The Fowl of the Air – Part 2

[Study Aired April 19, 2026]

God’s elect know the difference between gifts of the spirit and fruits of the spirit. You may heal the sick and cast out devils without having Christ living His life in you (Luk 10:8, 9, 17).

Luk 10:8  And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
Luk 10:9  And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

Luk 10:17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

Christ sent out the seventy two by two long before He said this to Peter:

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.

You may truthfully prophesy what will happen in the future, and not have Christ living His life within you:

Deu 13:1  If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
Deu 13:2  And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

How do we know whether we truly love the Lord?

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

However you cannot and you will not have “the fruits of the spirit” governing your life if Christ is not living His life within you. You will not and cannot love your enemy without Christ being in you.

Christ warns us not to follow after signs, miracles and wonders right here in Matthew 24:

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs [G4592: ‘Semeion’, miracles] and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Right after telling us that false Christs and prophets shall show great miracles and great wonders, Christ makes this statement:

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.

“Secret chamber” would certainly include a ‘secret rapture’, and according to Christ we are to “believe it not” because this is what it will actually be like when He does appear again:

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.

“I have told you before” is old English for ‘I am telling you in advance’ not to fall for any variation of the false ‘secret rapture’ doctrines nor any variation of a ‘place of safety’ theory. There is nothing ‘secret’ about being caught up to be with Christ in the air. That event will be “as the lightning shineth from the east even unto the west.”

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.

Look at what precedes this statement:

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.

What Christ is telling His elect is that if they are granted to remain vigilant and diligent to the end, and to serve as the flesh and bones of Christ’s “earthly tabernacle” in this present wicked age, then they will be glorified with Christ at the time of His appearing to rule the kingdoms of this world for one thousand years, before judging angels and the souls of men in something called the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/ second death (Rev 20:7-15).

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
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.

I get so many letters asking me, “How does one know they are God’s elect? How do you know you are going to be saved and be in the first resurrection?” The answer to the first question is that God gives you the faith that you are indeed His elect. The answer to the second question is that you don’t know you will be in the first resurrection to the point of being able to take your election for granted. That’s why The Lord admonishes us to ‘be vigilant, be sober.’

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Be on your guard every moment. Christ tells us that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into:

Luk 12:39  And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Luk 12:40  Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

The whole point of Christ telling us that we are to stay vigilant and “ready” is so we will always be on our toes. The apostle Paul gives us the same admonition:

1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

The Lord does not want us to ever become complacent and take our salvation for granted. Completely rid your heart and mind of the ‘once in grace always in grace’ false doctrine. Realize that there is a great and pressing need for vigilance. That spirit of vigilance is all part of God’s plan. Replace that false doctrine with this doctrine:

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Continuing with Christ’s words “which are spirit” in Matthew 24:

Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

I’ve entitled this study the ‘fowl of the air’ because of these eagles. They are unclean birds, and they eat the carnal meat which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, as Christ clearly states:

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

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

It is our rebellious, carnal-minded old man who is “devoured up” by the eagles and the fowls of the air:

Pro 30:17  The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.

Luk 17:36  Two men [our old and new man] shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Luk 17:37  And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

We must be willing to give up the life of our carnal-minded old man. We must come to see that “the man of sin, the son of perdition” is our own carnal-minded old man who has all his life been deceived by all the lies of all the false ministers of the churches of Babylon. That is the negative application of what these eagles, “the fowls of the air” do:

Mar 4:3  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
Mar 4:4  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

Christ tells us the fowls “devour [us] up” at that stage of our walk when the seed of God’s Truth ‘falls by the way side.’

Mat 13:3  And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
Mat 13:4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls [Eagles over a carcass] came and devoured them up:

Eagles eat dying dead meat. That ‘death’ and dying is at this time a process we must endure to the end. It is “through death” that a new man is conceived:

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

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 Truth is counterintuitive to our natural carnal mind.  We cannot just naturally connect the death of our old man with the life of our new man. Nevertheless, we are commanded to offer ourselves up to the Lord as a “living sacrifice… dying daily”:

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.

Paul sets us the same ‘dying daily’ example which Christ left for us to follow:

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

We are “crucified with Christ… daily.”

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.

Our dying old man is dead meat for those unclean “birds of the air.” The positive application of “where the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together” is that as the adversary devours up our old man, Christ is coming into our lives. As we die to the flesh, we are giving up the flesh, but it is not a pleasant thing to do. We don’t give up the flesh willingly. It takes a catastrophe in our lives to drag us to Christ:

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [G1670: ‘helkuo’, drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

That is the positive application to ‘the fowls of the air… devouring us up.” For the few who the Lord opens their spiritually blinded eyes to see the dying of our carnal-minded old man and being devoured by these eagles is essential to the birth of the new man who is even now being formed out of the same lump of clay:

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 [our ‘new man’] unto honour, and another [our carnal minded old man] unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: [Our old man]
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, [our new man] which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Exo 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

The Lord is patient and merciful toward us and “endures with much longsuffering” the rebellions and the disobedience of our carnal-minded old man. In time, if we are granted to abide in His Word, “of the same lump” of this same “earthen vessel” He begins to form a new man which will in time truly be made into His likeness and His image. While He is in the process of transforming us into His image, He Himself dwells within us as “earthen vessels”:

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure [“Christ in us the hope of glory”, (Col 1:27)] in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

It’s through this dying to the flesh that God brings us to himself. I’m going to repeat John 12:25.

Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

King David used the positive application of the word ‘eagles’ to eulogize the death of the Lord’s rejected anointed King Saul:

2Sa 1:23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

In their death, they were not divided. Jonathan could not bring himself to leave his father, and yet he actually helped David just as our flesh, “the same lump”, actually helps us to become a new man. As Jonathan who could not separate himself from his father, we, too, are in these clay vessels, our flesh, which cannot inherit the kingdom of God and is not discarded until physical death. May the Lord grant us to be willing to die daily to our old man as our new man increases within us.

The story of Jonathan’s love for David, yet dying with his rejected father, King Saul, “…happened to him and [it is] written for our admonition” (1Co 10:11). We must realize that it was God who created Babylon. It is God who calls Nebuchadnezzar His servant:

Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Jer 27:5  I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.
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.

God is the one who is responsible for all things; he ‘works all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph 1:11). Our wicked old man is nothing more than the Lord’s servant to bring us to the Lord.

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

That is what “the fowls of the air” generally represent, especially unclean fowl like vultures and eagles. They signify all the false doctrines of our heavens which “devour us up.”

The ‘eagles’ of Matthew 24, just like Nebuchadnezzar, are the Lord’s servants. Matthew 13:4 and 19, tell us what these “fowls of the air signify”, and 1 Corinthians 5:5 tells us exactly what they do:

Mat 13:4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

1Co 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan [“The prince of the power of the air”, (Eph 2:2)] for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Eph 2:2  Wherein 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:

These ‘fowls’ are false doctrines. The ministers who preach them are the adversary’s false ministers who come to us as an angel of light (2Co 11:14-15) and then “devour [us] up” (Mat 13:4). Another way scripture expresses this process is the story of the earth opening up and swallowing Korah (Num 16:28-33). The earth opening up and swallowing Korah is simply a type of us being swallowed up by the false doctrines of the churches of this world, signified by the earth, the ground:

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

We are dying daily to that earth, the world. The story of Korah signifies the people of God who are brought up out of Egypt but who are not doing the things which the Lord tells us to do (Luk 6:46). We are spiritually being devoured by the birds of the air. That’s what these eagles, the Lord’s servants, do in His service when He is using them to judge us.

When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s baker’s dream he demonstrated the spiritual significance of ‘the birds of the air.’

Gen 40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation [of the butler’s dream] was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:
Gen 40:17 And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.
Gen 40:18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:
Gen 40:19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.
Gen 40:20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
Gen 40:21 And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand:
Gen 40:22 But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Gen 40:23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

These birds ate the baker’s flesh; they destroyed his flesh. Where did Joseph get the idea that this is what this meant?

Joseph knew what “the fowls of the air” ate, and the Lord gave Joseph to know what it meant when the baker told him that ‘the birds did eat the bakemeats, meant for Pharaoh’, out of the uppermost basket on the baker’s head. Pharaoh was prophesied to hang the chief baker who would then be eaten by the fowls of the air, and that is exactly what happened.

The creatures of the sea, the fowls of the air, and the earth itself are all scriptural types of mankind, and they all typify the Lord’s people:

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

Most of mankind are not God’s elect in “this present time.”

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

The minds of God’s anointed, like King Saul who was God’s rejected anointed, are first filled with the doctrines of the fowls of the air. That is where fowls live. They live in the heavens of our earth. They were not created on the sixth day with the beasts of the earth. The fowls of the air were created on the fifth day so that all of the spirit beings were created just ahead of men, the day before, to serve as the Lord’s servants to provide the foil against which the Lord would show His elect what He is doing with His creatures. It was on the sixth day that mankind, who the Lord refers to as “earth, earth, earth” (Jer 22:29), was created as the incomplete image of his Creator. It is at this point the Lord begins His sovereign work with mankind, showing us our relationship with our God. Mankind was created on the sixth day because Adam was the unfinished and the not yet completed son of God.

Lam 4:19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

It is in the wilderness that we are persecuted. We are persecuted by those who are swifter than eagles.

Mat 13:31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven [Christ in us, (Col 1:27)] is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Mat 13:32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

This is the parable of the mustard seed. What are all the parables? All the parables are about the kingdom of God within us from now until Christ appears. The principles revealed in the Lord’s parables will still be applicable to His saints when that day arrives. The heavens of the kingdom of God must be “purified” (Heb 9:23) because they are full of the false doctrines of the fowls of the air.

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. [Christ’s sacrifice for you and me is much better than the blood of animals]

Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

This is “the fowls of the air” again, the unclean fowl doing what they are ordained to do with the Lord’s people. We read back in Exodus where God said, I brought you (Israel) up out of Egypt on eagles’ wings:

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

When God brought them out, he said, “I brought you unto Myself.” God did not take Israel directly from Egypt into the promised land. He took them ‘on eagles’ wings… into the wilderness” for 40 years. What happened in the wilderness? The woman that brought forth the manchild was given eagles wings to go “into the wilderness”. Her “manchild” son was caught up and seated with Christ in the heavens, but she herself was given two wings of an eagle and was taken into the wilderness. The great whore of Revelation seventeen is also “in the wilderness”, because she is the woman of Revelation 12 who brings forth the manchild:

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. [Eph 2:6]
Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Just 50 days after leaving Egypt ‘on eagles’ wings’ Israel, God’s own people who eventually “brought forth a manchild” named Jesus Christ, also committed spiritual fornication against her husband by making a golden calf and proclaiming it as ‘thy gods which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt’:

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

That is the beginning of the history of Israel in the wilderness. They continued to complain and rebel against their own God for the next forty years. It all signifies the function of the great whore of Revelation 17. This “great whore” is not just any whore. This is the Lord’s own unfaithful wife who “brought forth a manchild” and then was given the wings of an eagle to fly into the wilderness where, just as the Lord sustained His unfaithful wife, Israel, this woman is also “nourished” while the Lord deals with her “in the wilderness”.

Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

This ‘time, times and half a time’ is the same amount of time as the time spent by the two witnesses in the streets of that great city, which ‘city’ is what the great whore is called:

Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

The two witnesses witness for Christ and against the works of that great city for a time, times and half a time. In the streets of that great city the two witnesses are witnessing for Christ and against this very woman of Revelation 12 who appears in the very next chapter. The two witnesses are going to speak for a 1,260 days against this woman which is the same time the woman spends being nourished from the face of the serpent there in the wilderness.  A time, times and half a time is the same as 1260 days, and the woman who brings forth the manchild is the same woman as the great whore of Revelation 17-18. In both chapters 17 and 18 she is referred to as “that great city”:

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

It is all the same time, it is just hidden so that 1,260 days tells us that this is the time of our witnessing to the people of God, and this is the time of their hearing us witness. It is the same period of time. What happens during this time?

Num 14:22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Num 14:23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
Num 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

Notice what is in this ‘great city’ which was taken into the wilderness on eagles’ wings:

Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. [“Fowls of the air”]

What are the fowls of the air? They signify the false ministers who are the purveyors of all the  false doctrines of that great adulterous woman.

We will conclude this study with a few admonitions about the work of these ‘fowls’:

Mat 13:4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Matthew 13:19 explains that.

Mat 13:19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

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

Rev 19:17-21 The Supper of the Great God

 [Study Aired June 8, 2025]

Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all [men, both] free and bond, both small and great.
Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which [sword] proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Introduction

In our last study of verse 9 we learned of a spiritual event called “the marriage supper of the Lamb”, and we learned that those who are called to that “marriage supper” were especially “blessed.”

Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

In today’s study we will be learning about “the supper of the great God.”

What is the difference between these two suppers? Is there one supper which we attend at a certain stage in our spiritual development, and then another supper which we attend at still another stage of our walk?

The answer is that these two suppers correspond with the two separate resurrections. In other words, we all have the same experience and all things present and things to come are ours, but our fire and brimstone judgment comes well in advance of the great white throne judgment. We are judged in this life first, just as those in the second resurrection will be judged at the white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death. Judgment is ‘now on the house of God’ which makes us, in Christ Jesus, worthy of a part in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, what Christ called “the resurrection of life.”

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

This “resurrection of life” takes place at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ. This “first resurrection” corresponds with those who are numbered as 144,000 and who follow the Lamb wherever He goes:

Rev 7:1  And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Rev 7:2  And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

Be sure to read: Rev 7:4-8 Who are the 144,000, Part 1

Revelation 14 refers to this same numbered group:

Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

“The resurrection of damnation [judgment]” comes over a thousand years after the resurrection of life. This second supper of this 19^th chapter corresponds to that second group of Revelation 7, the “great multitude which no man can number.” This supper of the great God is the final resurrection of judgment; the second resurrection. It is called ‘the great white throne… judgment’ which is the only other resurrection mentioned in scripture, and it comes only after the thousand years are expired:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus [in this age], and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Living by every word of God (Mat 4:4, Luk 4:4) means that all men will be resurrected and judged according to their works. It does not mean that those in the first resurrection must also “be hurt of the second death.” They ‘died’ first, and living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God does not mean we must partake of the second death, which we are specifically promised will not hurt us, because it comes only after the thousand years are expired, and we were resurrected a thousand years earlier:

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 [“the nations in the four quarters of the earth”].
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Those who are cast into this “lake of fire” do so only after appearing at the great white throne judgment bar:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life [the book of life contains the names of those who were resurrected a thousand years earlier to “the resurrection of life”, (Joh 5:28-2)]: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Let’s look at what we are told about these two suppers and see if there are any parallels with these two suppers and the two separate groups of Revelation 7. Because we have already examined chapter 7, we will not quote it again, but I will call our attention to the fact that the first part of this 19^th chapter deals with the marriage supper of the Lamb, which corresponds with the first group of 144,000 in chapter 7. The first part of this 19^th chapter also corresponds with the resurrection of life and the 144,000 virgins of Revelation 14. The first part of chapter 14 is also concerned with the 144,000 and their judgment, which judgment is on the house of God now in this present time:

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

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?

Like the last part of chapter 7 the last part of this 19^th chapter, “the supper of the great God”, corresponds with a second group of mankind who comes up in “the resurrection of judgment” also called the “great white throne judgment”:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And [“When the thousand years are expired”, vs 7]  I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Revelation 7, Revelation 14, Revelation 19, and Revelation 20 – all four chapters contrast those who are judged in this life and who are raised up in the resurrection to life, also called the “blessed and holy… first resurrection” (Rev 20:6) with those who come up in the second resurrection, which is called “the resurrection of judgment” because they were not judged in “this present time” (Rom 8:18).

Here is that second group signified by those who are cast into the lake of fire. That casting into the lake of fire is also called “the supper of the great God.”

Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

There are three principles involved in this verse. 1) An angel standing in the sun, 2) He cries with a loud voice to the fowls of the heavens to 3) gather themselves together unto the supper of the great God.

So let’s take each of these three principles and let the Word of God tell us what their meaning is.

1) What is “an angel standing in the sun?”

To answer this question we must know what the sun signifies:

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:

We have demonstrated that ‘the Sun’ signifies our Lord Himself:

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

Psa 19:4  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Psa 19:5  Which is as [signifies] a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

Who is this angel, and exactly where is he standing? Here is what the scriptures reveal this angel signifies:

Rev 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred [and] forty [and] four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

We have seen repeatedly, and in this very chapter, that the seven angels with the seven last plagues of the wrath of God signify ‘our fellowservants and those who keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book’:

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him [the angel]. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren  that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

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

Clearly the ‘angel standing in the Sun, crying with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, ‘Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God’ is the body of Christ by whom the principalities and powers in the heavens are informed of what the Lord is doing:

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
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:

Just as the elect, signified by “one of the four beasts” in chapter 15, give the vials of the wrath of God to the Lord’s elect, signified by the seven angels which pour out the seven vials of the seven last plagues of God’s wrath upon all who have the mark of the beast, the same is true here in chapter 19. The angel standing in the sun signifies the elect who “make known…the manifold wisdom of God.” It is the elect who are calling the elect, signified by “angels which fly in the midst of heaven” to come and eat the flesh of the beast and the false prophet and their armies.

Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel [“That is… a man”] standing in the sun [standing on the Word of God]; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

It is none other than our Lord Himself who has “healing in His wings” and who as “the sun… tabernacles in [our] heavens.” Having “healing in His wings” qualifies our Lord as a ‘fowl of the heavens’ who as “the Sun of Righteousness” (Mal 4:2) has come forth in His elect to “eat the flesh” of the old man in the day of judgment “because as He is in this world, so are we” (1Jo 4:17). Christ has already told us that our new man will eat the carcass of our old man in this parable concerning “the coming of the Son of Man.”

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 [of our old man] is, there will the eagles [the new man, “the fowls of the heavens”, (Rev 19: 17)] be gathered together.

Knowing what the ‘heavens’ signify, let’s take another look at Psalm 19 and understand who it is who is “declaring the glory of God”:

Psa 19:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens [the Lord’s elect in whom He dwells, (1Co 3:15-16)] declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Psa 19:2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
Psa 19:3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Psa 19:4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Psa 19:5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
Psa 19:6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat [the fiery judgment] thereof.

Mat 9:14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
Mat 9:15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

So this angel is “a man” standing within Christ, our Lord, and in Him he is proclaiming these words to “the fowls of the heaven”:

Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

We just read that one of the fowls of the heaven has “healing in His wings.”

It is you and I who hear the invitation of the angels to come and eat the flesh of “all men” (Rev 19:18). “The flesh of all men” means ‘all men’ except those who were invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.  “The flesh of all men” signifies the second group here in the last part of this 19^th chapter. Those who are invited to the “marriage supper of the Lamb”  those of us who are being judged now in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). “The marriage supper of the Lamb”, referred to in the first half of this 19^th chapter, occurred a thousand years earlier at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ over the kingdoms of this world (Rev 11:15). We are given an invitation to “the marriage supper of the Lamb”, and it is we who are also invited to eat the flesh of all men “when the thousand years are expired (Rev 20:7), at “the supper of the great God.”

Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

This “marriage supper of the Lamb” is found in the first part of this 19^th chapter, and it concerns those who are raised to life (Joh 5:28-29).

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

The flesh must be overcome by the new man in this present age, and must be destroyed before we can enter into the kingdom of God, which kingdom is at this time within us.

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.

If it is true that “the kingdom of God is within you”, and it is also true that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, what this means for us now is that we all must spiritually “die daily” (1Co 15:31) to our own flesh, be “crucified with [Christ]” (Gal 2:20), and “present our bodies [as] a living sacrifice unto God” (Rom 12:1) in this present time (Rom 8:18). If we are granted to die daily in this age, then we will be granted to “eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all [men, both] free and bond, both small and great” at “the supper of the great king”, which also is called “the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death” (Rev 20:11-15).

Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all [ men, both] free and bond, both small and great.

There should be no doubt about who these “fowls of the heavens signify” because at this time “the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies,” along with “the false prophet… and the devil that deceived them” have all been “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.”

Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which [sword] proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls [the Lord’s elect] were filled with their flesh.

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 [also] cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

If indeed the beast and the false prophet, and the devil that deceived them, are all in the lake of fire, then these “fowls of the heaven” who are invited to consume their flesh have to be the Lord’s elect who are promised to “judge angels” in the lake of fire at the great white throne judgment as well as “things that pertain to this [physical] life”:

1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this [present] life?

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

We must realize that a thousand years earlier our carcasses were also devoured by “the eagles” which are also “the fowls of the heaven.” The destruction of our old man by “the brightness of [Christ’s] coming” in our lives, and “the eagles” gathered together to devour the carcass of our old man in this present time, “is the figure of” the consuming of the flesh of “kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great” (Rev 19:18), just as “the first man Adam” is “the figure of Him that was to come” (Rom 5:14). All the days we were being devoured in our blindness by the false prophets of Babylon were but the figure of our own consuming of the flesh of the beast, the false prophet and the multitudes who followed them.

The last half of this 19^th chapter of Revelation concerning “the supper of the great God” is but an introduction to the great white throne judgment which occupies the last half of chapter 20. Chapter 20, like chapters 7, chapter 14, and this chapter 19 are one and all contrasting the resurrection of life to the resurrection of judgment at the great white throne of God. I have never noticed all those parallels before, but they are very clear once you see them.

2) So who are these “fowls of the heaven” who are those who are being called to this “supper of the great God” to eat the flesh of the beast, the false prophet and their armies “and the flesh of all men”?

“All men” at this time are in the lake of fire, along with the beast, the false prophet, and the devil that deceived them. These “fowls of the heaven” are not the negative symbol of “the fowls [which] came and devoured [the sowers seeds] up (Mat 13:3-4). These “fowls of the heaven” are invited to eat all the flesh of  the beast, the false prophet, their horses and their armies. These “fowls of the heaven” are the only ones who are not “cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone” where the beast and the false prophet and the devil and his angels are also cast. If the devil and His angels are cast into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet and their armies, then there is no possible way that they are being bid to the supper of the great God to devour their own  flesh.

We must pause at this point and finish nailing down who the fowls of heaven are in our next study.

Malachi 4:1-6  Healing In His Wings

[Study Aired January 18, 2024]

Last week we looked at how John the baptist was the messenger of God who prepared the way of the Lord in the wilderness for Christ (Isa 40:3-5, Mat 3:1-3), as a type of the elect bride of Christ who will be prepared to receive her husband (Rev 19:7) in a moment and in a twinkling of an eye at the first resurrection (1Th 4:16-18). 

Mat 3:3  For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

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. 

Our life of overcoming in this flesh is a process that is explained by John himself who realized he must decrease and Christ must increase (Joh 3:30). In John’s mind, that was a very physical statement, as he was acknowledging the greatness of Christ in the earth (Joh 1:27), but for the elect it is an inward statement that we are blessed to contemplate as we think upon our hope of glory within, Jesus Christ, the treasure in earthen vessels (Col 1:27, 2Co 4:7), who increases in us by the growth that God gives, even as we decrease (1Co 3:6-8). 

The meek who inherit the earth are typified by John the baptist, and through Christ God’s elect become the generation who have no confidence in the flesh (Php 3:3  how that fleshly confidence is taken away Mat 24:34, Heb 12:6, Heb 5:8), while at the same time we don’t cast away our confidence in Christ, which has great recompense of reward (Heb 10:35), thanks to the faith of Christ that makes it possible for us to endure until the end in order to be saved in this age (Luk 22:31-32, Mat 24:13). That recompense of reward is to be the bride of Christ and to be blessed to inherit the earth as His bride (Mat 5:5, Oba 1:21, Gal 4:27), we being His inheritance and He ours (Eph 1:18-19, Psa 16:5-11).

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,

Psa 16:5  The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
Psa 16:6  The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
Psa 16:7  I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
Psa 16:8  I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Psa 16:9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

In this last chapter of Malachi, we’ll look at how all the prophets of old, including John, prophesied not to themselves but to us, the body of Christ (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11), and how Elias who had restored all things in his day, and John the baptist in his day, are all types and shadows of the true spiritual restoration which will come to the world through the church, of which Christ is the head (Eph 3:10, Col 1:18). Christ is our preeminent forerunner in all things (Col 1:18), and His body, the church, must fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24) identifying with this statement of Christ (Mar 9:12-13), being “accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Rom 8:36) who must supernaturally be armed with the mind of Christ, the faith of Christ to endure unto the end in order to be “more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Mar 9:12  And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.
Mar 9:13  But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.

[John coming in the spirit of Elias is a parable of how Christ came in the spirit of His father and how we are sent as Christ was sent with the same spirit (Joh 20:21, Joh 6:37, 1Jn 4:17) Whatever was restored was restored up to that point which God had intended according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). Christ went on to say that, with God’s holy spirit, the body of Christ would do greater works than what He had done, speaking of the spiritual restoration of those called and chosen in this age, and that which the body of Christ would do beyond this age as well (Joh 14:12)]

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:

Joh 14:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

This day “that shall burn as an oven” is referring to the day of our visitation, the day of the Lord for those who are being judged now (1Pe 4:17), and also referring to the lake of fire or great white throne judgment for those who will be judged then (Rev 20:14-15). 

Ultimately all the sin of the world will be washed by the blood of the lamb (Joh 1:29) and “all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble“, which represents all the sin of the world that God tells us “the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Those things are first burnt out of the elect so that their lives can be transformed and conform with Christ’s life (Rom 12:2). We are preserved through that judgment (Jud 1:1, 1Th 5:23) that takes away all of our false foundations that we all start off with in Babylon, represented by this statement – “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.“

Joh 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

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.

Jud 1:1  Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

Mar 4:24  And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.
Mar 4:25  For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch“

Jud 1:1  Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 
Php 2:15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Php 2:16  Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Mal 4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;^H3671 and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

It is the “Sun of righteousness” that bears us on eagle’s wings (Exo 19:4) causing us to “grow up as calves of the stall.” Christ represents the bullock in the offerings of the old covenant (Exo 29:14), and it is those who fear His name who will “grow up as calves of the stall” just as He grew up fearing God and was heard of Him “in that he feared” (Heb 5:7-8, Luk 12:5). 

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings^H3671, and brought you unto myself.

Exo 29:14  But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

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;

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

The bullock is taken without the camp to be burnt and when we go without the camp with Christ who is represented by that bullock and lay down our lives for each other, we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake (Col 1:24), a dying daily event of having no fear of what man can do to our flesh (Mat 10:28), but rather supernaturally going where our flesh does not want to go, even giving no thought in that hour what you shall speak, not even premeditating on it, because the Lord will be our strength and the holy spirit will give us what to speak in that hour as God makes “known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27, Joh 21:18-19, Mar 13:11-13). Christ has preeminence in fulfilling all these living sacrifices of the old covenant that represent what he has done for us, and because we partake of the life of Christ through our communion in him (1Co 10:16), we also can be strengthened as he was to go without the camp and fulfill God’s will in this life through those sacrifices. In other words carrying our cross and following Christ is what is preparing us for whatever God has set before us to His glory (1Jn 4:17, Heb 13:13-16).

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?

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:

Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
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.
Heb 13:16  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 

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?

Mal 4:3  And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

Christ is our strength, as the bullock within (Col 1:27) who gives us the power to “tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.” Like the bullock that is sacrificed without the camp and burnt until there is nothing left but ashes, so is our first Adamic life put off through a life time of much tribulation (Act 14:22) that burns up that wickedness, eventually, onto the third day (Luk 13:32), leaving “neither root nor branch” within our naturally carnal and desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9), to the point where we can overcome the wickedness of this world within and without and not be controlled any longer by our former conversation in the earth as we go without the camp with Christ (Eph 2:1-6).

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein 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:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
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:

The question always remains, “Who is doing this work within us?” As always, the answer never changes. It is Christ ‘the bullock’ working within us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure. If our eyes are set on the strength which God has promised He will give us through Christ, we will be more than conquerors through Him, and we will not grow weary in well doing (Gal 6:9-10) as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling knowing that it is Christ who is working in us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure in our lives (Php 2:12-13).

Gal 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Exo 29:14  But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure [Col 1:27, Joh 14:20].

Mal 4:4  Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Verse four of Malachi is juxtaposed against the last two verses. In verse four we’re told to “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant.” That is the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9) that does not change the heart, and all the “statutes and judgments” only typify a better covenant, the law of the spirit of life in Christ (Rom 8:2) which will be typified by the prophet Elijah whose life is a shadow of the life of God’s elect who have been called to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.”

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

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

The law was given in Horeb^H2722, a name that is typical of how the law cannot produce any good spiritual fruit in anyone’s life: [desolate ,  parch (through drought), that is, (by analogy) to desolate, destroy, kill: – decay, (be) desolate, destroy (-er), (be) dry (up), slay, X surely, (lay, lie, make) waste].

Horeb  H2722 chôrêb kho-rabe’

From H2717; desolate; Choreb, a (generic) name for the Sinaitic mountains: – Horeb.

Total KJV occurrences: 17

H2717 chârab    chârêb khaw-rab’, khaw-rabe’

A primitive root; to parch (through drought), that is, (by analogy) to desolate, destroy, kill: – decay, (be) desolate, destroy (-er), (be) dry (up), slay, X surely, (lay, lie, make) waste.

Total KJV occurrences: 40

The law was for all of Israel, which in this instance Israel typifies all the world that are under governors and tutors, under the schoolmaster, whether that schoolmaster is the ten commandments for Jews and Christians or the law unto themselves that gentiles are in the world (Rom 2:14-15). 

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Both parties are governed by law, but that law does not convert the heart of mankind. Rather it shows us how inadequate we are and incapable of our own selves to reflect a righteous spirit which can only come from God (Rom 7:13). Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags to God (Isa 64:6), and that will be revealed in time by God who creates this contrast for humanity so that in time we will all be able to “discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” within ourselves first and foremost (Mal 3:18).

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

What exactly is “the great and dreadful day of the LORD” in which Elijah the prophet will be sent just prior to its unfolding? The dreadful day of the LORD is the dreadful day when our old man is exposed by the brightness of Christ’s coming, nothing more and nothing less (2Th 2:2-13). Elijah typifies the spirit of God that comes into our lives to destroy that man of sin on the throne of our hearts preparing the way for the physical Christ in his case as oppose to these verses in Thessalonians that reveal a time when the holy spirit will convict those who God has given his spirit (Rom 8:9) so that they can be prepared for the return of Christ as His bride (Rev 19:7).

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:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
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.
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:

Mal 4:6  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

In the last verse of Malachi, we see the fruit of what Christ coming into our land produces (Isa 26:9), and it is an admonition for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear today that God is able to turn us to observe His truth (Joh 6:44). He is the one who turns the heart of the fathers to the children, meaning He gives us the desire and strength to labor in His word and continue in the truth (Joh 8:31-32). The doctrine is likened to seed and children, and if we are blessed to have a hunger and thirst for that word, we will continue to be drawn as disciples to Christ who alone can satiate that hunger and thirst for righteousness (Mat 5:6).

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. 

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

The father represents the head and Christ is our head, and if he is leading us he is turning us to God’s word “fathers to the children.” He is also using the church to receive those who are being dragged to Christ “children to their fathers“, and so Christ admonishes us to not just look to our own needs but to all the needs (Php 2:4) of the body as well and to receive the children as Christ did (Mat 18:10-14).

Php 2:4  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Mat 18:10  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. 
Mat 18:11  For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Mat 18:12  How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
Mat 18:13  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Mat 18:14  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

The children are drawn to the fathers, meaning to the mature among us, to the leaders, to the heads in the church, and our response must always be to support and love one another, bearing the infirmity of the weak, the young spiritually (Rom 15:1-3), and not taking for granted what it is that our Father is doing in His house (Heb 2:3, Heb 10:25).

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.

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

If we do not pay heed to this commandment, and to all of God’s commandments, it will be of the LORD as well, and He will “come and smite the earth with a curse” for our inattentiveness to what He is accomplishing within the body of Christ. If we are called and chosen and faithful to the end, that chastisement will only make us that much more zealous and capable through Christ to accomplish that which He has called us to in this age (Heb 12:6-7, Tit 2:11-12, Eph 2:8).

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?

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

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

God has already determined from the foundation of the world who it is that will be able to endure until the end of this age and find spiritual healing in this life via the “healing in his wings” (Mat 23:37, Gal 4:26), which typifies the life of Christ within them, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”

Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. [“even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings“]

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.

Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city [the church that says we will go to Jerusalem above where we are raised in heavenly places Lord willing], and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:[spiritual increase that comes from God alone (1Co 3:6-9)]
Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 
Jas 4:16  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil [Rom 3:27].

[Study Aired August 1, 2022]

Exo 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. 
Exo 19:2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. 
Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 
Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. 
Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 
Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 
Exo 19:7  And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. 
Exo 19:8  And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD. 
Exo 19:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. 
Exo 19:10  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, 
Exo 19:11  And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. 
Exo 19:12  And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: 
Exo 19:13  There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. 
Exo 19:14  And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. 
Exo 19:15  And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives. 
Exo 19:16  And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. 
Exo 19:17  And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 
Exo 19:18  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 
Exo 19:19  And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. 
Exo 19:20  And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 
Exo 19:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. 
Exo 19:22  And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them. 
Exo 19:23  And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 
Exo 19:24  And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them. 
Exo 19:25  So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them. 

Exodus chapter 19 is about the preparation needed to meet the Lord as the people of Israel encamped near Mount Sinai. Our walk in Christ here on this earth is exemplified by the journey taken by the people of Israel when they left Egypt. They experienced hunger at a certain point in their journey, and later they also were without water. These are all part of the process the Lord takes us through to become mature sons. This process of maturity through judgment is symbolized by three days. 

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.

Today’s study reveals what is required of us in order to meet the Lord. Internally, meeting the Lord means the Lord coming to us to judge us. This happens when we come to see that we are the beast!! That is when the Lord comes with His brightness to destroy the wicked one within us so that we learn righteousness.

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:

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

Outwardly, meeting the Lord will occur when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. That is when the purchased possession shall be redeemed.

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.

Exo 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. 
Exo 19:2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

It was in the third month that the people of Israel reached Mount Sinai after departing from Egypt. The number three means the process of spiritual completion or maturity through judgment.  The coming of the people of Israel to Mount Sinai was for the express purpose of meeting the Lord. Thus, our spiritual perfection will occur when we meet the Lord at the turn of a new age. As our Lord is, so are we. The Lord Jesus Christ was perfected when He resurrected from the dead. The first resurrection will result in the perfection of the saints.

1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 

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. 

Inwardly, our meeting of the Lord at Mount Sinai is when He comes with His judgment to destroy the old man or the flesh.

Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 
Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

It is when our eyes of understanding are enlightened, and our ears hear the words of the Lord, which is symbolized by Moses meeting the Lord on the mountain, that we begin to see how the Lord has been with us all along as He carried us on eagles’ wings to Himself. Eagles are very powerful birds that have great strength and are very caring parents. They protect their young with a high nest. Both parents bring food to the eaglets and teach them to fly. If an eaglet struggles in flight, a parent will swoop under the young bird and carry them, so they don’t fall.

Here in verse 4, the Lord compared His strength and power and His caring to that of an eagle. We may feel frail, powerless and not cared for in this life, but the good news is that our Lord’s strength and power is what is carrying us in this life to Himself – not ourselves. Are you weary? Are you weak and frail? Are you going through health or financial challenges that there is no end in sight? Receive the strength and power of the Lord in the name of Jesus!! May the Lord help you to lift up your eyes from your circumstances and look up to the hills, from whence comes your help!! He will bear you on eagles’ wings and bring you to Himself, Amen!

Psa 121:1  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 
Psa 121:2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 
Psa 121:3  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 
Psa 121:4  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 

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

Who are those who wait upon the Lord? They are those who have come to realize that of themselves they can do nothing and therefore focus on the mercies of the Lord. They are the ones the Lord will carry on eagles’ wings. That is when we can run and not be weary, walk and not faint!!

Psa 123:2  Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.

Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 
Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Being called and chosen is what qualifies us to become a peculiar treasure of the Lord above all people. How do we know that we are His peculiar treasure? When our eyes see and our ears hear, then we are blessed to be part of His peculiar treasure. The tribulation we all go through is all part of the process of possessing the kingdom of God or becoming part of His peculiar treasure. Being His peculiar treasure is the same as being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Our obedience will have to be complete to possess the kingdom of God. This is not the work of man. It is the work of God, and we have confidence that He who has started with us, will see to its completion!!

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: 
1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 

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:

Exo 19:7  And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. 
Exo 19:8  And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

When we start our walk with the Lord, we think we can obey the Lord by our own strength. This is all because of the false doctrine of us possessing our own will in our heavens. The Israelites also taught that to obey is within their means and so they unanimously told Moses that they will do all that the Lord commands. Let’s see what the Lord think about this assertion:

Deu 5:27  Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.
Deu 5:28  And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken.
Deu 5:29  O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

As we can see, in the eyes of the Lord, we do not have what it takes to obey Him. Our hardened hearts must be softened by His judgments before we can obey His voice.

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. 
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Psa 119:67  Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Exo 19:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. 

His coming to us in a thick cloud means Jesus coming to us is through His elect who are symbolized by the thick cloud of witnesses. In this dispensation, it is through us, His elect, that the Lord speaks to His people since we are Jesus whom the world is persecuting.

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 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 
Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 

Act 9:4  And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 
Act 9:5  And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Exo 19:10  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
Exo 19:11  And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

As we have indicated in previous studies, Moses represents Christ. It is the Lord who comes to us with the spirit of His mouth (His words) to sanctify us with His judgments. Sanctification means to be cleansed or purified. Jesus Christ is our sanctification.

1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

The whole process of being sanctified takes a symbolic three days. The first two days indicated here in verse 10 as today and tomorrow refer to our sanctification through judgment while we live in this tent of flesh. The third day is when we are perfected as we meet Christ face to face just as the Israelites were being sanctified to meet Christ on Mount Sinai on the third day. 

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

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: 

Washing our clothes in verse 10 is the same as making them white in the blood of the Lamb, which means being sanctified through Christ.

Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev 7:15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 

Rev 22:14  Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

As indicated, it is on the third day that we shall be perfected as we meet the Lord. This is what Paul said about this:

1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 
1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Exo 19:12  And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: 
Exo 19:13  There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. 

To understand why the Israelites were forbidden to go up the Mount and to touch the border of it except Moses, we need to know what the people of Israel represent and what Moses represents in these verses. On a negative note, the people of Israel represent Babylon, the mother of harlots. Moses on a positive note stands for the elect. It is the elect that have access to the Mountain of God or the presence of the Lord. Our brothers and sisters in Babylon are forbidden to go up the mountain of God or even to touch it. The reason they cannot come before the Lord or touch anything Holy is that they have been carried away by false doctrines, thus making them unable to eat at the altar.

Heb 13:9  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. 
Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

The attempt by our brothers and sisters in Babylon to come to the Lord, signified by the Israelites trying to come up the Mount, or touch it is met with death. This mountain of God represents the Lord’s dwelling which is our body. To come up the mountain or to touch the mountain is to touch us and therefore Christ who is the word. To Moses (the elect), the experience of meeting the Lord brings him to know the Lord through His words. To our brothers and sisters in Babylon, the experience of meeting the Lord (His words) brings darkness which brings them into spiritual death.

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 
Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

Exo 19:14  And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. 
Exo 19:15  And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

As we indicated earlier, Moses coming down to sanctify the people is Christ coming to us with His judgment to teach us righteousness as we wait for our perfection on the third day. In the twinkle of an eye, we shall be raised incorruptible from the dead. 

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

In verse 15, we are told that as part of sanctification, the people of Israel must not come at their wives. This is another way of saying that if we are to be sanctified, then we must leave Babylon, symbolized by wives. In other words, we must have no union with Babylon.

1Co 6:16  What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 
1Co 6:17  But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 

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.

Pro 7:10  And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 

Pro 7:17  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 

Pro 7:18  Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. 

Pro 7:21  With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 
Pro 7:22  He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 
Pro 7:23  Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.

Exo 19:16  And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. 
Exo 19:17  And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

Outwardly, the third day is when we redeem the purchased possession. That is when we shall be raised incorruptible.

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Here is what Apostle John has to say about this:

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.

Inwardly, meeting the Lord is when He comes with His judgments to destroy all that is within us that resists Christ from establishing His kingdom within us. As we are aware, thunder and lightning are all indications of His judgment of our old man or the beast within.

Exo 19:18  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 

Smoke is an indication of burning by fire. As the scriptures say, every man’s work shall be burnt. However, in this age, it is the elect that are being judged. All that is hay, stubble and wood shall be burned out of our lives when the Lord comes to us. As indicated, Mount Sinai represents figuratively the habitation of God which is our body. In order for Christ to come and live in His temple, it must be cleansed, and the smoke is an indication of the burning that is going on in our lives as we are being judged.

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 
1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, 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. 
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Exo 19:19  And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. 
Exo 19:20  And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 

When the Lord comes to us with His judgment, one significant result is that we end up hearing the voice of the Shepherd clearly as we come to understand more of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. This is what it means when the Israelites heard the voice of the trumpet sound louder and louder. As we are aware, the voice of the trumpet is the voice of Christ or His words.

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Outwardly, when we meet Him face to face we shall know Him fully.

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Exo 19:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. 
Exo 19:22  And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them. 
Exo 19:23  And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 
Exo 19:24  And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them. 
Exo 19:25  So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.

As we have observed earlier, the camp of the Israelites represents Babylon while Moses and Aaron represent the elect. This is made clear when the word of the Lord in Hebrews compared the camp of Babylon to that of the general assembly of the firstborn as follows:

Heb 12:18  For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Heb 12:19  And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 
Heb 12:20  (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 
Heb 12:21  And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 
Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

We thank the Lord for delivering us from Babylon and bringing us to the church of the firstborn. May He grant us the grace to know Him more as we go through the fiery trials marked out for us. Amen!!

Audio Links

Awesome Hands – part 66

“The remnant”

October 15, 2014

In our previous study covering Exodus 18, we covered the judges being setup of Israel. We covered what and who they represent scripturally, so now we are going to cover why this important event happened when it did.

We know that the timing of this event is important because the Lord has seen fit to place a time frame in the Word to tell us when this happens to us, spiritually speaking.

“In the third month”

Exo 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
Exo 19:2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

As was covered in the previous study, we are now at the “mountain of God”, the mount of Sinai. We’ve had judges set to judge, and now God wants to tell the house of Jacob something.

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.
Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

We just read that the Lord, in the third month, called for Moses from the mountain. The message the Lord has is that the children of Israel need to:

1. Remember what the Lord did to the Egyptians
2. Bared the Israelites on “eagles wings”
3. Brought them to Him

As a result of telling this to the house of Jacob, the Lord goes on to tell them to “obey His voice and keep His covenant”. If they keep the covenant they will be a:

1. A peculiar people above all people
2. A kingdom of priests
3. A holy nation

Do you think it is important to “name it and claim it”? In other words, do you think it is important to recognize our calling in the Lord and call it as it is?

How did the Lord bring “them”, the Israelites to Him? It was on eagle’s wings. Why is that important?

Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

I realize there is much symbolism in the verses above, so I am going to give brief descriptions of them so that we can see what being “bared on eagles wings” by the Lord is all about.

So, we have a lot of symbols which I am going to list now. I am following a similar pattern which was used by Mike a long time ago when he wrote an email response to a question which pertained to these verses.

I am not going to list the same exact things, but I will use the same method to lay these spiritual symbols out in a visually easy to understand way.

In the verses above we see:

1. Heavens and those dwelling there
2. Inhabiters of the earth and sea
3. Devil with great wrath
4. Dragon persecuting the woman
5. Woman bringing forth the man child
6. Woman with two great eagle wings
7. Time, times and half a time
8. Water as a flood
9. Earth opening up her mouth to swallow the flood
10. War made with the “remnant of her seed” who keep the commandments of God and have the Spirit of Prophesy, the testimony of Jesus

I think you will agree that there is a lot of spiritual symbolism being spoken here. Do not be dismayed because all of these symbols will actually work to prove to us (those given to “see” and “hear”), without doubt, that we are talking about a particular event.

Remember, we are going to relate this to the story we see unfolding in Exodus 19 when Moses is called to tell the Israelites the “words of the Lord” of which they are to obey. This is RIGHT AFTER judges have been set to judge Israel.

We see opposite factions being described with these symbols so we need to identify the different parties involved so that we can determine who it is that rides on eagle wings.

We see those that dwell in the heavens versus those that inhabit the earth and sea. We see devil with great wrath and the dragon persecuting the woman. The devil and the dragon are on and the same as defined in chapter 12 earlier.

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

So the woman is persecuted but that woman is also bringing forth the “man”. “Child” is not in the text.

So, it is at the time that the woman is being persecuted with the great wrath of the dragon that the Lord gives her eagle wings to do what? She is given these wings to flee into the wilderness.

“Bare you on eagles wings”

If we connect Exodus 19:4 with Revelation, then we will start to see a pattern in WHO it is we are describing.

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

The Lord sends Satan to do all the work that the devil needs to accomplish. In the case of the Israelites, the Pharaoh persecuted them with his wrath due to what the Lord has put on his heart and mind. He believed if he didn’t get the Israelites under control they would become greater than Egypt and take over.

We then know the Israelites fled into the wilderness where we now see them being given the commandments of the Lord.

This is a simple question, but what is the PURPOSE of the commandments of God? What do those commandments accomplish?

Those commandments are used to sift those who will obey them from those who will not. Those commandments are used to make a comparison between those who love God and those who DO NOT.

The real kicker is that we do not get to define love. We do not get to say “we love God”, God is my Lord, OUTSIDE OF keeping His commandments.

2Jn 1:6  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1Jn 3:10  IN THIS the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
1Jn 3:11  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

How is it that we know we are DOING the righteousness of God and LOVING our brother? We are not permitted, YEA we are NOT COMMANDED, to define these terms on our own. These terms like righteousness and love are defined for us.

1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe ON THE NAME of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

Gal 5:14  For  ALL THE LAW is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Is it not becoming clear? We cannot say we love God or our neighbor by our own definitions.

We are to BELIEVE ON THE NAME of His Son Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus Christ is not an English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Latin, Greek or Hebrew name we speak with our physical tongue.

The name of Jesus Christ is THE WORK the Son of God came to do. He brought doctrine and He said to DO IT.

2Jn 1:6  And this is love, that we  WALK AFTER his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should WALK IN IT.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

Mat 7:20  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that WORK INIQUITY.
Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

So again I ask a simple question, but what is the PURPOSE of the commandments of God? What do those commandments accomplish?

The commandments accomplish separating the goats from the sheep. They accomplish who will REMAIN on/in the earth, being seed of their father the devil or seed of the Father in Heaven, the remnant.

The woman can easily be seen as the “house of Jacob,” the Israelites, in this story. It is OUT OF the house of Jacob that a remnant is chosen.

Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

It was water that was used to baptize those who walked through the Red Sea. It is water that baptized those crossing the river Jordan.

It was water that was used to SEPARATE the “seed of God” from the “seed of the serpent” as was seen with the great flood that Noah and his family experienced.

It is the earth which helps the woman, but after the earth helps the woman the dragon focuses his attention on remnant of the seed.

The dragon has no use for the woman any longer once the remnant of her seed comes forth and keeps the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus.

Those that are called, which this “woman” represents, are those that GO BACK to their carnal ways, GO BACK to the “earth, earth, earth” where Satan walks “to and fro” seeking whom he may devour.

The “remnant of the seed” represents those who are chosen to keep the commandments of God.

All of this has been stated to set the foundation for the rest of Exodus 19.

Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

For a time, the Lord calls us out of Egypt and Babylon. He bares us all on eagles wings to be brought into the wilderness.

It is easy to say “come out of her my people” and have no clue what that means in scripture. When you evaluate what we are being called “out of” or from, it is to be called into the wilderness to move forward with KEEPING the commandments of God.

As we have seen in scriptures listed, Love is not something we can define outside of scripture. Anyone that is sins is of the seed of the devil, and sin is in us all.

Since we are told to believe on the name of the Son Jesus we can confidently conclude that whatsoever is not of Faith is sin.

So then, the end conclusion is that Faith accompanies DOING the WORK and WILL of God. Without the “WORKING OUT” and walking out of “keeping His commandments”, your FAITH is DEAD.

Jas 2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Jas 2:26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Where this leads us is to desiring to know what is it we are to obey. In the story of Exodus 19, this is the very next step the Lord brings us to.

Moses called for the elders of the people and laid before their faces the words of the Lord which has been commanded Moses. Then as a reply, the people answer and said they would do them all.

Exo 19:7  And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
Exo 19:8  And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

Here then starts the judgment of the Lord on the “words out of their own mouths”.

Exo 19:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.
Exo 19:10  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
Exo 19:11  And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

Does this not yell out symbolism to the reader and hearer of these words?

The Lord is going to come in a thick cloud to speak to the people so that Moses will be believed forever. The word used here as thick conveys the idea of a dark cloud versus a white or light cloud. A thick cloud brings judgment.

The Lord instructs Moses to tell the people to prepare themselves for the “third day” when He comes.

Did you notice the Lord says He will sanctify the people today and tomorrow and that they are to WASH their clothes?

We are all washed in the blood of the Lamb if we are His but that DOES NOT mean there is not the “keeping of His commandments” to live out.

Being called is not enough. Being chosen is not enough. Being called, chosen and full of Faith is what those who rule with Jesus are all about.

As was pointed out earlier, Faith is accompanied with WORKS.

“Why call me Lord, Lord and do NOT the things which I say”.

In the next study, we are going to finish chapter 19 of Exodus and build upon the premise that those the Lord is going to count as the faithful seed are those who listen diligently unto the words of the Lord and DO THEM.

Deu 28:1  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
Deu 28:2  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.