For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
Jer 4:29   The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
Jer 4:30   And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
Jer 4:31   For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers?

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Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Job 1:2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
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.

Introduction

This book of Job is as much a part of “the testimony of Jesus Christ” as is the book of Revelation. The book of the revelation of Jesus Christ opens with the admonition that we are to “keep the things written therein: for the time is at hand” and, as we have just learned, it concludes with the same admonition.

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.

Rev 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Once we are granted to notice that these are the words of our Lord, we should now know beyond any doubt that “the testimony of Jesus” spoken of in the book of Revelation includes “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” and not just the words of the book of Revelation.

Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

If we are to “bare record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that we see”, then we must bear record of the Christ- centric nature of every single book, every chapter and every word of the entire Bible, which is “the Word” of God.

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This is what “The Word” reveals to us all concerning Himself:

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

“The words I speak to you, they are spirit”. What difference does that make? What is Christ telling us? What that means is that Christ’s words all have a spiritual meaning which is much deeper than the physical words used to express that meaning. Christ is said to be both a ‘Lamb’ and a ‘Lion’. Those are spiritual words which have nothing at all to do with either a literal lamb or a literal lion. Those words are used only to tell us how vulnerable and yet powerful our Lord is.

It is granted only to a few who believe on Christ to understand that “the holy spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual… not in words which man’s wisdom teaches…”

1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

It was not pagan Romans or Gentiles Christ refers to when He tells us:

Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them [It was the multitudes who came to Christ to hear Him teach] in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

It was “those Jews which believed on Him”, but who at the same time “had no place within” them for His words (Joh 8).

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.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

So it is to this day. The multitudes of Christianity do not even believe that it is possible to “believe on Him” and at the same time “want to kill” Him. “It is not given” to the multitudes of Christianity “to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God” to this very day. The multitudes of orthodox Christianity are not given to believe that “the kingdom of God is within you”, but all those to whom this incredible gift is given will readily acknowledge that the experience of Job is an integral part of bringing us to that kingdom of God within each of us when we first come to know Christ. We all believe in Christ, and yet ‘have no place within us for His Words’ when we first come to Him.

Those with whom God is working to bring them to that blessed and holy first resurrection eventually come to see that they must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and they must be the first to do so. Those words include the words of this book of Job, where we come to see ourselves as “those Jews which believed on Him” and who, like those Jews who came to Christ, and like Job ‘have no room in us for His words’.

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.

So if we apply Mat 4:4; Rev 1:3; and Rev 22:6-7 to the words of this prophecy, what we will find in this prophecy is that God has used this entire book of Job to demonstrate that we are all the self- righteous Pharisee who looks down on the repentant Publican before we can become that repentant Publican. What we will find in this study of this book of Job is that Job’s condemnation of God to make himself righteous, is the “same event” we all experience, when we see ourselves as a blameless Pharisee, thinking we are living our lives in the service of our Lord, when in fact we are doing nothing less than “contending with God”, and ‘condemning Him in order to make ourselves righteous’.

Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

While the commentaries are forced to acknowledge that Job was contending with God and actually condemning God and God’s ways to make himself righteous, they have not been granted eyes to see that it was Christ Himself who brought Satan into this relationship, for the very purpose of showing Job and you and I that Satan is nothing more than a tool in His hand. They are not granted eyes to see that this entire story demonstrates for us all, that until we all acknowledge the total sovereignty of God in all the affairs of all of mankind of all time, we too, are contending with God to maintain our own righteousness, and our own supposedly superior ways, when the Truth of the matter is that even our self- righteousness was itself ‘written in God’s book before any of our days were’.

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

This verse revealing that Christ is the author of every one of our books should make another New Testament verse even more meaningful to 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.

We must all be brought to the same humbled position to which God brought Job, via His use of the waster He created to destroy our old man.

Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

The function of “the waster to destroy” is as much a part of the revelation of Jesus Christ, as is the first and the last Adam. Satan in this story is revealed to be “the waster to destroy” our old man and all his possessions. Not one person in a thousand understands that Noah before the flood is a shadow of our old man, just as Job, before his trials is a shadow of our old man. Even fewer realize that Noah after the flood is the type and shadow of our new spiritual man, still in an earthen vessel, and Job, after his trials, is also a type and shadow of our new spiritual man, still in an “earthen vessel… till the redemption of the purchased possession”.

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure [“Christ in you, the hope of glory”] in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

“Christ in you… That the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us”. That is the lesson of this story of Job. That is the understanding which Job lacked simply because “… that man was blameless and upright”. We, just like Job during his trials, simply cannot understand when we first hear of Christ that our every breath is literally a work which He is performing in us. Neither he nor his first three comforters, could understand that their own actions, and our own actions, be they for good or for evil, are done only at the direction of God Himself. None of us is able to understand that even our sins are His work making us wicked for our own “day of evil”.

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

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

This is what Job, and the whole world, cannot accept to this very day. This is what is to this day “hid from ages and from generations, but is now made manifest to His saints”.

Job 40 is God’s words summarizing Job’s and our true spiritual condition while under the illusion that he and we, because of our own will and because of all our own efforts and our own hard work and all of our good works we have performed, therefore we are not a wicked men, but Job and we are, in our own eyes, all very righteous people.

Here we all are, as Job, contending with God.

Job 10:7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
Job 10:8 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
Job 10:9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

All of God’s elect, who He will use to bring all the rest of mankind to Himself, must first endure these severe trials that ‘bring us to our wits end’. Until we have done so, we are not fit to deal with others who must also “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.

Psa 107:24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
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 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

This story of Job is just one account of how God, via “the waster… commands and raises the stormy winds…’ and brings us all ‘to our wits end’.

“You do destroy me… will you bring me to dust again?” The answer to that question is a resounding, “Yes indeed!”

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Jer 18:7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

Are you “the Israel of God” Paul speaks of in Gal 6:15-16?

Gal 6:15 Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16 Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GW)

If you and I are truly “the Israel of God”, then He is not “making it another vessel”, just like the first “marred… vessel of clay.” The new ‘Israel’ is the “new man” who will be “born again… of the spirit… having this treasure within this earthen vessel” only “until the redemption of the purchased possession”.

Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

2Co 5:16 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 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Job’s experience “happened to him and it is written for us upon whom the ends of the ages are come” (1Co 10:11).

When we declare that we are not wicked, and we declare our own righteousness, we are, out of our own mouth, demonstrating our total lack of knowledge of the mind of God and the mind of His Son, who tell us this of our own flesh:

Mat 19:17 And he [ Christ] 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.

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Psa 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Psa 53:3 Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Rom 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Job was a self-righteous Pharisee who considered himself to be “blameless” as did the rich young ruler, the apostle Paul, and as do we all when the word of God first begins to purge us of this terrible spiritual affliction.

So the message of this story of Job is that his experience is an essential part of the experience which is common to all men.

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

We will be studying this book with the same key that opens all of God’s word up to us. We will not be seeking to simply learn what happened to Job, instead we will seek to know how these words apply to us as the scriptures instruct us.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Here is Job 1:1 in the Rotherham’s Emphasized Version:

Job 1:1 A man, there was—in the land of Uz, Job, his name,—and that man was blameless and upright, and one who revered God, and avoided evil. (REV)

Christ did not deny that the rich young ruler had kept the law from his youth up:

Luk 18:18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Luk 18:19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
Luk 18:20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Luk 18:21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

Paul too, was “blameless” in his adherence to the law of Moses.

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.

But being “blameless… touching the righteousness which is in the law” is not quite ‘blameless’ enough, and because it is not the faith of Christ. What we intended for our own good, thus becomes our greatest sin; the sin of self- righteousness.

It is not our lack of righteousness which stinks before God. To the contrary, it is our own “righteousnesses”.

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.

What does Paul think of his own righteousness?

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;

Job, while contending with God, is our natural man, and the natural man cannot understand what advantage there is in “being made conformable unto His death”.

Our next couple of verses demonstrate how appealing it is to be in this self-righteous state of mind, while being completely unaware of how critical our spiritual health is, and being completely unaware of the impending destruction of our old man that God is in the process of working within us.

Job 1:2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
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 numbers of Job’s family and his possessions, are all very revealing in themselves. His seven doomed sons and his three doomed daughters symbolize the good and the bad that is in the “seven churches” within us. His three daughters foreshadow the process of the judgment of those churches within. We are to hear what is being said to all of the churches, not just Smyrna and Philadelphia.

Rev 2:29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

His seven new sons and his three new daughters are the new man and new church, “the heavenly Jerusalem… the mother of us all”, the church of God, which is being formed through and upon the unbelief and destruction of our old man and the unbelief and destruction of the great harlot church who has “deceived the whole world”.

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.

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

The “seven thousand sheep” symbolize God’s complete flock which is first deceived by the dragon and who are saved only through their own destruction and death.

Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

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

His three thousand camels symbolize all those in our lives who serve to help carry us through this process of being judged. They too, are us.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

The “five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses” are the symbol of the grace and faith which work to make us wealthy in the things of Babylon, and which help to bear our burdens at that time in our walk.

It all adds up to a “very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

So “this man was [both] blameless and upright…” But he was also very wealthy in this part of His experience, so that “this man was the greatest of all the men of the east”.

How can we possibly fail to see a parallel between Job’s spiritual condition and our own, as those who are of the church of Laodicea?

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
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:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

As this part of our walk progresses, we have no idea that we are wicked and vile. We think we are letting God work in our lives for the good of many, and we expect to be rewarded well for our “many good works”.

But what does God think of our works?

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.

Christ does not deny that these “Jews that believed on Him” had done ‘many wonderful works in his name.’ Nevertheless, it is those very works to which Christ refers when He tells us that we “work iniquity” simply because we are denying His sovereignty by giving ourselves the glory for those ‘many good works’.

So this is a book about much more than just the struggle to understand the great war in the heavens, and the struggle between the powers of evil and the powers which are good within us. Far more important is the emphasis in this book on the total sovereignty of God over all things within us, both the good within us and the evil within us.

Next week, Lord willing, we will cover these verses:

Job 1:4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Job 1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

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