Proverbs 26 “To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” Part 6

(Pro 26:22-28)

[Study Aired March 19, 2026]

Pro 26:22  The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
Pro 26:23  Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.
Pro 26:24  He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;
Pro 26:25  When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.
Pro 26:26  Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.
Pro 26:27  Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
Pro 26:28  A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

With true Godly repentance that “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Mat 3:8), we become part of a cleansing process by God’s spirit that takes us from an academic, worldly knowledge of Christ, to being able to demonstrate the power of God because of the cleansing of our temple that now has liberty by way of God’s spirit working in our lives, giving us power to die daily and overcome (1Co 2:5-14, 2Co 3:17, Joh 8:31-32, Joh 8:36, Rom 6:14).

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1Jn 4:6-7, Heb 12:25, Heb 5:7, Heb 10:25)

[“And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph 3:19)]

1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.(Joh 8:36)
1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect:G5046 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.

[Babylon is still crucifying Christ afresh with the substitutionary doctrine, sinning with impunity believing that Christ did everything on the cross and that there is no need for us to fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24, Lev 16:10, Lev 14:6). There is a need, and there is a lifelong process that is seeing Christ increase as we decrease (Joh 3:30), sinning less and less by God’s grace (Heb 12:6) through faith (1Jn 5:4) if we are His workmanship in this age (Eph 2:8)]

In this last section of proverbs chapter 26 we will look at how knowing the love of Christ surpasses human knowledge, or human understanding. The Spirit guides us into all Truth (Joh 16:13), for the express purpose of exposing corruption in our hearts. These verses confirm that truth! (Rom 2:4, 1Jn 3:1-3, 1Jn 1:5-10).

Pro 26:22  The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

In this first proverb I’ll bring out a few biblical examples that show how harmful gossip, or rumours, can be. A talebearer does just that, and as we will see with the examples given, gossip can deeply wound people, and bring division to the body of Christ (Pro 6:16-19). The best way to avoid internalizing gossip, which both injures and corrupts as it goes down “into the innermost parts of the belly”, is to never let it start.

Pro 6:16  These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Pro 6:17  A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Pro 6:18  An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Pro 6:19  A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

The Bible repeatedly illustrates the powerful and often destructive impact of words.

Miriam and Aaron, criticizing Moses over his Cushite wife in Numbers 12, allowed their discontent to spread, ultimately resulting in God striking Miriam with leprosy—a stark example of how spoken criticism can escalate.

Similarly, Doeg the Edomite’s report to King Saul in 1 Samuel 21–22 led to the massacre of 85 priests at Nob, showing how a single report can ignite deadly consequences when accepted without discernment.

In the New Testament, false accusations against Jesus in Matthew 26 were repeated until public opinion turned against Him, contributing to His crucifixion and demonstrating how slander shapes hearts and events.

The spies’ fearful report about Canaan in Numbers 13–14 discouraged the Israelites, prompting rebellion and 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, while Absalom’s subtle manipulation of the people in 2 Samuel 15 “stole the hearts of the men of Israel,” ultimately leading to a rebellion against his father, King David.

In each case, Scripture shows that words, whether whispered, repeated, or subtly sown, can penetrate deeply, influence hearts, and bring about devastating consequences.

Here are some scriptures to consider that explain how we can  “know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God”, overcoming this deadly spirit of a talebearer.

Overcoming gossip through the love of Christ:

Through Christ, our hearts can change from this (Mat 12:34), as we overcome and fulfill these following verses by God’s grace (Psa 141:3, Gal 5:22-23, Jas 1:19-20, Pro 17:9, Col 3:12).

Mat 12:34  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Psa 141:3  Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Jas 1:19  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
Jas 1:20  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Pro 17:9  He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

Col 3:12  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Pro 26:23  Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.

Pro 26:23  Hiding hateful thoughts behind smooth talk is like coating a clay pot with a cheap glaze.[CEV]

The lesson for God’s elect is to examine ourselves, and judge ourselves so that we don’t become as the whitened sepulchre described by Christ in (Mat 23:26-28).

Mat 23:26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter (2Co 13:5, 1Co 9:27), that the outside of them may be clean also.
Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.(Eze 33:13)

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.

The “potsherd covered with silver dross” (Jer 6:27-30) is the very hard to detect and remove, self righteous spirit that we all must overcome day to day, thought by thought (Php 3:9).

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: (Pro 3:5-12)

Jer 6:26  O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
Jer 6:27  I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.
Jer 6:28  They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
Jer 6:29  The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
Jer 6:30  Reprobate silver shall men call them,[“a potsherd covered with silver dross”] because the LORD hath rejected them.

Pro 26:24  He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;

To ‘dissemble with one’s lips’ is to pretend to be friendly or kind, while secretly harboring hatred. It’s the act of speaking falsely to hide true feelings. When we lay up deceit within ourselves we harbour hidden intentions of harm or dishonesty.

In short, this proverb warns that some people conceal their hatred with flattering words. This is why we are to try the spirits whether they are of the Lord or not (1Jn 4:1). It’s a sad commentary on human nature, but very real and very active in the world which we are not to love, but rather demonstrate our love toward our neighbour by doing the will of God (1Jn 2:15-17). If we are blessed to do the will of God he will lead us to victory over our inward struggles and enemies without as well (Psa 1:1-6)

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Psa 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psa 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psa 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psa 1:4  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Psa 1:5  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
Psa 1:6  For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

A clear example of this proverb is Judas Iscariot, who harbored deceit and hatred, even while ‘going along to get along’ for years with Christ and his disciples. We know Judas was a type of the man of perdition who was yet to be removed, and yet all the disciples forsook Christ, as we all do at first. To those with whom God is working, a pattern is revealed with Christ’s words to both Peter and Judas. Peter was called to be an overcomer who by God’s grace wept bitter tears after He betrayed Christ and then went on to receive the holy spirit on Pentecost. Judas, typifying the man of perdition was encouraged by Christ, “That thou doest, do quickly”, as opposed to Peter who was rebuked and told “Get thee behind me, Satan”.

Joh 13:27  And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.(Pro 3:5-12, Php 3:9)

Pro 26:25  When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.

Christ in us as our hope of glory (Col 1:27) can see right through the fair speech of others, making it possible for us to try the spirits whether they are of the Lord or not (1Jn 4:1, 1Co 2:12-13).

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

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 (1Co 2:5), but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.(We try the spirits with the word of God)

This proverb warns against trusting someone simply because their words sound kind, flattering, or persuasive. “Speaking fair” refers to speech that seems agreeable or honest, but may actually conceal deceit. Appearances can be misleading, and words alone do not prove a person’s trustworthiness.

The phrase “seven abominations in his heart” symbolizes complete or extreme wickedness, with the number seven representing completeness (2Co 11:13-15). This means that while the person’s words may be pleasant, their inner thoughts, motives, and intentions can be thoroughly corrupt or evil (Act 20:29-32).

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

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Act 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. (His word is light 1Jn 1:7, His word is truth Joh 17:17)

Pro 26:26  Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.

This proverb teaches us that a person may try to hide hatred or evil intentions behind deceit, lies, or pleasant behavior, but eventually the truth will be exposed. Adam and Eve are the prototype for this kind of behaviour.

It’s in the churches of this world that we are hidden for a season amongst men, as Adam and Eve did amongst the trees that typify men (Gen 3:8, Mar 8:24).

Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Mar 8:24  And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

If God is working with us in this age He will draw us out of Babylon and the myriad of lies that are within her, and we will be humbled in the congregation of God where we will go through a process of having the seals, trumpets and vials poured out upon us, cleansing us of all those lies (Rev 16:1).

Rev 16:1  And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

In this verse with the expression “your sin will find you out” (Num 32:23), Moses warns the tribes of Reuben and Gad that if they fail to keep their promise to help Israel conquer the land, they would be sinning against God, and their sin would find them out. The principle is that wrongdoing eventually brings consequences and exposure—God sees what is hidden, and the truth will come to light sooner or later.

Here are some biblical examples of sins being exposed:

Achan – In the story recorded in the Book of Joshua chapter 7, Achan secretly stole forbidden items from Jericho and hid them in his tent (Jos 7:21), but God revealed the sin and it was exposed before all Israel. The Babylonish garment represents the false doctrines of Babylon that are wrapped around the idol of our hearts until they are exposed and destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our lives (2Th 2:8).

Jos 7:21  When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

One other example is King David who, after committing adultery with Bathsheba and arranging the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite, tried to conceal the sin. However, God sent Nathan the Prophet, who confronted him and revealed the wrongdoing, and let David know that the sword would not depart from his house. This curse pronounced on David typifies the blessing God bestows upon the elect in this age as we are judged by the sharp two edged sword that God’s word represents (2Sa 12:10, 1Pe 4:17, Heb 4:12).

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.

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?

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.

Pro 26:27  Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.

This proverb teaches the principle that harmful schemes often backfire on the person who planned them. Someone who plots evil, deception, or injustice for others frequently ends up suffering the consequences of their own actions. It reflects a common biblical theme: God’s justice causes the wicked to be trapped by their own plans.

What comes to mind is that we all dig a pit in Babylon when were under the law, and Christ comes to us to show us our hypocrisy in keeping the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9), only when it’s convenient for us (Luk 14:5). Our strength, our riches in Babylon are represented by this ass or ox that falls into a pit.

Luk 14:5  And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

Christ is our sabbath, our spiritual rest, and He is showing us how lacking the law of Moses is. Christ is that stone “and he that rolleth a stone” (Mat 21:42) that we roll around for so long in our flesh while we are under tutors and governors, under the law (Gal 4:2), until one day Lord willing that stone comes back and crushes us, “it will return upon him” bringing us to see clearly the hypocrisy of all flesh (Rom 7:8-9) and how only Christ within us can truly give us the ability to keep the spirit of the law (Mat 21:44).

Mat 21:42  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

Rom 7:8  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
Rom 7:9  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Pro 26:28  A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

Here are three example that bring out how this proverb can be explained. The first being the false witnesses against Jesus as the example of a “lying tongue”. The Pharisees flattering Jesus to trap him, as an example of a “flattering mouth”, and finally Absalom flattering the people to steal the kingdom, which flattery led to ruin “worketh ruin”.

The first example of “a lying tongue” is seen in the false witnesses brought against Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. During His trial, the religious leaders sought testimony that would justify condemning Him, and many came forward with false accusations (Mat 26:59-60). These lies ultimately contributed to Christ being delivered to crucifixion. This account demonstrates how a lying tongue harms those it targets and reveals the hatred behind the words, fulfilling the warning of (Pro 26:28) that deceitful speech afflicts and injures others.

The second example shows how flattery can be used deceptively. The Pharisees approached Jesus with respectful-sounding praise, saying that He was true and taught the way of God in truth, but their words were only a pretense meant to trap Him with the question about paying tribute to Caesar (Mat 22:16-17). Their flattering speech was not sincere admiration but a calculated attempt to ensnare Him. This illustrates how a flattering mouth can conceal harmful intent and work toward ruin, exactly as the proverb warns.

The third example is found in the rebellion of Absalom recorded in the Second Book of Samuel. Absalom positioned himself at the gate of the city and spoke kindly and sympathetically to the people, suggesting that their grievances would be better heard if he were judge in the land, a type and shadow of wanting to make disciples after themselves (2Sa 15:3-4, Act 20:30). Through these flattering words he gradually “stole the hearts of the men of Israel,” leading to rebellion against David. In the end, the scheme brought devastation to the kingdom and ultimately to Absalom himself, showing how flattery leads to ruin “and a flattering mouth worketh ruin”.

These examples remind us that the admonitions in Proverbs 26 are not merely moral observations but spiritual lessons that reveal the condition of the human heart and the need for the life of Christ to mature within us.

Whether through gossip, deceitful speech, hidden hatred, or flattering words, the flesh continually manifests corruption that must be exposed and cleansed by the Spirit of God. As we are judged and purified by the living Word, we learn in a deeper way “to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.” (His word is light Joh 17:17, His word is truth Joh 17:17-19)

1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19  And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Conscience – A Weak Conscience, Part 14

But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ ~ 1Co 8:12 

[Study Aired February 3, 2024]

To some, it may seem that this Conscience series of studies could have been summed up in one dob of rice flour and that I’ve laboriously rolled it into translucent rice paper with no end. However, this rice paper wrap of the word of God, just like a Vietnamese street food wrap, tastes clean and nourishing for those given to see within themselves the powerful negative subtleties of our conscience.

When seeking the Lord’s inspiration to compose a study, what comes to my ironic mind is Solomon’s eternal musings.

Ecc 12:9  And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people [either mouldy bread, milk or sizzling steak] knowledge; yea, he gave good heed [in truth or unwitting error], and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. 
Ecc 12:10  The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
Ecc 12:11  The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd [Christ].

“Goads” indict our conscience, compelling us to follow the preacher’s apparent Christ-centric (or different Jesus’) words. A weak conscience is frequently unwittingly naive and innocently unschooled in rightly dividing the truth from error. That ailment can afflict the most spiritual Elect but for the multitude of counsellors, inclusive of the Body members, watching over each joint in the Bride.

Ecc 12:12  And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. [and for my cause, much “rice-paper” studies spiritually translucent for the spiritual eye]. 
Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 
Ecc 12:14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Therein, the above poetry is “the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” We cannot fear God if we are witless to the Lord’s commandments, thus profoundly making our conscience “weak” or even seared into nonexistence. Very, very few Babylonian Christians fear God since they are unshakeable in their belief that Jesus saved them by filling up in Him their sins in their stead, on the cross. To them, the following verse proves that unconsciously deluded condition since they believe that the Law was done away.

Rom 4:15  Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 

Rom 5:13  (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law).

Up pops ‘secret things’ that our dear parents Adam and Eve richly exhibited in nudity for our immense understanding of our Lord’s secret things, His “hidden manna” (Rev 2:17), His secret spiritually understood things of that same Law, both good and evil.

Subsequently, when our symbolically nude actions are exhibited for others to see, we sin against Christ, the creator of His commandments that evoke “wrath”. We thus potentially wound a babe in Christ’s “weak conscience” and likely cause him to unconsciously err.

Psa 51:4  Against You [God], You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight; that You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when You judge.
Psa 51:5  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin [corruptible flesh, “sinful flesh” is sin]: did my mother conceive me.
Psa 51:6  Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom.

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. 

1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible [Christ’s word spiritually understood and unceasingly lived], by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

All people are born in corruptible flesh and naturally inherit a weak conscience subject to sin equal to ours in the soup of humanity, bubbling away in the pottage of sin with each other. God forbid we ever knowingly toss some “death cap mushrooms” (as depicted in Study 13) into the mix, but most likely, our false doctrines are born out of the slothful and idle chatter of an exuberant “two-fold child of hell” (Mat 23:14) .

A two-fold child of hell shows up when he notes that his audience has a weak conscience in the Lord’s word. He, with his now “emboldened conscience” (Study 13 in this series), is able to consciously or merely slothfully inject his puffiness into the innocent minds of the weak with blasphemous parrotted dogma learnt since Sunday School in Babylon.

1Co 4:6  And these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, so that no one of you may be puffed up against one another.

Yes, it is unprofitable to give unrighteous and deluded acclamation to Babylon’s esteemed preachers, especially when we are unconscious of our weak conscience in being steered off on some doctrinal heresy. The hidden manna in plain sight is for us to only think of what is spiritually discerned from the physical so that we don’t preach falsehoods. If we learn to not think above what is written by bringing every thought into subjection in Christ, our mouths won’t blurt out some internalised vomit to conceitedly reflect upon re-consuming it.

Pro 26:11  As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly [Content to conceitedly sniff at traditional Babylonian dogma without checking for spiritual truth]. 
Pro 26:12  Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

At this point, a slothful fellow relied on his cockiness and gathered unchecked food safe for consumption for his fellow prophets residing over Elisha’s pottage that subsequently required swift purifying to avoid death. Such is when anyone comes to the Lord’s table dressed vulgarly with interactions lacking in spiritual wisdom.

2Ki 4:38-44  And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth [famine] in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets [the body of Christ].

The famine of the Lord’s word goads us to seek food. Where can the world go but to the many-called harlot churches of the world displaying high thighs to excite lust for the stew of ‘happy-clappy’ doctrines as the offering plate is passed around (… harlots charge for their poisonous gourds of unwitting slow death).

The Lord’s Body is not exempt from corruption of our ‘stew’, for there must be heresies for the true prophets of Christ to practice identifying contaminated pottage (1Co 11:19-20).

2Ki 4:39  And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.

That “one” gathering herbs is formally you and I while in the field of Babylon, and even sometimes today, apathetically collecting all sorts of unclean food to add to our emails and Zoom meetings to which we all have succumbed from time to time. At this point, a weak conscience of a lay member could be oblivious to what he is eating if his brothers are equally as inert, too lazy to blow the spiritual trumpet alarm for accurate discernment.

Of course, that ground-hugging vine of the field could be similar to what graziers in Australia contend from the nightshade family called potato vine and is deadly to stock if the leaves or particularly the small underground “gourd” is eaten. The poor beast munching up swaths of grass can accidentally consume its leaves in the ‘mix’ with dreadful bloating and internal fluid and blood loss into the stomach cavity. Death is nearly always the result. However, the prophet in Elisha’s council of elders, gathering from the vine in the field, most likely found a climbing vine since the narrative suggests he picked the gourds directly into his apron. 

2Ki 4:40  And they poured out for the men to eat. And it happened as they were eating of the pottage, they cried out and said, O man of God, death is in the pot! And they could not eat.

That reaction is precisely what we do in the Body of Christ; alarmed to cry out a heresy! (I love the poetry that no doubt the likes of Shakespeare and other bards copied from the wealth of Biblical rhyming, “O man of God, death is in the pot!”)

2Ki 4:41  And he [Elisha] said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot. And he said, Pour out for the people, and they may eat. And there was no evil thing in the pot.

Note that Elisha represents an Elect of God skilled in discerning false doctrine. Once those deathly delusions are identified, the Body of Christ is instantly healed of the evil things brought to their table.

Considering that the following verse speaks of barley, that “meal” added to the pottage to nullify the poison was likely barley (H8184 from H8175 – 1. to storm, shiver, dread, bristle (with horror), be very afraid a. (Qal) 1. to bristle (with horror) 2. to dread 2. to storm away, sweep away, whirl away.

Like hail, barley, too sweeps away the dread of false doctrine and multitude of lies.

Courtesy of Tony Cullen in a study:

Deu 8:7  For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
Deu 8:8  A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;

The good land represents our life when it is spiritually healed

[bold Grant], being blessed to be dragged to Christ (Joh 6:44) to find the ingredients that symbolize what God gives us through Christ – wheat – barley – vines – fig trees – pomegranates – olive oil – and honey {Grant: representing first-fruits} – end] Barley is known to put a coating on the walls of our stomach and intestines that helps soothe and inhibit strong acids and alkalis commonly associated with poisons.

Barley is primarily synonymous with the first fruits and the wave offering of barley depicting the Elect of God given figuratively to Elisha, who represents Christ and his “sons of the prophets” to be healed of the leaven of false doctrinal pottage and raised from the dead.

1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 
1Co 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. [the wave offering of barley] 
1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming. [ the feast of the harvest of wheat] 
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end [the feast of ingathering each in their own order, All in all], when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.’ ~ courtesy of Steven Crook, “Awesome Hands – Part 17: “The days of the wheat harvest.”

Continuing…

2Ki 4:42  And a man [symbolically, Christ] came from Baal-shalisha [ bah’-al shaw-lee-shaw’ – 1. supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians or Canaanites] and brought the man of God bread from the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and full ears of grain in his sack. And he said, Give to the people that they may eat. 

2Ki 4:43  And his servant said, What? Should I set this before a hundred men? He said again, Give to the people so that they may eat, for so says Jehovah, They shall eat and shall leave some. 
2Ki 4:44  And he set before them, and they ate, and left some of it, according to the Word of Jehovah.

That unbelieving servant, an effective babe in Christ, wasn’t used to knowing that the Lord miraculously provided with none or minimal ingredients as he did with the loaves and fish to feed 5,000 people in Matthew 14:13-21. Subsequently, there is always plenty of food left over, denoting the abundance and wealth of spiritual knowledge always available to the Lord’s Elect, his first fruits following him so that none goes away starved by a “weak conscience”.

Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; [“sons of the prophets” all effective kings and priests – Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.]
Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ [skilled at identifying symbolic poisonous gourds and nullifying their defilements]:
Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 
Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

The fact that those deceivers “lie in wait to deceive” indicates that some, like the Pharisees imagining that they could hoodwink Jesus, deliberately set about to defraud the weak. 

2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded [not caring what heresy they throw into the pottage], lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 
2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 
2Ti 3:6  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 
2Ti 3:7  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Of course, the “silly women” classically depict not only the literal sickly lay individuals, men and women, but specifically the 40,000 plus churches of Babylon today held captive by deluding doctrines.

Continuing in conclusion…

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

Having our weak consciences daily emboldened by the fullness of knowledge in Christ’s spiritual truths, we can confidently go forward skilled at identifying the poisonous gourds of falsehoods formally wounding ourselves and our brother’s weak conscience and thus avoid sinning against Christ.  

Jer 18:1-12  The Vessel Made of Clay was Marred in the Hand of the Potter

[Study Aired September 19, 2021]

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
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;
Jer 18:8  If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Jer 18:9  And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
Jer 18:10  If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
Jer 18:11  Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
Jer 18:12  And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

The last chapter contained the oft quoted ninth verse:

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Our study today reveals clearly why we have all been given a deceitful heart. As is always the case, the Lord makes us to know that we have nothing to do with what He is doing, other than doing the things He causes us to do. In our study today, Lord willing, He is going to cause us to understand that when we “Hear [His] words” we do so only because He “caused [us] to hear [His] words”.

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
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.

“The Potter’s house” is the ‘house’ of the Master Potter. It is the Lord’s temple (1Co 3:16). The Master Potter makes no mistakes. As we just learned in our last study, “the first man Adam” was created on the sixth day, and the Lord deliberately made the first Adam of ‘clay’. Both the number ‘six’ and the composition of ‘clay’ cry out to all those who are “caused to hear” that we are incomplete and made of corruptible clay in the form of ‘corruptible… flesh and blood’, which was never intended to “inherit the kingdom of God”:

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

All the thousands of sermons by all the thousands of false prophets to the contrary will not make a creature which was formed on the sixth day anything more than a beast, a creature made of flesh and blood which can never inherit the kingdom of God. Repeatedly using the phrase “immortal soul” will not place that phrase anywhere in scripture. It simply is not there, but this is in scripture concerning what happens to us at the time of the resurrection and not before that time:

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

As the rules of Hebrew grammar demonstrate, the process of creating mankind in His image is not yet complete:

Gen 1:27  So God created [Hebrew Qal stem… ‘is creating’] man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

A “very good” tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a “very good… crooked serpent”, and a “very good… vessel of clay” in the form of “corruptible… flesh and blood”, are not, and were never intended by the Creator to be “the new man which after God is [being] created in righteousness and true holiness”.

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created [Greek: aorist tense… ‘is being created] in righteousness and true holiness.

This is what “the vessel that He made of clay” is designed to show us of ourselves in our present unfinished condition:

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

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath [Hebrew: ‘ruach’, spirit]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all [“the vessel of clay”] is vanity.

Sadly, for most nominal ‘Christians’ church doctrine will always trump scripture, and most ‘Christians’ will continue to believe that man was given an “immortal soul”, a phrase found nowhere in all of scripture because that doctrine is a lying spirit which has ‘gone out into the world to deceive many’:

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits [doctrines] whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

When we try that spirit which teaches us that the phrase “very good” means spiritually perfected, we discover that Hebrew and Greek tenses are completely ignored in most of our English translations so false church doctrines can continue to be foisted off on all those who have not yet been given “eyes that see nor ears that hear” (Mat 13:9-15):

Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. [Hebrew reads ‘creates He them’, the Qal stem]

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

The two verbs in Genesis 1:31, the verbs ‘saw’ and ‘made’, are both in the Qal Stem, which equates to the Greek aorist tense. What this tells us is that the process of ‘seeing’ and ‘making’ is ongoing and unfinished. Six “is the number of mankind” (Rev 13:18) because mankind is unfinished, as his creation on the sixth day indicates. Mankind must “enter into His rest” to be completed, and Christ is our ‘rest’:

Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Heb 4:1  Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest [into Christ], as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in [“Entered not” into Christ] because of unbelief:
Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest [Christ, our rest, our sabbath] to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief [in Christ].

Hebrews 4:1-11 is the completion of the process of the creation of mankind. No one is complete until he has entered into Christ and confesses that he can do nothing of himself:

Here are those two verses in Genesis 1 in a much more accurate translation:

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

Gen 1:31 And seeing is the Elohim all that He had made [Same Qal stem as the verb ‘seeing’ and should read ‘is making’], and, behold, it is very good. And coming is it to be evening and coming to be morning, the sixth day. (CLV)

The Concordant version renders ‘seeing’ in the Qal stem, but it misses the fact that the phrase “had made” is also in the Qal stem and should have been translated as ‘all that He is making’. In other words, the creation is at this very moment an ongoing process which requires this “experience of evil” in this “vessel that He made of clay” before we can enter into Christ, “enter into His rest” on the seventh day, the day of completion and perfection, the day of rest from  our works:

Joh 15:4  Abide in me, [our rest, our sabbath] and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Notice that the Concordant translators who miss the Qal stem in translating ‘had made’ in Gen 1:31 catch the Qal stem in translating:

Jer 18:4 and marred is the vessel that he is making, as clay in the hand of the potter, and he has turned and he makes it another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make. (CLV)

We should begin to get the message of the book of Job and all the rest of scripture. The message of all scripture is about two men – the old man and the new man. However, it is about how the old man must begin to die before the new man can begin to enter into Christ, our “sabbath”, our “rest”. When we are being brought into that rest, we begin to see and understand that even our “experience of evil” is of the Lord, and that we have no more to do with our sins than we have with our good works.

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?

That is right! If there is “evil in the city… the Lord hath done it” (Isa 45:7)

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;

“Clay… in The Potter’s hand” is as basic as the Lord’s work with mankind can be explained. The clay has no say at all about what the Potter will make of it. The hand of a puppeteer can be concealed, but the hand of a potter must be seen as He shapes the clay “after the counsel of His own will”. “As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine hand…” is not an endorsement of the lie of ‘free will’. Rather it is the exact opposite. “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it” is not an endorsement of free will. It is the exact opposite. To clarify this fact, and to make the Potter’s hand even more apparent, we are very plainly told:

Exo 4:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

The Biblical definition of a ‘hardened heart’ is a heart which cannot obey the words of the Lord.

Rom 11:8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Does the Lord’s use of the word ‘if’ indicate that you and I have been given a will that is free from His influence?

Jer 18:8  If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Jer 18:9  And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
Jer 18:10  If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

In our innate desire to be the captain of our own fate we latch on to verses like these and tell ourselves that these verses prove that we have the ability, through our own fabled ‘free will’, to change the Lord’s mind. We must never forget that ‘key to the kingdom’ which teaches us that Truth is never to be found in just one verse or one section of scripture, rather:

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

Therefore, it behooves us to read on, and come to see that even though the Lord offers us the opportunity to repent, He already knows that we will at first reject Him and His offer to accept our repentance. If anyone doubts that the Lord already knows what mankind will do just read the next couple of verses:

Jer 18:11  Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
Jer 18:12  And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

Does that sound as if the Lord has any doubt about what we will do? These two verses confirm the message of verse 4:

Jer 18:4  And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Yes, indeed, the Lord admonishes us to “return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good”, and with the same breath He tells us “Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you”, followed by a description of that “evil device” He has devised against our old man. That device is to prepare the heart of our old man to say, “There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.”

Where does the heart of our old man get such a thought:

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

Then the Lord goes on to tell us plainly that His sovereignty extends to our own wicked man:

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

When you and I, or anyone else, sin and do wickedly, why do we do so? If God is sovereign over all things, then He must inform us that it is He who facilitates the most wicked of all acts, including the death of His own Son, and that is exactly what He does. It simply cannot be made more clear:

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.

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

He even admits to being the “one lawgiver” which includes giving us “the law of sin… which is in [our] members”:

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Whence comes this “sin that dwells within [our] members”?

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

How did that happen? How did this “law of sin” come to be in our members? Let us “let God be true and every man a liar” and believe these words of God:

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

That is exactly what the Sovereign God is in the process of doing. He is in the process of destroying our old man, who by His design is first “marred in [His] hand”, and through that dissolution of our old man He is saving our new man, just as the worm of a caterpillar is dissolved and comes out of the death of a cocoon as a beautiful butterfly no longer bound to crawl on its belly. It can now mount up to the heavens on beautiful wings, confirming that:

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

What we are being told is that “the law of sin and death” is part and parcel an integral part of being made of the dust of the ground, being “the… marred… vessel made of clay… in the Potter’s hand”:

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.

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

What we are being told is that the new vessel… “another vessel”, the Potter is making, is dominated by “another law” other than “the law of sin”. That new law, “the law of my mind”, in that new man is “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus”:

What is the meaning of the word ‘marred’? Exactly what is it about ‘the vessel of clay’ that makes it “marred” and unacceptable to the Potter?

Here is Strong’s definition of the Hebrew word translated as “marred”:

H7843
שָׁחַת
shâchath
shaw-khath’
A primitive root; to decay, that is, (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively): – batter, cast off, corrupt (-er, thing), destroy (-er, -uction), lose, mar, perish, spill, spoiler, X utterly, waste (-r).

‘Shachath’ is the same word translated as ‘corrupt’ when it first appears in:

Gen 6:11  The earth also was corrupt [H7843: ‘shachath’] before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

It appears twice in the next verse:

Gen 6:12  And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt [‘shachath’]; for all flesh had corrupted  [‘shachath’] his way upon the earth.

Notice how the translators have rendered this same word in the very next verse:

Gen 6:13  And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy [‘shachath’] them with the earth.

Here is how this word is variously translated in the King James Version:

H7843
שׁחת
shâchath
Total KJV Occurrences: 146
destroy, 68
Gen_6:13, Gen_6:17, Gen_9:11, Gen_9:15, Gen_18:28 (2), Gen_18:31-32 (2), Num_32:13-15 (4), Deu_4:31, Deu_9:26, Deu_10:10,
Deu_20:19-20 (2), Jos_22:33, Jdg_6:5, 1Sa_23:10, 1Sa_26:9, 1Sa_26:15, 2Sa_1:14,
2Sa_14:11, 2Sa_20:20, 2Sa_24:16,
2Ki_8:19, 2Ki_13:23, 2Ki_18:25 (2),
1Ch_21:15, 2Ch_12:7, 2Ch_12:12,
2Ch_21:7, 2Ch_25:16, 2Ch_35:21,
Psa_106:23, Isa_36:9-10 (3), Isa_51:13, Isa_65:8 (2),
Isa_65:25, Jer_5:10, Jer_6:5,
Jer_11:19, Jer_13:14, Jer_15:3,
Jer_15:6, Jer_36:29, Jer_48:18,
Jer_49:9, Jer_51:11, Jer_51:20,
Lam_2:8, Eze_5:16, Eze_9:8,
Eze_22:30, Eze_26:4, Eze_30:11,
Eze_43:3, Dan_9:24-26 (4), Hos_11:9, Mal_3:11
destroyed, 22
Gen_13:10, Gen_19:29, Jdg_6:4,
Jdg_20:21, Jdg_20:25, Jdg_20:35,
Jdg_20:42, 2Sa_11:1,
2Sa_24:16, 2Ki_19:12, 1Ch_21:15,
2Ch_24:23,
2Ch_34:11, 2Ch_36:19, Psa_78:38,
Psa_78:45, Isa_14:20, Isa_37:12,
Jer_12:10, Lam_2:5-6 (2), Hos_13:9
corrupt, 11
Gen_6:11-12 (2), Deu_4:16, Deu_4:25, Deu_31:29,
Psa_53:1 (2), Pro_25:26, Eze_20:44,
Eze_23:11, Mal_1:14
corrupted, 11
Gen_6:12, Exo_8:24, Exo_32:7,
Deu_9:12, Deu_32:5, Jdg_2:19,
Eze_16:47, Eze_28:17, Hos_9:9,
Mal_2:7-8 (2)
destroying, 5
1Ch_21:12, 1Ch_21:15, Jer_2:30,
Jer_51:1, Eze_20:17
mar, 4
Lev_19:27, Rth_4:6, 1Sa_6:5,
Jer_13:9
destroyer, 3
Pro_28:23-24 (2), Jer_4:7
marred, 3
Jer_13:7 (2), Jer_18:4, Nah_2:2
corrupters, 2
Isa_1:4, Jer_6:28
destroyeth, 2
Pro_6:32, Pro_11:9
spoilers, 2
1Sa_13:17, 1Sa_14:15
waster, 2
Pro_18:9, Isa_54:16
battered, 1
2Sa_20:15
cast, 1
Amo_1:11
corrupting, 1
Dan_11:17
corruptly, 1
2Ch_27:2
destroyers, 1
Jer_22:7
destroyest, 1
Jer_51:25
destruction, 1
2Ch_26:16
lose, 1
Pro_23:8
perish, 1
Exo_21:26
spilled, 1
Gen_38:9
wasted, 1
1Ch_20:1

This is the same word used back in chapter 13 in reference to the linen girdle which Jeremiah buried in the banks of the Euphrates River:

Jer 13:6  And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.
Jer 13:7  Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred [‘shachath’], it was profitable for nothing.

The linen girdle was ‘ruined and destroyed’ because it was made of a corruptible composition. Destruction, corruption, and ruin are the thought behind this Hebrew word ‘shachath’.

Why would the Lord first make man of such a corruptible composition? If “the first man Adam”, ‘the vessel of clay’, (1Co 15:45) was marred (‘shachath’) in the Potter’s hand, then he was made of a corrupting composition which was deliberately designed to lead him into his own destruction “in the Potter’s hand”, just as the scriptures reveal:

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.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

All the great sermons to the contrary, “the first man Adam” was not spiritual first. Rather:

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy [“The first man Adam… of the dust of the ground… the vessel that He made of clay…”], such are they also that are earthy [“flesh and blood… corruption”]: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; [Pray tell, why cannot flesh and blood inherit the kingdom of God?] …neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

What the Lord says must be “first” will be ‘first’. That which the Lord declares is “not first” will not be first. If we cannot accept those qualifying words, then we simply do not yet know Christ or His Father (Joh 17:3).

If we fail to see the order in which the Lord is completing and perfecting His creation, we can and we will miss the spiritual message in all those verses of scripture which qualify that order in which the Lord is working to bring about the salvation of all.

The previous chapter of Jeremiah, chapter 17, revealed to us that we are cursed with a deceitful heart which we should never, ever trust:

Jer 17:5  Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Jer 17:6  For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Jer 17:8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat [or “thief”] cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Chapter 18 confirms that a “deceitful heart” is simply a natural heart which is “marred… in the hand of the Potter”, and that this “marred” corruptible composition is the device which the Lord has devised against the kingdom of our old man to destroy it.

All these words of God are simply the fire which tries and burns up the wood, hay, and stubble of the works of our old man. These words are the judgment which begins when our “first man Adam” begins to die and begins to be judged. It is all designed to take place “first”, and it is all integral to the salvation of all men. This is the sequence of events which the Lord desires, and what the Lord desires He is doing:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is  appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

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, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

The word ‘appointed’ is in the present tense. The judgment which begins after we begin to “die” is in the aorist tense, and is now on the house of God:

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

The works of our old man are being burned up yet we ourselves, our “new man… shall be saved”. Being given a deceitful heart (Jer 17:9), and being “marred in the hand of the Potter” (Jer 18:4) are just the necessary corruptible beginnings of the Lord’s process of salvation for “every man” (1Co 3:13-15).

That completes our study for today. These are our verses for our next study:

Jer 18:13  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
Jer 18:14  Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
Jer 18:15  Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
Jer 18:16  To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
Jer 18:17  I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
Jer 18:18  Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
Jer 18:19  Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
Jer 18:20  Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
Jer 18:21  Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
Jer 18:22  Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
Jer 18:23  Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

The day of Noah’s and Lot’s Baptism

[Study Aired August 18, 2020]

Luk 17:20-37 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

“The Kingdom of God is within you”? Christ once again answers their questions with parables. His answer tells us, the elect of God, what we can expect to happen when he comes within us.

Joh 14:15-21 If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Today’s study titled “The day of Noah’s and Lot’s Baptism” is in reference to the destruction of our old man and all of mankind’s old man by water and fire. The Lord uses these things to destroy the old man within everyone. John being the end of the prophets makes the following statement which announces the baptisms we endure.

Luk 16:14-17 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

Luk 3:16-17 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. 

John baptizes with water representing our time under our tutors the law and the prophets. The Lord also tells us that we must be baptized with his baptism.

Gal 4:1-7 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Mat 20:20-23 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. 

Christ uses the stories of Noah and Lot to explain to his disciples the process of the kingdom of heaven coming within us. The following is an excerpt from Smith’s Dictionary about Noah.

Noah

“No’ah. (rest). The tenth in descent from Adam, in the line of Seth, was the son of Lamech, and grandson of Methuselah. (B.C. 2948-1998). We hear nothing of Noah till he is 500 years old, when it is said he begat three sons.”

Noah’s name means “rest”, and this is what we are in the process of entering. This rest we are seeking is not given to all in this age but only to the chosen few.

Heb 3:7-18 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

The fathers and prophets could not enter the “rest” because of their unbelief, but we are being baptized by the water and the fire of Christ, His Word, which causes us to believe. Continuing in Hebrews chapter 4 we learn more about the “rest” that Noah’s name means.

Heb 4:1-13 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 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. 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. 

Here is the story of Noah that Christ tells his disciples and is now telling us, (if you are in him and he is in you, having ears to hear and eyes to see). Our journey entering the “rest” begins with the baptism of water. Pay attention to the hidden mystery in this story. Remember Christ’s words are spirit and they are life.

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. 

Gen 7:6-23 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. 

Just as Noah’s faith moved him with fear, our faith moves us with fear to prepare and save our house.

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.

Peter explains the baptism of Noah and the saving of the eight which is the new man within.

1Pe 3:8-22 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Peter compares “if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake” and “that ye suffer for well doing” to the flood Noah experienced. This baptism in not for cleaning the flesh but for asking God to clear our mind of sin and that we all may be of one mind.

1Pe 3:8-9 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

(CEV) 1Pe 3:21 Those flood waters were like baptism that now saves you. But baptism is more than just washing your body. It means turning to God with a clear conscience, because Jesus Christ was raised from death.

(GW) 1Pe 3:21 Baptism, which is like that water, now saves you. Baptism doesn’t save by removing dirt from the body. Rather, baptism is a request to God for a clear conscience. It saves you through Jesus Christ, who came back from death to life. 

In Peter’s second epistle he connects the baptisms of water and fire which Noah and Lot experienced with the false prophets and teachers among us. This is a warning to each of us to examine ourselves and to be diligent to not let false doctrines and teachers to enter the body of Christ.

(EMTV) 1Co 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and in this way let him eat from the bread and drink from the cup. For he that eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not judging correctly the body of the Lord.

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

Here is Peter’s warning to us. Here Peter gives us the meaning of Noah’s and Lot’s stories.

2Pe 2:1-22 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. 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; 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; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 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. 

Next Peter shares his reason why we must seek understanding of the old testament stories.

2Pe 3:1-18 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 

In our next study we will dig deeper into the story of Lot and the fire and brimstone that comes from heaven.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 8 Discussion

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Isa 1:27-31 Zion Shall Be Redeemed With Judgment

Isa 1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
Isa 1:28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
Isa 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
Isa 1:30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
Isa 1:31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

Introduction

When we read the scriptures regarding the Lord's judgments we just naturally tend to think in terms of the wicked people, the goats being placed on the Lord's left hand, versus the righteous people, the sheep, being placed on the Lord's right hand. After all, here it is saying just that:

Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

We just naturally think of this event taking place and we place ourselves on one side of the other, depending on whether we consider ourselves to be serving God or not. However, in time we must come to understand the meaning and the truth of these two verses of scripture:

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.

The word 'man' is translated from the Greek word 'anthropos' and it means 'mankind'. It means all mankind, just as it means all mankind in this verse of scripture:

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

That 'a' I have emboldened and underlined is not in the Greek texts. Here is a much more accurate translation of this verse:

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has a mind calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of mankind, and its number is six hundred sixty-six. (CVL)

Which means that the Truth of God's Word is:

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.

This is telling us that Christ's 'Zion' is redeemed through the judgment of her hypocrites. This principle is revealed elsewhere in the words of this same prophet:

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

There is not a person among us who has not first served his flesh before being humbled and then being crushed to powder by the Lord Himself through His fiery judgments. So these verses we are examining today are not speaking to someone else. Rather they are addressed first and foremost to you and me as these verses demonstrate:

Psa 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

Psa 69:19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.

Psa 73:22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

That is why the apostle Peter tells us:

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

Exactly what is this thing we call 'judgment'? What does 'judgment' do? What does 'judgment' accomplish? This is what the scriptures teach is judgment:

1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

What a simple, straight forward statement of Truth, which is affirmed by many other verses of scripture. God's judgments are "chasten[ing] of the Lord", with a very good purpose in view. What a wonderful and loving concept. And also what a revolutionary concept in the light of the false doctrine of eternal torment for many who will one day face their own judgment day, either in this age or "when the thousand years are expired".

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. [the eons of the eons]
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

"When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord", but what, then, is the purpose and function of God's chastening judgments? If "judgment... first begin[s] at us" what will that 'judgment' produce 'first' within us? Here is what God's judgments, first or last, will always produce. This is what His judgments produce, whether it "begins [now upon] the house of God" or if it is at the "great white throne... judgement", which follows the "little season" of rebellion which will come over this earth "when the thousand years are expired"; this is what God's judgments produce. This revelation of what is the product of all of God's judgments is, once again, to be found right here in this prophecy of Isaiah:

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.

And that is what the first verse of our study today tells us:

Isa 1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.

It is only through God's fiery judgments that any of us live righteous lives to any degree. "When your judgments are in the earth [including our present lives in these earthen vessels with our rebellious carnal minds] the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness". Paul tells us the very same things put in another way:

1Co 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day [of judgment] 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, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

And again in these words:

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [Greek: paideuo, chastening, as in "when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord", 1Co 11:32] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

So what Paul is telling Titus is that God's grace is what judges us. 'Judging us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world'.

The fact is that Peter tells us the same thing just five verses before telling us "the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God":

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

When we apply the principle of 'Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mat 4:4) we come to realize that "every man... suffer[s the] loss of all things" for Christ's sake, "each in his own order".

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

There it is - "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall [the same] all be made alive". But it is done only through judgment. It is done only through suffering loss, "yet so as by fire", the "fiery trials" which are the "judgment [which] must... begin at the house of God". Again it is not just someone else who is judged. It is "every" man who "suffer[s] loss". It is not someone else whose "wood, hay, and stubble" are all burned up, rather it is through judgment that the 'wood, hay, and stubble of "every man" is burned up (1Co 3:13-15).

God's judgment is ultimately the death of the flesh of our "old man". Contrary to what many teach, the death of our old man is a given:

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

Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

The life of "the new man" within all of us comes to us only "through death", through the death of our "old man".

Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

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

The unlearned will argue those verses refer only to Christ, and I must agree, they refer only to Christ, but I will agree with that statement only when we know who is "Jesus of Nazareth", and who Christ is as revealed in this verse, among many others:

Act 22:7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Just as Christ's life came "through death" so too will all who are given eonian life. So we are told:

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

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

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

For those who in our midst have been teaching that flesh, in and of itself, is not sin and corruption read 1Co 15:50 again really slowly, and let it sink in: "...flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" and consider this truth:

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.

Understanding that life comes only through death is basic to the very sayings and the doctrine of our Lord:

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

That is the meaning of our next verse:

Isa 1:28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

"Transgressors... sinners... and they that forsake the Lord" are all "the body of sin" into which we are all 'shapen and conceived' of by the great Potter Himself:

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Who shaped us in iniquity and who conceived us all "in sin"? Here He is:

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.

So much for those who are still insisting that there in no such thing as a "body of sin", which is these "marred... vessels of clay [as they come from] the Potter's hand".

So we are plainly told that the life of our "new man" comes only through the death of "the body of sin" which is our physical, "natural... old man":

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Why is our old man crucified with Christ? It is "that the body of sin might be destroyed". It is not just the carnal mind; it is also flesh and blood which cannot inherit the kingdom of God because corruption, "the body of sin", cannot inherit incorruption.

Which is just another way of repeating the words of Christ:

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

Just as we do not naturally give up these 'bodies of sin', neither do we just naturally come out of Babylon with all of her traditions and celebrations of so many "days, months, times and years" (Gal 4:10), which is what Isaiah means by these words:

Isa 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

Israel was warned against this very thing:

Deu 16:21 Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
Deu 16:22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.

These "groves" are mentioned throughout the Old Testament as one of the greatest snares to Israel, which always longed to 'be like the nations around them'. The groves were temples of the pagan worship of the earth, the creature, the beast, which we all just naturally tend to want to place ahead of the Creator:

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

It is natural for men to worship themselves, "the creature", and God's creation, this earth with all its vicious beasts, more than they worship God. That is what we all just naturally do, simply because it is the most commonly accepted thing to do among the nations, the people who are all around us, and that is exactly what Israel did from the moment they were brought out of Egypt:

Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2 As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

Within 50 days of leaving Egypt, where they had learned to worship idols, Israel had returned to doing so:

Exo 32:3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Exo 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Hundreds of years later, Israel is still serving the idols of Egypt:

Eze 20:7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Physical idols, like that golden calf, typify false doctrine, which Ezekiel calls "idols of the heart".

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

This is what we are told of the 'idols' of the Old Testament:

Hab 2:18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

Our 'idols' that separate us from our Lord today are all the false doctrines in which we believe. We are "estranged from [Christ] through [our] idols".

The Egyptians, and all the pagans, celebrated the winter and the spring solstices, and most who claim to be Christians are doing the very same thing to this day, calling the observation of the winter solstice, Christmas, and retaining the pagan name of Easter for the spring solstice, even as they claim this pagan holiday is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. In any case, the churches of the apostate wife of Christ claim to be worshiping God while observing these pagan practices.

How does God feel about us adapting pagan practices and saying we are keeping those practices in worship of Him? This is what He has to say about doing such an insulting thing:

Deu 12:28 Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.
Deu 12:29 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

While it is true that Christ Himself gave the carnal nation of ancient Israel three seasons with seven festivals, foreshadowing His plan for mankind, Christ Himself has come and has in Himself fulfilled the 1) the passover, 2) the days of unleavened bread, 3) the day of Pentecost, 4) the feast of trumpets, 5), the day of atonement, 6) the feast of tabernacles and 7) the last great day. While these three seasons and their seven festivals are now fulfilled in Christ, they still to this day serve as types and shadows of all that Christ has done and is doing:

Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

"The very image" is, of course Christ, and those who accept Him no longer observe any "days, months, times or years", and are thereby hated of all men.

Col 1:15 Who [Christ] is the [very] image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

But everyone kept the pagan festivals, and Israel wanted to fit in with the nations around them, and their greatest stumbling block was their desire to return to the groves which were such an integral part of the nature worship of the nations around them. So Isaiah tells us this about ourselves, which is who ancient Israel typifies:

Isa 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
Isa 1:30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

We of the nations who claim to know Christ have been sticking our figurative fingers in the eye of our Creator for thousands of years now. Nevertheless there is coming a day when "the kingdoms of this world [will] become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ (Rev 11:15), and He and His Christ will have no part of such rebellious and insulting actions, and they will no longer be tolerated. Christmas and Easter will not be observed during the millennium, and for those who are given to be part of the kingdom of God "within you " in this age, this is what is even now being done both within and without in our lives:

Isa 1:31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

Here is the LIV version of this verse:

Isa 1:31 The strongest among you will disappear like burning straw; your evil deeds are the spark that sets the straw on fire, and no one will be able to put it out. (LIV)

Remember this phrase, 'the strong shall be as burning straw which is ignited by your evil deeds' is all said in the context of being given over to "the oaks... and... gardens you have chosen". Those 'oaks and gardens' are the houses of pagan idols, and 'idols' in scripture are types and shadows of false, heretical doctrines, the number of which is symbolized as 200 million.

Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
Rev 9:17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
Rev 9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
Rev 9:19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

The power of these "locusts... like unto horses... is in their mouth[s]... out of their mouth issued fire... and in their tails; for their tails were like unto serpents..." What does the "power... in their mouth[s] and in their tails... tails like serpents" mean? We need not guess. The prophet Isaiah tells us what all of this mean:

Isa 9:14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
Isa 9:15 The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
Isa 9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

"The prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail [and] the leaders of this people cause them to err.." and for that reason:

Hos 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

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

It is Satan and his messengers whose mouths also issue the 'fire' of his lies. This entire study today is applicable to the very lies we have been dealing with.

Isa 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
Isa 1:30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
Isa 1:31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

We have all been deliberately and blatantly lied to, and we have all fallen for those lies at our own appointed time. We are all commanded to "know them which labor among you", and those of you who do know those who labor among you, know that your elders and leaders are men of honesty and integrity who, with the Lord's strength within us, never ever lie to you. That simply cannot be said of our detractors who will say one thing and then do the exact opposite. As your leaders we seek only to "look well to [ourselves] and to the flock over which the Lord has made [us] overseers. Our refuge is in the Lord, and in His words and in the love and nourishment of His body, as was also true of the much maligned apostle Paul, who tells us the same thing was going on in his day:

2Ti 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
2Ti 4:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
2Ti 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
2Ti 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
2Ti 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

You and I are living in outwardly perilous times, but all the battles taking place in this outward world are just a shadow of what is taking place in the realm of the heavens, where a life and death battle is being fought at this very moment.

But we have been given the outcome of that battle, and we pray to be granted to be on the winning side because we are assured:

Psa 68:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.
Psa 68:2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
Psa 68:3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.

Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

And the Child Grew, and Waxed Strong In Spirit – Part 2

Like Christ, We, Too, Will Be Tried, and Then We “Will Come Forth As Gold”

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Introduction

We are continuing our study from last week where we saw that the work God is doing in all men of all time is a work that requires time and patience to the point that we are told “in your patience possess ye your souls” (Luk 19:21). This purifying process is foreshadowed in the story of the symbolic conversion of King Nebuchadnezzar:

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

“The most high [is even now] rul[ing] in the kingdom[s] of men… giv[ing] it to whomsoever He will, and sett[ing] up over it the basest of men” before He comes and destroys those brute beasts and makes “the kingdoms of this world the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ” (Rev 11:15).

These words are for us and to us (Mat 4:4):

Dan 4:16 Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.
Dan 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

Was Christ a beast? We have seen in this study, that Christ, like all of us, came into this world “made of a woman, made under the law”.

This is the meaning of being “made of a woman”:

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

And this is the meaning of being “made under the law”:

Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Being “kept under the law” is to be “concluded… under sin” until the “faith [of Christ] is come”. Only then are we no longer “under sin… under a schoolmaster”. What this teaches us is that Christ, by coming as “the seed of Abraham” in a body of “corruption”, a body of flesh and blood, would have to go through the same process we endure; being tempted and tried by the struggles we endure as we fight against all the sinful pulls of our sinful flesh:

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

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

Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

The only difference between our struggles and those of Christ is that while we, of ourselves, always fail, because He was given His Father’s spirit “without measure”, Christ never succumbed to temptation so was “without sin”:

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.

The example of Christ demonstrates that we, too, must expect to be “under sin… kept under the law, before faith [comes] shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed”. This is where Christ Himself remained until His baptism by John, at the beginning of His ministry when He was “about thirty years of age”:

Luk 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,

This is what we are told of Christ’s spiritual status until the beginning of His New Testament ministry:

Luk 2:51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

Now let’s take note of the very next verse, the last verse of Luke 2:

Luk 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

If Christ “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man”, then he was much more in favor with God and man at the age of 30 than He was at the age of 12. Therefore verse 52 is simply a repetition of verse 40:

Luk 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

Let’s read what is between verse 40 and verse 52, and see if we can discern any encouragement and admonition for each of us in these words:

Luk 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
Luk 2:41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
Luk 2:42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
Luk 2:43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
Luk 2:44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
Luk 2:45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
Luk 2:46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
Luk 2:47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
Luk 2:48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
Luk 2:49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?
Luk 2:50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
Luk 2:51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
Luk 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

“The grace of God was upon [Christ]” even as He “was subject unto [the law of Moses]” and even as He “went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast”. What this reveals to us about ourselves is that the hand of God is upon us all even while we, too, are brought up in Babylon, long before we begin our own ministry in the service of our Lord.

When we see the phrase “the heavens were opened” in the New Testament, what we are being told is that our knowledge is being increased exponentially. If our sinless Savior took thirty years to be prepared to accept the revelations that were given to Him at the time of His baptism by John, then we should not be discouraged if it takes us many years to come to see the same “open heavens”:

Mat 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Mat 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

We have a study entitled What and Where Is Heaven? which you can listen to at this link:
What and Where is Heaven?

That study reveals ‘heaven’ to be the realm of the spirit where our minds are at one with the mind of our Creator, who is invisible to physical eyes and is seen only when the heavens are opened to us and we are given to see with spiritual eyes “the things of the spirit”, which the natural man cannot see (1Co 2:13-14):

Joh 6:46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.

Joh 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

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.

If we see Christ and we know Christ, we are “of God [and we] have seen the Father”. If we don’t know the things of the spirit, then we do not know Christ or His Father. It is incumbent upon us to be capable of distinguishing the mind of Christ from the mind of His adversaries or we will be deceived with the rest of the world.

Joh 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

“Know not the voice of strangers” means that they do not believe a false doctrine because they know it is not of Christ:

Joh 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
Joh 10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Joh 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

To see “the heavens opened” requires spiritual eyes:

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

Those who have such spiritual vision do not have it because they took a course in spiritual vision in some institution of men. Understanding the things of the spirit is a gift from God based solely on “the counsel of His own will”:

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

This is the goal of “the mystery [the secret] of His will”, as we have already quoted:

Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

But this ‘open heavens’ is not given to babes in Christ. That part of our spiritual experience where we, as a babe in Christ, begin to hear of such things before we have been granted to endure the trials that give us the ability to appreciate the things of the spirit – this ‘open heaven’ – is foreshadowed by the open ark of God which became a curse to the Philistines, who were cursed simply for having possession of that which was not theirs, and to the Israelites of Bethshemesh, who opened the ark without the ability to appreciate opened heavens.

Here is that very revealing story:

1Sa 5:1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
1Sa 5:2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
1Sa 5:3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
1Sa 5:4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
1Sa 5:5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
1Sa 5:6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
1Sa 5:7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
1Sa 5:8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
1Sa 5:9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
1Sa 5:10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
1Sa 5:11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
1Sa 5:12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

1Sa 6:19 And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.

That Old Testament story of what the ark of God did to those who took it to themselves, while being in no position to be handling it, is the shadow of what happens to us when we first hear of the grace of God while we are in no position to handle that knowledge. We all first, as “carnal… babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4), turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and like the uncircumcised Philistines, who are dwelling in the promised land without the benefit of circumcision, and like the careless Israelites, who were not ordained to handle the ark, we, too, are cursed inwardly and are destroyed by that which will, in time, become a blessing when we have been given the time and experience to “grow and wax strong in spirit” to the point of being capable of handling the Truth.

Being patient with God’s pace and accepting of His plan for our lives is the purpose and the meaning of the phrase “a long time” in these two parables of our Lord:

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.
Mat 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

Mat 25:19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

We are brought to feel that God is indeed “in a far country” and has forgotten us. We are all the servant who hides his talent before we become the productive servants. It is not until the Lord “reckons with [us]” that we repent and become productive in His service.

Luk 19:11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
Luk 19:12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country [for a long time – Luk 20:9] to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
Luk 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
Luk 19:14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

Luk 20:9 Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

Joh 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

The Lamentations of Jeremiah are our lamentations while we are “enduring to the end” (Mat 10:22):

Lam 5:20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?

We have endured many trials, and trying times are ahead, and they will try our patience as they already have. But let’s claim our place with Christ, being seated with Him on His Father’s throne in the heavens as His elect. In that capacity let these words encourage us as we “occupy till [He] comes”.

Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Isa 42:2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
Isa 42:3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
Isa 42:4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Isa 42:5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
Isa 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Isa 42:13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
Isa 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

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

Truly we “live by every word…” We are blind, deaf, robbed and spoiled and are completely unaware that we are living with God’s fury being poured out upon us before we are then delivered and given sight and hearing, and then made rich with the things of the spirit.

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

So we are told:

Luk 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

Followed by these words:

Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.

There is so much to occupy us. There is great need in the body of Christ and few laborers to do the work. The overwhelming pull upon us all is to get tired of the labor and to give in to the love of this world. That is exactly what happened to Demas, Cresens and Titus. They simply were not granted to “endure to the end”:

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

So whether we are babes in the body of Christ, who are just now beginning to know the mind of Christ and are learning to “be persuaded by your leaders”, [or whether we are elders who] are vigilant for the sake of your souls”, let us all beg our Creator to grant us to accept the significance of these His Words:

Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.
Luk 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Luk 21:21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out [of Babylon – Isa 1:21 and Rev 18:4]; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.”

Those are not words our old man wants to hear, but they are part of the words of life given us by the holy spirit.

Conclusion

We will conclude with a Biblically balanced summation of what the scriptures teach us concerning how we are to deal with the subject of the end of this age. There are two admonitions in scripture that appear to some to contradict each other. Appearing contradictory is, of course, exactly what the Word of God is designed to do to those who are not being called in this age (1Co 2:13-14).

Here are those two apparently contradictory admonitions:

Luk 21:8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

Here is Christ warning us that “many shall come in [His] name” admitting that He is God’s anointed, and saying that the time draws near. His admonition for us is “go you not therefore after them”. Do not fall for the lies of those who set dates, insisting that they know Christ’s return is immminent.

Then there is this admonition in the second epistle of Peter:

2Pe 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Peter goes on to warn us:

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

In this admonition, the holy spirit is warning us against having a lackadaisical spirit that would have us to think the Lord’s rulership over the kingdoms of this world is nowhere near imminent, and “that all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation”. Here we are reminded that the Lord will come as a thief in the night, when we would least expect Him.

Is there a way to justify these two apparently contradictory admonitions? Of course there is, because they are not contradictory at all. Is it not true that they are both very real dangers which will rob the masses of Christians of their salvation in this age?

That both admonitions are needed is the Truth of this matter. Demas, Cresens and Titus would have done well to listen to Peter’s words warning us not to fall victim to a lazy spirit that would have us think we have plenty of time and need no sense of urgency. Judas, on the other hand, along with so many failed false prophets with their lying false prophecies, would do well to listen to Christ’s Words of warning against the doctrines of all of these false prophets who think they can dictate to Christ the day of His appearing.

We can now appreciate the fact that it is our trials which seem to take “a long time”, and which require a God-given gift of patience, which are the very keys which will give us possession of our own souls.

When we are in the process of “enduring to the end” in our trials, they actually do seem to be taking “forever”:

Psa 80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

Psa 89:46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

At the same time we must always remain vigilantly aware of how short our time is here in these vessels of clay, to be of service to Christ and His body of believers.

Jas 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Jas 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

The good news is that in the end “all in Adam” will be given life through God’s life-giving judgments. Though it may seem to take an eternity, when that time comes “He knows the way [we] take”, and when He has shown us what we are of ourselves, then we will all “come forth as gold”.

Job 23:8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
Job 23:9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Alleged Contradictions in Scripture – Part 6

“The Lord Is Good To All” Versus “The Wicked His Soul Hateth”

Psa 145:9  The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Psa 11:5  The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

Introduction

The most effective tool the adversary has in attacking his own Creator is his attack upon our Creator’s character. Twice in Ezekiel 18 the Lord relates to us this false accusation against His character:

Eze 18:25  Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

Then again just four verses later the Lord reiterates this false accusation:

Eze 18:29  Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

Notice who the Lord has given to the adversary to make this false accusation against God: “Yet saith the house of Israel”. In other words, it is those who are called by His name who have been recruited by the adversary to slander the name and the very character of our loving heavenly Father who really is “good to all”.

Here is a cut and paste from the web site entitled ‘infidels.org‘. This is their entire entry on this particular alleged contradiction:

“God good to all, or just a few?

“Psa 145:9  The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

“Jer 13:14  And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

“Editor’s note: Some readers have raised an objection to this alleged contradiction. They point out that PSA 145:20 states that The Lord keep all who love Him, but that He will destroy the wicked. In other words, some see no contradiction between “The Lord is good to all” and JER 13:14. Others contend, however, that even if the Lord destroys the wicked he could do so with compassion, pity, and mercy. Further, there are biblical examples that indicate that the Lord is not necessarily “good” or merciful– even to those who are not wicked. One such example is Job. As one reader points out, “If Psalm 145:9 was not a contradiction of Psa 145: 20 or Jeremiah 13:14, it would read something like this: The LORD is good to all, except the wicked: and his tender mercies are over all his works, except when He is punishing the wicked.” In any case, the idea that the Lord is good and merciful is contradicted by countless example in the Bible where God orders the destruction of infants, personally kills David’s infant child, etc.” (End quote)

To this naturally-minded infidel, this is an obvious open and shut case that hardly warrants his time because, as he just told us, “the idea that the Lord is good and merciful is contradicted by countless examples in the Bible where God orders the destruction of infants, personally kills David’s infant child, etc.”

There is no denying that Psa 11:5 appears to contradict Psa 145:9.

Psa 145:9  The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Psa 11:5  The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

If God hates the wicked and him that  loves violence, then how can He, with the same mouth, proclaim He is “good to all”? Should He not have at least have said, ‘The Lord is good to all but the wicked’?

The answer of course is, no, He should not have said ‘The Lord is good to all but the wicked’, because if He had, then He would be good to no one since He Himself tells us that all men are wicked:

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

But does this statement really mean what it says? Is “every imagination of the thoughts of His heart only evil continually”? Is there really “none that doth good, no, not one?” This atheist writer and many others think that the story of Job proves that God is not even good to good people like Job. Such a blatant challenge of the Creator’s own words serves only to demonstrate the depth of the truth of Gen 6:5. The Truth is that God created mankind out of the dust of the ground, which in itself accounts for how true are His words “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”, because the very opposite of being heavenly and pure is not the fires of a fabled hell, buy rather the very opposite – being earthy, corrupt and evil:

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Job was “a good man who feared God and eschewed evil”:

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.

Yet Job himself, the very person this infidel quotes to condemn God, tells us that a man who sees himself as righteous apart from God is most despised by God for ascribing righteousness to mere flesh.

Here are Job’s own words:

Job 9:20  If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Job 9:21  Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.
Job 9:22  This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. 
Job 9:23  If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
Job 9:24  The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?
Job 9:25  Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.
Job 9:26  They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.
Job 9:27  If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself:
Job 9:28  I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. 
Job 9:29  If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain? 
Job 9:30  If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
Job 9:31  Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. 
Job 9:32  For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
Job 9:33  Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
Job 9:34  Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me: 
Job 9:35  Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.

If God is not sovereign over the good and the wicked, if He has not given the earth to the wicked, “where, and who is He?” At least this infidel has seen the scriptural doctrine that the good and the wise of this world are destined to be destroyed together. What neither the infidels nor the believers of Babylonian Christianity understand is that God’s plan all along was to create a clay model which would demonstrate only one thing, and that is that clay, even in its best state, is still clay and is altogether vanity and corruption:

Psa 39:5  Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

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

Just like Job, who typifies you and me, he “would… not fear him [if He] took away his rod from [our old man]”. Fortunately, with Job we can say “it is not so with me”. Job is the Old Testament type of those whom God loves, and this is what we know about “every son whom He receives”.

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

In the end this infidel I have quoted, along with all men, will appreciate the Truth that is these words:

1Co 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19  For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
1Co 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 
1Co 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 
1Co 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
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. 

It is God who makes Christ “wisdom… unto us”. Without that work of the spirit of God working within us we, too, have asked:

Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
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?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

“You will say unto me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?” is the question we all ask when we first contemplate the sovereignty of God, and without the faith of Jesus Christ we, too, can so easily be swept away with the thoughts of the infidels and agnostics who have no fear of God and think nothing of denying Him or challenging Him as Job did in his desperation:

Job 9:34  Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:
Job 9:35  Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.

It is in the book of Job that we find an answer to this alleged contradiction which the infidels are so quick to throw in the face of their own Creator. We are told in the first verse of the first chapter that Job was a “perfect man, one who feared God and eschewed [hated] evil”:

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.

But just like the infidels, Job [a type of you and me] could not understand why God would want to destroy him:

Job 9:20  If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect [Job 1:1], it shall also prove me perverse. 
Job 9:21  Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.
Job 9:22  This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

“Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul” is a confession that in bodies of sinful flesh and blood we cannot know the meaning of spiritual perfection. “Though I were perfect” is a hypothetical reference to physical, carnal “man at his best state”, of whom we are told:

Psa 39:5  Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

As the Old Testament type of each of us when we are deceived by God (Eze 14:9), Job thought he had of his own free will chosen to be the “perfect man who feared God and hated evil” (Job 1:1). He steadfastly “maintained his own integrity:

Job 27:4  My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

He went as far as to inform us of “[his] integrity” filling an entire chapter of which I will quote but a few verses:

Job 29:1  Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 29:2  Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; 
Job 29:3  When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
Job 29:4  As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
Job 29:5  When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
Job 29:6  When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
Job 29:7  When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! 
Job 29:8  The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
Job 29:9  The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
Job 29:10  The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
Job 29:11  When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: 
Job 29:12  Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

Job appears to give God credit when he confesses that “God preserved me… by His light… I walked”. But the adversary is very subtle in using his forked tongue and ‘maintaining his own integrity with his dying breath’, and ‘condemning God while declaring himself to be 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 40:6  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?

Of all the spirits that are hated by God, it is a self-righteous spirit which presumes to condemn him and dares to contend with and reprove him in the name of its own righteousness. That is what this infidel is. This atheist is like Job, the Old Testament time of you and me, who considered himself to be a “perfect man [who] feared God and hated evil”.  Job thought he “feared God”, yet he ended up accusing God exactly as this atheist does:

“If Psalm 145:9 was not a contradiction of Psa 145: 20 or Jeremiah 13:14, it would read something like this: The LORD is good to all, except the wicked: and his tender mercies are over all his works, except when He is punishing the wicked.” In any case, the idea that the Lord is good and merciful is contradicted by countless example in the Bible where God orders the destruction of infants, personally kills David’s infant child, etc.”

I have chosen Psa 11:5 to make this man’s false accusation more precise:

Psa 145:9  The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Psa 11:5  The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

The story of Job does not demonstrate, as this infidel says:

“…the Lord is not necessarily “good” or merciful– even to those who are not wicked. One…example…is [the story of] Job…”

You and I, as carnal men typified by Job, make this same accusation against our Creator:

Job 9:22  This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

The mind of the Christ understands without any contradiction, that “the new man” is born only through the death and the destruction of “the old man”. Jesus Himself explained this dilemma:

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

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

To the infidel and to the natural mind those verses only add to the number of blatant contradictions in the scriptures.

The first, self-righteous Job, typifying our old man, thinks he is of himself so righteous that He can presume to contend with, reprove and condemn his own Creator for the suffering his Creator has placed upon him. That “first man Adam” had to be destroyed and replaced with an entirely new, different, humiliated and repentant Job, whose new humble viewpoint was born out of the very trials which serve to destroy the old self-righteous, first man Job. The New Testament calls this destruction of our old man a ‘fiery trial’.

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:

Paul explains that it is through this fiery destruction of our old self-righteous, rebellious, carnal “first man Adam” that “every man…shall be saved.”

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, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

It is that destruction of our old, carnal man which the natural man and the infidel so hate. It is that destruction of the carnal mind which is actually used by God to cause our old man to “suffer loss: but he himself … [is to] be saved; yet so as by fire“.

If indeed God were not in the process of saving “all in Adam”; if He lost even this one infidel to death, then it could rightly be argued that God is not “good to all”. But such is not the case:

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

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

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

1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and [even infidels] to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth [“all men to be saved”], even that he doeth.

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially [not exclusively] of those that believe.

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

Lest there be any doubt about whether God intends to save all men of all time through His “first fruits” harvest we are told:

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.

Finally, we are told this about whose salvation is included in His propitiation for our sins:

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

The salvation of all come at the expense of God’s hatred of our old man, but there can be no doubt that “The Lord is good to all”:

Psa 145:9  The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Psa 11:5  The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

What keeps modern day Jobs and infidels from seeing how God’s hatred of, and destruction of, our “wicked… old man” complements and explains how “The Lord [really] is good to all” is a total blindness, given them by God, to “the things of the spirit”, and that is exactly what we are told is the case with all natural-minded men, whether they are those who, as Job typifies, are in the many false churches of Christendom or whether they are just rank infidels.

1Co 2:13  Which things [“freely given to us of God”, vs. 12]… 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. 

“The holy spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual” while both historical Christianity and infidels believe in the damnable false doctrine of “free moral agency”, which doctrine has no concept of the meaning of spiritual words:

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.

Both historical Christians and infidels want to stone anyone who dares to quote any of these scriptures:

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

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

Pro 20:24  Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

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.

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

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?

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Where is the damnable doctrine of ‘free moral agency’ in any of those verses of scripture? The Truth is that there is no such Biblical doctrine. Rather, this is the truth of the scriptures:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

If God has not “devised means, that his banished be not expelled from him” then He would indeed be the monster which this infidel, and the first Job in us, makes Him out to be. But God has devised means, that His banished be not expelled from Him”, and all who must “die… in Adam”, will in the same manner, completely independent of our own will “be saved… in Christ”.

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. 

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam [independent of our will] all die, even so in Christ [independent of our will] shall all be made alive.

These verses accord with all those above them. God is working all things, “yes, even the wicked… after the counsel of His own will”, and it is His will for Him to be “good to … the new man… [in] all” which He will bring about through His destruction of the old man whom “His soul hates” in all men of all time .

So there is no contradiction at all for the man who has been given to understand “the things of the spirit”, when he reads:

Psa 145:9  The LORD is good to [“the new man” in] all: and his tender mercies are over all his [finished] works.

Psa 11:5  The LORD trieth the righteous [“new man” in “all in Adam”]: but [our “old man”] the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.