Heb 9:11-17 “But Christ Being Come an High Priest of Good Things to Come” – Part 5

[Study Aired December 24, 2020]

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 
Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 
Heb 9:16  For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 
Heb 9:17  For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

Last week’s study discussed the redemption process God’s elect are blessed to go through in this life. The process of redemption and the holiness it produces is something that comes at the expense of our carnal old man being destroyed, meaning our carnal mind that was represented by the forty and six years (4+6=10 number for flesh) that it took to build the temple in Jerusalem. Christ told those of His day, “Destroy this temple…and in three days I will raise it up.” “But he spake of the temple of his body” which we are (1Co 3:16, Rom 12:5) where the new mind of Christ is freely given to those who are called and chosen by God (Heb 9:15) to receive His spirit (Joh 2:19-22, Psa 127:1, 1Co 2:16, Mat 13:11).

Joh 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Joh 2:20  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
Joh 2:21  But he spake of the temple of his body.
Joh 2:22  When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain [“I will raise it up”].

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

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.

There is no amount of time specified for how long it will take to “destroy this temple” but Christ’s life, which is that temple that we’re talking about, was destroyed at a specific time and paralleled with the oblations and sacrifices which were taken away in the middle of the week in Daniel 9:27. This reminds us of how God’s judgment was taken out of the earth when Christ died, leaving the elect with the other half of Christ’s ministry. It takes our filling up what is behind of His afflictions, symbolized by the second half of that week (Col 1:24), in order to be made ready to be kings and priests. Our lives are judged and made ready through that judgment to rule and reign under our Lord (Isa 26:9), accomplished by the holy spirit. This righteousness learned is the righteousness of the saints which is represented by the fine linen (Rev 19:8) God gives to Christ’s bride “for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready”.

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.

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
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.

This thought of Christ raising up the church, “the temple of his body” which we are (1Co 3:16, Eph 2:4-6), introduces the first verse of our study which reads, “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.” The building up of the body of Christ is the “greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands” and can only come about by our being granted the power to overcome “trespasses and sins” (Eph 1:1-2, Joh 8:36) which left us dead when “in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Christ is our example of “being come an high priest of good things to come” by overcoming those powers and principalities. He would later give His disciples the same power, through God’s spirit, to start to overcome (Joh 16:7, Joh 8:36,  Jas 4:7-17). These verses in John 16:7 and John 8:36 explain how we can fulfill these verses in James 4:7-17. It is the most humbling process we are going through (1Pe 4:12), but God tells us to not grow weary of His correction (Pro 3:11) and that nothing is going to separate us from His love if we are being humbled “under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (Rom 8:28, 1Pe 5:6).

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

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

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

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

It is through “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” that we are blessed “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” where we are raised “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 4:6). It is this love that we have toward one another, supplied by each joint that builds up God’s temple, which witnesses to the world that the “three days I will raise it up” process of judgment the church is going through is something that is being made manifest in the church as He abounds toward us in all wisdom and prudence (Eph 4:16, 1Pe 4:17, Eph 1:8, Eph 3:10).

We are reminded in these verses of Ephesians about the truth that He has “predestinated” us (Eph 1:5, Eph 1:11) “unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” [and it is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom and therefore we are not to fear but rather rejoice that we are being saved through this process that causes us to lose our life but gain the new life of Christ within us (Luk 12:32)].

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 1:11  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:

We are being saved, or redeemed “through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace^G5485“, and it is that grace or favor that is called the “riches of his grace” because His favor is demonstrated through those who are being chastened and scourged and judged in this age so that we can be “accepted in the beloved” (Eph 1:6). God has “abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” (Col 1:27). God purposed to make this wisdom and knowledge known or manifest through the church, and it is through the “riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering” that we are able to be led unto repentance, otherwise it would not happen (Eph 3:10-12, Rom 2:4).

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Eph 3:12  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

“For a testament is of force after men are dead” (of verse 17) is a true statement for God’s elect as well if we see ourselves as dead to sin and alive in Christ (Rom 6:11), which is the only way we should see ourselves (Gal 2:20) being in constant need of “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2Co 10:5). We can work toward that mark through Christ who makes this all possible as we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14).

God gives the elect great incentives to want to put off the flesh today, working within the body of Christ where His grace is abounding in our lives where sin abounded (Rom 5:20). This is all happening to those who are bound to the altar (Psa 118:27), being those who first trusted in Christ unto the saving of our souls (Heb 10:39, 1Co 10:13). Christ was saved for the elect’s sake, and we are being saved for the world’s sake who are being reserved unto judgment in the lake of fire (2Pe 2:9, 2Pe 3:7). If God is judging us in this age, we are being preserved through His judgments that He does not hold back or reserve against our old man of sin as He will against those who will be judged in the second resurrection.

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

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

Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

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.

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

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.

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

The things that we build and take pride in through this life are represented by that first temple which took forty six years to build (Joh 2:20). It is through the destruction of the fleshly mind of the first Adam represented by that temple that we can become a new creation on a new foundation Jesus Christ. Very few will be blessed to experience this judgment in this lifetime that will result in our seeing “a greater and more perfect tabernacle” formed which is made by the hand of the master Potter (Jer 18:4). It is His vessel, His workmanship that He is cleansing through a lifetime of fiery trials, much tribulation, affliction, persecution, along with chastening, scourging and yes, pruning, represented by the tearing down of that old temple that was made “with hands“, independent of the knowledge that God is sovereign and in control of all things. That first temple we are is not made according to the pattern shown in the mount but is the marred vessel God deemed necessary to fulfill His purpose within us (Exo 25:40, Rom 9:20, Jas 4:14-16).

Exo 25:40  And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

God has made all things through Christ (Col 1:16-17), and is working all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). It is God the Father “who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us” who is showing us His love by receiving us through the chastening and scourging of this life (Heb 12:6) which we can endure through Christ (Php 4:13) so that we are no longer “dead in sins” but rather “quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)”. Our goal in this life as God’s elect is to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” knowing that God is able to purge our conscience from all sin and make us “meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2Ti 2:21). By following these commandments of our Lord we can become more “prepared unto every good work” (2Ti 2:21-26).

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work [Mat 20:23, Rev 19:7].
2Ti 2:22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2Ti 2:23  But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
2Ti 2:24  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
2Ti 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2Ti 2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

The “good things to come” spoken of in this first verse of our study have already begun to manifest in the lives of those who have God’s holy spirit within them as “the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph 1:14). Christ is working in us both to will and to do of our Father’s good pleasure (Php 2:13), to make us a “more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building”. Christ himself, who is the author and finisher of our faith, knows how to make this building, this body, this temple, come together as a “whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Heb 12:2, Eph 4:16, Rom 5:5).

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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

Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

Christ’s life was precious in the sight of His Father (1Pe 1:19) who said “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mat 3:17, Joh 1:29). Christ always pleased the Father, and we are told, “He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” Christ was declaring the Father whom we cannot see physically (Heb 11:27) but could see through Christ’s declaration of Him, with His words and actions (Joh 1:18, Joh 14:9-11). Today we are being sent as Christ was sent (Joh 20:21), which is also pleasing to the Father as we declare Christ as lively stones that give witness to the fact that we abide in heavenly places with Christ and our Father (1Pe 2:5, Joh 14:20).

All the “blood of goats and calves” and “the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling” were for our sakes. They were symbolic, ritualistic exercises that are types of Christ who would offer Himself once for the sins of the world. These sacrifices were not able to cleanse the conscience of the one doing the sacrificing, and yet just going through those motions as we did in Babylon made our flesh feel appeased; that somehow we had done something that made us acceptable to God such as taking “the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh” (Luk 18:21-22). We know that nothing we do in our flesh makes us acceptable to God and that we are only accepted through the beloved (Eph 1:6-7). That is the great take away from these verses that we need to hold onto. We are unprofitable servants who have done that which is expected of us (Luk 17:10), both in our immature days as a babe in Christ offering sacrifices to God in the earth, and then becoming a more mature sacrifice to the Lord as we learn that the only sacrifice He is concerned about is our presenting our entire life as a living sacrifice to the glory of God (Rom 12:1-3).

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

The actions of those priests did not have eternal consequences, only earthly consequences that never cleansed the conscience of the one making the offering. When Peter was inspired to say to Christ, “To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (Joh 6:68), he was speaking above his understanding in declaring what these words tell us: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit (Joh 6:63) offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

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

Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 

We will “receive the promise of eternal inheritance” if our high priest, Jesus Christ, “is the mediator of the new testament” within us (Col 1:27), giving us the power to lay down our life (Rev 11:3) “that by means of death” both Christ’s death and our being given to die daily and being buried into His death (Rom 6:3-4), we can be redeemed “of the transgressions that were under the first testament“, which represent our own righteousness being shown in all those carnal ordinances we just read about that cannot cleanse our heavens. Those offerings of goats and bulls and heifers were all patterns of what Christ was going to do in the lives of those who were predestined to be bound to the altar in this age so our heavens can be purged of all ungodliness (Heb 9:23, Tit 2:12-13).

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Tit 2:12  Teaching 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;

Heb 9:16  For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 
Heb 9:17  For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

Christ said this same point with these verses:

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

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

Let’s look at the last three verses of tonight’s study in the Easy-to-Read version:

Heb 9:15  So Christ brings a new agreement from God to his people. He brings this agreement so that those who are chosen by God can have the blessings God promised, blessings that last forever. This can happen only because Christ died to free people from sins committed against the commands of the first agreement.
Heb 9:16  When someone dies and leaves a will, there must be proof that the one who wrote the will is dead.
Heb 9:17  A will means nothing while the one who wrote it is still living. It can be used only after that person’s death.

With that in mind, we can see that the prophesies in the book of Daniel serve to confirm Christ’s words which were written for the elect to give us encouragement at this time. (Dan 9:25-27, Dan 12:8-13, Joh 16:7, Joh 8:36).

Dan 9:25  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem [Think of Jerusalem above, the mother of us all (Gal 4:26)] unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks [69]: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

[‘Troublous times’ is the time of judgment that must come upon all men in their appointed time, and it begins at the house of God, starting with our Saviour whose flesh was judged during a very outwardly troublous time. The outward circumstances reflected what was going on in Christ’s heavens just as God’s elect must endure through perilous times. We are as Christ “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Heb 9:27, 1Pe 4:17, Ecc 7:2, 1Co 15:31, Job 5:7, Isa 53:3, 1Jn 4:17)]

Dan 9:26  And after threescore and two weeks [62] shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

[Christ was cut off at 62 weeks, which represents the foundation or rock that he told Peter the church would be built upon (2×6=12) (Mat 16:18, Joh 12:24). Christ did not sacrifice His life for Himself but for us (“Messiah be cut off, but not for himself” Dan 9:26). Christ made a way for us by being judged in His flesh 69 (Dan 9:25), but it was going into “the holiest of all” which happened when Christ died in the symbolic 62nd week that we then had a high priest who could and can “save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” (Rom 5:10, Heb 7:25).

The complete ministry of Christ (7) is seen in these numbers as well 69-62=7 notwithstanding God completed this work in Christ so that the greater works than these could be accomplished within the body of Christ starting on Pentecost “For a testament is of force after men are dead” which is why Christ told us “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”. The “much fruit” that is brought forth is the life of Christ being manifest within the church, and Abraham and his one seed is the parable which explains this truth for us that will one day apply to all of God’s creation (Gal 3:16, 1Co 15:22). That holy seed is called to do greater works than Christ as we fill up what is behind of His afflictions “for his body’s sake, which is the church” that one seed that is being used to bring healing to those whom God drags to Christ and His body (Joh 14:12, Col 1:24, Joh 6:44)].

Dan 12:8  And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
Dan 12:9  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end [Luk 10:24].
Dan 12:10  Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand [2Ti 3:13].
Dan 12:11  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, [in the midst of the week (Dan 9:27)] and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days [1290].

[This period is a type and shadow of when the man of perdition is realized in our own heavens who must be destroyed by the brightness of His coming through judgment (2Th 2:8)].

Dan 12:12  Blessed is he that waiteth [Rev 20:6, Rev 1:3], and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days [1335].
Dan 12:13  But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

All of these numbers point to the life of Christ and His Christ who are predestined to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Rev 20:6), blessed to be judged now in order be those who “first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12) “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” [1335-1290=45]. The numbers 4 and 5 when added give us 9, which is why we would be blessed to endure through this period knowing that this judgment must antecede our going onto perfection on the third day if our Father in heaven has determined this to be the case (Mat 20:23).

These are the “good things to come” that “Christ being come an high priest” is able to work in the lives of those who will be blessed to see this verse fulfilled in their lives through Him (Luk 13:32).

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

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

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psa 71:3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.
Psa 71:4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
Psa 71:5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.
Psa 71:6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.
Psa 71: I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.
Psa 71:8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

Last week we looked at how God delivers His people through the trials of this life, through the much tribulation, and through the persecution or oppression which all serve to mature us on our journey toward the new country we have been promised.

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.

Act 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

2Ti 3:11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Heb 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Heb 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

Luk 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife.
Luk 17:33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

Joh 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

The manner in which we die as Christians demonstrates to the world and to ourselves that we are of the generation who have no confidence in the flesh we are putting off.

Php 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

We are not trying to preserve this life but rather are given “not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake”, as we come to give thanks for the wonderful works to his people that are causing us to put off our ungodly fleshly alliances to this life and to trust our Father without any wavering.

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

Jer 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

2Co 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

We will look more closely at how God truly is “our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble”, and our “strong habitation” who we can “continually resort” (in verse 3 of this study).

Psa 46:1 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psa 71:3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

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

We know now that this sentence of death spoken of in 2Co 1:9 (above) is what signifies that we are the workmanship of our Father, and that this one seed has been determined from the foundation of the world to bring forth fruit (good works) through that dying to self process.

Psa 46:1 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

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

2Co 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

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.

Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Joh 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth [1Jn 4:17], will draw all men unto me.
Joh 12:33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.

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.

The truth of the matter is that it is impossible for us to stop trusting our flesh unless we are given trials that bring us to cry out to God, trials which cause us to cease from sinning, which is what we are doing when we act without faith.

1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

Rom 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

It is those trials that can come in many forms that work a glorious purpose that witness that we are His workmanship that God is keeping through Christ. We are His children who are growing in seeing our continual need for our Abba Father who can only keep us wise as serpants and gentle as doves, always aware of men, especially the man we face in the mirror every morning who has been called to die daily.

Joh 18:9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

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

It is not adding to scripture to say that if we be lifted up from the earth, if we are blessed to be “holden up from the womb” in this age, then we will also share with Christ in drawing all men unto Him within us both in the future and even today.

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

Mat 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

1Ti 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Our study starts with verse three:

Psa 71:3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

What a hopeful prayer! The psalmist knows that his enemies are too great for him, and God has made it this way so that he may utter these words “be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort”. This makes me think of how our inheritance is in the saints today, and how we “resort” together as the body of Christ and learn that God is “my [our] rock and my [our] fortress”

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,
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

Psa 71:4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
Psa 71:5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.

We all know who this wicked man is and how unrighteous and cruel we all would be except the Lord stay the hand of Satan and strengthen us through Christ.

2Sa 12:7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

Verses 4 and 5 are connected thoughts because it is here that we will know deliverance from the wickedness within us. The ability to hope and trust in God will be made manifest as a result of God dealing with the wickedness within us, the “unrighteous and cruel man”.

Luk 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Psa 71:6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

This verse is very symbolic of the life of Christ and His body who are being matured in the church, with Christ’s mother being a type of the church (Luk 1:28, Luk 2:35).

Christ was “holden^H5564 up from the womb” (which is ‘shown favour’ or ‘established’) not just in the womb of his mother which symbolizes the church but his entire life (Luk 2:40, 2Pe 3:18). And Jeremiah is another example of this predestined conditioned (type and shadow) that God has given to the elect to experience before the rest of humanity (Jer 1:5-7)

H5564
סמך
sâmak
saw-mak’

A primitive root; to prop (literally or figuratively); reflexively to lean upon or take hold of (in a favorable or unfavorable sense): – bear up, establish, (up-) hold, lay, lean, lie hard, put, rest self, set self, stand fast, stay (self), sustain.

We are called to be “holden^H5564 up from the womb” and to go unto maturity so that we may, God willing, be used to help bring in the later harvest of humanity who will also be “holden^H5564 up from the womb” of the earth, earth, earth condition (“my mother’s bowels”) that we all must come out of spoken of in (Jer 22:29).

The connection is made in this verse to praise God for the increase that he gives us in the womb or the church (Heb 13:15). We give thanks and worship him in spirit and in truth because He has mercifully shown favour to us and lifted us, and is lifting us out of the womb or Babylon which is the deliverance that Jeremiah speaks of, in type and shadow, for God’s elect and eventually all the world. Just like any birth there are birth pangs and a natural pattern that demonstrates in the physical birth of a child what we can expect as God’s children who are awaiting our change.

Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Joh 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

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

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

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

1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Psa 71:7 I am as a wonder^H4159 unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.

We are a peculiar people or “a wonder unto many”, we who are seated in heavenly places worshipping God in spirit and in truth, a truth that has been taken away from the world for today.

Isa 20:3 And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder^H4159 upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;

Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

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

God has set in motion this witness being proclaimed throughout the body of Christ and has provided us “strong refuge” so that what has begun within us can and will be accomplished in Christ through whom we can endure all things.

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

Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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

Psa 71:8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

Our last verse this evening is something I pray God will manifest more and more abundantly in his people. We ought to be a people with praise continually on our lips and with a spirit of gratitude that honours God continually but God knows that this also is a gift that has to be formed over time through trials that mature us and take us out of that baby state of murmuring, out of the spiritual crib of the earth earth earth of and into a spirit and truth relationship with our Creator that has us rejoicing always in the Lord and again I say rejoice because we have been “holden up from the womb” “By thee”. Twice we are told to rejoice always to remind us that such a spirit comes only by God granting the increase, and so we cry out and ask our heavenly Father for those purified lips of thanksgiving all the day.

Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

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

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.

1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

(Key verses: Gen 22:1-19)

The foundational theme of “faith toward God” is beautifully revealed through the faith of Abraham as one of the types given in the scriptures to show us how the faith of Christ in us works and takes us to spiritual maturity through the chastening grace of God (Heb 6:1-2; Rom 4:16; Php 3:9; Eph 2:8-10; 1Co 13:13):

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

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [Greek: “paideuō”], and scourgeth [Greek: “mastigoō” = flogging/plague] 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 [Greek: “paideuō”] not?

The natural mind in us cannot see or accept this “strange work” of God through His scourging judgment on everyone in the first Adam, at the appointed time, to make them His children in Christ (Isa 28:17-29; Isa 26:9; 1Co 15:14; 1Pe 4:17). This is the way true love works, and every spiritual son the Father receives will go through this experience. This disciplining and sending of plagues will also increase in intensity according to the measure of faith we receive, but everyone will be enabled also to bear this through Christ (Joh 16:12; 1Co 10:11):

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But set your mind to be right-minded, even as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.

We examine ourselves during our time of judgment, and we also learn to discern the Lord’s body as we wait on each other by serving one another in humility (Joh 13:3-15; 1Co 11:28-34; 1Pe 4:17). God will reveal to us His true witnesses and helpers of our joy who will compass us about with great comfort within this time of judgment:

Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

The accusers and “contradiction of sinners” against the elect will not ease off in their accusations and derisions, but Jesus is our biggest example in all of this as He also supplies the inward strength to be content with whatever situation we are placed in:

Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Php 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Abraham was taken through many trials during his time of sojourning in the land of Canaan, but in Genesis 22 Abraham was taken to a new threshold of enduring God’s testing:

Gen 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt [Hebrew: “nâsâh”; Greek: “peirazō”] Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

The Greek equivalent verb for “nâsâh” is “peirazō” (according to the Septuagint translation). The Hebrew word “nâsâh” was translated as “tempt” here, but to get the true meaning of this expression “God did tempt Abraham” we must also note that “nâsâh” is also translated as “prove” or “try” in these verses, among others:

Exo 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove [Hebrew: “nâsâh”; Greek: “peirazō”] them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

2Ch 32:31 Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try [Hebrew: “nâsâh”; Greek: “peirazō”] him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

The New Testament also confirms what this temptation of Abraham was about:

Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried [Greek: “peirazō”], offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.

Temptation has to do with all the trials which the Father works and sends to us via His appointed agencies, whether spiritual or physical (Heb 12:9; Eph 1:11). God Himself never tests, tries and tempts anyone Himself because He knows what is in our hearts, but we do not know – He is truly omniscient (1Sa 2:3; Job 28:24; Psa 139:4; Psa 147:5; Heb 4:13). Testing or trials are all for our learning about who we are and His works in us (Deu 8:2). Naturally we do not know our own ignorance, and it is a humbling process to go through these trials. Trials are common to all in Adam, even Jesus had to endure them personally while being in an earthly body of death, and even now through His church (Rom 6:6; Col 1:24-27):

Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up [this verb is in the Greek aorist tense] of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted [Greek: “peirazō”] of the devil.

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 [Jesus is, was and will be the only way to overcome temptation], that ye may be able to bear it [cast your cares on Him – Psa 55:22; 1Pe 5:7].

However, we are taught to see temptation as God’s instruments to bring joy, and even though it is common to all, it still is experienced as strange and something horrible by our flesh every time. The mind of Christ sees trials differently:

Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations [Greek: “peirasmos” – noun form of the verb “peirazō”];
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try [Greek: “peirasmos”] you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.

It is in obedience to this truth which highlights the faith of Abraham and all his dealings with God:

Gen 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

The mountain in the land of Moriah is very significant as it is also relates to the vicinity where the first physical temple was built by Solomon. Moriah means “chosen by God” as it also links to what the mountain of the Lord spiritually represents as the house of God or His household of faith (Zec 8:3; 1Co 3:16; Eph 2:19):

2Ch 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

The mountain of the Lord relates to threshing and teaching, and this also confirms that trials are brought to us through which God separates the chaff (lies) from the wheat (truth) in our lives. This separation He performs with His “threshing instruments of iron” which destroys the mountains of flesh in us (Psa 1:4-6; Pro 20:8; Pro 20:26; Isa 28:27; Isa 41:15; Amo 1:3):

Luk 3:17 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

This is what Abraham faced as he and Isaac, with two young men, rose up early in the morning and travelled for three days – and still the place was afar off:

Gen 22:3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
Gen 22:4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

This number three spiritually indicates the process of threshing or chastening we have to fulfill as “no man [is] able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels [are] fulfilled” (Act 14:22; Rev 15:8):

Gen 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

We will be brought to the point in our growth in faith to understand the purpose of the outward physical application and the “putting forth of the finger” (Isa 58:9). Concentrating on other’s evil is the beast’s way to divert attention from itself and “comparing themselves among themselves” (2Co 10:12; 1Co 1:19-20). We will indeed see that we ourselves are the worst of sinners in every aspect, and we have to carry our own load or burdens in that sense (1Ti 1:15; Gal 6:4-5).

Gen 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

Here we are also given a picture of the task the Father has laid on Christ to take on Him the load of the iniquity of us all while we are led astray to follow our own carnal ways (Psa 51:5; 2Co 5:21):

Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

In the words “I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you”” we see an expression of Abraham’s expectation to return with Isaac. Abraham’s faith was at such a level that he could see beyond the death of Isaac, even God being able to raise Isaac from the dead. Isaac died “in a figure”, and this expresses the heart of Abraham concerning Isaac. This also reveals the Father’s heart concerning Christ in the flesh and all in the first Adam, who will be brought through the resurrection from the dead to receive spirit life:

Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
Heb 11:18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
Heb 11:19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Abraham never witnessed a resurrection from the dead at that stage, but faith made this possible for him to see and accept (Psa 119:130; 1Co 13:12; 2Co 4:6; Eph 1:17-18). Abraham believed that Isaac will be brought back to life because of God’s Word to him – faith comes only through the Word of God (Rom 10:17). God promised that through Isaac all Abraham’s offspring will be brought forward (Gen 12:1-3; Gen 21:10-12):

Gen 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Christ, the Word of God, is the incorruptible seed of God through whom the “everlasting covenant” of life in spirit will come (Luk 8:11; 1Pe 1:23). There is no way God will ever go back on His word – His word will accomplish everything He sets out to achieve, even the salvation of all who were made after the corruptible seed of the first Adam (Isa 55:10-13; 1Co 15:22-28; 1Co 15:42). In our time of spiritual immaturity we cannot accept that we are to sacrifice our own lives or that a grain of wheat can fall into the ground and die, yet will produce a huge harvest after that (Joh 12:24). As faith grows, however, there comes a peace as we learn how God’s glory is revealed through these trials. Trials bring the death of our old man, and progressively we can see His face in glory (Exo 33:17-23; Mat 16:28; 2Co 3:18; Rev 1:17). This quiet Godly confidence in us comes with maturity, and this is seen in us when we are not easily swayed by the trials and the accusers (Eph 4:11-14; Heb 12:1). This confidence in God’s works in us is not cast away or squandered for temporary earthly glory and pleasures as we can see the rewards trials bring (Heb 10:35-39).

Gen 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
Gen 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering [Hebrew: “ôlâh” = ascend]: so they went both of them together.

God indeed has supplied a Lamb as a burnt offering for the sins of the whole world, even as Jesus Himself experienced the fiery wrath and judgment of God on His flesh (Isa 54:8; Mat 27:46).

1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

Abraham was known for his sojourning in his tent and his altars, and here we have the fourth time that Abraham built an altar to God. (We already dealt with the altars in Abraham’s life in more detail in a previous discussion – Study #56):

Gen 22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

It seemed that Isaac gave no resistance to what his father was requesting him to do and is about to do to him. This gives us also a beautiful picture of the way Jesus was led as a lamb to the slaughter at His time of being sacrificed on the altar of the cross as also prophesized by Isaiah:

Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

This is how we are shown how Christ’s true followers will respond when this level of faith is given to them. This type of submission is not given when we are not yet ready and prepared by God as to how to respond and behave when we are falsely accused and led to the slaughter by our enemies as appointed by God. In this instance with Isaac, God intervened:

Gen 22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
Gen 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

God knows everything in advance, and He never intended for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt human sacrifice. Burning humans as sacrifices on an altar is not part of God’s mind as a way to please Him because “if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (Jer 7:30-31; Jdg 11:30-40; 1Co 13:3). We only please God by the faith of Christ in us which will cause us to do His commandments (Heb 11:6; Heb 13:9-10). Nowhere in the scriptures did God want anyone to sacrifice humans, even Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter as a burned sacrifice, but she fulfilled the vow her father foolishly made on her behalf to remain a virgin all her life (Jdg 11:30-40). Our flesh shall not have an offspring in spirit – true spiritual sacrifices are made from dying daily, even as we are also filling up in our body the afflictions of the Christ to fulfil his work in us and in His body (Col 1:24; 1Co 15:31):

Gen 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
Gen 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

Isaac died “in a figure”, and this ram which Abraham sacrificed was “in the stead of” Isaac. Abraham received Isaac back “from the dead” as the scriptures declare (Heb 11:19). If we cannot see that through our own dying we will be brought to life, we will follow the false doctrine of a substitutionary atonement of Christ. This false teaching comes from a lascivious spirit in those who want spiritual life without giving up on their life of sin and even despise the dwelling and abiding in the fire of God (Jud 1:3-4; Isa 33:14-15; Joh 8:31-32; Rom 8:17; 1Jn 4:17). Christ’s sacrifice was indeed an empowering and atoning death through which we will receive His inward strength to be a sweet smelling saviour of Christ to the Father while He enable us to die for our own sins (2Co 2:15; Php 4:18; 1Co 15:31).

2Co 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

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

That the Lamb of God is actually also a ram is also counterintuitive to the natural mind (1Co 2:13-14). Like the tent of the tabernacle was covered with rams’ skins dyed red, so is Christ the covering Head of the church, even as a physical ram is the leader of the flock (Rom 1:20; Exo 25:5). The ram here shows the positive application of this symbol pointing to Christ as the highly exalted One who is the “firstborn of every creature” of God’s creation, and He is also the “firstborn from the dead” (Exo 29:15-16; Lev 5:15; Joh 1:1-4; Rom 1:20; Col 1:15-19; Rev 3:14). As a ram without blemish, Jesus never sinned while in a body of sin, and that is why His sacrifice is above all sacrifices (Rom 6:6; 2Co 5:21). His complete and perfect ransom ascends above all others and God accepted it as the only true “sweetsmelling savour” which was prepared “from the foundation of the world” (Joh 1:29; Eph 5:2; 1Jn 2:1-2; Rev 13:8):

Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for [Greek: “huper” = above] every man.

We are to work out our own salvation as God works or supplies His spiritual abilities in us, meaning we die to self by taking up our own cross and doing His commandments (Php 2:12-13; Mat 10:38-39; Mat 7:24-25; Jas 2:21-23; Rev 1:3). The faith of Christ in us brings the life of Christ in us, even as typified in the life of Abraham. Receiving Isaac back from the dead (“in a figure”) opened the heavens for Abraham, and this is typifying our own multiplying and increase in the fruits of righteousness if we endure the trials of our faith (2Co 9:10; 1Pe 1:7-9):

Gen 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
Gen 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Gen 22:19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Being Tempted versus Being Tested
Christ’s Glory
Was Christ’s Death Substitutionary?
He Made Him Sin for Us
Did Jephthah Commit Human Sacrifice?
Does God Foreknow Our Decisions?
The Law of the Offerings – Burnt Offering

Video Links

Job 3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Job 3:12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
Job 3:13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
Job 3:14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
Job 3:15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
Job 3:16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
Job 3:17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
Job 3:18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

Introduction

Job has already confessed that he is aware that this entire experience is a work which the Lord Himself is working. He does not blame his suffering on Satan, nor does he consider any of his loss and suffering to be the fault of the Sabeans or the Chaldeans. Job knows that God is sovereign over all things.

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

Was it really “at the hand of God” that Job had lost all his possessions, all his children and was now stricken with boils from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet? Yes, it really was at “the hand of God” that all these things happened because the scriptures declare “In all of this did not Job sin with his lips”.

But that will no longer be the case as Job will now begin to question the very God who he confesses is sovereign and is justified in giving us all both good and evil in our lives at His own discretion and for His own purposes:

Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

We are all ‘hardened’ before our old man is destroyed and God begins to show us His mercy.

In the mental pain of the loss of all of his possessions, the loss of his seven sons and his three daughters, and now the physical excruciating pain of being stricken with boils from his head to his toes, Job is brought to his “wits’ end” (Psa 107: 27). Not knowing the end or the purpose for this seemingly unbearable trial, Job, as the type and shadow of how God is preparing His elect for the work they are yet to perform in His service, now questions why, under these circumstances, God ever bothered with bringing him into this world.

Job 3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Job 3:12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
Job 3:13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

It is completely contrary to our natural man to see the need for suffering. But Job is the type and shadow of those who must suffer first, “for His body’s sake which is the church” (Col 1:24). There is a very great need for such people, and here are a few verses which explain that great need:

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Christ was heard and was “saved from death”. Christ was “not appointed unto” death, but to life. Christ was appointed to be “saved from death”. So how was that accomplished? It was accomplished “through death”, just like not being appointed to wrath is fulfilled and accomplished by enduring the fullness of His wrath first, thereby entering into His temple first (Rev 15:8).

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;

Job is yet to learn that his salvation from his misery is through that misery.

“Why did the knees prevent me” from going back to the earth from whence we all come? That these words are written for us is made clear by our Lord Himself when He contrasts his fury, which Job is enduring, with that which His “whirlwind” fury produces. Here is how Job, and all of us, are “not appointed to wrath but to salvation” (1Th 5:9).

Isa 66:12 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
Isa 66:13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isa 66:14 And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.
Isa 66:15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

We do not need “comfort” unless we are first afflicted. “The Lord will come with fire and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh…” Those who think that God’s enemies are some evil, bad man somewhere are like Job, while he is proclaiming his own righteousness and his own integrity. Those who thing that God’s enemies are anyone but themselves, are Job’s so-called comforters, who likewise see anyone but themselves as being evil and deserving of God’s fury and His wrath.

How did Isaiah know this? One way Isaiah knew this was because Isaiah had certainly read the book of Job, and he was inspired by the words in Job and by the holy spirit to see and to know that much of the mind of God. Isaiah was, no doubt, familiar with these words:

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 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?

If we think God was not working with Job until He Himself starts speaking in chapter 38, then we will learn nothing from this account of Job’s trials. This entire story is the account of God’s sovereign work in our lives and in Job’s life. God knew to begin with, that Job was self-righteous and would condemn Him for His way of revealing Job’s self-righteousness to him. God knew this before He ever called Satan over to expose Job to himself, by means of this excruciating trial. But this all happened to Job, and it is written for our admonition first, and not for Job’s admonition first.

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

1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

This story of Job is not just a parable any more than the story of the events that transpired in the Garden of Eden were just a parable. This is life. Yes, this life is temporal, and from God’s perspective, it “is a vapor which appears for a moment then vanishes away” (Jas 4:14). Nevertheless, that momentary “vapor” is very essential, and it seems like an eternity from Job’s painful and suffering perspective. But this experience of Job’s is the type and shadow of what Christ’s elect must experience, who must be the “first” to know the “fiery… wrath of God” upon “all flesh”. Remember what we just read:

Isa 66:16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

God’s sword and His fire are both His word, by which mankind must live every word (Mat 4:4).

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?

As Job demonstrates, we all endure “His indignation toward His enemies” while we are “His enemies”, and while doing so we all condemn Him for His sovereign actions, before we become his servants and acknowledge that we too, “are vile… the chief of sinners”.

Isa 66:14 And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.
Isa 66:15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Even our Lord’s flesh, as our example in the garden of Gethsemane, when “troubled… even unto death”, questioned His Father’s need to do things in His way:

Mat 26:37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
Mat 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

” If it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” What does that tell us about Christ’s flesh? What it tells us is that Christ’s flesh did not like the Father’s will, even while the spirit of His Father within Him said “Nevertheless not as I will, but as you will”.

“As He is so are we in this world”. So also Job is us. We are one and all brought to be “exceeding sorrowful, even unto death”. This is essential so we will be qualified to lead others through this same “valley of… death”. How is that accomplished? It certainly is not accomplished by caving in to the solutions our flesh contrives, like “Why died I not from the womb?” God has placed us all into these bodies of flesh and blood for the purpose of giving us these fiery trials, so we will know how to deal with others who must endure these very same fiery trials. Here instead, is God’s way of preparing us to be “Saviors upon Mount Zion” (Oba 21).

Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour [ Greek, comfort] them that are tempted.

If we are Christ, as Christ says we are, then we must live the life and suffer the afflictions He suffered.

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

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

Should we really expect to be “as He is… in this world”?

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

Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Christ was in a body of death. He too, was flesh and blood “like unto his brethren”, just as we are. As such we must fill up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of His Christ, which ‘Christ’ we are.

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:

Here is Young’s Literal Version of this verse:

(YLT) I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and do fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the assembly,

You and I, Lord willing, are ‘the Christ… the anointed’ of Christ, and as such we must partake of His sufferings and this attitude of: “For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest”, must be dispensed with and expunged from our hearts and minds. ‘Why did my mother dandle me on her knees? Why did she suckle me on her breasts? Why did she not just let me die?’ That is Job’s state of mind, and that is our state of mind when we are there with Job, suffering what seems to be such very unbearable pain. He prefers death to life, and yet this is all just part of “the patience and faith of the saints” which must be endured to “keep the things written therein”.

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 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [ the beast], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

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

Job cursed the day he was born for this reason:

Job 3:10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

It is not granted to the natural man to see suffering as a blessing. It is not natural to understand how light can come forth “out of darkness” or how good can come out of evil. Mankind cannot make that happen, but that is exactly what God does. That is His modus operandi. Christ tells us that this is something we will all experience:

Luk 23:27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.
Luk 23:28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.

Yet it is out of all of this darkness and out of all of this evil, ‘created by God’ (Isa 45:7), that God “saves much people alive”.

Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Just like Job, Joseph’s situation had gone from bad to worse, and Joseph and then to go from there into prison. But just like Job before him, Joseph was taken from prison and exalted higher than he had ever been before.

But Job at this point does not see any way out of his dilemma. He has asked God:

Job 3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Job 3:12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
Job 3:13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

So he continues his complaint against God, and his desire to be removed from the pain of his excruciating circumstances:

Job 3:14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
Job 3:15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
Job 3:16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

Here we learn that the “kings and counsellors of the earth” who seem to be living in luxury are really living in spiritually “desolate places”. We see that having houses filled with gold and silver does nothing to forestall the death of the rich and powerful in this world.

“As an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infant which never saw light” has been taken by itself to justify the millions of medical abortions as children which really “had not been”. All who have done this can only be said to be ignorant of the principle of “the sum of thy word is Truth”.

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

What those who abuse God’s word to justify their evil murderous actions for filthy lucre fail to point out here is that Job realized that what was in the womb was alive. He acknowledges this when he asks the question, Why died I not from the womb? There would be no way for a fetus to die, if it had never been alive. Job even asks the question, Why did I not give up the spirit which I came out of the belly?

Job 3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

Besides these obvious verses telling us a fetus is alive right here in this very same chapter, we are given the law of restitution for the death of the unborn.

Exo 21:22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

If there were no life lost, then why is this man being punished for an accidental abortion? It is true that medical abortions are never even considered in scripture, but the fact that the unborn are said to be alive within the womb, and the fact that accidental abortions are punished, lets us know that God considers the unborn as living children of God.

Gen 25:21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Gen 25:22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Rebekah’s two children were Jacob and Esau. These two children are the Old Testament type of the natural man, Esau, who always comes in our life before that which is spiritual comes forth and supplants the first natural man. The struggles of Job demonstrate this struggle between “two nations”. In the end “the elder will serve the younger” simply because “that which is natural is [ always] first, and afterward that which is spiritual”.

1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

So our desire to avoid all the struggles of that first natural man are all in vain. Job’s wish to “hide sorrow from his eyes” is really nothing less than his unwillingness to do the things which destroy the life of the first man. Yet it is through the death of that first man that the new man is brought to life.

Job 3:10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.

Job knows that death will end his suffering.

Job 3:17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
Job 3:18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

These verses accord with the sum of God’s word concerning the state of the dead. The wicked cease from troubling and those who are wearied by their troubling are also at rest. What Job does not yet see as the very purpose for his suffering is the Truth of this verse:

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

Job is still maintaining his own righteousness and 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.

“My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live” necessitates the death of that self-righteous spirit of our old man who sees himself as righteous and who does not believe the revelation we are given in Psa 51:5.

But this is all essential to becoming the new man we want to be. We cannot shortcut a single word of “the things written herein”. That is the lesson Job within each of us must learn.

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.

Next week, Lord willing, we will seek the answer to Job’s question, ‘Why is light given to those who are in misery?’

Job 3:19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
Job 3:20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
Job 3:21 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Job 3:22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
Job 3:23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
Job 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
Job 3:26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.