Gemstones: The Anointed Cherub in Eden: Understanding Ezekiel 28 – Part 1

[Study Aired December 30, 2025]

Introduction

Ezekiel 28 stands among the most layered and spiritually demanding passages in all of Scripture. Though often approached as a historical prophecy against the rulers of ancient Tyre, the chapter itself presses far beyond the limits of earthly kingship. It begins with a judgment against the prince of Tyre—a man whose heart was lifted up in pride—and then moves to a lamentation over the king of Tyre, described in language that transcends any merely human ruler. This second figure is said to have been in Eden, clothed with precious stones, anointed as a covering cherub, walking in the midst of stones of fire. Such language demands a spiritual reading, for it cannot be satisfied by historical circumstance alone.

Scripture instructs us that spiritual truths are not discerned by the natural mind, nor are eternal realities confined to what is outwardly seen:

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)

For this reason, Ezekiel 28 must be approached according to the pattern Scripture itself establishes—precept upon precept, line upon line, allowing God’s Word to interpret God’s Word:

“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” (Isaiah 28:10)

When read in this way, the passage reveals not the fall of a celestial being (Satan), but a divinely ordered pattern concerning humanity itself. The king of Tyre is presented as an archetypal figure, describing man as he was created—complete for purpose, adorned with glory, yet natural and subject to vanity. This condition was not the result of an unforeseen failure, but of God’s sovereign design.

The apostle Paul states this plainly:

“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.” (Romans 8:20)

Humanity was created in a natural, earthy state—full of beauty and wisdom, yet vulnerable to pride and self-exaltation. This was not a fall from spiritual perfection, but the necessary first stage in God’s redemptive purpose. As Scripture declares, “that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Corinthians 15:46).

Ezekiel 28 therefore serves as a revelation of this divine process. It exposes the nature of the first man, the carnal mind, and the pride inherent in external glory. At the same time, it points forward to God’s solution—judgment not unto destruction, but unto transformation; fire not to annihilate, but to refine; and the ultimate purpose of conforming humanity to the image of Christ, the Last Adam.

This study will examine the imagery of Eden, precious stones, gold, judgment, and the anointed cherub within the full witness of Scripture. By tracing these patterns from the Law to the Prophets and into their fulfillment in Christ, we will see that Ezekiel 28 reveals God’s wisdom in creating man natural, judging him righteously, and transforming him spiritually—bringing forth sons conformed to the image of His Son.

The Prince and King: Two Distinct Judgments

Ezekiel 28 deliberately separates its prophecy into two distinct addresses: one directed to the prince of Tyre and another to the king of Tyre. This distinction is essential, for the language, scope, and spiritual depth of each passage differ markedly. The prophet is not merely repeating himself; he is unveiling two related but distinct aspects of judgment—one temporal and one archetypal.

The judgment against the prince of Tyre addresses a man operating within the realm of earthly power. God declares:

“Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God.” (Ezekiel 28:2)

Here, the emphasis is unmistakable: “thou art a man, and not God.” The prince represents human authority exercised in pride, wisdom corrupted by self-exaltation, and confidence rooted in prosperity rather than dependence upon God. His claim to divinity is not expressed through theology, but through posture— “I sit in the seat of God.” This is the carnal mind enthroning itself.

The prince’s wisdom, trade, and wealth become the instruments of his deception. His success persuades him that he is self-sufficient, blurring the boundary between creature and Creator. Scripture consistently identifies this progression: wisdom producing increase, increase fostering self-trust, and self-trust culminating in exaltation of self as God.

This pattern appears elsewhere in Scripture, most notably in the prophetic language spoken against Babylon:

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven… I will be like the most High.” (Isaiah 14:13–14)

It also finds expression in the apostolic warning concerning the man of sin:

“So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4)

Scripture defines that temple clearly:

“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you…?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

The prince of Tyre therefore represents the old man—the carnal nature enthroned within the human vessel, asserting autonomy, wisdom, and authority apart from God. This is not merely a political problem; it is a spiritual condition shared by all humanity in its natural state.

God’s judgment upon the prince reflects this reality:

“Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee… and they shall defile thy brightness.” (Ezekiel 28:7)

The very wisdom and splendour that elevated the prince become the means of his humiliation. His judgment takes place “in the midst of the seas,” a phrase Scripture interprets as peoples and multitudes (Revelation 17:15). He is brought down through the same system that once exalted him, revealing the futility of human glory rooted in commerce, influence, and self-rule.

The prophecy then shifts. No longer does God address the prince, but now commands a lamentation for the king of Tyre. The language immediately moves beyond earthly categories:

“Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God…” (Ezekiel 28:12–13)

Unlike the prince, the king is not addressed merely as a ruler among nations. He is placed in Eden. He is clothed with precious stones. He is described as created, anointed, and set by God. These details cannot be confined to a historical monarch, nor do they describe a contemporary political authority. The scope has expanded.

The transition from prince to king marks a movement from manifest pride to origin, from outward rule to inward condition, from present authority to foundational identity. The king of Tyre represents not a specific man, but man as he was created—humanity in its original, natural state, adorned with glory yet vulnerable to corruption.

Where the prince shows what the carnal mind becomes when exalted, the king reveals what the carnal nature is, even before judgment manifests openly. Together, the two figures form a complete picture: the prince displays the fruit, the king reveals the root.

This twofold structure is not accidental. It allows Scripture to reveal both the operation of pride in time and the origin of that pride in creation. The prince is judged for what he does; the king is lamented for what he is. The former is temporal and visible; the latter is archetypal and foundational.

Understanding this distinction is essential. Without it, Ezekiel 28 collapses into confusion. With it, the passage unfolds as a coherent revelation of humanity’s condition—created natural, elevated in beauty, corrupted through pride, and destined for judgment that leads not to annihilation, but to transformation.

The Anointed Cherub in Eden: Created Natural, Not Fallen

The lamentation over the king of Tyre introduces language that immediately transcends the realm of historical kingship. The figure described is said to have been in Eden, adorned with precious stones, created by God, and anointed as a covering cherub. Such imagery cannot be confined to a Phoenician ruler, nor does it describe a political office. Instead, Scripture draws our attention back to origins—to creation itself.

“Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God…” (Ezekiel 28:12–13)

These words describe completeness, beauty, and divine placement. Yet they also describe a created being—one brought forth by God, not eternal, not self-existent. The text states plainly that this figure was created, and that what followed unfolded according to God’s sovereign purpose.

For centuries, this passage has been misapplied to a supposed fall of Satan from heaven. However, Scripture itself does not support such a narrative. Christ declared unequivocally concerning the devil:

“He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth.” (John 8:44)

The adversary was not righteous and then corrupted; he was a murderer from the beginning. Likewise, God declares:

“I have created the waster to destroy.” (Isaiah 54:16)

These statements dismantle the idea of a pristine spiritual being who fell into evil. Instead, Scripture presents creation as proceeding according to divine intent, with each element formed for its purpose—including those instruments used in judgment and testing.

The anointed cherub in Ezekiel 28 therefore does not represent a fall from spiritual perfection, but humanity as it was created—complete for purpose, yet natural. Paul explains this foundational truth:

“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.” (Romans 8:20)

Humanity did not choose this condition; it was imposed by God Himself, and it was imposed in hope. The condition of vanity was not a curse resulting from divine failure, but a necessary stage in God’s redemptive design.

This is further clarified by the order Scripture establishes between the natural and the spiritual:

“Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 15:46)

The first man was created natural—earthy, visible, temporal. He was not created immortal, incorruptible, or spiritually complete. He was created fit for purpose as the first Adam.

The word translated “perfect” in Ezekiel 28:15 is the Hebrew tamim, meaning complete, whole, or sound. It does not mean morally flawless or spiritually finished. It describes something fully formed for its intended function. Adam was perfect in this sense—fully equipped as the natural man, lacking nothing required of the first creation. Yet that very completeness included susceptibility to pride, self-exaltation, and corruption.

This explains the statement:

“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” (Ezekiel 28:15)

The iniquity was not implanted later by accident, nor did it arise from an unforeseen rebellion. It was found—brought to light, made manifest—according to God’s purpose. As Paul explains, creation was subjected to this condition so that deliverance might follow.

David acknowledged this reality when he wrote:

“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5)

This is not a lament over inherited guilt from a fallen perfection, but an acknowledgement of humanity’s natural condition from the beginning. We are formed earthy, subject to corruption, dependent upon God for transformation.

The anointed cherub in Eden therefore represents humanity in its original state—placed in proximity to God’s glory, adorned with beauty and wisdom, yet natural and incomplete with respect to spiritual life. This condition was not an error to be corrected, but a foundation upon which God would build something greater.

Scripture confirms that the natural was never meant to remain:

“The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:47)

Ezekiel 28 reveals this pattern in prophetic form. The cherub is created, adorned, and set by God—yet destined to pass through judgment, fire, and humbling so that what is natural might give way to what is spiritual. The passage does not describe a cosmic accident, but a divinely ordered process leading from the first Adam to the Last.

The Divine Pattern of Precious Stones: From Twelve to Nine to Twelve

The precious stones described in Ezekiel 28 are not ornamental details added for poetic effect. Scripture consistently uses stones as identifiers of people, covenantal order, and spiritual structure. When the stones of Ezekiel 28 are examined alongside the Law and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, a deliberate and progressive pattern emerges—one that reveals God’s purpose in moving humanity from the natural to the spiritual.

This pattern appears in three primary scriptural settings:

1. The high priest’s breastplate
2. The anointed cherub in Eden
3. The foundations of the New Jerusalem

Each setting reveals a different stage in God’s redemptive work.

The High Priest’s Breastplate — Twelve Stones Set in Gold

Under the Law, the high priest bore a breastplate containing twelve precious stones, each engraved with the name of a tribe of Israel:

“And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings” (Exodus 28:17-20).

These stones were not free-standing; they were set in gold. The tribes were carried before God externally, upon the breastplate, mediated through priestly service. This arrangement represents Israel after the flesh—chosen, ordered, and adorned, yet still natural and dependent upon an external system of righteousness.

The numerical pattern is instructive. Twelve stones combined with gold (13) form a composite picture that Scripture elsewhere associates with rebellion and insufficiency. Israel served twelve years, but rebelled in the thirteenth (Genesis 14:4). The flesh, even when placed within a divinely appointed structure, cannot bring forth spiritual life. External glory does not resolve internal corruption.

The breastplate therefore reveals the limitation of outward religion: beauty without transformation, order without life.

The Anointed Cherub in Eden — Nine Stones and Gold

The description of the anointed cherub introduces a significant change:

“Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.” (Ezekiel 28:13)

Unlike the breastplate, only nine stones are named. Gold is still present, but no longer merely as a setting—it stands alongside the stones. This shift is deliberate.

Throughout Scripture, the number nine is consistently associated with judgment, completeness of testimony, and chastening. The pre-flood patriarchs lived into their nine hundreds and then died. Israel was judged after nine years under Hosea (2 Kings 17). Judgment reaches its fullness before transition occurs.

Here, nine stones plus gold form a new composite picture: completion of the natural man (10) under judgment (9). This is no longer rebellion through external religion, but refinement through exposure and testing. Gold, representing what is of God, is no longer merely framing the stones; it is being refined with them.

This corresponds precisely with Scripture’s teaching:

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth… For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:6, 10-11).

The anointed cherub is not glorified; he is being prepared. The stones serve as covering, but that covering is temporary. Judgment is underway, to begin the destruction of the carnal mind and to bring the natural man to completion so that transformation may follow.

“It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:1-8)

The Foundations of the New Jerusalem — Twelve Stones Alone

The final appearance of precious stones occurs in Revelation:

“And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst” (Revelation 21:19-20).

Here, twelve stones appear once more—but with a crucial distinction. They are no longer a covering. They are no longer set in gold. They are foundations.

The text explains their identity:

“And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:14)

This is no longer Israel after the flesh, nor humanity under judgment. This is the completed spiritual structure—God’s dwelling place with man. The divine nature once symbolized by gold has been fully internalized. There is no external framework because no separation remains.

The progression is unmistakable:

Breastplate: Stones externally set in gold

Cherub: Stones serving as temporary covering alongside gold

City: Stones themselves become the foundation

What was external becomes internal. What was decorative becomes structural. What once adorned now supports.

The Pattern Reveals God’s Purpose

This progression reveals God’s intent from the beginning. Humanity was never meant to remain externally adorned but internally transformed. The natural man must pass through judgment so that the divine nature may be fully integrated.

Paul describes this transformation plainly:

“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The stones of Ezekiel 28 therefore belong to a process, not a final state. They testify that God works through stages—natural glory, judgment, and spiritual completion. The anointed cherub stands between the breastplate and the city, between shadow and substance, between the first Adam and the Last.

This pattern prepares us for what follows: the role of judgment, fire, and refinement in bringing forth what is eternal.

Gold: The Divine Element Through Judgment

Gold occupies a unique place in Scripture. Unlike base metals, it does not corrode, decay, or lose its substance under pressure. For this reason, gold consistently represents what is most precious, enduring, and incorruptible in God’s sight. When Scripture speaks of gold in connection with fire, it is revealing not destruction, but refinement.

The first mention of gold establishes this principle:

“And the gold of that land is good.” (Genesis 2:12)

Gold is declared “good” not because it is untouched by fire, but because it can endure fire without being consumed. This enduring quality makes gold an apt symbol of what is of God—what remains when all that is corruptible is removed.

God’s law reveals how purification works:

“Only the gold, and the silver… everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean.” (Numbers 31:22–23)

Fire does not destroy gold; it exposes and removes what is not gold. This principle governs God’s work in humanity. Judgment is not arbitrary punishment but a necessary process through which what is false is consumed and what is true is revealed.

The prophets consistently describe God’s judgment in these terms:

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God” (Zechariah 13:9)

“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: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:2–3)

The fire of God is purposeful, measured, and redemptive. It is applied not to annihilate, but to prepare a people capable of offering righteousness.

This refining fire is not external only; it works inwardly. Peter makes this clear:

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:7-9)

Faith itself is refined through trial, just as gold is refined through heat. The outward affliction corresponds to an inward transformation.

This is precisely the context in which gold appears in Ezekiel 28. Gold is listed alongside the precious stones of the anointed cherub—not as ornamentation, but as an element undergoing refinement. The cherub’s judgment culminates in a striking declaration:

“Therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee; it shall devour thee.” (Ezekiel 28:18)

The fire originates from within. This is not foreign destruction imposed from without, but internal purification. The same principle appears in the apostolic witness:

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:13)

The fire tests works, not identity. What cannot endure is consumed; what is of God remains. Even when loss occurs, salvation is not negated:

“If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:14-15)

Judgment, then, is not God’s abandonment of the creature, but His commitment to transformation. It is the means by which pride is humbled, self-exaltation is burned away, and true substance is revealed.

This is why Christ counsels the church of Laodicea:

“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire.” (Revelation 3:18)

The church lacked nothing outwardly, yet possessed nothing enduring inwardly. Gold tried in fire is not acquired through prosperity or knowledge, but through submission to God’s refining work.

The anointed cherub’s experience reflects this same reality. The gold that once adorned now enters the fire. What was external is drawn inward. What was merely covering is tested to determine what can endure.

God’s judgment is therefore not contrary to His love; it is the expression of it:

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.” (Hebrews 12:6)

The purpose is not punishment, but participation—“that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). Fire produces purity, and purity prepares for communion.

Gold, when refined, loses nothing of its nature—only what was never truly gold. Likewise, judgment removes what is carnal, leaving what is of God intact. Through this process, the natural man reaches completion, making way for spiritual transformation.

The fire that refines gold is the same fire that prepares living stones to become a spiritual house. It is the fire that consumes pride, trafficked religion, and self-will, while revealing faith, obedience, and truth. This refining work stands at the center of God’s purpose, bridging the natural and the spiritual, the first Adam and the Last.

Audio Download – Part 2

The Book of Amos – Chapter 1:2-15, 2:1-3

“Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions and for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof”

[Aired November 9 and 16, 2024]

In the Introductory Study of Amos 1:1, we come to understand that our symbolic Richter Scale earthquake, rated at a symbolic 10 and multiplied by 10 for each digital increment, releases a 31-fold increase in incremental energy and correspondingly represents a catastrophic emotional event impacting our Old Man of flesh spiritually. This earthquake will shake us with such spiritual violence that it will symbolically liquefy the Old Man, rendering it impossible to piece back together. (The phenomenon of liquefication happens when the ground’s foundation has subterranean saturation, yet with a honeycomb-like relatively solid structure, and when it is shaken violently in an earthquake, all layers combine and literally turn to slop, as happened in Mexico City in 1985. For us, the focus is on it not being possible for us to be reformed in our original evil shape ever again, whether crushed, dashed, liquified or shaken).

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

Psa 22:14  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels [That is Christ’s prophesied experience of being ‘spilt on the ground’ that resulted in him never to be re-formed in the flesh, yet never ‘expelled from the Father’].
Psa 22:15  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

There is tremendous spiritual significance in the way the holy spirit inspired Amos to identify our sins,  aligning us with Egypt, Sodom, Old Jerusalem, Syria and finally, all represented as Babylon. They all cryptically represent Amos’s first six cities and countries he uses, neighbouring Israel symbolically as one replicated in the seventh and eighth, Judah and Israel, where our Lord was crucified (Rev 11:8). They represent the land of our flesh and all that is in the world who cannot inherit the Kingdom and will, in their own time and order, bow down and serve the Christ, the first and last new man.

The Book of Amos is a parallel to John’s astonishment and bitter tribulation of not understanding his ‘little book’ in Revelations that translates to our even greater astonishment for being given the Keys to the Kingdom to understand those tribulations of John’s and keep those revelations given to us, the Seven Churches of Asia (Rev 1:9-20).

The first six nations and cities Amos identified represent our basest of natures in our Old Man of flesh. They are broadly distinguished as Ammonites or Moabites, which Deuteronomy 23:3 covers as “any of their descendants“, meaning Egypt, Sodom, Esau, and Old Jerusalem. They are all exposed as Babylon the Great.

Deu 23:3  No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
Deu 23:4  For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
Deu 23:5  Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you [through chastisements].
Deu 23:6 Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
Deu 23:7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.
Deu 23:8 The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.

These verses powerfully express that we are Christ’s spiritual works in progress, ‘we are begotten of them‘, evolving into the New Adam, becoming the embodiment of Christ. We must reflect on our history from Egypt to understand our present and drive future transformation toward becoming precisely Christ under his headship. Consequently…

There are a total of 8 occurrences only appearing in scripture in Amos saying, “For three transgressions… and for four“. The first concerns 6 symbolic Gentile Christian nations within and, finally, her 2 treacherous sisters, supposedly the Lord’s righteous priestly tribes, particularly Judah, yet in collaboration with Israel. They all point to our physical journey to becoming Christ with its accompanying final and violent spiritual earthquake of spiritual understanding.

In this study, all eight of Amos’s listed ethnicities, cities, and nations can symbolise the Seven Churches of Asia since they all, by their precise number, with Judah and Israel as one added to the Gentile six, parallel our transition from the Old Man to the New Man in Christ. Without the holy spirit, they all epitomise itemised aspects of our thorn of unconquered flesh. Geographically, none of them parallels the Seven Churches of Asia in Revelations, particularly since Edom, Ammon, and Moab were nowhere near them; in fact, their origins directly depict Esau and Ishmael and thus more poignantly emphasise our Old Man of the flesh in Esau despising his birthright and dwelling in dry places of spiritual desolation. Nonetheless, Amos’s eight nations directly correspond to the Seven Churches of Asia in Rev 1:4.

Amos’ listed nations:

GENTILES:

DAMASCUS—Southern Syrian Empire. Very prosperous on the crossroads between Mesopotamia-Syria. Not bordering, yet East of the Sea of Galilee. 

GAZA—The land of the Philistines on the Mediterranean Sea coast West of Judah. 

TYRUS—On the Mediterranean Sea coast, relatively close to Jerusalem. Tyrus is another name for the strongly fortified city of Tyre noted for trade and luxurious excess.

EDOM—Edom, Ammon, and Moab were East-Southeast of the Dead Sea and all strongly connected to Esau. 

AMMON   

MOAB  

JEWS:

JUDAH—The treacherous Priests and incipient Elect of God.

ISRAEL—The chosen but not the Elect of God.

Provocatively, the “Seven Churches of Asia“, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, are all north of old Israel and Amos’s list of Gentile nations, indicating that judgment will come from the north upon our old man Israel and Judah in the south. (Isa 41:25. Jer 1:14. 4:6. 6:1. 6:22. 13:20. 46:20. Eze 1:4. Dan 11:24).

Intriguingly, Amos’s eight ethnic groups fit into God’s plan for the salvation of humanity. The first six represent the man of flesh, and the last two, Judah and Israel, illustrate Gentile Flesh by portraying in spiritual order Judah, the Temple and Priests on the Sabbath Day and the number seven, and Israel characterising the Court, the last man of perdition of the Seven but is the Eighth. Through the Seventh and Eighth Old Man, Christ is making the two, being the house of Israel, ONE New Man in him.

Eze 3:7  But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Eze 3:8  Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
Eze 3:9  As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

The Lord’s Elect have been given to likewise have flinty faces against our formally impudent ways within and to not be dismayed at the inevitable hatred of our fleshy households who are yet blind (Mat 10:34-39).

Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains [Nations within and depicted by Amos’s Seven Nations], on which the woman [The Great Whore – you and I] sitteth.

Where the Whore sits is you and I, who is of the Eighth nation, the self-righteous man with the spirit of a different Jesus first physically represented as one in Judah (Jew) and Israel (Gentile). 

Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11  And the beast [You and I] that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition [meaning to be destroyed].

Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. 

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, [Jew and Gentile made on spiritual man in Christ] so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Following is a close quote from Mike Vinson. And since we are all, as “one” in Christ, heartily agree and speak the same thing:

“The positive application of the number ‘8’ is the new man who is resurrected on the 8th day, which happens to be the first day of the week when Christ was resurrected. If our names are written in the Book of Life, we will understand how it is possible for us to “ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition, and through that experience of evil (Ecc 1:13), go on to become “the eighth… the new man”, made into the very image of Christ. All things are ours, including being that man of perdition who goes ahead of our Gentile Brothers and is raised on our eighth day. The rest of humanity gets raised on their eighth day at the end of the GWTJ. The word ‘eighth’ has both a positive and a negative application.”[He] who knew no sin [said] why to call ye me good, there is none good but God” (2Co 5:21 and Mat 19:17).

The scriptures tell us:

2 Th 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 [Greek, 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:

That wicked be[ing] revealed” is “the man of sin be[ing] revealed [as] the son of perdition,” as verse three makes very clear:

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;

“That man of sin” is “the eight [which] is of the seven and goes into perdition” in the negative application of this word, ‘eighth’. The Elect do not escape being the man of perdition; we ARE OF THE EIGHT. We are part of the 7, the whole of mankind who goes into perdition and results in coming out the other end as the eighth. The negative application of the word ‘eighth’ is that we are decaying flesh, and thus we have this treasure in earthen vessels, in earnest, and our Lord Himself, “who knew no sin”, said, “Why call ye me good, there is none good but one, that is God” makes that point. Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. Christ was in human form as a beast. In that form, He was the negative application of “the eighth”. His flesh and blood could not inherit the Kingdom of God any more than our’s can, and while His flesh did not see corruption, it was “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, from flesh to spirit, with the ability to pass from one realm to the other at will. That is the positive application of “the eighth… the new man” who will not go into perdition while “the eight [which] is of the seven… goes into perdition” because “there is none good but one, that is God”. 

Remember that even around the throne of God, we are still called ‘seraphim’, serpents (Isa 6:2), and ‘beasts’ in the positive application of those words. The negative ‘eighth’ ‘beast’ goes into perdition, while the positive ‘eighth’ ‘beast’ becomes the new man in “the redemption of the purchased possession”. (Eph 1:14) The ‘dark as night “to them”, and “light by night day to these” nature of the Word of God:

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God [His Word], 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.” [Mike. End] 

The Elect of God is first granted a profound spiritual awakening, that can be referred to as their “earthquake,” that dramatically causes them to realise that they are given to go ahead of their brothers to learn righteousness, just as Christ did for them. Consequently, the Elect are first to perceive themselves as the man of perdition, who escapes from Babylon and is presented to Christ as His Bride immediately before the Seventh Day, which is represented as the One Thousand-Year reign with the rod of iron. This divine understanding is part of their magnificent and powerful “earthquake” of glorious truth.

Eph 1:9  And He has made known to us [in order of his very Elect] the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ
Eph 1:10  as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.
Eph 1:11  In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
Eph 1:12  in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. 
Eph 1:13  And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised holy spirit, 
Eph 1:14  who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

Significations

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

Amo 1:2  And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. 

For the Israelites, through unbelief their initially unseen ‘earthquake’ comes in the form and outward reality of Amos and his compatriot prophets prophesying Israel and Judah’s sequential exile into slavery; unwittingly, their slave masters are already enslaved to their heathen ways. Interestingly, the first six prophecies of Amos identify with her neighbours, deemed Gentiles outside of the Camp of Israel, whose heathen ways spiritually align with ours in our journey to becoming the New Adam in Christ.

In scriptural terms, there are only two groups of people, and those two groups are Jews and Gentiles. In their own order of utter demolition, and later spiritually beginning at the Temple of God, symbolised by Judah, the Lord spiritually roars from Zion with his voice from the heavenly Jerusalem in the form of a vessel-shattering ‘earthquake’ of spiritual understanding. The “shepherds’ of Judah represent the Priests of God, his Bride, today. Descending in the order of ruination is Israel, represented by the Court. Because of Israel’s God-given harlot ways, she is included with the Gentiles. Hence, there are only two groups of people. Physical Judah is last to be exiled and the new spiritual Jews, the Elect become the first.

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city [The Priests; the Two Witnesses: the Bride’s ministery] shall they tread under foot forty and two months [or 3.5 years; “forty and two months” – Rev 22:3]

The phrase “For three transgressions of…, and for four” in Amos 2 refers to the judgment that extends on the six nations from Damascus to Moab and into the seventh of Judah and Israel. The six nations highlight the sins of neighbouring Gentile nations outside the Camp of Israel, yet our Lord sees them as being equal with Israel, inwardly reflecting the Elect’s failings. The Lord will not withhold His punishment from us due to these unique yet relatable sins manifested by these six ethnic groups. Both groups of Jews and Gentiles experience one event for the same symbolised timeframe of “forty and two months” chastisement since every man is but a “beast” (Ecc 3:18. Joh 8:44. Rev 13:14. 2Pe 2:12-15) who speaks great swelling doctrines of blasphemies. It all mirrors Joseph identifying Pharoah’s dreams as ‘one event to all’ (Gen 41:25-26).

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him [The Beast, sitting on God’s throne] a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Regarding Amos’s “For three transgressions of…, and for four” statements:

The number 3 represents the process of spiritual progression for the completion of judgment regarding that thing. 

The number 4 represents the whole of a thing and tribulation. It doesn’t matter if it is 4 or 4,000.

Adding up to 7 represents the completion of that process through judgment and is the primary message of Amos judging the Seven, the Priests of God, with all things being theirs (1Co3:21-23).

Jer 29:7  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Jer 29:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
Jer 29:9  For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

Therefore, the first six characteristics of Israel’s neighbours are inherently worldly and will remain so, reflecting their fate in the Lake of Fire along with Gentile Israel and Christians who say that they are spiritual Jews and are not. In that place, they will mourn bitterly for a designated time culminating in their earthquake of understanding most gloriously and ecstatic peace for the love of the Father.

Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares [All not in the first holy resurrection, Christ’s Bride] are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world [ultimately in the Lake of Fire. However, the Elect are first to go through the fire, but it is not THE Lake of Fire]. 
Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

It is deemed that everyone ever conceived will become righteous and shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. It is just that the very Elect of God is first to experience God’s earthquake of his fiery word and live by his every commandment.

Let us begin to study our disappearing sinful nature as we learn from our timely experiences; we were and sometimes still are equal to our neighbour’s earthy sensualities, stubbornly resisting Christ and thus quenching his spirit.

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you [for  the evil experiences that teach us to juxtapose with Christ’s spirit].
1Th 5:19  Quench not the spirit.
1Th 5:20  Despise not prophesyings.
1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1Th 5:22  Abstain from all appearance of evil.
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.

Amo 1:3  Thus saith the LORD; [ONE] For three transgressions of DAMASCUS, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: 
Amo 1:4  But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. 
Amo 1:5  I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD. 

Remembering that ‘all things are ours’ and beginning with the nature of the people of Damascus, inclusive of the characteristics of the other five to be studied, is the progression and completion of physical judgment flowing into total tribulation perfectly parallels our spiritual earthquake and the journey, which is hopefully soon coming to a close for our redemption.

Damascus is a city in Syria, and it has historically instilled a deep sense of iron-like fear in Israel. It is represented as Gilead’s threshing because Israel never conquered that nation as the Lord required. Nevertheless, in 2 Samuel 8:6, the Syrians within the spiritual Elect are depicted as vanquished, leading to the Syrian’s servitude for our spiritual growth.

2Sa 8:5  And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
2Sa 8:6  Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

Mic 7:12  In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
Mic 7:13  Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate [mirroring our former spiritual deslolation] because of them that [we previously!]  dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 
Mic 7:14  Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

What a profound insight this is! It is first understood by the budding Elect through the ‘rod’ of Christ’s teachings and then by those whom Christ has designated to shepherd his people with the guidance of his word. This is especially true for the Gentiles during the One Thousand Year reign when they experience this bewildering frustration without the holy spirit. Later, in the Lake of Fire, they will increasingly receive this chastising guidance with the increasing holy spirit.

The key names and their meaning in verses three to five:

Gilead H1567 means  – ‘a witness heap’, and our sins likewise witness against us.

Hazael H2371 means  – ‘one who sees’.

Benhadad H1130 means  – ‘son of [the false god] Hadad.’

Aven H206 means – ‘vanity’.

Eden H5731 means – ‘pleasure. Luxury, dainty, delight, finery’.

Kir H7024 means – ‘wall. To dig’.

Thereupon, Amos’s prophesy is a ‘witness heap’ against two groups of people: the Gentile neighbours and the Priests of God, parallelling Israel and Judah and, spiritually, the entire Gentile world inclusive of Gentile Christianity and the Elect. The times of Gentile rulership are nearing the end, at which point Christ and his Christs will begin to rule in the One Thousand Year reign with the rod of iron (Luke 21:20-24).

The narrative derived from those names spiritually means that our former ways, aligned with Egypt, Syria, Sodom Old Jerusalem, and collectively represented by Babylon, are a ‘witness heap’ between us and ‘God who sees’ our every thought and action ‘vainly’ worshipping a ‘another Jesus’ while ‘luxuriating in our epicurean ways’,’ living high on the hog behind impenetrable ‘walls’ of self-righteousness, thinking no force can assail us. We dig our own wells to drink our doctrines that sensually delight us more than our new beginnings of small things of understanding symbolised as our Lord’s light bread (Zec 4:10. Num 21:5).

It is the Priests of God who hold his sceptre from ruling righteously in the house of Eden in that they do not swiftly bring justice first to themselves for Israel to mirror. When the foundation, the core of the nation represented by the corrupt Priests, is irretrievable, there is nothing left for the Lord to do but to chastise them in captivity.

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

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?

1Co 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
1Co 5:13  But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person [who is you and I, and not some other poor, blind, hapless sinner].

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? [first within?].

Amo 1:6  Thus saith the LORD; [TWO] For three transgressions of GAZA, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: 
Amo 1:7  But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: 
Amo 1:8  And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD. 

It is noteworthy that the holy spirit inspired Amos to say “the whole captivity” only twice and nowhere else in the Bible: once for Gaza and once for Tyrus.

Remember that Gaza was the land of the Philistines. During the reign of wicked King Jehoram, the son of King Jehoshaphat, who reigned following his father’s death (2Ch 21), the Edomites (Esau) who were under the dominion of Judah in those days. Because the Edomites revolted against Judah, Jehoram went and slew many of them. Additionally, Jehoram caused Israel to typically go a whoring and commit fornication and compelled Judah to do likewise. In retribution, the Lord caused the Edomites to collaborate with the Arabians to strike against Judah. Scripture recounts…

2Ch 21:17  And they [Edomites] came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

That act of carrying away “all the substance of the substance of the King’s house” to Edom is the very act of taking them all captive, as expressed in Amos 1:6. On that account, the Lord sends a “fire of infamy” upon the wall and strength of those wicked nations within us and devours our high places and tears up the roots of evil worship and take ‘the whole into captivity’. The outcome is the complete destruction of our self-proclaimed leadership for the ‘remnant’ of Philistinean doctrinal intellectualism within. That glorious annihilation of our old man is a gift of chastising grace from God.

Eph 4:7  But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Eph 4:8  Therefore He says, “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.”

As with Gaza, similarly is the exact same destruction of Tyrus within for delivering up the whole captivity to Edom, and additionally for a broken covenant.

Amo 1:9  Thus saith the LORD; [THREE] For three transgressions of TYRUS, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant: 
Amo 1:10  But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof. 

What is that “brotherly covenant” that we deem an easy dismissal and of little consequence?

Remember that all six neighbouring heathen-gentile nations of Damascus, Gaza, Tyrus, Edom, Ammon and Moab are one and the same, yet pointedly reflecting upon Edom, who directly represents Jacob’s brother, Esau and Mt Seir. Consequently, it is Jacob’s typically scheming, supplanting ways represented by Israel and Judah who attracted Esau’s hatred and forgetfulness of the peace treaty between him and Jacob for Jacob’s past deceptions over Esau’s birthright and blessings. Consequently, those six nations were always antagonistic towards Israel, representing Esau’s forgetfulness of their ‘brotherly covenant’ of peace (Gen 33).

The following scriptures in Ezekiel 35 portray that saga of our Lord’s wrath against our old Esau within.

Eze 35:1  And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
Eze 35:2  Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir [Esau] and prophesy against it.
Eze 35:3  And say to it, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you, and I will stretch out My hand against you, and I will make you a ruin and a waste. 
Eze 35:4  I will raze your cities, and you shall be ruined, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.
Eze 35:5  Because you have had a never-ending hatred, and have shed the blood of the sons of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that iniquity had an end,

In other words, Jacob, who represents Israel, had received forgiveness from God. However, Esau continued to hold onto resentment and vengeance against him. This situation mirrors how we often struggle to let go of our past sins or harbour bitterness towards our Babylonian wives, preventing us from moving forward in Christ’s loving correction. We must remember that we, too, are often guilty of sin against Christ, just as our Babylonian wives may be seen as intimately indifferent offenders towards us.

Eze 35:6  Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

That verse is similar to the sword never departing from David’s house and ours, spiritually, until all remnants of our heathen neighbours within are made desolate.

Eze 35:7  So I will make Mount Seir [Esau] a ruin, and cut off from it the one passing through, and the one returning.
Eze 35:8  And I will fill his mountains with his dead. In your hills, and your valleys, and all your rivers, those slain with the sword shall fall in them.
Eze 35:9  I will make you ruins forever, and thy cities shall not return. And you shall know that I am Jehovah.
Eze 35:10  Because you have said, These two nations and these two lands shall be mine, we will possess it [the Heavenly Jerusalem above and within]; 
Eze 35:11  therefore, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will act by your anger and by your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them. And I will make Myself known among them when I have judged you.
Eze 35:12  And you shall know that I am Jehovah. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, Desolation! They are given to us [The Elect] for food.
Eze 35:13  So with your mouth you have boasted against Me, and have multiplied your words against Me. I have heard them.
Eze 35:14  So says the Lord Jehovah: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you a ruin.
Eze 35:15  As you rejoiced at the inheritance of the house of Israel because of desolation, so I will do to you. You shall be a desolation, O Mount Seir and all Idumea, even all of it. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

Consequently, we forget our ‘brotherly covenant’ Christ has made with us and despise our birthright when we don’t desolate those six nations within. If we don’t forgive for the duration of our unforgiveness, our Lord likewise holds back from forgiving us.

Col 3:13  forbearing one another and forgiving yourselves, if anyone has a complaint against any. As Christ forgave you, so also you do.

Jas 2:13  For he who has shown no mercy shall have judgment without mercy, and mercy exults over judgment.

Amo 1:11  Thus saith the LORD; [FOUR] For three transgressions of EDOM and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother [Esau] with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: 
Amo 1:12  But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. 

The fourth transgression against Edom has been covered, but its second mention is a second witness for the Lord’s assurance of not turning away his punishment. Teman represents the grandson of Esau and directly corresponds to the Lord’s curse against the third and fourth generations of sinners. Bozrah means “sheepfold or fortress” and conforms with our Esau-like stubbornness in sustaining our righteousness of self-proclaimed false doctrines when in Babylonian churches.

Exo 34:6  And the LORD passed by before him [Moses], and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exo 34:7  Keeping [Chastising] mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 

That revisiting of chastising punishment is carried forward in all eight listed nations to pointedly indict the seventh, Judah, the priests of God, the Elect first for judgment before her sister, Israel, who is subsequently judged in the Lake of Fire on the eighth day.

The next nation for judgment is Ammon, kin to Edom and Moab, yet with a variation of sin that transcribes to us spiritually. Amos says,

Amo 1:13  Thus saith the LORD; [FIVE] For three transgressions of the children of AMMON, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border: 
Amo 1:14  But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: 
Amo 1:15  And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD. 

We are somewhat dismayed as to why our Lord designed Satan to incite mankind to treat his fellow man with such unspeakable violence. Of course, such barbarism without the holy spirit reflects our true nature of being a beast in our unfinished transition to being recreated as God. Our innate way of endless war, treachery and brutality is designed to etch our minds appallingly to contrast God’s nature. Of course, those beastly ways are to mirror how we, with Christ’s power and might, are to war against the Beast we are and recoil from our image.

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.

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

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the Beast: and they worshipped the Beast, saying, Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him? 

2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

Isa 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isa 2:5  O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Ammon’s ripping up Israel’s pregnant women is an image too horrible to contemplate. Nonetheless, and for our benefit, all the natural and spiritual belong to us as food for transitional growth (Num 14:9, negatively and positively). We save nothing alive in cleansing our land within, and particularly the cuteness of pet sins symbolised as unborn false doctrines growing in pretty pregnant women as churches, ready for Satan to devour and sustain his nature in us, all seemingly paradoxical to non-spiritual eyes. The city of Rabbah means ‘great’, and was the capital city of the Ammonites. and reflects our self-styled headship as the Beast sitting on God’s throne. And of course, as with the other eight nations and cities, we go into captivity for sins unacknowledged (Jer 2:13).

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Amo 2:1  Thus saith the LORD; [SIX] For three transgressions of MOAB, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 
Amo 2:2  But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: 
Amo 2:3  And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD. 

Again, Moab is in lockstep with Esau and typifies the Christian churches of this world who all cannot agree on doctrine and thus fight disputes of doctrine within their very own kin, only this time they burned the bones of the King of Edom, their near kin, into lime. That exaggerated expression of utterly burning the King into lime, being a vital product for hardening mortar in the construction of a city’s walls and palaces, characterises our hardened hearts against Christ’s word as we build our temple inwardly where we sit as the Beast on our Lord’s throne profoundly, yet mostly unconsciously presenting ourselves as king! That astonishing measure is represented in 2 Thessalonians,

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 [who is You and I upon the earthquake realisation];
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.

The city of Kerioth is a town in the southern district of Judah, and its location potently points to our Esau-like nature residing in the heart of us and our supposed priesthood represented as treacherous Judah, ruling the laity and fleecing the wealth of Israel into their captivity and destruction. Kerioth and Moab within die with much noisome anguish turned into joy for its chastisement in the hope of the last trumpet for our resurrection to life in and with our husband, Christ. Consequently, and as Amos concludes in 2 verse 3, our order of judgment in this age is cut short in our midst, having had our “princes” of rulership destroyed within.

With our judgment cut short, our sisters in Babylon are immediately ruled by the Lord’s Elect with Christ’s rod of iron in the One Thousand Year Rule. They are utterly frustrated that they cannot consistently keep Christ’s commands since the holy spirit is quenched thus confounding the whole measure and stay of His word.

Isa 3:1  For behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the adviser, and the skilled worker, and the expert charmer.

Until that time and in the interim, it is all happening daily before our eyes with juvenile leadership by men claiming to be leaders but injured in their privy members and stones, effectively making them women. To add insult to our Lord’s headship, women literally are our leaders in high courts and government, and worse, as priests in the Babylonian churches of the world.

Deu 23:1  He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD [Spiritually, such a man and priest, cannot lead the Lord’s flock. Being neutered, he gains female qualities of gentleness and makes judgments based mostly on emotions rather than the seemingly harshness of God’s word].
Deu 23:2  A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
Deu 23:3  An Ammonite or Moabite [like nature, just studied] shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:
Deu 23:4  Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

Isa 3:4  And I will give young boys to be their rulers, and caprices shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be crushed, every man by another, and every man by his neighbor; the boy shall act proudly against the old man, and the low against the honorable.
Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand; [Ironically, at least some in Babylon can see that their disarray of 40,000+ churches preaching another Jesus disquiets their consciences and seeing it all as a “ruin”].
Isa 3:7  in that day [and most pointedly soon in the rule with the rod of iron] he shall swear, saying, I will not be a healer; there is no bread nor a cloak in my house. You shall not make me a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah has fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of His glory.
Isa 3:9  The look of their faces witnesses against them; and they declare their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it! Woe to their soul! For they have rewarded evil to themselves.
Isa 3:10  Say to the righteous that it is well; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Isa 3:11  Woe to the wicked! For the evil doing of his hand will be done to him.
Isa 3:12  As for my people, children are their taskmasters, and women rule over them. Oh my people, your rulers cause you to go astray and destroy the way of your paths.
Isa 3:13  Jehovah stands up to plead His case, and stands up to judge the people.
Isa 3:14  Jehovah will enter into judgment with [upon] the elders of His people, and their kings; for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
Isa 3:15  What do you mean? You crush My people and grind the faces of the poor? says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts [vividly happening today in the churches of the world and government].
Isa 3:16  And Jehovah says, Because the daughters [churches] of Zion are proud, and have walked with stretched out necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet;
Isa 3:17  therefore Jehovah will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will make their secret parts naked.
Isa 3:18  In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of ankle-bracelets, and the headbands, and the crescents,
Isa 3:19  the pendants, and the bracelets, and the veils;
Isa 3:20  the headdresses, and the leg ornaments, and the sashes, and the houses of the soul, and the amulets;
Isa 3:21  the rings and nose jewels;
Isa 3:22  the festal apparel and the outer garments; and the mantles, and the purses;
Isa 3:23  the mirrors and the fine linen; and the turbans and the veils.
Isa 3:24  And it shall be, instead of sweet smell, there shall be an odor of decay; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a wrapping of sackcloth; burning instead of beauty.
Isa 3:25  Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war.
Isa 3:26  And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall sit deserted on the ground.

Those verses graphically depict the destruction of the first six nations of our neighbours studied, with whom we have been in lockstep, in preference repudiating Christ’s commands.

In our upcoming study, with the Lord’s guidance, Christ amplifies the alarm and unrest among His people, Judah. Judah symbolises the Elect of God, moving ahead of her elder sister, Israel, to face a greater judgment. This is because Judah was expected to lead with righteousness but instead abused her esteemed position out of lust for power thus establishing pride.

Lev 26:18  And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
Lev 26:21  And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

Accordingly, for those chastisements, the Elect of God is learning to receive them most heartily since we know that they bring forth a ravishing connection with our husband, Christ, and he for us.

Song of Solomon 6:1-13 – Part 11, Together in the Garden of Love Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

[Study Aired January 21, 2023]

“… thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. (2Sa 1:26)

We continue the Song of Solomon – Part 11 in the third person with the daughters of Jerusalem’s fascination with the short-term veneration of their sister, the Shulamite’s election of high honor. They do not realize that their shared joy will be turned bitter 2,500 + years later at an indeterminate date of Christ’s return.

Son 6:1 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee. 

Together in the Garden of Love

Son 6:2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 
Son 6:3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. 

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

Son 6:4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
Son 6:5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. 
Son 6:6 Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them. 
Son 6:7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.
Son 6:8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.
Son 6:9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
Son 6:10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? 
Son 6:11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. 
Son 6:12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib. 
Son 6:13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

There are shocking spiritual correlations in the first verse of chapter 6.

Son 6:1 Whither [H575 ~ Hebrew an – “where”] is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

Christ is espoused to one wife, the younger, much smaller and last “army” of the two. (Rom 9:12-13) The daughters of Jerusalem unconsciously initiate the early stages of imagining that they too will share in the Groom’s love (“… that we may seek him with thee”), duplicated much later by Babylonian Christianity stating, that they, too, have a husband. They are yet to tragically realize that they are the rich man looking across the chasm separating them from Lazarus with no part in the First Resurrection.

Luk 16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
Luk 16:20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 
Luk 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
Luk 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 
Luk 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 
Luk 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Luk 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Luk 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. (see all of Rev 18).

Gen 19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may 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.

Of course, the Shulamite wasn’t remotely concerned about where her beloved had gone; she precisely knew that He was in her spirit, and she was in His. The 1,000 daughters of old Jerusalem, Solomon’s court, were indeed Egypt and Sodom. They were unwittingly blinded, as were the men of Sodom and equally witless for their fiery trials on the Eighth Day.

Son 6:2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 

To goatish Sodom today, verse 2 evokes the only nature they know. That accord feeds their raunchy natural appetites for that verse’s imagery; they are not given to see any spiritual applications, nor do they wish to enquire. To them, scripture is to be viewed plainly, even when poetically written; that is how it is understood. Nothing will dissuade them from that sensual focus on the flesh.

Even while giving life to torrid imaginations, the sanctity and unity of agreement in marital acts are uniquely between a husband and wife, especially if their actions authentically glorify Christ in their hearts. The Body of Christ is joyfully aware of more direct and vivid imagery in chapter 7 of unashamed love-making that single folk are adept at mitigating its potential rulership in their hearts through long and detailed tarrying upon its ‘wine’ (Pro 23:29-30).

Heb 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

The marriage bed is defiled by illicit sex and lingering upon sexual activities that don’t accentuate Christ. If it was a crime to think about sex, then the Song of Solomon wouldn’t have been included in scripture. The spirit of intent for what we do with our thoughts condemns us.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Suppose a married couple are the inheritors of flavourless intimacies, perhaps through parents or their former thunder and lightning sermons in Babylon, and it has trampled any Shulamite inquisitiveness. In that case, it is between them and the Lord. The spirit resulting from the couple’s interactions is what counts, not creative sexual callisthenics. However, remember that the Shulamite, in all purity in the “natural”, doesn’t half-step her righteous lust for her Lord. ALL aspects of her every action reflect the vital spiritual content that doesn’t cause the negative effects of drunkenness from wine ~ for the major part, this is why her Lord’s love is better than wine! With no thought for an apology, she wholeheartedly gives herself to her Lord!

Rom 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. 
Rom 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 
Rom 14:15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died [It is only whoremongering and adulterous actions that would grieve the spirit for their doctrinally connected fornications].
Rom 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 
Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
Rom 14:18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Rom 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another [If you have faith in your actions in marriage, have it to yourselves].
Rom 14:20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
Rom 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak [Normally, anything that happens in a marriage’s bedroom is between the husband, wife and God, and thus shouldn’t give occasion for another to stumble; especially since we do not uncover another’s nakedness, specifically spiritually].
Rom 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. 
Rom 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek [Mat 6:33] those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Subsequently, from those scriptures, Son 6:2 shouldn’t be a killjoy to a husband and wife’s intimacies! To the Shulamite, they amplify her arousal!

Son 6:2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

We know that the first “garden” [H1588] conceived is the Garden of Eden.

Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden [1588] eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Garden – H1588
– Original: גּן
– Transliteration: Gan
– Phonetic: gan
– Definition: n, m/f 
garden, enclosure
enclosed garden
(fig. of a bride)
garden (of plants) n pr loc
Garden of Eden
– Origin: from H1598
– TWOT entry: 367a
– Part(s) of speech: 
– Strong’s: From H1598; a garden (as fenced): – garden.

Total KJV Occurrences: 43

The lurid imaginations in the natural, hold great significance since the Bride’s righteous fruit makes her the Bride of Christ and is a result of her God-given “fenced” virginity from first being found in the field in her blood all the way to her being the Bride. 

The deliberate ironic tragedy in the natural is that sin in spirit was hers while in Eden, the Garden that became fenced which she represents. 

The Garden of Eden held within it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Our Lord is the first instance of a ‘man’ going down to his garden. He went down to his garden ‘panting’ in vain for his creation’s righteousness.

Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Gen 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

That garden of Old Jerusalem and Israel in the wilderness, Christ’s first wife, was fenced off from the tree of life just as everyone in Israel other than the high priest was fenced off from the holy of holies. The Shulamite, the heavenly Jerusalem above, brings forth the fruit of her spiritual womb through delightedly wrestling face-to-face in spiritual union with the Lord, the tree of life. She no longer sees her face-to-face through a glass, darkly but has excitedly become the mirror of her Lord; he in her and she in Him.

Peniel means “face of God” (H6439). Jacob, upon wrestling all night with God, says in:

Gen 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: [H6439] for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Jacob set the path of Israel painfully in us to eventually see Christ as he is, face-to-face with Shulamite enthusiasm. At first, the derivative of H6439 is H6437 and means to “turn toward [darkness or light] or to look back”, which was Israel’s harlot ways.  In our former ways we sullenly turn toward our Lord following chastisement and soon after turn away when all is working our way wonderfully.

In previous SOS studies, we have reviewed the meaning of spices and, to some degree, lilies, yet “… to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies” is to be exquisitely joyful in shared kisses because of the Hebrew origin of “lilies” is H7797 and means to “exult, rejoice; be cheerful”. The young Shulamite woman is us feeding on our Lord’s sweet-scented word.

Son 6:3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. 

Son 1:7  Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

This is a major part of my feeding the flock; though speaking about deciphering tongues, my part also is discerning deceit:

1Co 14:24  But if all prophesy, and there come in one unbelieving or unlearned, he is reproved by all, he is judged by all;
1Co 14:25 the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed.

While not claiming to have been inspired to tease out every spiritual understanding in the Song of Solomon, chapter 5, I hesitate to say, for the most part the entire book doesn’t appear to present startlingly new revelations. As I’ve insinuated in its previous studies, the Shulamite frequently speaks in the third person from the standpoint of her assured election above her sisters of physical Jerusalem. From her humble God-given eminence, she often “charges” them with moral (spiritual) cautions. Her sisters in Jerusalem today are Egypt, Sodom and Babylon, and are not yet alerted to the shocking difference between them and her. Her passionate praises for her beloved in the verses to be studied (Son 5:10-16) are only spiritually understood by her and her Husband.

All stops are out, and nobody more enthusiastically believes every word than the Shulamite as she adventurously praises her Lord.

So, we continue with Shulamite’s “primary theme” of protracted and enthusiastic anticipation for her wedding since (Lord willing) every joint hearing this study is Her.

Son 5:10  My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. 
Son 5:11 His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. 
Son 5:12 His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. 
Son 5:13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. 
Son 5:14 His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. 
Son 5:15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. 
Son 5:16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. 

Audio Links

Awesome Hands – part 97

“East to west”

February 24, 2016

We’ve been studying the various items of the tabernacle with great interest in learning the various hidden meanings behind each item. We know that the tabernacle represents Jesus Christ, and because we are a part of His body, we know that we have representation in the tabernacle as well.

In the study today, we are going to again look at various details which can easily be read quickly and overlooked but hold significant value to those who are “looking over a field and find a treasure of great price”.

Mat 13:44  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

I hope these studies add to your joy in finding “a hid treasure in a field”.

Joh 17:12  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13  And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

The tenons of God

The first verses we are going to cover in this study are found in Exodus 26:15-17.

Exo 26:15  And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up.
Exo 26:16  Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board.
Exo 26:17  Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order one against another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle.

The first noticeable attribute of this acacia boards is that they are 15 feet long by 27 inches wide if a cubit is accepted as being 18 inches in size. This is generally the accepted measurement used so we will stick with that.

The other noticeable thing of note is those these trees would be fastened together with tenons, 2 per board. Remember, the covering of the tabernacle would be laying on the top and sides of this frame. So, there are framed sections connected together with one another via tenons.

As I briefly mentioned at the end of the study last week, these tenons are almost exclusively translated as hand or hands. This is the same “yad” that started this entire series being created, pun intended

H3027
yâd
Total KJV Occurrences: 1536
hand, 1088
hands, 275

This word “yad” is translated 1363 times as yad and the remaining 173 times are a lot of different words in English. So, the word is obviously inspired to be translated as hand or hands.

Yes, the “tenons/hands” which must be twice on each board are commanded by the Lord. The placement of the tenons would correspond with the silver sockets that we will be talking about in a few minutes.

I likened this at conclusion of the last study to the wings of the cherubim being in contact with one another:

Eze 1:8  And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
Eze 1:9  Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

The Lord wants us to be connected. Being that these boards are acacia wood with hands connecting them, we might start to get the idea that the Lord is trying to reveal something to us.

So, how are we all connected?

Many times you will hear us pray for one another and either sympathize or empathize with one another over the topic of the prayer request, but what connects us together in such a way that we care to pray for one another.

The obvious connecting is the Lord, but what is this connection so strong. Could it have to do with our origins and what so I mean by asking that question?

Exo 26:18  And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward.
Exo 26:19  And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.
Exo 26:20  And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards:
Exo 26:21  And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
Exo 26:22  And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards.

Could it be that the dragging process, the process of the Lord dragging us to Himself, has us all being dragged in the same direction, and because of that dragging, we are able to understand the process we are going through individually?

The verses I just read above are the first examples in this tabernacles focused series of studies where we see direction or orientation being mentioned about the way the tabernacle must face. Yes, indeed even the direction is very important to the Lord!

What we have just been told in these verses is where the entrance to the tabernacle comes from, and that entrance is from the east. Why is that important?

As far as direction is concerned, the west is where the Father is. It is the direction we are heading. The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west and Jesus is the Sun of righteousness.

Depending on the direction we are heading, we are either moving towards God or away from Him spiritually speaking. We are either moving towards His throne in the heavens or we are moving away from it.

The tabernacle embodies this spiritual principle, and we can see the start of this principle at the very beginning of mankind’s interactions with the Lord.

Gen 3:22  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Gen 3:23  Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The entrance to the garden of Eden, which was guarded by a flaming sword, was on the east side.

What we really see is the dynamic and spiritual principle of two men being dealt with in scripture, and we ALL have these two men in our lives and walks.

Even after Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden, we see a progression of moving away from God of the old man typified in Cain.

Gen 4:16  And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

When Abram and Lot’s shepherds disputed over the land for their flocks, Lot separated from Abram and choose what he thought was best for his flesh and the wellbeing of his house.
Lot went to the east away from Abram, a man of faith.

Gen 13:7  And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
Gen 13:8  And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.
Gen 13:9  Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
Gen 13:10  And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
Gen 13:11  Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
Gen 13:12  Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

When we all start off our dragging process we desire to please the flesh and to please the Lord. We do not want there to be strife between the two. The Lord has worked out this same dynamic over and over in all of our lives.

Indeed, even after we are spiritually given a new name, like Abram being named Abraham, we still desperately try to find a balance between doing what we need to do in and for the flesh and doing what God commands us to do. We all struggle with this battle of naturally versus spiritual, old man versus new man, US versus GOD. How does that end for the flesh? Sodom and Gomorrah are consumed in fire.

What does this have to do with the tabernacle?

The entrance to the outer court was in the east. This is the concordant literal version.

Exo 27:9 (CLV)  You will make the court of the tabernacle: for the edge of the Negev southward the slung-sheets for the court shall be of corded cambric, a hundred cubits length for the one edge,
Exo 27:10  with its twenty columns and their twenty copper sockets, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver;”
Exo 27:11  and so for the north edge, in the length of the court the slung-sheets shall be a hundred cubits long with its twenty columns and their twenty copper sockets, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver.
Exo 27:12  For the width of the court for the seaward edge, the slung-sheets shall be fifty cubits with their ten columns and their ten sockets.
Exo 27:13  The width of the court for the eastward edge toward the sunrise shall be fifty cubits.
Exo 27:14  Fifteen cubits of slung-sheets shall be for one flank, with their three columns and their three sockets,
Exo 27:15  and for the second flank fifteen cubits of slung-sheets with their three columns and their three sockets.
Exo 27:16  For the gate of the court shall be a portiere of twenty cubits of blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric, a handiwork of embroidery with their four columns and their four sockets.

The entrance to the outer court, in order for anyone to approach the throne of God, is from the east. As we get through the fine linen curtain gate of blue, purple and red we move on to and through the tabernacle through the EAST side if the inner tabernacle eventually ending all the up at the throne of God… the furthest point in the west setup of the tabernacle.

Notice there is a similar pattern to the inner court in that there is a fine linen veil that must be passed through but it is residing on 5 pillars, whereas the outside east only had four pillars.

Exo 26:23  And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.
Exo 26:24  And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners.
Exo 26:25  And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
Exo 26:26  And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,
Exo 26:27  And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward.
Exo 26:28  And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end.
Exo 26:29  And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold.
Exo 26:30  And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.
Exo 26:31  And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:

Now we have bars introduced which helped support the boards from the outside. These bars are overlaid with gold and run horizontally. The 2 upper and 2 lower bars come from the ends and meet in the middle, but the middle bar runs from end to end. The entrance again is from the east.

So, what does this tell us about the detail of the tabernacle for which God tells us we are a part of?

If the Lord has gone through all the details of this tabernacle in order to show you that He cares about the details, then we should have the same concept transfer to our minds when we consider that the Lord takes just as much care when dealing with the details of our tabernacle in the flesh AND SPIRIT.

When we meditate on all various items in the tabernacle, and even the direction of the tabernacle the Lord has created, we should start to understand just how important we are as the TEMPLE of the LIVING God, the church of the Living God!

It is so easy to think that the Lord isn’t “with us” or that He is somehow punishing us for something we done wrong to Him in the flesh and in sin, but the Truth is that we are a BLESSED people among all those who are living.

We know the Lord is the one who has caused His decrees to come forth to us FORM the thundering and lightning on the cloud of Mt. Sinai. We are privy that the Lord will SOMEHOW bring good about from the evils we face in the trials and tribulations we endure. That is a huge blessing that the rest of the world simply does not have.

Rev 4:5  And OUT OF THE THRONE proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Exo 20:18  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Exo 20:20  And Moses said unto the people, FEAR NOT: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
Exo 20:21  And the people stood afar off, and MOSES DREW NEAR UNTO THE THICK DARKNESSWHERE GOD WAS.
Exo 20:22  And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you FROM HEAVEN.

Naturally speaking, we all want to FLEE from the lightning and thunder but that is the WORST thing for our new man. See, LIGHT comes FROM DARKNESS. As we put on the mind of Christ, we move toward “the darkness” because the Light is HIDDEN within. What looks very unappealing on the outside has tremendous wealth buried within. This is the beauty of the tabernacle that the Lord has made.

Like the empty field which has treasure hid in it, we too should cry out to the Lord for a fleshly heart that wants to “sell all of the old man” to “purchase the new man within”.

Mat 13:44  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Jesus says He is the door, He is the gate. He is the Light of the world. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you as you move closer and closer to the throne within the tabernacle.

Joh 10:9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Joh 12:46  I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

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.

Mat 10:27  What I tell you in darkness, that SPEAK YE IN LIGHT: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.