Oba 1:15  For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

[Study Aired August 28, 2024]

Oba 1:15  ForH3588 the dayH3117 of the LORDH3068 is nearH7138 uponH5921 allH3605 the heathen:H1471 asH834 thou hast done,H6213 (H8804 Qal) it shall be doneH6213 unto thee: thy rewardH1576 shall returnH7725 (H8799 Qal) upon thine own head.H7218

H3588 – Kee, that, for, because, when, as/for though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since, yea, indeed, if, though, that if, for if, indeed if, but if/rather, except that, only, nevertheless, that is, for though, forasmuch as, for therefore, a primitive particle

H3117 – Yome, day, time, year, a working day, a day’s journey, days, lifetime, period (general), today, yesterday, tomorrow, from an unused root meaning to be hot

H3068 – Yehovah, Jehovah = the existing one, the proper name of the one true God, unpronounced except with the vowel pointings of 0136 (not found in E-sword) from a primitive root H1961, Hayah, to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come into being, become, arise, appear, come, become, become like, be instituted, be established, be in existence, abide, remain, continue, stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated, accompany, be with, occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about, be done, be finished, be gone

H7138 – Karobe, near, kinship, from a primitive root H7126, Karab, to come near, approach, enter into, draw near, be brought near, cause to approach, bring near, cause to draw near, bring, present

H5921 – Al, upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against, on the ground of, on the basis of, because of, therefore, on behalf of, for the sake of, for, with, in spite of, notwithstanding, in the matter of, as regards, to, over to, unto, in addition to, with, adjoining, next, at, around, down upon, on, from, up upon, up to, towards, over towards, against, because, although, properly, the same as H5920, Al, height, above, upwards, on high, from a primitive root H5927, Alah, to go up, ascend, climb, meet, visit, follow, depart, withdraw, retreat, come up, to spring up, grow, shoot forth, go up over, rise, extend, excel, be superior to, be taken up/away, be brought up, take oneself away, be exalted, bring up, cause to ascend, cause to go up/ascend, bring against, take away, draw up, train, rouse, stir up, offer, exalt, be carried away, be led up, be taken up into, be inserted in, be offered, lift oneself

H3605 – Kol, all, the whole, the whole of, any, each, every, anything, totality, everything, from a primitive root H3634, Kalal, to complete, perfect, make complete, make perfect

H1471 – Goy, nation, people, swarm of locusts, other animals, from the same root as 

H1465, Gevah, the back, behind, from H1460, Gev, the back, back, midst, from a primitive root H1342, Ga’ah, to rise up, grow up, be exalted in triumph, be lifted up, be raised up, be exalted

H834 – Asher, which, who, that which, that, when, since, as, conditional if, a primitive relative pronoun 

H6213 – Asah, (Qal) to do, make, work, produce, to deal with, act, act with effect, effect, prepare, attend to, put in order, observe, celebrate, acquire, appoint, ordain, institute, bring about, use, spend, pass, a primitive root 

H6213 – Asah, (Niphal) to be done, be made, be produced, be offered, be observed, be used, a primitive root

H1576 – Ghemool, dealing, recompense, benefit, from a primitive root H1580, Gamal, to deal fully with, recompense, deal out to, do to, deal bountifully with, recompense, repay, requite, wean a child, to be weaned, to ripen, bear ripe

H7725 – Shoob, to turn back/away, return, come or go back, return unto, of dying, of human/spiritual relations, apostatise, repent, of inanimate things, in repetition

H7218 – Roshe, head, top, summit, upper part, chief, total, sum, height, front, beginning, tip (of mountain), height, head (of man, city, nation, place, family, priest, division, company, band), choicest, best, sum, from an unused root to shake

—

In this study we will look at the Hebrew words for near and nations. The day of the Lord is at hand in that the Lord is chastening us to forsake ungodliness. Therefore our new heart is being established and being built with grace. We are not appointed wrath, but unto salvation. Knowing we cannot please God in the flesh, we endure to the end knowing he will be faithful to complete his work in our lives.

We are commended to be patient in this time of trial and chastening

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4  and let the patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire—in nothing lacking

We are not perfect now, in these clay vessels. To say we are perfect now is to say the work of trying our faith is complete. Instead, the truth is we are being perfected, day by day and this is the day of the Lord that is at hand

Oba 1:15 For the day of the LORD is near [H7138] on all the nations [H1471]

The Hebrew word for near is Kaw-robe’ meaning at hand, more ready, shortly. Here is the same word used in Zephaniah 

Zep 1:7  Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.

Zep 1:14  The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

And what is this day?

Zep 1:15  That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

Was that day just for those people of old, out there and back then? Do we experience this day of God’s wrath in our lives now?

A principle for understanding scripture is to know that every verse of scripture has an inward application. People make the mistake of saying that verse doesn’t apply to them, it only applied to the context of those living back in that day. But look what Christ says

Rev 22:18-19 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.  And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this book [the entire bible]

Here is a link to an article discussing the topic: Did Christ endure the wrath of God? Are we appointed to wrath? https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/did-christ-endure-the-wrath-of-god-are-we-appointed-to-wrath/

Here is how this doctrine appears [excerpts from the study]: 

“I had been written to by a gentleman expressing his understanding  that Christ could not have endured the wrath of His Father as we do, simply because Christ had not sinned to deserve His Father’s wrath.”

And here is how this doctrine is dealt with by using scripture and the sum of his word:

“You and I have been given to hear the words which inform us that our Lord was “in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.” Exactly what are we being told when we read that “it is through much tribulation” that we must enter into the kingdom of God? Most people are not given to ‘hear’ that the “much tribulation [required to] enter into the kingdom” includes the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God, without which we cannot “enter into the temple of God”.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

“No man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled” would necessarily include “the man Christ Jesus”.

1Ti 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

It was Christ Himself who insisted that His own flesh was not better than ours when He said:

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

The point being is that if Christ were above enduring the wrath of His Father, then there is no way He can say that He “was in all points tempted like as we are…”

Isa 53:10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; 

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

This is all being said of our old man who is then contrasted with our new man is the next verse:

2Th 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

This verse is a repetition of:

1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ

We really are “blessed and holy” above all men if we are granted to die to our old man in this age.

It is with that mind frame that we can say with Paul, “we are not appointed to wrath but to salvation” (1Th 5:9), whereas I once thought that the mention of being appointed to salvation was proof that Paul was speaking of all men. I thank that gentleman for helping me to see that not only can we say “We are not appointed to wrath, but to salvation” is true of our new man whom we are to reckon as “alive unto God”, at the same time we are reckoning “our old man [as] crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin.” That is to be our mindset. [end]

Here is what Christ says in the New Testament about day of the lord being ‘near’

2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Christ is both our ‘high priest’ and ‘captain of our salvation’. We are encouraged to draw near to him (to his word).

Heb 10:21  And having an high priest over the house of God [the temple which we are];
Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Heb 2:10  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Christ is our high priest ‘over the house of God’ administering governance and rulership as he chastens us and teaches us to forsake ungodliness.

And we know that Jesus Christ is at hand now.

Php 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Php 4:5  Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto 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?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

And who are the nations of Oba 1:15 For the day of the LORD is near on all the nations [H1471]

While there is an outward application, as in all nations will be judged, at this point in time we can see this verse has an inward application to the giants of our land (the nations) within.

What happens to our old man?

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

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath [the day of wrath is not an eternal never ending day], but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ
1Co 6:9  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

1Co 6:10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1Co 6:11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Our old man has to die. And this is a daily death, each day we are dying daily to our old ways. Our carnal mind has to be destroyed because the carnal mind is enmity against God, but like all things it is a process and is not immediate

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

As in Obadiah, Edom typifies our carnal mind [the old man within]. Similarly, both Aholah and Aholibah, two sisters of the same mother, typify our old man. 

Ezk 16:44  Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter 

Ezk 23:2  Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
Ezk 23:3  And they committed whoredoms in Egypt
Ezk 23:4  And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister

Neither Aholah and Aholibah partake in any inheritance which is the bride of Christ’s. This is true for two reasons. First, because our new man who is not appointed to wrath, and secondly because, whoremongers will not inherit the kingdom of God.

This question is presented in Ezekiel to the whoredoms of Jerusalem

Ezk 16:20 Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter?

In God’s eyes, is it a small matter? 

Here is Christ’s answer

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God

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

And this is the end result of the heathen, Edom, Aholah and Aholibah, our old man, all experiencing the day of the Lord. All of them dwelling in that land shall be destroyed by the fire of His Jealousy.

Ezk 16:63  That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame

Zep 1:18  Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

And who is the one carrying out this work?

Isa 42:1  Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine chosen [Christ], in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: He [Christ] shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

Christ’s judgement is what teaches us to forsake ungodliness. God’s soul delights in Christ, his son with whom he is well pleased. Likewise he delights in us, our new man.

But he does not delight in our old man. He does not delight in any aspect of Aholah and Aholibah

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

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

2Pe 3:12  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?

We are commended to be patient in this time of trial and chastening

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4  and let the patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire—in nothing lacking

We are not perfect now, in these clay vessels. To say we are perfect now is to say the work of trying our faith is complete. Instead, the truth is we are being perfected, day by day and this is the day of the Lord that is at hand

The Book of Joel – Chapter 2:1-11,  Part 1 – The Day of the Lord

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD” –  Mal 4:5

[Study Aired July 27^{th 20}24]

The Day of the Lord

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 
Joe 2:2  A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 
Joe 2:3  A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. 
Joe 2:4  The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. 
Joe 2:5  Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. 
Joe 2:6  Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. 
Joe 2:7  They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: 
Joe 2:8  Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. 
Joe 2:9  They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. 
Joe 2:10  The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: 
Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? 

Introduction

The sequential step from “Repentance” studied in last week’s Chapter One of Joel is in rigid lockstep with the dreadfully enigmatic “The Day of the Lord”, the revelation of Jesus Christ signified in Revelations. For our former Babylonian selves, the obscure meaning of that term remained fearfully unsolved, regardless of our masking joyfulness with endless affirmations that “Jesus loves us” as we choked down the glazed death rings (doughnuts) and drank the awful coffee.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. 

For the Berean student of Christ (Acts 17:10-15), and as far as joyfully receiving repetitive verses go, the following one in Matt 13 holds the key, yet it is equally baffling to the Babylonian mind. Even though Matt 13:10-17 was referring to the parable of the sower, Jesus’ answer to his Elect, primarily represented as the Apostles, though not solely named as such, ‘is, was, and will be‘ an ‘earth’ shattering realisation that it is only a very, very limited few who will be given to understand The Mysteries of the Kingdom of God. It is they, alone, who in this age since the cross, and stealthy hidden in Gideon’s physical account, are given to go and fight the spiritual enemies within themselves as individual joints constituting the Bride of Christ.

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 [Jehovah’s help], 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.

Jdg 7:2  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 

Gideon’s army (Jdg 7:18) is severely stripped from 32,000 to 300 men to fight the relatively massive Midianite army. In this case, the number 3 (3 x 100) carrying trumpets and lamps represents the progression of the Lord’s Elect, who see by the light of Christ’s spiritual word, the enemy in the dark and gloomy night approaching within and blow the war trumpet alarm to fight the giant enemies by Christ’s power and might, not by their strength.

Jdg 7:7  And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped [like dogs, signifying faithful devotion] will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place [home, effectively back to symbolic Babylon].

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

This prelude brings us to the incredibly exciting understanding of “The Day of the Lord.”

Heb 3:15  As it has been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion.”
Heb 3:16  For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
Heb 3:17  And with whom was God [their Husband] angry [symbolically “bitter” – Col 3:19] for forty years? [because they couldn’t understand that He needed Shulamite-like kisses of espousal devotedness – Son 1:2] Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18  And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed?
Heb 3:19  So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.

Significations:

The first verse of today’s Study in Joel, Chapter Two, describes our formally fearful anticipation of “The Day of the Lord” in him being our enemy! In ancient Israel, an enemy was announced by blowing a trumpet. Today, after the cross, it is represented by Christ’s spiritual message to all to whom he has given ears to hear the trumpet and eyes to see the enemy and to spiritually divide the truth. It is the day of judgement first, “nigh at hand” for the Bride of Christ while she is in the flesh and for the remainder of the world represented as Gog and Magog, their ‘day of the Lord’ as unrefined spirit beings in the Resurrection to Judgement, the Lake of Fire.

Rev 8:12  And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth [Gog and Magog as numerous as the stars of heaven] by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Christ’s Bride is the heavenly New Jerusalem above, who inherits Christ, him being “the holy mountain”; they, now in marriage, are unified as one ‘holy mountain’.

Isa 57:12  I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.
Isa 57:13  When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain; 

Zec 8:3  Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and [New] Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. 

Our Lord’s holy mountain is established by much violence in our earth as Michael and his angels, meaning Christ, fight our battles within since Christ’s strength is made manifest in the ‘weaker vessel’ (1 Pet 3:7), the Woman, the Bride of Christ we hope and pray to be.

Mat 10:34  Think not that I [Christ] am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

Eze 33:2  Son of man, speak to the children [The Bride of Christ] of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land [you and I], if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
Eze 33:3  If when he  [you and I] seeth the sword come upon the land [our spirit; our conscience], he blow the trumpet, and warn the people [Primarily, first judge yourself before you are capable of warning others, but not limited to your hypocritical self – 1 Cor 11:30];
Eze 33:4  Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword [God’s word] come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 
Eze 33:5  He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
Eze 33:6  But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. 
Eze 33:7  So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

In the Gideon scriptures mentioned above, he represents Christ, and his 300 men are the selected Elect, having come out of the 32,000 men of Israel representing the world, fleeing Egypt and, later, Babylon, similarly and all spiritually representing Assyria, Sodom and Old Jerusalem. With three aspects of lust written in their hearts, they are the Lord’s selected faithful Elect, all remaining subject to (1) the lust of the eyes, (2) the lust of the flesh, and (3) the pride of life. This symbolises the progression (Number 3) of the Bride of Christ and the forgiveness of her lofty sins (pride) by her Lord’s faith and spirit.

Rev 11:8 And their [the joints of the Bride] dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city [Old Jerusalem, the disappearing Whore within each of us], which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where [Spiritually today if you hear his voice] also our Lord was crucified.

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 [the Bride alone since the cross] that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Isa 2:12  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

Isa 13:4  The noise of a multitude in the mountains, [Babylon within and the world] like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle [within the incipient Bride’s.
Isa 13:5  They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land [of the Elect of God]. 
Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 

To the anxious Babylonian who unknowingly believes in “another Jesus” (2 Cor 11:4), ‘the day of the Lord’ is seen as one event of the outward return of Christ being witless of the obscure inference of a Second Resurrection, meaning, the Resurrection to Judgement. Even though he erroneously believes that Jesus loves him as he is, a certain doubt dogs his conscience because of verses such as Joel 2:2, and he dismisses it as a terrifying day for some other far worse sinner. Unwittingly for him, that day is the return of Christ, not for him, but for the Lord’s “little flock” Elect.

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved [in one of the two resurrections]

Of course, ALL Christians confess their sins and call upon Christ’s name, not knowing that they worship “another Jesus” (2 Cor 11:4) since they insist upon eating and drinking their own doctrinal bread and water.

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves [from Adam to the end of the One Thousand Year reign] shall hear his voice, 
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [the First Resurrection]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920 – meaning “judgement”, the Resurrection to Judgement resulting in salvation].

As former Babylonian Christians, verse 13 was all we needed to understand, as it speaks plainly, yet we did not grasp the meaning of “grace” in the following verse, which represents chastisement.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them [and not after the other Jesus’ doctrine modelled in our image]. 

Grace is God’s “gracious love and favour.” But what does grace do for us? Well, when we sin, grace does much more abound with God’s loving Fatherly chastening and scourging until we are brought to see that it feels so good when we finally quit banging our heads against the wall of “turning grace into lasciviousness.” As formally did we, lasciviousness is precisely what our Babylonian brothers and sisters do. They think that they are solely saved by Christ’s work on the cross and that they don’t have to do anything because “Christ died for us, so we don’t have to die”! THAT IS LASCIVIOUSNESS – colloquially expressed as greasy grace.

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

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
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?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [G3811 – Paideuo- Phonetic: pahee-dyoo’-o – Definition: 1. to train children a. to be instructed or taught or learn b. to cause one to learn 2. to chastise a. to chastise or castigate with words, to correct] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Apart from the Bride of Christ, the entirety of mankind ever to exist, having unwittingly cast themselves as royalty and been thrown into the Lake of Fire, will most torturously, yet temporarily, while ‘chastising grace’ works its utterly devouring work, will assuredly give God the glory for its molten re-casting them as God’s fine gold.

Lam 4:1  How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.
Lam 4:2  The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! 

Zec 9:3  And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets [Having cast her own righteousness]. 
Zec 9:4  Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire

Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city [Ephriam, Israel, Old Jerusalem, Egypt, Sodom & Babylon – The Great Whore; you and I], that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

The Elect of God today, the Bride of Christ, has had her day of gloominess and thick darkness and is now joyfully receiving the ‘gloomy foreboding’ chastisement and eagerly being re-cast as her Lord’s fine gold in his image. At the First Resurrection, when Christ’s Bride ascends into Christ, her sisters and brothers remaining on Earth will, with loin loosening fear (As was King Belshazzar’s in Dan 5:1-7), bitterly lament for their day of darkness remaining throughout the One Thousand Year reign by Christ and his Christs (plural) rod of iron on into the early stages of the Resurrection to Judgement. Only then, and upon their acknowledgement of their waywardness, will their dawning glory break forth in Christ.

Luk 23:45  And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
Luk 23:46  And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
Luk 23:47  Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly [the Bride of Christ] this was a righteous man.
Luk 23:48  And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.
Luk 23:49  And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things. 

Joe 2:2  A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

After the First Resurrection, Babylonian Christianity and the world will realise, with much consternation, that they are not resurrected to eternal life. They will experience fear, as “a great people”, the Bride of Christ keeps them in forced peace during the Thousand Year reign. Their future will remain jittery since they will see the apostles and other long-dead truthful followers of Christ now resurrected, similar to how Joseph’s brothers in Egypt felt when they found Joseph alive.

Continuing in the following verses of Joel, there is hidden “one event to all” mankind, beginning first with the Bride of Christ being devoured by her Lord’s fiery word. Upon her resurrection to life and inheriting her Lord as her Husband, she will be His very same fiery sword that prepares the world to be utterly consumed by fire from Eden at the end of the One Thousand Years when fire consumes Gog and Magog, the world.

Joe 2:3  A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
Joe 2:4  The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
Joe 2:5  Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

Eze 39:6  And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

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 [the entirety of mankind ever to have lived], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever [age lasting fire until all mankind and the Devil and his angels are refined as gold in a furnace].

Joe 2:6  Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

At the beginning of the Resurrection to Judgment, the entire world will endure immense mental suffering, which will manifest as “blackness.” This is because every jot and title of the previous understanding of the Lord’s word is as dark as the curtains in Solomon’s temple that hide Christ and his Bride, who are likewise depicted as “black” to their understanding. As a result, people will believe that they are about to be engulfed in the lie of a physical eternal fire.

Son 1:5  I [The Shualmite who symbolises the Bride of Christ] am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem [the rest of the world], as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 
Son 1:6  Look not upon me, because I am black [… it is useless in this day and age to understand me], because the sun [Christ, the noonday sun, burnt black all of her whoredoms] hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards [all symbolic 40,000 plus disunited Christian denominations realising that they are not invited to the wedding supper]; but mine own vineyard have I not kept [since, and now, Christ is her vinedresser and workmanship].

All in the Lake of Fire do not realise that the intense pain they feel is actually a part of their spiritual refinement, not literal burning while they are still alive since spirit bodies cannot die, but rather a much lengthier physical version of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s faith-building firey event (Dan 3:8-30). Those three young children (probably in their teens) no doubt felt dreadful consternation while being bound to be thrown alive into the furnace. Likewise, it is similar to Joseph’s brothers living every day for seventeen years with the expectation that Joseph will exact sudden fiery retribution upon them until their old man, their father, Jacob, died. Only then did they ever come to be at peace with their brother Joseph. The death of their old man signifies the ultimate end of the Lake of Fire coming upon the whole world as they come through that fiery experience, having been purified of the carnal-minded, rebellious old man.

Zep 1:14  The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
Zep 1:15  That day [is] a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
Zep 1:16  A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
Zep 1:17  And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
Zep 1:18  Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Joe 2:7  They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:

It is Christ, our husband, who runs upon our proud walls and its embedded breasts like fortification towers of Old Jerusalem, denoting the formally proud yet, repentant Rahab-like whore we have been before we become purified by our Lord’s fire and made his Bride. The joints of the Bride, the Elect of God are the “they” who “run like mighty men”. Having been saved by Christ, she now goes forth in the Lake of Fire and likewise breaks down her sister Babylon’s proud walls and whorish ways.

Son 8:10  I [The Bride of Christ] am a wall, and my breasts like towers [having powerfully put off her whorish ways]: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

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

Joe 2:8  Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall [not by chance] upon the sword, they shall not be wounded [H1214 – to cut off; gain by unrighteous violence].

The destruction of the Old Jerusalem we are is done in an orderly manner in Christ’s timing. We look forward to falling upon the sword of God’s word and are most certainly wounded in spirit and gained a contrite heart while yet we live.

Psa 118:16  The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
Psa 118:17  I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
Psa 91:7  A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Joe 2:9  They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

We are the city of Old Jerusalem being destroyed. God’s word enters through our eyes, which are the windows of the Lord’s spiritual understanding. Even though the wise virgins likewise sleep with the foolish, Christ, under cover of darkness, quietly puts his hand through the hole to the latch of our door.  Yet, and to the collapsing Babylonian world around us today in 2024, and at an undisclosed time of Christ’s imminent return, the Elect of God with him will climb upon the destroyed houses of man’s government and demonic spiritual ideologies. Christ’s wife, in iron rulership with him (Rev 2:27), will have come stealthily like a thief in the night yet in plain sight to force the Beast to submit to Christ.

Son 5:2  I [The wise virgins, the Bride of Christ] sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night [the dew is the ravishing life-giving word of God, enflamed by his kisses better than wine].
Son 5:3  I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? [He died, is resurrected and made pure and is returning to bless his Bride with her inheritance in Him]
Son 5:4  My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels [my heart ‘betwixt my breasts’, my seat of his spirit – Son 1:13] were moved for him.
Son 5:5  I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

(Myrrh is a dedicated anointing oil only for Aaron and his sons, representing the Bride of Christ and her priestly commission. It represents the pure unadulterated spiritual word of God. She, in unity with her husband, is anointed by him and made holy. Exo 30:32  Upon man’s flesh shall it [Myrrh] not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Exo 30:33  Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger [Expose Christ’s truth to a heritic], shall even be cut off from his people.)

Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

1Th 5:2-11  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 
1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
1Th 5:4  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, [who have perfect vision through the windows of their spiritual understanding] that that day should overtake you as a thief.
1Th 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 
1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
1Th 5:7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

Most starkly, the following concluding verses of Joel’s expressions of The Day of the Lord are mirrored in Revelations, where Christ’s word (the sun) has become inky black to our collapsing world, and the 40,000 plus Babylonian Christian churches, depicted as the moon, worshipping “another Jesus” become even darker than the previous 2,000 years since the cross. At this point, Christ’s Christ, the “stars” with their testimony are likewise utterly hidden since their Lord has finished spiritually martyring them beneath him, their altar.

Joe 2:10  The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

Rev 8:12  And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 
Rev 6:11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

That “little season” has existed ever since the cross, yet, as seen in the spring growth of the fig tree, it is even at our door (Luk 21:29-33) and is to the Babylonian world, that dreadful Day of the Lord the Bride, paradoxically, has relished since understanding her jaw-dropping calling.

Lord willing, Christ has made the Bride ready for the ‘Return of her Lord’ in next week’s study.

Isa 28:18-29 I Have Heard From The Lord God of Hosts a Consumption... - Discussion

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Isa 28:18-29 - I Have Heard From The Lord God of Hosts a Consumption, Even Determined Upon The Whole Earth

Isa 28:18  And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
Isa 28:19  From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. 
Isa 28:20  For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. 
Isa 28:21  For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. 
Isa 28:22  Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth. 
Isa 28:23  Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
Isa 28:24  Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? 
Isa 28:25  When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? 
Isa 28:26  For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. 
Isa 28:27  For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. 
Isa 28:28  Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. 
Isa 28:29  This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. 

I am including the 18th verse to give us the context of these last ten verses of chapter 28. Verse 18 told us:

Isa 28:18  And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

Just as a reminder, we have established that every word of the Old Testament is just as much the words of God as are the words of the New Testament:

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever.
Psa 119:161  Shin. Princes have persecuted me without a cause; But my heart standeth in awe of thy words.
Psa 119:162  I rejoice at thy word, As one that findeth great spoil.

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

"I will make my word in your mouth fire" is a spiritual statement which is repeated for us in Revelation 11 where we are told "fire proceeds out of [the] mouths" of the two witnesses:

Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

Before we proceed with our next verses here in Isaiah 28, let's consider carefully the very next few 'fiery' verses proceeding out of the mouth of God through the prophet Jeremiah:

Jer 5:15  Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
Jer 5:16  Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
Jer 5:17  And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall beat down thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustest, with the sword.
Jer 5:18  But even in those days, saith Jehovah, I will not make a full end with you.

This is exactly what we read here earlier is this 28th chapter of Isaiah:

Isa 28:11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

In the "proof texting" manner  of the writers of the New Testament, Paul applies this verse to the events which took place on the day of Pentecost:

1Co 14:21  In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.

The tongues of Isaiah 28, Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 were literal languages given as a sign of the authenticity of the events of that day.

We will continue our study here in Isaiah 28, and I want you to notice that Isaiah has the same fiery tone as Jeremiah when speaking of the Lord's judgments upon His own people, His own children and His own elect. I am repeating verse 18 to remind us that God's judgments come upon us because He made us to err from His ways (Isa 63:17), thus giving Himself the occasion He always seeks to judge our sins and to burn them out of us (Jdg 14:4):

Isa 28:18  And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
Isa 28:19  From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
Isa 28:20  For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
Isa 28:21  For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

Christ is not telling  us that we are aware we have made a covenant with death. He is simply stating as a fact that while deceived by the false doctrines of Babylon we are in a covenant with death. In fact Christ actually tells us that at that point in our experience we 'cannot hear His word':

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

If it is true that we "cannot [at first] hear [His] word", and yet His 'judgment is now on the house of God' (1Pe 4:17), and if "It is not I that do it, but sin that dwells in me" (Rom 7:17-20), it is manifested that Christ is judging and burning out of us the sin and the lies which are the very foundation of the kingdom of our old man.

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

It is our judgment which is described as 'taking [us]... from the time it goes forth'. It is our own judgment which is coming on us "morning by morning, passing over [us], by day and by night." It is such a sore judgment that "it shall be a vexation only to understand the report", because it is the report of the loss which is being suffered by our old man. The story of Job chronicles the loss of all of his physical possessions, including all his ten children, and then the loss of any physical comfort, being replaced with painful boils from his feet to the crown of his head. Job's story is the image of our own story, and it is an admonition to us of what must take place within the kingdom of our old man. We must lose everything we ever held dear both physically and spiritually, because Babylon is a whore with whom we have been in bed for many sinful and lascivious years, and it is painful when we break that relationship and "come out of her..."

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Paul tells us this about the experience of Job and all the the people of the Old Testament:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1Co 10:14  Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
1Co 10:15  I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.
1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

Christ Himself confirms what Paul tells us here when He tells us who we are:

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

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.

Paul tells us the experiences of the people mentioned in the Old Testament "are... for our admonition". He tells us those experiences are all "common to man", and he tells us the Lord provides a way for us to "be able to bear it". But notice how it is all summed up. The holy spirit, through the apostle Paul, connects the experiences of the people of the Old Testament to what we experience.  Those trials are all to be considered as a "cup of blessing... [which] is... the communion of the blood of Christ, [and] the bread we break, is... the communion of the body of Christ." Paul is telling us that we, with Christ, must be sharing each other's sufferings and each other's joys:

Rom 12:15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

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

The message of these scriptures is that we, too, are saviors, and as such we must be willing and must count it a blessing to "suffer with Christ... for his body's sake which is the church":

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

It is "the goodness of God" to be counted as a great blessing to be weak with Him and to suffer with Him, and such thoughts simply do not register, compute or add up in the mind of our old man:

2Co 13:4  For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

There it is. The weak and despised and rejected of this world are the strongest "by the power of God toward you". This is all true only through His judgments upon the kingdom of our old man within each of us.

When Isaiah says, "it shall be a vexation only to understand the report", this 'report' is "the beginning of sorrows" mentioned by Christ in Matthew 24, which will begin to open our blinded eyes and and will begin to give hearing to our deaf ears as we begin to be dragged out of all the lies upon which "Babylon the great" has built. Nothing is going right in our lives at this point. "The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on  it: and the covering narrower than... he can wrap himself in it." The Truths we are beginning to hear are that "report", which shall be a vexation [to our old man] only to understand the report."

Isa 28:19  From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear [the report] of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ["every man's hand against his neighbor"]: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places [as we "keep the things which are written..." (Rev 1:3)].
Mat 24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

This is how this same event is described in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ within us. It is all part and parcel of the judgment of the kingdom of our old man within us:

Rev 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit [Greek: abbusos, the kingdom of our old man]; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
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 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Rev 9:11  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

The bed is too short, and the blankets are too small, and our life is nothing but torment for five months, the number of God's chastening grace and His faith:

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

When we are told "The Lord shall rise up..." we are being told the Lord is rising up in judgment of the lies and sins of the kingdom of our old man. We are told, He will "rise up... and be wroth... as in mount Perazim." This analogy refers to the defeat the Lord dealt the Philistines  at Mount Perazim, a mountain near the valley of Gibeon.

2Sa 5:18  The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
2Sa 5:19  And David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
2Sa 5:20  And David came to Baalperazim, and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baalperazim.
2Sa 5:21  And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.

King David typifies Christ within us. When He is living within us we begin to burn up all the lies and false doctrines which once had us blinded to the Truths of the Lord's words. The Philistines typify those who are in the promised land, the kingdom of God within us, and they are there without the benefit of spiritual circumcision. The Philistines typify all the idolatry and false doctrines which bear rule over the Lord's people for so many long, oppressive years until they are slain by the Truth, "and there they left their images, and David and his men burned them."

In other words:

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.

"Any man" and "every man's work shall be made manifest", and what is clearly manifested is that "there is none good, no not one", and we will all therefore "suffer loss" before we are"saved, yet so as by fire."

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

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

No man of himself is good:

Isa 28:22  Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
Isa 28:23  Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

"There is none that do good, no not one... for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God", [and therefore] "[our] bands are made strong, [and we do] mock [our Lord]." For that reason, "I have heard from the Lord of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth." These words are written especially to those who are granted in this age to "give ear, and hear [the Lord's] voice, [and] listen, and hear [His] speech." Very few are given ears that hear, and very few have been given eyes to see that these are all the things which Christ has revealed only to His elect (Mat 13:9-15) at this time. It is the Lord's elect who must be the first to live by "every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mat 4:4). Very few are granted to understand that "a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth" are words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God and are to be lived by all of mankind, "the whole earth".

Yet this message is repeated over and over again as a theme of the prophets. Here is a sampling of the many verses which speak of this "consumption determined upon the whole earth" upon all men "beginning at the house of God" (1Pe 4:17):

Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
Isa 3:9  The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

This self-destructive principle mentioned here in Isaiah 3 is repeated in Isa 19, Ezekiel 38 and in Zechariah chapters 8, 11 and 14:

Isa 19:2  And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. (Mat 24:6-8).

Eze 38:21  And I will call for a sword against him [all nations] throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.

Zec 8:10  For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.

Zec 11:6  For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

Zec 14:13  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

Only those who have lived these words know that Christ, through the holy spirit, comes to take our peace with this world out of our lives, and to replace it with the peace that excels and surpasses all carnal understanding, even as we are being hated and persecuted by our own families, our own children and our own neighbors.

All these verses speaking of outward turmoil, are experienced spiritually and inwardly as internal turmoil. All who come to know God and His Son, will know the suffering and the rejection that Christ experienced. As Christ came face to face with just how much His own people had rejected Him, He made this statement:

Mat 26:38  Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

Luk 22:44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

However, as that inward turmoil and that great earthquake are taking place within us, there is always inevitably an outward manifestation. Christ warned us to expect that outward manifestation in Matthew 10:

Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat 10:18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
Mat 10:19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Mat 10:20  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Our judgment takes place during "the day of the Lord", which comes at "the end of the world [Greek: age]" within each of us "in [our] own order".

This is how the holy spirit describes this time in our lives:

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. ["... with the brightness of His coming", 2Th 2:8]:
Isa 13:10  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
Isa 13:11  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. [This is not someone else]
Isa 13:12  I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. [the death of our old man]
Isa 13:13  Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he [the man of sin (vs 8) sitting on the throne of God within our hearts and minds] might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek: restrains] will let [restrain], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

This judgment and destruction of our carnal-minded man of sin, who sits in the temple of God, is not accomplished by a ten-second prayer. This is a long drawn-out process that begins even before we are "hated of all men for [Christ's] sake". We all must first endure a great "trial of affliction" within (2Co 8:2) as all of the kingdoms of this world within us are being destroyed with 'the brightness of the coming of the truth of the words of Christ'.

But our heavenly Father is aware of our frame. He knows just how much pain and rejection we can endure at any given time. God always seems to know that we are capable of bearing more than we think we can, so He tells us:

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

And that is the comfort of the scriptures with which the Lord concludes the admonitions of this 28th chapter of Isaiah:

Isa 28:24  Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
Isa 28:25  When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?

It is Christ who is working at breaking up the ground within us. Through Him we are His husbandmen, and any and all fruits we may produce are because of the work of His chastening grace working within us:

1Co 15:10  But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

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

When we are given to bring forth fruit in our own lives or in the lives of others, that, too, is all His work within us. When Christ teaches us, then we are taught to deal with the weak and with the strong as is appropriate for each:

Isa 28:26  For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
Isa 28:27  For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
Isa 28:28  Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.

Fitches are threshed in their own unique way, cummin is threshed with its own unique threshing instrument, and wheat is threshed in an entirely different way because a different way of threshing is required. So we are told:

Rom 14:1  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2  For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
Rom 14:3  Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.

A teacher who is instructed of God is willing to receive those who are weak in the faith, but he never allows that weak brother to argue over already settled doctrine. Christ Himself taught his disciples only "as they could receive it:

Mar 4:33  And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.
Mar 4:34  But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.

Paul had the mind of Christ and exercised the same patience with those who were less mature and in need of the patience and guidance of the more mature.

1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

The strong are instructed to bear the infirmities of the weak, and if we truly are spiritually strong, we are grateful to be able to show patience and love toward our spiritually weak and less mature brothers and sisters:

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Rom 15:2  Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
Rom 15:3  For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

We "receive... him that is weak in the faith" with this as the goal of doing so:

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Rom 15:5  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Rom 15:6  That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When and if we are granted to be so kind to our weak brothers, this is the source of any good which the Lord may do through us:

Isa 28:29  This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

That is our study for today. These are our verses for our next study in the judgment of our old man in chapter 29:

Isa 29:1  Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Isa 29:2  Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
Isa 29:3  And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
Isa 29:4  And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
Isa 29:5  Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Isa 29:6  Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
Isa 29:7  And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
Isa 29:8  It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 55 Discussion

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Isa 13:1-11 The Day o​f The Lord Shall Come As Destruction From The Almighty

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
Isa 13:2  Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
Isa 13:3  I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
Isa 13:4  The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
Isa 13:5  They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Isa 13:7  Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
Isa 13:8  And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Isa 13:10  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
Isa 13:11  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

The verses of this chapter will reveal that the judgment of Babylon within us is also the day of the Lord within us. This chapter begins with:

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

Isaiah 13:1 is the first of nine times the phrase, "the burden of..." is found in this book of Isaiah:

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

Isa 15:1  The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence.

Isa 17:1  The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

Isa 19:1  The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

Isa 21:1  The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

Isa 21:11  The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

Isa 22:1  The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?

Isa 23:1  The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

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

Each and every 'burden' is a pronouncement of judgment upon the subject of that 'burden'. What I hope will strike us all is that this "day of the Lord, [which] shall come as destruction from the Almighty" (Isa 13:6), is especially associated with this "burden of Babylon". As we will see, this particular 'burden' spiritually is called a "great whore" which is placed as a very great burden indeed upon a scarlet colored beast in Revelation 17:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit [as a burden] upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: [And who is this burden on this scarlet colored beast?]
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

That is right! This burdensome woman is called "Mystery, Babylon the Great", and she is said to be "the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." She is not called 'mystery Sodom' or 'mystery Samaria', she is called "mystery Babylon the great".

This "the burden of Babylon" is, of course, very heavy and very hard to carry. In historical terms this chapter of Isaiah is simply the prophecy of the destruction of the kingdom of Babylon when Belshazzar saw the hand  writing out his fate on the wall of  his palace. That very same night he was killed, and the kingdom was given to Darius the Mede as recorded in Daniel:

Dan 5:25  And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
Dan 5:26  This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
Dan 5:27  TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Dan 5:28  PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Dan 5:29  Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Dan 5:30  In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
Dan 5:31  And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

It is important for our spiritual understanding to know that Babylon was God's servant whom He sent to punish His own people who had gone to the Assyrians and then the Babylonians seeking protection instead of looking to their own God who had brought them up out of Egypt through the death of the firstborn of Egypt and through the drying up of the Red Sea, and had given them dominion over all the land of Canaan.

Notice what God Himself calls Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, whom God used to destroy the kingdom of Judah and carry them off into 70 years of Babylonian captivity. This is how God speaks of Babylon:

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

Spiritual Babylon serves the same purpose for God's people today that physical Babylon served for God's physical people, Israel, back in the time of ancient Israel. That purpose was and is to offer God's people love and solace in the times of distress which are sent from the Lord to prove us and to demonstrate our lascivious and wicked ways and our inability to trust in our rightful spiritual husband.

This is what Israel did in times of trouble:

2Ki 15:20  And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.

2Ki 16:8  And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.

2Ki 18:14  And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

2Ki 18:16  At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Physical Babylon was an unbearable burden to both Israel and Judah. The Chaldean Assyrians carried off Israel into captivity just prior to the Babylonian Chaldeans who carried off Judah into physical captivity. Being taken captive is truly a 'burden' which cannot be borne:

2Ki 24:10  At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
2Ki 24:11  And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.
2Ki 24:12  And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
2Ki 24:13  And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
2Ki 24:14  And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

2Ki 24:20  For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

It is through the anger of the Lord that we, too, are made to be the captives of the unbearable "burden of Babylon". As the historical physical nation the Lord used to punish his unfaithful, harlot wife, who was physical Israel, Babylon is represented by its king, Nebuchadnezzar. But Babylon becomes "Mystery Babylon", a spiritual harlot who is a unbearable burden on God's spiritual Israel:

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit [as a burden] upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: [And who is this burden on this scarlet colored beast?]
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Ancient Israel came out of Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of God:

Ezr 1:1  Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Ezr 1:2  Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Ezr 1:3  Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
Ezr 1:4  And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

But at the Lord's appointed time even the king of Babylon must be judged and destroyed. The Lord has devised a way to destroy those whom He used to punish His own people, and that is what He does to Babylon:

Isa 13:2  Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

This is God Himself lifting up a banner to which He is calling the nations to judge and to destroy Babylon. It is He alone who rules in the kingdoms of men:

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.

As always spiritual progress is by God's design foreshadowed by physical historical events. The Lord Himself raises up and puts down outward historical nations, and He also raises up nations within us, and at His predestined date He destroys those nations within us and calls us to come out of those nations and into the kingdom of God. What that means is that it is on His schedule that we come out of spiritual Babylon and into "Jerusalem above":

Isa 13:3  I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.

The Hebrew word translated 'sanctified' simply means to set apart for a special purpose, whether that purpose is physical or spiritual, whether that purpose is for good or for evil. In this case, God has sanctified, or set apart, the enemies of Babylon for the special purpose of destroying Babylon in the same way He had previously set aside the Chaldean Assyrians to destroy Israel and later the Chaldean Babylonians to destroy and carry away captive wicked, rebellious and unfaithful Judah and Jerusalem.

Here is what we read earlier about how God used the Chaldeans to punish His own wicked, unfaithful people:

Isa 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Isa 10:6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Isa 10:7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

God is the moving force who is sending the Assyrian Chaldeans to punish His people. To accomplish His purpose it is He who put it "in His heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few." In the same manner the last part of Isaiah 13:3 is not telling us that the enemies of Babylon "rejoice in [the] highness" of the God of Israel. Quite the contrary. What we are being told is that those whom God uses to destroy Babylon within us, and those He will use to destroy the physical Babylon, which symbolizes the world's great religions, the "great whore" who sits upon and rules over the kingdoms of this world, will rejoice "in His highness", the highness of His purpose. They will rejoice in unwittingly doing what He is sending them to accomplish for His own purpose and plan, "after the counsel of His own will", just as Joseph's brothers rejoiced in sending Joseph as a slave into Egypt, as God intended to be done:

Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

So it is with those nations God sends to destroy Babylon.

Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

So it was with the Assyrian Chaldeans:

Isa 10:7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

When the day arrives for the "ten nations" to destroy the great harlot, it will be God Himself mustering the host though, like Joseph's brothers, they will be completely unaware they are doing His bidding.

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

"The Lord of hosts musters the host of the battle." That statement is true within us, and it is true without (the outside of) us in the kingdoms of this world. We can of ourselves do nothing, and while the "great men" of this world would never admit it, the truth is that their every move has been written in God's book of every 'great man's' life and in the life of every man great or small before any of those days were. When God's time arrives for any event to happen, then it will take place. Our Creator wants us to "know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men". But the Lord's hand is far more involved in the affairs of mankind than simply deciding who will rule in the kingdom of men. He also wants us to know that it is He who is also working every event within our lives and also all things in the lives of all men:

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

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.

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.

When "the Lord of hosts musters the host of the battle" he 'musters' whomsoever he wills from wherever He wills. When our nation made the fateful decision to invade and occupy the nation of Iraq, I heard from many people who said, "I'm just happy all of the bombing and violence is taking place over there and not over here." We always feel we can sin against our Lord and at the same time distance ourselves from the fruit of our ways to which our Lord tells us:

Isa 13:5  They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

This all sounds so very dire to our carnal mind, which has no stomach for the messy unpleasant work of the cross and the judgment of God, and indeed 'the day of the Lord' is a dire day for our flesh and for this outward world and all of its nations simply because of this immutable truth:

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

History has proven that all physical life is temporal and fleeting, and therefore physical life is not really lasting abundant life. Only spiritual life in "a spiritual body" is lasting, abundant and therefore true lasting life. It is because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God that any man who has not been given faith in the things of the spirit will feel that there is nothing positive about the scriptures, simply because our flesh and blood does not want to be judged and destroyed. Such a thought is foolish and repugnant to our flesh.

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.

As with all things, "the day of the Lord" has both and inward and an outward time of fulfillment, as well as a dispensational end-time fulfillment. "The day of the Lord" is the day of judgment whether it is taking place spiritually within us, physically without us as outward nations historically rise up and are judged and fall, or the destruction of all nations both when they are subdued to the physical rule of God's elect "for a thousand years" or the destruction of all flesh in the lake of fire.

This phrase "the day of the Lord" is repeated 26 times in scripture:

Isa 2:12  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Isa 34:8  For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

Jer 46:10  For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

Lam 2:22  Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

Eze 13:5  Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

Eze 30:3  For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.

Joe 1:15  Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Joe 3:14  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

Amo 5:18  Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

Amo 5:20  Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Oba 1:15  For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

Zep 1:7  Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
Zep 1:8  And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

Zep 1:14  The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

Zep 1:18  Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Zep 2:2  Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon you.
Zep 2:3  Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.

Zec 14:1  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

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.

Paul also speaks of 'the day of the Lord Jesus' in which it is made more clear that this 'day of the Lord' is the time of our judgment.

1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

2Co 1:14  As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

In every case, "the day of the Lord comes as destruction from the Almighty" to the already dying nations of this world and the dying kingdom of our old man. Therefore the day of the Lord is as crucial to our salvation as the birth pangs of a physical birth are in the birth of a child, because there is no true life except "through death":

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.

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 new man is nourished by the day of the Lord and is given the faith that is essential to having any appreciation of "the things of the spirit". However, the natural man receives not the things of the spirit, and:

Isa 13:7  Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
Isa 13:8  And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

Here is the New Testament spiritual way of saying the same thing these verses are saying in terms which are understood by the natural man within us:

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day [of the Lord] 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.

The day which will declare and reveal of what sort our works are, and that day is "the day of the Lord". The burning up of all of our "wood, hay and stubble" is the work of 'the day of the Lord' in the life of each and every man of all time.

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Isa 13:10  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

"The sun shall be darkened... and the moon shall not cause her light to shine." This is the basis for all the other prophecies of a time in our lives when the truth is simply not made available to us. This is a time when there is no light to be seen from either the sun or the moon. This is a time when we are not learning anything of Christ from neither Christ and His Christ, nor from His unfaithful wife.

Here are the other later prophecies warning us of this time of trouble:

Joe 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

It is in this darkened state, in the day of our judgment, that we begin to be judged and we begin to "learn righteousness":

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.

Isa 13:11  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

"I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible" is the humbling fruit of the wrath and fierce anger of the day of the Lord. We were given this same message concerning this same "day of the Lord" back in Isaiah chapter 2:

Isa 2:11  The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
Isa 2:12  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

Remember, this chapter concerns the judgment of Babylon:

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

In this chapter alone "the day of the Lord" is mentioned twice; first in verse 6:

Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Then again in verse 9:

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Babylon must be spiritually judged within us today just as it was judged and destroyed historically and physically. But let's never lose sight of the benefits of the spiritual judgments of God and of "the things of the spirit".

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.

Next week, Lord willing, we will cover these verses of the last half of this chapter on the severity of the judgment of Babylon:

Isa 13:12  I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Isa 13:13  Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
Isa 13:14  And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
Isa 13:15  Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
Isa 13:16  Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
Isa 13:17  Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
Isa 13:18  Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
Isa 13:19  And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isa 13:20  It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
Isa 13:21  But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
Isa 13:22  And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 23 Discussion

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Isa 5:24-30 They Shall Come With Speed Swiftly:

Isa 5:24  Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 5:25  Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 5:26  And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
Isa 5:27  None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
Isa 5:28  Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
Isa 5:29  Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
Isa 5:30  And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

The theme of all the Old Testament prophets is the judgment of God's people for their sins and the deliverance of God's people through that judgment. That theme continues with these verses we are covering today.

Paul sums up the theme of the Old Testament prophets with these words:

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.

The first verse of today's study gives us this same message of salvation through the judgment and destruction of the kingdom of our rebellious old man:

Isa 5:24  Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

The rottenness of the root of the seed of the serpent within us is equated with "the fire [which] devours the stubble, and the flame consum[ing] the chaff" of the kingdom of our old man.

"The day" spoken of by Paul is the same as "the day of the Lord" spoken of so many times here in Isaiah and throughout the Old Testament prophets:

Isa 2:11  The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
Isa 2:12  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

In Judges 14 we learn how the Lord always gives Himself an occasion that justifies the destruction of our old man and His kingdom. He provides for Himself a very good reason to take the brute beast we are and destroy that beast, and He takes away the dominion of our old man, the dominion of the beast within us all.

The humbling of the lofty looks of our old man and the bringing low of everyone that is lifted up does not mean the Lord will save our old man. Nothing could be further from the Truth. Our salvation comes only to a new man who begins his life in these clay vessels, but that new man comes to Christ only through the death and destruction of our old man just as new fruit comes only through the rotting away of the seed of the old fruit.

Here is what Isaiah has already told us:

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.

There is no attempt at all to salvage the rebellious flesh and blood of our old man. He and his kingdom within us are slated "to be taken and destroyed".

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

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Our carnal-minded, rebellious, old man was "made to be taken and destroyed", but God wants us to know why that is so. To that end He uses the corruption which we are for "an occasion against" the kingdom of our rebellious, carnal-minded, old man, as revealed to us in the story of Samson's struggles against the Philistines:

Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Because we have been granted to understand that mankind must "live by every word that proceeds out of the  mouth of God" (Mat 4:4), we now are given to know that we are both Samson and the Philistines against whom he struggled. We now understand this is not a 'one shot event'. This historical event reveals to us that God had this all planned out in advance, and He already knew exactly how Samson would react to the Philistines, among whom God had sent Samson to dwell when He made Samson to marry a Philistine woman. "It was of the Lord [because] He sought an occasion against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines [our self-righteous old man] had dominion over [God's people] Israel."

But like Pharaoh many years earlier, Samson's rebellious, carnal mind had to be destroyed, and it was through that destruction that Samson was given the victory he could not attain while still alive in a dying body of rebellious flesh and blood:

Jdg 16:28  And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 
Jdg 16:29  And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
Jdg 16:30  And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

It is for "the eyes of [our] understanding" that we, too, are willing to die daily, and be crucified with Christ. Only with spiritual eyes and spiritual understanding will we be given to know God and His Son, which is what life eonian is:

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

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
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 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
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,

We are not given eyes that see except through the death of our old man. Pharaoh typifies our carnal-minded old man, who refuses to let the Lord's people go so they can serve Him.

This is what the Lord told Moses, before he ever sent Moses down into Egypt to deliver His people:

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. 

Exo 7:3  And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

God's "signs and wonders in the land of Egypt" were the ten plagues He poured out upon Egypt by the hands of Moses and Aaron. Those plagues, according to Pharaoh's servants' own account, 'destroyed Egypt' even  before the firstborn were taken from every home:

Exo 10:7  And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

But God continued to harden Pharaoh's heart, even after He let Israel leave Egypt, and this again provided God with the "occasion [He] sought" to destroy Pharaoh and His kingdom:

Exo 14:4  And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.

Exo 14:17  And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

A 'hardened heart' is a heart which is in rebellion against God and His ways. A hardened heart gives God the occasion He is seeking to destroy our self-righteous, rebellious, old man. So we are told:

Isa 5:25  Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

What are these '"hills [which] did tremble"? These hills are Pharaoh's servants who informed Pharaoh "Egypt is destroyed". These 'hills' are the "imaginations, and... high things... [the] thoughts... that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God" within our hearts and minds.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

That is what "the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets" means. Our carnal-minded old man is rebellious to the bitter end. It was after the destruction of Egypt's first born and after the carcasses of the firstborn "were torn in the midst of the streets" of Egypt that Pharaoh still pursued Israel into the Red Sea to finally be swallowed up and destroyed.

The lesson for us is that "the man of sin" is sitting in "the temple of God" within our hearts and minds, and he is loathe to give up his throne, and he will not do so except he be destroyed from within us. He was never intended to inherit the kingdom of God. He was made to be taken and destroyed:

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

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Here is how Christ is in the process of judging and destroying that "natural brute beast" within each of His children, and this is how He will also judge this outward world:

Isa 5:26  And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

In the book of Psalms these "nations from far" are likened to spiritual 'bees':

Psa 118:10  All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.
Psa 118:11  They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
Psa 118:12  They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

When we are obedient to Christ, He sends hornets to drive out the giants in our land, and when we rebel against Him "[we are] chased... as bees do, and [they] destroy [us]" (Deu 1:44).

Here is how God uses spiritual 'bees' to do His bidding:

Deu 1:43  So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.
Deu 1:44  And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.

When we, like King David, are 'compassed about by all nations', it is because we need to fight against and overcome these nations within the kingdom of God within us (Luk 17:20-21). God uses spiritual 'bees' to judge us for our sins, and in doing so He also 'teaches us righteousness', as He uses these spiritual 'bees' to destroy our enemies:

Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

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

The point being made with all these verses is the same as the message of the book of Job where Satan himself and the evil deeds he entices us to perform and the evil the adversary brings upon us, are all called 'the Lord's hand':

Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand [Christ's hand] now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand [Satan's hand]. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 2:5  But put forth thine hand now [Christ's hand], and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand [Satan's hand]; but save his life.

That lesson of the book of Job, and the lesson we are being taught concerning these nations which the Lord is 'hissing' and calling to come and judge us, is that if these 'bees' are working for us, they are driving out the giants in our land, for the good of our new man, or if they are working against us, it is for the destruction of our old man. When we are granted to understand that the 'land' occupied by these giant Canaanites is our carnal-minded physical bodies, then we can understand that these spiritual 'bees' are nothing more or less than evil spirits which are instruments in our Lord's hands. These spiritual 'bees' at times work at driving out the Canaanite giants in our land, working against our old man, while simultaneously working for the good of our new man. It all serves to demonstrate how Christ is working "all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph 1:11), 'working all things together for good to them who love God and are the called according to His purpose' (Rom 8:28).

Notice closely the strength and stamina of these "nations"(vs 26) who Christ sends to "compass [us] about like bees" (Psa 118:12).

Isa 5:27  None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

'Girding one's loins' is to prepare for battle, and to loose one's loins is to be conquered and to lose the battle:

Isa 45:1  Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
Isa 45:2  I will go before thee [Cyrus], and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

These very same 'nations... like bees' are likened to locusts and are called the Lord's "army" in the prophecy of Joel.

Joe 2:25  And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

In typical "line upon line" manner this very same army of locusts is likened to horses and "a great people and a strong" earlier in this same chapter:

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
Joe 2:2  A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
Joe 2:3  A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
Joe 2:4  The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
Joe 2:5  Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
Joe 2:6  Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

Again "None shall be weary nor stumble among them;" (Isa 5:27):

Joe 2:7  They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
Joe 2:8  Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
Joe 2:9  They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
Joe 2:10  The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

When the time comes for the self-righteous kingdom of our old man to be destroyed, it is accomplished in short order by an enemy who is strengthened by the Lord Himself. It is accomplished by "His army".

Isa 5:28  Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

When our Creator says it is time for the kingdom of our self-righteous, rebellious, old man to be humbled and to be destroyed, then he will simply cause that to happen. But just as He destroyed Egypt with His own words coming out of the mouths of His "two witnesses", Moses and Aaron (Zec 4:3-6 and Rev 11:3-4), He will also destroy the kingdom of our old man through His own Word coming from those who are faithful to those words. But Pharaoh typifies our old man, and we, too, resist His chastening to the bitter end. As the Old Testament type of our old man Pharaoh is destroyed by ten plagues, and the seven last plagues of Revelation 16 is just the New Testament account of those same plagues which were poured out upon Egypt. Both the plagues of Egypt and the plagues of Revelation 16 first take place spiritually within "every son He receives" (Heb 12:6), and this is how we all first just naturally respond to "the brightness of His coming" within us:

Rev 16:8  And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire [These very words of judgment].
Rev 16:9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness [Total spiritual darkness]; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

The fruit of the fourth and fifth vials is that we "blaspheme the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and [we] repent not to give him glory [and we] repent not of [our blasphemous] deeds. We are told (Rev 1:3) that "the time is at hand [to] read, hear and keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book", and the seven vials of Revelation 16 are an integral part of "the sayings of the prophecy of this book".

The book of Job interprets Revelation 16 for us. We just naturally react as Job reacted, and we deny that we have ever at any time blasphemed the name of God even as we condemn Him to make ourselves righteous:

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

Those are not my words. It is Christ Himself who tells us Job was guilty of "condemning [God, to make himself] righteous". It is Christ Himself who informs us that Job's self-righteousness was the same sin as the sin of Judas within us. It is we who have condemned and crucified Christ. It is integral to the sin of self-righteousness to condemn Christ for not recognizing our superior righteousness. So we must therefore 'contend with the Almighty... reprove... and disannul [His] judgments. We must condemn Him to make ourselves righteous'.

But this spirit is dealt with swiftly as we read earlier in this study:

Isa 5:26  And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

 Notice the speed with which Christ judges this self-righteous spirit within us:

Job 1:13  And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
Job 1:14  And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
Job 1:15  And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:16  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:17  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:18  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
Job 1:19  And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:20  Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
Job 1:21  And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job knew who was working against him whether anyone else knew it. Job knew that God is a sovereign God who was working all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11).

Isaiah tells us the same thing:

Isa 5:29  Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
Isa 5:30  And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

"Their roaring... like a young lion" is the roaring of those nations God sends against us, His own rebellious people. It is His own people who are the prey which are carried away by these roaring young lions, and it is the kingdom of our self-righteous, rebellious, old man who is "the land [which is now covered with] 'darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.'

But it is all working together for our good simply because:

Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Yes, we are saved by God's sovereign grace, but grace chastens and scourges us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts and judges the kingdom of the man of sin within each of us.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 
Tit 2:12  Teaching [Greek:  paideuō -chastens] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

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 it all works together for good to them who love God and are the called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28) because:

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.

Video Links

Job 24:1-13 Yet God Layeth Not Folly To Them

Job 24:1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?

Job 24:2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.

Job 24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

Job 24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.

Job 24:5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

Job 24:6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.

Job 24:7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

Job 24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

Job 24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

Job 24:10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;

Job 24:11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

Job 24:12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of thewounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.

Job 24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

Introduction

Eliphaz has finished speaking to Job. He is convinced that Job is a very evil man who has been hiding his sins from the whole world, but could not hide them from God. Eliphaz is so certain of Job’s wickedness that he was willing to accuse Job of specific sins for which he had no witnesses. Eliphaz had urged Job to “acquaint thyself with God”:

Job 22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

Job 22:22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

Job 22:23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

In our last study Job confessed that it was true; he did not know where God dwelt, nor did he know what would be God’s words:

Job 23:3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

Job 23:4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

Job 23:5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

Job is us when we are come to our wits’ end. He is very honest when he confesses that he realizes that God is completely sovereign and does “what His soul desires”. He admits that everything that has happened to him is “the thing that is appointed for me” and that it is all being “performed” by God Himself. God is dealing with him in a way he does not understand and in a way that strikes fear within him:

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.

Job 23:15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

Job 23:16 For God maketh my heart soft, [ Hebrew, fainthearted] and the Almighty troubleth me:

Job 23:17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

The one thing Job does know is that God is sovereign and is working all the evil Job is experiencing. What puzzles him to no end is why God is placing so many stripes upon him while blessing all the wicked around him.

For this reason he questions his Creator:

Job 24:1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?

The Hebrew here translated “times” is the Hebrew word ‘eth’, and it denotes ‘set times’ in the sense in which it is used in these two verses where this word first appears in the Old Testament:

Gen 18:10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time [ Hebrew, eth] of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.

Gen 18:14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time [ Hebrew, eth] of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

A man who acknowledges the total sovereignty of God has no doubt that God has prearranged all things and that all times are really ‘set times’ which must come to be just as they were “written” beforehand.

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

The one thing Job and his friends agree on is the fact that God has set times for every thing that happens, past, present and future.

Ecc 3:14 I know, that, whatsoever God doeth, the same, shall be age- abiding, unto it, there is nothing to add, and, from it, there is nothing to take away,—and, God, hath done it, that men should stand in awe before him.

Ecc 3:15 That which was, already, had been, and, that which shall be, already, shall have been,—but, God, seeketh that which hath been chased away.

Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

Mat 10:30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

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.

Act 15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world [ Greek, aion].

“Why … Do they that know Him not see His days?” This is what stumps Job. “They that know Him” are His elect. ‘Why do not His elect see the days of His vengeance upon the wicked?’

“His days” are “the days of the Son of Man”.

Luk 17:22 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.

“The day of the Son of Man” is the day of judgment:

Zec 9:14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.

Luk 17:24 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.

When we put all three verses together in Luk 17, we can see that God is able to bring us to want His judgment in our lives. Let’s read those three verses all together:

Luk 17:22 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.

Luk 17:23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

Luk 17:24 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.

‘Why do those that know Him not see… the days of the son of man?’

Job 24:1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?

The answer is that “not see[ ing] His days” is one of those “[ set] times [ which] is not hidden from the Almighty” which has been predestined for all of us to “desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and we will not see it”, until “the lightning that lightens out of one part under the heaven, shines unto the other part under the heaven”, comes to judge us, and then we will see our own day of judgment, as it first begins at the house of God:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment the [“day… of the Son of Man”] 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?

But Job is the Old Testament type of us before we know any of this. At this point in our walk it appears to us all that God is coming down hard on us for seemingly insignificant sins, while blessing our very enemies.

So Job continues making this very point as he questions his Creator’s ways and why His own God is blessing his persecutors who are no better than he, and very possibly worse than he, though Job does not make the mistake Eliphaz made of making specific accusations against Eliphaz, Bildad or Zophar:

Job 24:2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.

Job 24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

Job 24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.

These are literally the methods employed by those who are rich in this world. To all of us when we are in this state of mind, nothing is more important than ‘the deal’ and the success of that deal. Job is as much as telling his accusers that they need to get the beam out of their own eyes before concerning themselves with the tiny mote in his eye, even though God’s wrath upon him is a fact which he indeed finds hard to explain. He simply cannot give up on his own integrity.

Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.

Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

But how do we spiritually “remove the landmarks” and commit all these other sins against our brothers and sisters?

When we spiritually “take away the landmarks” we do so with false doctrines and lies against and about the word of God and the character of God. When we “believe a lie” we are “damned”, but, just like Job, we certainly do not think at that time that we are in bondage to sin or that we believe any lies:

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.

This is us while we believe the lies of Babylon.

2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

If we are telling others that they cannot “know the Truth”, we are in effect telling them they cannot know Christ, who is the Truth.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

No man can “go in and possess the land” “but by Christ, “the Truth”, because we, with our lies and false doctrines, have confused and obfuscated what is that “land”. ‘The land’ spiritually is “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. It is our bodies which are first full of giants and principalities, which hate the laws of God. By removing the landmarks we have actually told ourselves and those in our charge that it is impossible for anyone to know for certain what is the Truth, and if anyone claims to “know the Truth”, that person is arrogant and full of himself. Yet Christ tells us:

Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free [ of the giants, principalities within the land].

What is the answer to all of this from those who “take away the landmarks”?

Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

When we deny that we can “know the Truth”, we are also saying that we cannot know Christ’s doctrine. But what do the scriptures teach:

Joh 7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

Joh 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine [ Greek didache – instruction, teaching], whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

Joh 7:18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

Mar 4:2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,

It is those who are “do[ ing] God’s will” who will “know the doctrine, whether it be of God…” ‘Taking away the landmarks’ keeps us from being capable of “trying the spirits” and knowing what is taught in God’s word. When we do not know our spiritual boundaries and do not believe that Christ, the Truth can live His life within us, we have moved the landmarks which tell us where the old man ends and where the new man begins, and we deny that we are in bondage to the lies we believe.

So is it really possible to “know the doctrine”? Is it really even possible to “try the spirits to… know… whether they are of God”? Job in type and shadow, and Christ in spiritual reality, both think this is a question which is a matter of life and death. So what is Christ’s doctrine concerning whether you and I can “know [ His] doctrine, whether it is of God”? How can that possibly be done? Here, and here alone, is how we can “know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error”:

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

1Jn 4:5 They [ who will not try the spirits] are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

1Jn 4:6 We [ who try every doctrine to see whether it is of God] are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Jer 23:26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

Eze 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

We have all been guilty of believing the lies of false prophets.

Jer 23:32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

“They shall not profit this people at all”, but they surely do profit themselves by both spiritually and metaphorically “… tak[ ing] away flocks, and feeding [ themselves] thereof. They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. They turn the needy out of the way”, and when we do these things we will be judged by these fiery words:

Deu 19:14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.

Deu 27:17 Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deu 24:17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:

When we are spiritually “taking away flocks”, we are doing nothing more than “drawing away disciples after [ ourselves]” while we are in the clutches of the doctrines of Babylon.

Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

Job 24:5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

Our time spent in Babylon is our time as a “wild beast… in the… wilderness”, and it certainly does “yield food for” us while we are yet there either feeding ourselves from the flock or being ‘sheared’ by our leaders.

Job 11:12 For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.

Here is King David’s commentary on why men are like “wild asses in the desert”:

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

Our mother is also likened unto a wild ass in her month, and is known for her fornication as told by the prophet Jeremiah:

Jer 2:23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

Jer 2:24 A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

Jer 2:25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

We have a verse of scripture which tells us that it is God Himself who has made it thus. It is God Himself who poses this question to Job:

Job 39:5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? [ The answer of course being God.]

But God has not yet spoken those words to Job, so Job, typifying each of us at our own appointed time, continues describing himself, even as he thinks he is describing his friends and self- righteously excludes himself:

Job 24:6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.

Remembering that Christ interprets “the field [ as] the world”; we too, reap the vintage of the wicked when we sow to this world.

Mat 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

What we all first reap is “the vintage of the wicked”, and as the tares which are “the children of the wicked”, the children who are the fruit of our “old man”, it is our own “old man”, with all of his false doctrines and lies, who is “gathered together first… in bundles to be burned”.

Job’s whole experience explains to us this “parable of the tares of the field”. Job’s old man, as the type of our old man, is being “burned… first”, and as such we and he will also be the first to inherit the inward kingdom of God, which is the very subject of all of Christ’s words.

Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them[ the multitudes of Christians] 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.

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

So Job represents us as the tares are gathered first to be burned by means of this long drawn out trial of Job, which typifies our own long drawn out trials which burn out the wood, hay, and stubble and tares which are the lives of our own “old man… the first man Adam”.

Job 24:7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

We do not at first recognize that it is we who “cause the naked to lodge without clothing,” contrary to the common decency and contrary to the law of God:

Deu 24:12 And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:

Deu 24:13 In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.

The raiment of God’s elect is their righteousness which they receive from God. When we take away a man’s raiment, we are in effect taking away the words of the knowledge of Christ and His Father from our friends and family. Here is what we deprive our brothers and sisters of when we ‘take their raiment for a pledge’.

Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Rev 4:4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Here now is yet another type of “the Word”, and the doctrine of Christ.

Job 24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

“The showers of the mountains”, like the fire of God’s Word, have both a positive and a negative application in scripture. In one application, God withholds his soothing, life- giving showers, when we are being shown ourselves as an unfaithful wife.

Jer 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

Under the proper circumstances these same showers, as a type of the Word of God, are refreshingly cooling and produce much needed growth. We are told:

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

Deu 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

Eze 34:26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.

But when those rains fall upon us when we are unjust because of the lies we believe, they seem very cold to us and we are, in time, forced to flee to “and embrace the rock for want of shelter.”

What is “the rock” which we are compelled to “embrace for… shelter”?

Deu 32:18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

Deu 32:34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

Deu 32:35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their [ our] foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their [ Job’s and our] calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

Deu 32:36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

Deu 32:37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

Psa 31:2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock [ Greek- petra] that followed them: and that Rock [ Greek- petra] was Christ.

Christ is the only Rock upon which He has built His church. Peter is a petros, a mere pebble, but “upon this petra”, Christ, a massive boulder, a worthy foundation, Christ is building His own church, both corporately and within us.

Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter [ Greek, petros – a piece of a rock], and upon this rock [ Greek, petra – a massive rock] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

We all have a piece of Christ within us, if indeed he is there. But His church is not built upon His pieces, rather His pieces are built upon Him.

Job 24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

“They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.” We are encouraged to “desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby”.

1Pe 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

It is in this immature, newborn babe, still on the breast, stage of our walk that Babylon will always catch us and turn us from that “sincere milk” and make us into their own image.

When we “compass land as sea to make one [ infant] convert” to our own Babylonian doctrines, we have fulfilled the words of this 9th verse of Job 24.

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

Job is pointing his finger, as a type of us, totally unaware of the personal application of his own words.

Job 24:10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;

“They” are you and me while we are slaves to our old man and all of his false, Babylonian doctrines, which rob us of any spiritual clothing or spiritual nourishment.

Job 24:11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

The word ‘Which’, refers to “the fatherless… and poor” of verse 9:

Job 24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

Babylon is our old man in his mature, full- blown state. It is in this position and in this spiritual condition that we shear the sheep and are sheared of our master, our own old, first man Adam. We are his slave and we tread his winepresses, and do His bidding, and we suffer thirst and are never satisfied, and we never come to know or find the peace of mind we are always seeking.

Job 24:12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.

Job 24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

“The city” out of which “men groan” spiritually is “that great city [ within us] where the two witnesses are slain and “where also our Lord was crucified”.

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

That “city” spiritually is also called “Babylon the Great” which is within us all and which prospers within us until the day we are dragged out of that city just as Lot and His family were dragged out of the doomed city of literal Sodom. “God lays not folly to them”, and we are “them”… they… rebel against the light… nor abide in the paths” of light.

Job sees clearly that God is not immediately rewarding the wicked or the righteous according to their works. But he does not know why that is so. Just like Job, we are able to see all of this in others long before we come to see that it was our own old man who was blessed and prospered by God in his iniquities and in his own rebellious sins for so long. It was you and me who were all along “rebelling against the light” which was shining in on our own self- righteousness. Job as the Old Testament type and shadow of who we all first are, does not know the ways of God, and does not yet abide in the realization that he has no integrity or righteousness in and of himself, and yet God went for many years and “layed not folly to [ him, the type of me and you].” This is the conundrum and the mystery of the kingdom of God, with which Job is struggling, while he is still part of the multitudes who cannot understand those mysteries (Mat 13:10-11).

Next week, if the Lord wills we will continue with Job’s demonstration of his frustration with his inability to understand the principles revealed in the parable of the tares of the field.

Here are our verses for our next study:

Job 24:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

Job 24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.

Job 24:16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

Job 24:17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

Job 24:18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.

Job 24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.

Job 24:20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

Job 24:21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.

Job 24:22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.

Job 24:23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.

Job 24:24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

Job 24:25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

Hi Mike and Sandi,

Just dropping by to say hello…. and mention something that crossed my mind while reading an article on the website.

Mat 24:3 b: Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

The word ‘world’ as you know, is translated from aion, an age. The coming of Christ means the end of an age. What I understand from this is that for the chosen ones in this lifetime, the aion ends at the moment Christ takes his rightful place within. At that moment we do not longer belong to the people of whom Christ said “let the dead bury their dead”, but we belong to the group who are dragged out of darkness into His wonderful light.

Mat 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Luk 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

The end of the world, of this age already ended for God’s chosen ones the moment God’s grace opens their eyes for His truths. Does this mean that we are home free? Nope, on the contrary… then God will start his burning of our wood, hay and stubble. The moment Christ takes His rightful place is when the burning begins. This is exactly what will happen to the rest of humanity in the second resurrection. Christ (The Word) takes His rightful place, and the burning will begin. You and I know already that this burning only brings forth good, although it is hard sometimes on the inside. The rest of humanity will in time, in that lake of spiritual fire, realize also that this burning is a good thing… a very, very good thing, because when it is finished, we all will be as He is.

Give my best to the family.
Your brother in Christ,
R____

Hi R____,

It is good to hear from you and to share your insights.
Yes, the coming of Christ is the beginning of His fiery judgments within our hearts and minds. The beginning of the mystery of Christ in us is the ending of the mystery of the man of sin who, up to that time, has been standing in the temple of our hearts and minds declaring himself to be God. That is the battle ground, and that is where the torments of that fire rage.

Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

If we felt we had it made, we would not be hoping for salvation. On the other hand, if we are required to remain diligent, sober, vigilant and zealous, then we will continue to hope with confidence that He who has begun a work in us will perform it until the day of the Lord.

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Php 1:7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

So “the day of Jesus Christ” is both present spiritually, and it is future dispensationally. We all partake of the same grace… until the day of Jesus Christ. So “the day of the Lord” has both a spiritual, inward, present application, as well as an outward, dispensational, future application for the end of the age.
The phrase “end of the age” itself has both an inward and an outward application, and both are valid and essential to understand if we believe in a consummation of the ages.
Most people will never understand the inward application at all in this age and will never understand how Christ could say:

Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Mat 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

These “nations” are all seen only outwardly by the multitudes who come to Christ and not as inward “powers and principalities”.

Eph 6:12 Because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world- rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual [ forces] of the wickedness in the heavenlies [ or, heavenly [ realms]]. (ALT)

That is where the nations and rulers reside to whom we must take the gospel before the end will come. The multitudes of Christianity simply are not yet given to see or hear these spiritual matters. So they are dumbfounded by Christ declaring that the generation in which He lived would not pass until all these things were fulfilled, including the gospel going to all nations, and the end of the world.

Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [ even] at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

What does this mean? It means that even though ‘the mystery of God… Christ in you the hope of glory… should not be finished… until the seven plagues of the seven angels is fulfilled’, nevertheless, the opening of the seven seals and the blowing of the seven trumpets are all part of and must precede the fulfilling of the seven plagues of the seven angels.

Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 T o whom God would make known what [ is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

So while Christ is already in us in “earnest” and we are “saved by hope” and while we are even now His Sons, we still look forward to “the redemption of the purchased possession”.

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
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.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

So “we are Sons now”, and He is living in us now, and yet “it does not yet appear what we shall be”. In other words, the reason the seals, trumpets and vials are so closely and inseparably connected is because they are all those words which “are, were and will be” and which will “gather us all together” in sharing the one mind of Christ”, and they are those words of Christ which “will never pass away.”

Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

When is all of this “near, even at the doors”? It is always so, because Christ’s Words do not pass away. You are right in that the burning out process does not begin until Christ comes into our lives, but that is simply a matter of perspective. Again, this is the fact of the matter even for those who are unaware of the chastening they are receiving at the hand of God:

Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Hag 2:17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye [ turned] not to me, saith the LORD.

I hope this helps you to see that the groaning and travailing is being experienced by “the whole creation”, while only a few are given to understand and benefit from understanding the hope these birth pains gives us and the purpose for the pain we all endure.
Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Mike,

Reading in Malachi chapter four referring to the day of the Lord, we read that “Elijah” would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. Dysfunctional families have become a staggering problem. Society is overall a reflection of the family. It is a composite of all that is transpiring in the family. And our leaders (the “fathers”) lead society in a manner reflective of their family of origin. The citizens(the “children”) respond accordingly. Somehow a sense of true family values has to be engendered in society. I don’t know precisely what the Lord has in mind. But a dialogue in society at large has to begin to focus on true family values. And that analogy applies to churches. Leaders have to nurture that family concept, rather than the arrogance that typifies so much of ‘churchianity.’ Pride is also an issue we all have to address: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Again no judgments implied. Just observations.

In Christ,
A____

Hi A____,

You mention Mal 4 and turning the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children during “the day of the Lord”. This certainly is not the time that God is outwardly “turning the hearts of the children to the fathers” because Christ plainly tells us that at this time, He has given them eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear… the mysteries of the kingdom of God… lest He should heal and convert the multitudes who come to Him. That is all found in Mat 13, as I suspect you know.
But that is happening both physically and “in the spirit”, within God’s elect at this time, which ‘time’ is “the Lord’s day” or “the day of the Lord” of Rev 1.

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.
Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

After the “little season” which immediately follows the millennium, and the worldwide deception of that time, God will, through a thing call a “lake of fire”, “turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children”, and “all in Adam will be made alive”.
Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Hey, Mike,

I would like to ask if you can clarify Rev 1:7 where it says every eye shall see Him. I’m struggling with it because I was told that Jesus’s return is only to his chosen. Those are the only eyes that will see him and that the other unsaved people have already seen Christ with their eyes already through us. Is this correct? I understand about the cloud receiving him out of their sight, but it was drilled in me that, just like in Acts believers received him out their sight, that only believers will be able to see him at his return? Let me know, Mike, when you get a chance.

Y____

Hi Y____,
You ask about when Rev 1:7 will be fulfilled. Let’s look at that verse:

Rev 1:7  Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Of course there is a “will be” application to this verse, which will be fulfilled in the lake of fire. But the answer you and I need is to be found just four verses earlier:

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

Now if we have forgotten those instructions just four verses later, then hopes of understanding this book are very slim to non- existent. Christ comes to us via His “great cloud of witnesses”. Every eye within you (within you and me) shall see him when he comes.

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luk 17:22  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.
Luk 17:23  And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
Luk 17:24  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.

The lightning of verse 24 is “the brightness of His coming” mentioned in these verses:

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Paul had told these Thessalonians the same thing he had told the Corinthians:

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

This is what Paul is referring to when he said this:

2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

While the whole world takes “as that the day of Christ is at hand” to be a warning against those who say Christ is about to return, or that He has already returned physically,  the Truth is that Paul is simply saying that when Christ finally does come into our lives, we will know it without a doubt, because the man of sin within us will then be deposed by the brightness of His coming. It is the apostle Paul who said this:

Php 4:5  Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

If “the Lord is at hand”, then surely “the day of Christ is at hand”, and His coming is like lightning which lights up our heavens and causes “that wicked one [within us] sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, to be revealed” for what he really is, “the son of perdition who the Lord will destroy with the brightness of His coming” in the “the day of Christ”.

Verse 7, “He who now restrains will restrain until he is taken out of the way” is what Christ referred to when He said,

Luk 17:22  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.

The apostles all endured this bitter and painful time when they forsook our Lord and denied Him, and we all do the very same thing in our own time and place.

That is the inward application of Rev 1:7. Everything that seems to be plural and outward is actually just a part of “the kingdom of God within you” which is in the process of destroying the nations within you and becoming a mountain which will “fill the whole earth” within you.

Dan 2:34  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet [that were] of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

That is the inward application which should be our emphasis at this time. We are all spiritually the “them also who pierced Him” of Rev 1:7, and we certainly do see Christ, when He comes to us, and we know Him, and we know His voice.

Rev 1:7  Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

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 14:7  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Joh 14:8  Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
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?

Seeing Christ and His Father and knowing His voice, has nothing at all to do with doing so physically. It is a spiritual experience with spiritual eyes and ears.

Those who physically and historically and outwardly killed Christ will not see him until after the thousand year reign, when they will be raised up and cast into the lake of fire, to be purified as a spirit along with “the devil and his angels”.

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Those who want to see Christ at the beginning of the millennium will not do so if they cannot even understand that Christ is in us, and that he who sees us has seen Christ.

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

No one knows how Christ appeared physically, except to say that “He had no form or comeliness… that we should desire Him.”

Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Right here we are plainly told that those who do not know Christ, and who are not part of that blessed and holy first resurrection, will think that He has “no beauty that we should desire Him”. But Christ is the most handsome man who has ever been to those who know Him and are His bride. Those are the ones who will see and know Christ at His coming at the beginning of the millennium. All others will only see Christ in us as their rulers “with a rod of iron.”

I hope this has helped you to see that “seeing Christ” is a spiritual matter. As Christ told Philip, we have to know and “see” Christ before we can know and see His Father. But when we do come to know and see Christ, we also know and see His Father.

Joh 14:7  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Mike,

I have a question for you. Many say that there is great significance in 2 Peter 3:8 when considering that from Adam to Christ was 4000 years and that from Christ to now is a little over 3000 years, or the third day. This seems plausible in that three is the number of the process of spiritual completion. I do know this, that Christ is revealing the truth of sonship to his elect in these days we live. I’m sure you are finding that commentators and bible scholars in the past, and even now, are blind to these things.

Here’s my question. Do you see any validity to the statement that we may be in the third day? While I would not dare to gauge God’s plan for the ages in what I might be experiencing, it does seem to hold some scriptural support. What say you?

Your servant in Christ,
D____

Hi D____,

Thank you for your question.

You say:

Many say that there is great significance in 2 Peter 3:8 when considering that from Adam to Christ was 4000 years and that from Christ to now is a little over 3000 years, or the third day.

I will assume that you meant to type “from Christ to now is a little over 2000 years, or the third day”.

Here is that verse of scripture:

2Pe 3:8 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.

Now let’s look at this verse in the context of the verses around it, and let’s ask ourselves if Peter’s point is that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand year”, or is his point that “a thousand years [is] as one day”?

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.
2Pe 3:8 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.
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.
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.

So this statement is made as it relates to “the day of judgment”, which is also called here by Peter, “the day of the Lord”. When is this “day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men… day of the Lord which comes as a thief in the night?”

Act 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all [ye] that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
Act 2:15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is [but] the third hour of the day.
Act 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

Peter is relating all the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ, and he is claiming that all of “this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel… it shall come to pass in the last days… the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.”

Christ had already told the apostles the same thing. Notice what Christ’s answer was to the question by His disciples, “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?”

Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, [he is] in the secret chambers; believe [it] not.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

So here is Christ saying the same thing Peter says a few weeks later at the day of Pentecost. “After the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” Only Peter is telling us that when Christ says, “This generation will not pass, till all these things be fulfilled,” what he meant was “It is near even at the door” meaning beginning at the day of Pentecost and “never passing away” but being fulfilled in the lives of all of God’s elect from that time to this day.

The point being made by both Christ and Peter is that the day of judgment is now on the house of God, and the day of the Lord is now come to those who are being judged.

Now let’s look again at 2 Peter 2:

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.
2Pe 3:8 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.
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.
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.

These words about “the day of judgment… the day of the Lord” are meant to be understood, and Peter used them on the day of Pentecost, as he had just used them in his previous epistle, which, in both cases are understood as referring to events in the lives of believers of every generation. Peter knew fully well what he meant when he said, “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 knew exactly for whom Christ had died. Peter knew who had denied their own Lord three times immediately after vowing to die with Him. Peter knew that “the day of judgment was already here and being executed upon and bringing about the perdition of such ungodly men. So he tells us all clearly that “the fiery… day of judgment at the time of the end” is right now on 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 4:17 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?

Was the day of Pentecost really the beginning of “the end of the world” [Greek: aion, age], for all who comprise “the house of God”? What do the scriptures teach us? Here is “the seventh day” for all who are in Christ.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them [ancient Israel] for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

“The ends of the world ARE come” upon us, and that has been the case since the day of Pentecost.

Now here is the only “seventh day” with which any true Christian should concern himself:

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, 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 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 [Greek: Joshua, savior] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his.
Heb 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

“We which have believed do enter into [His seventh day] rest” simply because Christ is our sabbath, passover, days of unleavened bread, Pentecost, trumpets, day of atonement, tabernacles and last great day, and if Christ is in us and we are in Him, then we need not concern ourselves with “days, month, times or years”.

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.

Should we concern ourselves with dates at all? What does Christ teach us?

Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Yes, the Greek is ‘anxious thought’, just the kind of thoughts that those who are all caught up in dates are filled with.

I hope all these scriptures serve to help you to see that Christ wants us all to consider “the time of the end” to have been here with His elect ever since the beginning of the New Testament church. I hope you can now see and understand that the abomination of desolation, the preaching of the gospel to the whole world… [as well as] the time of the end”, are all within us and have all been being fulfilled within us “upon whom the ends of the world [aions] have come”, ever since the day Christ gave His so- called “Olivet prophecy” in Matthew 24.

Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe [it] not.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

“Let him that reads understand” that “then shall the end come… the abomination of desolation… the great tribulation… the heavenly signs… the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; all these things shall be fulfilled in this generation… [because] my words shall not pass away” but will be applicable in every generation within the heavens, the hearts and minds of God’s few chosen, elect. Read What and Where Is Heaven? in the essential reading section in the upper left corner of the iswasandwillbe.com home page.

Having said all that, the scriptures teach us about what should be our priorities. Let me be quick to add that this time of being “sealed with the holy spirit of promise” will soon enough come to its predestined end, and “the ends of the world,” which have been coming upon God’s chosen few for the past 2000 years, will soon enough be consummated, and a millennial reign will begin. In the meantime, God’s chosen few elect have slowly been adding up, over all the generations since Christ, to the sum of those who will rise up in that blessed and holy first resurrection, to rule and reign with Christ for one thousand years, and then to rule and reign with Him over the end harvest in the symbolic lake of fire.

This is as certain as the rising of the sun, but this is not the emphasis or the kind of “time of the end” emphasized by Christ or any of His apostles. What is emphasized is the fact that “this generation [who reads and understands] shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.”

Do I believe in a seventh day, a third day since Christ? Oh, yes, I certainly do, but as Hebrew 4 makes very clear, that day has been here with us, ever since our true “seventh day”, Christ, has died for our sins.

Heb 4:3 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.
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.

“The works were finished from the foundation of the world” tells us that not only is a day as a thousand years, with God, but the part that seems so little emphasized is that a thousand years is also said to be “as a day” with God, and “the day of the Lord… and the day of judgment, as well as Christ, our rest, the seventh day”, have been being lived out in the lives of God’s elect for the past 2000 years.

That is the only “seventh day” with which I will concern myself at this time, and thereby I will “take no anxious thought of the morrow…” as my Lord has clearly instructed me.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike