Zec 14:9-21  “In that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one”

[Study Aired September 7, 2023]

To remain with Christ “in my temptations” of this life (Luk 22:28) which He has already gone through, being tempted in all points (Heb 4:14-16), requires the faith of Christ as we’re shown in Luke 22:28-32.

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Going through the suffering and judgment first in this life (Act 14:22, 1Pe 4:17) is what it takes for God’s elect to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection, having endured until the end (Mat 24:13-14) so that with the LORD we shall be kings “over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one“ [Rev 20:6, Rev 17:14]. 

Christ sees His body, the church, as one body, one bread, one spirit (1Co 12:13), and in in the fullness of the first resurrection “in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one” because this verse will have been accomplished by His might and power within the lives of those who were ordained to be in that first resurrection. “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: (Col 1:24, Col 1:27) for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev 17:14).

1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body [Rom 6:3], whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens [our hearts and minds (Col 1:27)], Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession [Rev 3:11].
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

[Our time of need is right now in these bodies of flesh, “the valley of the shadow of death” that cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50), and yet we have nothing to fear with God’s love being shed abroad in our hearts as a rod and staff through which God demonstrates His love (Psa 23:4, 1Jn 4:17-18, Rom 5:5, rod and staff Heb 12:6]

Luk 22:28  Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. [how we are doing that and what it is producing is defined in these verses in Colossians, (Col 1:27, Col 1:24)]
Luk 22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;  [1Jn 4:17, Luk 17:21, Rom 8:9],
Luk 22:30  That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: [Rom 11:22]
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: [If thou continue in his goodness that requires we confess our iniquities, we walked contrary to God and naturally would unless we are granted to die daily (Rom 2:4, Lev 26:40-42)] and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. [Luk 22:43]

Luk 22:28  “You men have stayed with me through many struggles. [ERV]

Luk 22:28  And ye–ye are those who have remained with me in my temptations, [YLT]

Luk 22:28  Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. [KJV]

Lev 26:40  If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; 
Lev 26:41  And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
Lev 26:42  Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.

The Lord will “be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one“, which is something God’s elect are experiencing right now in earnest (Eph 1:14). That mercy He is showing to the body of Christ today (Rom 11:7, Rom 11:22-28) so we can show it to the rest of God’s creation when men will learn of His righteousness and the earth will be full of His mercies.  Those mercies were first shown to the body of Christ when God remembered first to bring us into covenant with Him through God’s holy spirit (Isa 26:9, Psa 119:64, Num 10:9, Psa 98:2-3, Eze 36:26).

Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

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

Psa 119:64  The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes. 

Num 10:9  And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

Psa 98:2  The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
Psa 98:3  He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel (Gal 6:16): all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Zec 14:9  And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. 
Zec 14:10  All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses. 
Zec 14:11  And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. 
Zec 14:12  And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
Zec 14:13  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. 
Zec 14:14  And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
Zec 14:15  And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague. 
Zec 14:16  And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
Zec 14:17  And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 
Zec 14:18  And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
Zec 14:19  This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
Zec 14:20  In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
Zec 14:21  Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

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Zec 14:9  And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. 
Zec 14:10  All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses. 

These opening verses tell us that when our Lord and His Christ begin to rule the nations in lock step (Rev 11:15) “All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem.” “The land” represents the hearts and minds of humanity, their bodies which will be turned to the Lord and His Christ, and that turning event is likened to souls that are turned as “a plain^H6160 from Geba^H1387 to Rimmon^H7417 south of Jerusalem“. Geba and Rimmon represent where the world was and still is in the yet carnal elevated “Geba^H1387to Rimmon^H7417 ” heavens whose fleshly direction of being “south of Jerusalem” is now going to be dragged to the body of Christ stated this way: “it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place“, going from the sea to the earth as the first beast in all of us must experience (Rev 13:1). Being with Christ and believing in Him does not mean we are converted. We all begin coming to Christ by night like Nicodemus, or the disciples that came to Christ of whom He said “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Joh 3:1-3, Joh 8:31-32).

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Joh 3:1  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 
Joh 3:2  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 
Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

H6160 plain
‛ărâbâh
BDB Definition:
1) desert plain, steppe, desert, wilderness

H1387 Geba geba‛
BDB Definition: 
Gaba or Geba or Gibeah = “hill”

1) a city in Benjamin, modern ‘Jeba’, which stands on the top of a steep terraced hill, six miles or ten kilometres north east of Jerusalem and three miles or five kilometres from Gibeah, on the edge of the Wadi Suweinit looking northward to the opposite village of ancient Michmash, modern ‘Mukhmas’

Part of Speech: proper noun location
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from the same as H1375 (From an unused root (meaning to be convex); a goblet; by analogy the calyx of a flower: – house, cup, pot.)

H7417 Rimmon  rimmôn / rimmônô

BDB Definition:  Rimmon = “pomegranate”
1) the deity of wind, rain, and storm, worshipped by the Syrians of Damascus (noun proper deity)

2) a Benjamite of Beeroth, the father of Rechab and Baanah, the murderers of Ishbosheth (noun proper masculine)

3) the Rock; a cliff or inaccessible natural fastness in which the 600 Benjamites who escaped the slaughter of Gibeah took refuge (noun proper locative)

4) a town in the southern portion of Judah allotted to Simeon (noun proper locative)

5) a Levitical city in Zebulun located approximately 6 miles north of Nazareth (noun proper locative)

Part of Speech: see above in Definition

A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: the same as H7416

Mankind’s new habitation, once they learn of God’s government that takes over the governments of this world (Rev 11:15), is described in these terms: “and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.” Benjamin’s gate and unto the first gate, and unto the corner gate all describe the figurative location where God’s elect will abide in the temple of God (1Co 3:16), where we will administer the words of Christ, the knowledge of Christ (1Co 3:13) as “the king’s winepresses” who are liken unto “the tower of Hananeel“^H2606 [“God has favored“]. 

It is in this elevated position of honor that Christ’s bride has been granted having been already crushed under the stone in this life as the “king’s winepress” (Mat 21:44). God gives honor where honor is due, and the world does not understand that all glory and honor are the Lord’s. So, we see this contrast being shown with those who are exalted in themselves “a plain from Geba^H1387 to Rimmon^H7417 south of Jerusalem” as opposed to those who have been humbled in their flesh (judged ‘in the north’) and exalted in due time (1Pe 5:6) through God’s grace [favor] and the faith of Jesus “the tower of Hananeel^H2606” [“God has favored“].

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

Zec 14:11  And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

“There shall be no more utter destruction [of Jerusalem]” is speaking of the resurrected body of Christ, [on such the second death hath no power (Rev 20:6)], “but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited” by those who are being dragged by God to Christ and His body (Joh 6:44).

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

Zec 14:12  And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

One can be deceived into thinking this is speaking of the effects of a nuclear bomb. It sure sounds like it, but it is actually something more powerful than anything man can conjure up and throw at us. These “plagues” represent the rod of iron judgments that God will execute upon “all the people that have fought against Jerusalem“, meaning coming against Christ and His body, which we all have done in our appointed time in our former conversation (Eph 2:1-3). 

What is being discussed here is what happens to our old man when God’s fiery judgments begin to lay hold on our carnal hearts and minds. The end result of His judgments is described in these words that brightly express the thorough purging process all humanity must go through in order to die to self in thought and in speech and in the walk of life, to become a new creation formed in Christ. “Their flesh shall consume away [pride of life, carnal ways and thinking (1Jn 2:16, Rom 8:6-8)] while they stand upon their feet [walk of life, conversation (Eph 2:3, Eph 4:22)], and their eyes shall consume away in their holes [lust of the eyes (1Jn 2:16, Mat 6:22-23], and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth [boasting, deceiving (Jas 3:5-8, 1Pe 3:10)].”

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

It is when we self-righteously stand upon our own “feet” (Zec 14:4, Psa 94:16, Rev 6:17) saying that we see with our own “eyes” (Joh 9:41) and speak the words we consider to be right with no deference to God’s commandments out of our own “mouths” (1Co 14:37, 1Co 4:6) that brings about the need for this consuming of our old man who is found wanting before God every time. The second resurrection is the time when the beast that received the deadly wound is healed and the man of perdition is destroyed by the brightness of his coming, which this verse typifies (Zec 14:12).

Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? 

Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

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

Zec 14:13  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult^H4103 from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

The great “tumult“^H4103 that is going to come upon the world is the reckoning of all the falsehoods of mankind, the millions of false doctrines (Rev 9:16-21) which have blocked the sun of righteousness and will begin to be revealed (Mal 4:2). This revelation of all humanity having gone astray and there being none righteous (Rom 3:10, Rom3:23) will cause people to start pointing fingers, like Adam and Eve when they were shown the error of their way in the garden (Gen 3:9-14), each blaming the other and ultimately putting the blame on Satan, which is what this verse is telling us will happen. “And… they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.” This is what we do when we are of our father the devil. We look for a scapegoat, in the negative sense of that word, and don’t see the need to identify the beast within which only the fit man, Jesus Christ, can do (Lev 16:21).

Tumult H4103
mehûmâh
meh-hoo-maw’

From H1949; confusion or uproar: – destruction, discomfiture, trouble, tumult, vexation, vexed. Total KJV occurrences: 12

Rev 9:16  And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

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 3:11  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 
Gen 3:12  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 
Gen 3:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 
Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Zec 14:14  And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
Zec 14:15  And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague. 

In this instance, Judah represents Babylon that will also fight against the saints, bringing their many strong arguments as to why they are righteous when God says there is none righteous. All the non-Christian world will also bring their perceived spiritual wealth to lay claim to being righteous: “and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.” This burden of the word of the Lord in the heart of man, which we talked about in earlier chapters, is a burden because there is no conversion yet, and the words of the elect are like a plague to the beast of burden to which mankind is likened in this verse: “And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague” (Ecc 3:19-21).

Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 
Ecc 3:20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 
Ecc 3:21  Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

Zec 14:16  And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
Zec 14:17  And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 
Zec 14:18  And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
Zec 14:19  This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 

Three times we’re told that all nations that don’t come up to keep “the feast of tabernacles” will be punished, “even upon them shall be no rain.” The ‘three’ represents the process of judgment to which the world is being introduced during the symbolic period of time of one thousand years, which is the rod of iron judgment period or baptism of water period that all men must experience first [10x10x10=1000].

Three times Zechariah is inspired to use the phrase “the feast of tabernacles“, and one time “the families of the earth” is included as those going up to keep the feast. The ‘total’ of something being mentioned four times tells us this worship of “the King, the LORD of hosts” is something God is expecting of all the world. No one is excluded, Jew and gentile [Egypt] alike, and this is a process that is going to be used by God to judge the whole earth with a rod of iron, represented by the three times mentioning of “the feast of tabernacles.” 

This entire economy created by the counsel of God’s will (Eph 1:11) during the reign of Christ with His saints is to leave a pattern for those who come up in the second resurrection to be baptized with water and with spirit, as all mankind must be in order to spiritually healed (Joh 3:5). The time of the reign of Christ and His saints typifies the baptism of water, and at the end of that reign, fire comes down from heaven upon Gog and Magog which typifies the baptism of spirit (Rev 20:8). Both typical baptisms will be experienced by all those in the second resurrection, only then the world will be saved yet so as by fire (Rev 20:9-12, 1Co 3:15).

Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 

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

Resistance is to be expected during that age, and if any “families of the earth” do not come up to Jerusalem, they will ‘receive no rain.’ This, too, is a symbolic statement saying that if someone is not dragged to Christ, they won’t receive the living waters, a blessing and benefit to those who are given to hunger and thirst for them (Joh 6:44). The rod of iron the elect will wield (Rev 2:27, Rev 12:5) reminds us that the natural will precede the spiritual (1Co 15:46), meaning God will withhold the physical rain to get the attention of the prodigal sons of the world as a type and shadow of withholding the living waters of God’s spirit until judgment occurs in the lake of fire (Luk 15:18, Rom 9:22).

Like Christ in His day, the religious world can’t believe that a prophet could come out of Galilee (Joh 7:37-53), which means  “the heathen circle“, that being the perspective of the world in Christ’s day seeing Him as the carpenter’s son, and it is the whole world’s perspective of the weak of the world, the uncomely branch who are now kings and priests of our Lord and savior, having those living waters within us (1Jn 4:17).

G1056
Galilee
Galilaia
gal-il-ah-yah

Of hebrew origin [H1551 = circle, circuit]; Galilaea (that is, the heathen circle), a region of Palestine: – Galilee.
Total KJV occurrences: 63

“The feast of tabernacles” mentioned in Zechariah 14:16 represents the symbolic timeframe of ‘one thousand years’ that is associated with the Jewish holy-day called “the feast of tabernacles.” The saints will be ruling and reigning with a rod of iron over all the nations of the earth for a symbolic thousand years, represented by “the feast of tabernacles.” It is the time of the grape harvest [symbolizing all of humanity], “the feast of tabernacles” (Deu 16:13, Rev 14:18) that leads into the last great day of the feast, which symbolizes the time when all men will experience God’s judgments in the lake of fire that will mature the hearts and minds of all of God’s creation (Joh 7:37-38, Joh 7:39). 

Rev 14:18  And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

Joh 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 
Joh 7:39  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) 

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

These verses in John (Joh 7:37-53) close by saying in the last verse “and every man went unto his own house” (Joh 7:53), telling us there is no conversion in the world at this point which is a reserved event that will happen in the lake of fire where that Adamic house will be destroyed, yet so as by fire (1Co 3:15).

This withholding of rain or giving of rain is something Elijah prayed about (Jas 5:17-20), which was a type and shadow event showing that God alone can soften the hearts of mankind and create the conditions so people are moved to come and worship God via the church: “every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.“

God is showing the world, through the thousand-year reign, this very point – that He is sovereign over all the earth. “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.“ Although the body of Christ waters and plants throughout this dispensation called a thousand year reign, there will be no conversion and no increase until the great white throne period when the blindness of the world will be taken away and all Israel [the world] shall be saved (Rom 11:26).

Just because you know the truth does not guarantee that you are going to continue in it, and we know that humanity will ultimately not continue in the word during the reign of Christ and His saints. God is no respecter of persons, and the punishment will be the same for the religious world who do not adhere to the commandments of God just as much as the rest of the gentile world, who have their own gods that they worship. “And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.“

This section of Zachariah drives home the point that all flesh is Gentile in God’s eyes. God alone is the one who gives the increase, which comes when the desire is put in the heart of someone to respond obediently to the commandments of the Lord. God is not telling us that the world must come up to literal physical Jerusalem to keep the feast of tabernacles. Rather, He is saying the world has to abase themselves, which they can’t naturally do, and come up to the saints who are represented by Jerusalem where they will in time acknowledge that God has loved us and that they were deceived as we all were until we were dragged to Christ and started to be washed of all our wood, hay and stubble sins (Rev 3:9). The point never changes; the symbolic period of time known as the thousand-year reign of the saints represents a water baptism that concludes on the last great day, which represents the time when God’s word will be shown to have not returned void (Isa 55:11).

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Zec 14:20  In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
Zec 14:21  Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

There will be no more “Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts” meaning there will be no more carnal spirit of man teaching man what the truth is. Rather, there will be the elect bride of Christ who will have the strength and holiness of Christ abiding within them teaching the world (Rom 10:14, Isa 30:20). The pots (Geba^H1387 to Rimmon^H7417) “shall be like the bowls before the altar.“

Geba
H1387
From the same as H1375 a hillock;

H1375: cup, bowl, pot

Rimmon
H7417
The same as H7416

H7416 From H7426; a pomegranate, the tree (from its upright growth) or the fruit (also an artificial ornament): – pomegranate

H7426 A primitive root; to rise (literally or figuratively): – exalt, get [oneself] up, lift up (self), mount up.

Rom 10:14  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Isa 30:20  And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

These verses (“In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar“) are speaking about that relationship of holiness forming with the nations via the church, the body of Christ, not by physically having to go to Jerusalem specifically ‘to seeth therein’ as it says, but rather by what God will work in the hearts of humanity represented by these actions: “and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe^H1310  therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.”

It will be the bride of Christ’s role to nurture these children, to water and to plant as we are led by the Lord, but ultimately the growth or increase will only come in the great white throne judgment from God (1Co 3:6). 

seethe
H1310

BDB Definition:

1) to boil, cook, bake, roast, ripen, grow ripe  (Psa_21:9, 1Pe_4:12)

None of the efforts of the saints will be in vain. Rather, they will be a witness to all nations of how “the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.“ That singleness and holiness which will be witnessed to the world through Christ and his bride during this period of time is symbolic of what must happen to all of humanity that will come up in the second resurrection. The natural must always precede the spiritual (1Co 15:46-47), and the spiritual cannot be accomplished unless the mind of Christ is given. Yet God will have the world take a good hard look at Christ’s bride [the physical pondering] who they will not be able to understand in the spirit until judgment in the lake of fire [the spiritual awakening] (Rom 8:8-9).

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

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 
Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Acts 21:10-19  The Will of the Lord is Being Done

[Study Aired August 20, 2023]

Act 21:10  And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
Act 21:11  And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
Act 21:12  And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Act 21:13  Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Act 21:14  And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
Act 21:15  And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.
Act 21:16  There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.
Act 21:17  And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
Act 21:18  And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
Act 21:19  And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.

In our last study Paul had just arrived in Caesarea in the house of Philip the deacon/evangelist.

Act 21:10  And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.

Paul is now in Caesarea in the home of Philip, the deacon turned evangelist. He had bypassed Ephesus because he was determined to be in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, already having been told by the holy spirit that “bonds and afflictions” were waiting for him at Jerusalem:

Act 20:16  For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

Act 20:22  And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
Act 20:23  Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.

The word ‘Pentecost’ means ‘count fifty’ or ‘fifty count’ because it was fifty days from the days of unleavened bread, which feast we are told Paul spent at Philippi:

Act 20:4  And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.
Act 20:5  These going before tarried for us at Troas.
Act 20:6  And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.

These seven men, plus Luke, are Paul’s traveling companions. Luke is the eighth man traveling with Paul to carry a gift from all the Gentile churches up to “the poor saints… at Jerusalem”:

Rom 15:26  For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.

After the days of unleavened bread, Paul and his traveling companions spent five days traveling from Philippi to Troas, and they spent another seven days in Troas. That is twelve of the fifty days Paul needed to get to Jerusalem before Pentecost. It took another day for Paul to walk the 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Troas to Assos:

Act 20:13  And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.
Act 20:14  And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.

That day of walking and then sailing to Mitylene was the thirteenth day since leaving Philippi after the days of unleavened bread.

Mitylene is a city on the island of Lesbos, which is visible from Assos. “We took him in and came to Mitylene” presents that part of his journey as taking place on that same day.

Act 20:15  And we sailed thence, and came the next day over against Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next day we came to Miletus.

It took another day to get to the island of Chios. That would be the fourteenth day, then another day to get to Samos, on the fifteenth day after leaving Philippi. Paul and his traveling companions would have arrived at Miletus on the sixteenth day.

I wondered why Trogyllium did not appear on the maps of Paul’s journeys, and I discovered that:

“Trogillium is on the cape where the Turkish mainland comes within a kilometer of the Greek island of Samos.” (https://www.ephesustoursguide.com/must-see-places-in-turkey/trogyllium.html)

It was here in Miletus, 30 miles south of Ephesus, that Paul sent for the elders of Ephesus:

Act 20:16  For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.
Act 20:17  And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

If it took Paul a whole day to walk across the 25 miles of the peninsula from Troas to Assos then it would have taken a man at least a day to go to Ephesus and at least another day for the elders of Ephesus to go the thirty miles south to Miletus. That is assuming they all Immediately dropped what they were doing and came just as soon as Paul sent word.

We are up to at least eighteen days having passed since the days of unleavened bread and the elders of Ephesus are just arriving in Miletus. Paul speaks to the elders of Ephesus on the nineteenth day and warns them that some of them will become grievous wolves, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. He also tells them on that day that “ye… shall see my face no more”.

On that day, the nineteenth since the days of unleavened bread, Paul told the Ephesian elders:

Act 20:25  And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
Act 20:26  Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

After leaving the Ephesian elders in Miletus, Paul and his traveling companions go to the island of Coos. That would be day twenty, “and the day following unto [the island of] Rhodes [day 21] and from thence to Patara [day 22]. At least three weeks and one day, twenty-two days, have passed since Paul and his companions kept the “the days of unleavened bread” in Philippi. Now Paul and company begin the longest leg of their journey, sailing from Patara to Tyre:

Act 21:1  And it came to pass, that after we were gotten from them [the Ephesian elders in Miletus], and had launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara:
Act 21:2  And finding a ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we went aboard, and set forth.
Act 21:3  Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden.

Here is the map we have been using to follow Paul and his “traveling companions”:

https://www.conformingtojesus.com/images/webpages/pauls_third_missionary_journey1.jpeg

The wording leads us to believe that they did not stop on the island of Cyprus and went straight to Tyre from Patara. That being so, they no doubt got to Tyre much quicker than if they had been disembarking and having to “find [another] ship” going their way, as has been related to us up to this time. I Googled the question, “How many days did Paul spend sailing from Patara to Tyre?” This is what I got:

“The second ship sailed directly from Patara to Tyre. Since it didn’t make overnight stops at ports, it would have easily averaged 67 miles (108 kilometers) per day to cover the 400 miles in 6 days.” (End Quote)

Here is our breakdown of the number of days that have passed by the time Paul reaches Tyre after leaving Philippi:

5 days from Philippi to Troas
7 days in Troas (Acts 20:6)
1 day (25 miles; 40 kilometers) from Troas to Assos (Acts 20:13) and then sail
to Mitylene which can be seen from Assos (Acts 20:14)
1 day from Mitylene to Chios (Acts 20:15)
1 day from Chios to Samos/Trogyllium (Acts 20:15)
1 day from Samos/Trogyllium to Miletus (Acts 20:15)
1 day for a messenger to travel from Miletus to Ephesus (Acts 20:17)
1 day for the elders to travel from Ephesus to Miletus (Acts 20:18)
1 day (estimated) spent with the Ephesian elders in Miletus (Acts 20:18-38)
1 day from Miletus to Cos (Acts 21:1)
1 day from Cos to Rhodes (Acts 21:1)
1 day from Rhodes to Patara (Acts 21:1)
6 days (400 miles sailing 67 miles per day) from Patara to Tyre (Acts 21:2-3)
28 days total

Paul would have arrived in Tyre on the 28^th day since the days of unleavened bread. There are twenty-two days more until Pentecost when he and his traveling companions arrive in Tyre, and we are told:

Act 21:4  And finding disciples, we tarried there [in Tyre] seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
Act 21:5  And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed.
Act 21:6  And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they returned home again.

Twenty-eight plus seven equals thirty-five. There are now just 15 days until Pentecost, and Paul and his company are leaving Tyre for Ptolemais:

Act 21:7  And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day.

If it took a day to get to Ptolemais, and they spent a day with the brothers there, we are now up to day thirty-seven since leaving Philippi. There are now only thirteen days left before Pentecost.

Act 21:8  And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.

If it took another day to travel to Caesarea from Ptolemais, Paul would have arrived at Philip’s house in Caesarea on the thirty-eighth day with twelve more days to Pentecost:

Act 21:10  And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.

Tyre, Ptolemais, and Caesarea were all Jewish churches which were establish upon the persecution which arose about Stephen, and yet they are all very fond of the apostle Paul.

Act 11:19  Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.

This is the same Agabus who had come from Jerusalem to Syrian Antioch way back before Paul and Barnabas had made their first missionary journey. When Agabus had come down to Antioch, he prophesied of a drought which prompted the church at Antioch to send aid to the saints in Judea, and they sent it by Paul and Barnabas:

Act 11:25  Then [soon after the stoning of Stephen] departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul:
Act 11:26  And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
Act 11:27  And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
Act 11:28  And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Act 11:29  Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
Act 11:30  Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Act 21:11  And when he [Agabus, a certified prophet of God] was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

This is the positive application of being “bound hand and foot”. It is the futile attempt of the adversary to stop the work of the Lord’s anointed, stopping them physically from either walking or working with their hands in the Lord’s service. Yet it is an evident and manifested fact that the epistles Paul wrote from his prison house in Rome have never ceased to be used by God to spread His gospel throughout all the world in every generation. Being “bound hand and foot” by this evil world and being “dead in the streets of Babylon the great serves only to magnify the gospel of the kingdom of God within the heavens of His disciples.

Php 1:12  But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
Php 1:13  So that my bonds [“bind hand and foot” (Act 21:11)] in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;
Php 1:14  And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

Here is the negative application of being bound ‘hand and foot’:

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

Act 21:12  And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

“We” are Luke and Paul’s other traveling companions who mistook the work of the holy spirit to prepare Paul’s heart for the trials that were just around the corner… they mistook this preparation for an admonition to avoid Jerusalem.

“They of that place” were those in Philip’s house and the church at Caesarea. They, too, thought that a prophecy of coming events was an admonition to avoid those impending events. Paul was mature enough to know that it is only “through much tribulation that we must enter the kingdom of heaven”, and that it is only “if we suffer with Him, we will be also glorified together with Him.” Their comments were in the same vein as Peter’s when he rebuked Jesus for saying He would be killed.

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

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

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

Act 21:13  Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

As Paul later tells us up front:

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

That is the exact opposite of “the voice of a stranger” which will always “speak unto us smooth things”:

Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

The Lord’s sheep know His voice, and they also recognize the words of a stranger who is ‘speaking smooth things and prophesying deceits’:

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

This next verse reveals that even Paul’s traveling companions and “they of that place” knew that whatever took place happened only by “the will of the Lord”:

Act 21:14  And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.

“The will of the Lord [is] being done… in “all things” because that is exactly what the Lord tells us is the case:

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

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

The sovereignty of God extends to even the worst sin ever committed, and the Lord makes that very clear:

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

Act 21:15  And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.

“Those days” were the “many days” mentioned in verse ten which Paul and his traveling companions spent in the house of Philip there in Caesarea:

Act 21:10  And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.

We have accounted for the passage of thirty-eight days since Paul and his traveling companions left Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, with the intent of being in Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost.  When Paul arrived at Philip’s house there were only 12 days left before Pentecost.

Caesarea is a two-day journey to Jerusalem. Paul could conceivably have spent ten days with Philip in Caesarea and still have time to be in Jerusalem by Pentecost.

The “we” of verse 15 would have been Paul, and Luke and the seven men traveling with him to bring the gift of their Gentile congregations up to the suffering saints in Judea and Jerusalem to be distributed by the Jerusalem elders.

Act 20:4  And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.

Act 21:16  There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.

Mnason of Cyprus apparently also had a house in Jerusalem at which it had been arranged for Paul and his company to lodge. The body of Christ provides for its own in every city, and it does so with cheerfulness:

2Co 9:7  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Paul Visits James for the Last Time

Act 21:17  And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

The decrees of the elders of Acts 15 had been being shared by Paul with all the churches he established, and while there were false prophets accusing Paul of teaching the Jews among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, James and all the elders who knew Paul knew that was a lie being told by false brothers. Therefore “When we were come to Jerusalem the [true] brethren received us gladly.”

Act 21:18  And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.

This particular ‘James’ is not the “James, the brother of John” who was killed by Herod at the time Barnabas and Saul had taken a gift from the church at Syrian Antioch up to Jerusalem during the days of unleavened bread shortly before their first missionary journey. This ‘James’ is the brother of Christ and the author of the book of James.

Act 12:1  Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.
Act 12:2  And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
Act 12:3  And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)

We know this is the Lord’s brother because Paul mentions “James, the Lord’s brother” as the apostle who was at Jerusalem when he first came back to Jerusalem from Damascus, three years after his conversion on the road just outside of Damascus:

Gal 1:19  But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.

Paul informs us that Christ had appeared to His brother James alone after His resurrection. Notice the order of these various appearances after His resurrection:

1Co 15:3  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4  And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1Co 15:5  And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
1Co 15:6  After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
1Co 15:7  After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
1Co 15:8  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co 15:10  But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Here in 1 Corinthians 15:5 and Luke 24:34 are the only two scriptures which tell us that Peter was the first apostle to see the Lord after His resurrection. Paul also says “He was [later] seen of James; then of all the apostles” at his ascension for the last time.

Here Paul tells us that “[Christ] was seen of James”, and then he informs us that “James the Lord’s brother” was made one of the apostles (Gal 1:19) by the time Paul returned to Jerusalem after his first three years of his ministry in Damascus. This demonstrates the high regard Paul gave to “James the brother of the Lord” as the leader of the church in Jerusalem:

Act 21:18  And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.

It had been agreed many years earlier that Paul and Barnabas would concentrate their efforts on “going to the Gentiles” while Peter and the other Jewish apostles would go to the Jews first:

Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
Act 15:29  That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

Gal 2:9  And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

Paul and Silas shared these “decrees of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem” with all the churches “as they went” on their journeys.

Act 16:4  And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.

Those decrees expected the Jews to continue observing the law of Moses while the Gentiles were to do “no such thing” as we will see in our next study:

Act 21:23  Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;
Act 21:24  Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.
Act 21:25  As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.

This is a temporary agreement which lasted until the temple was destroyed. It initiated a period called “the time of reformation” which we all live as we come out from under the burdens of Babylon and into the freedom from all the traditions of men and all the ‘bondage under the elements of this world’ (Gal 4:1-10, Col 1:8-20).

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Act 21:19  And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.

The Lord has ordained that a reformation requires a certain amount of time in the lives of every man.

The point we need to understand is that there was no doctrine of ‘two administrations’ which was intended by the holy spirit to keep the Jews separated from the Gentiles in perpetuity.

Php 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the [singular] gospel;

Rom 3:30  Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

Eph 4:3  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Eph 4:4  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Lest there be any question of whether the Jews were intended to remain under the law of Moses, Paul makes clear that “wall of partition between us [is being] broken down”:

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; [“The decrees of the elders… and the holy ghost” stating that the Jews much continue to keep the law of Moses]
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, 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:
Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

What a wonderful message! Why would anyone want to return to a burden “which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?”

Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

Gal 3:1  O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Gal 3:2  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4  Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

Gal 3:23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

It is the churches of the great harlot system, with all their laws and traditions, which are the modern ‘schoolmaster’ from whom we are being delivered.

In our next study we will see that even Paul was still “under a schoolmaster” at this time in his life.

Esther 9:1–19: Thus, the Jews Smote All Their Enemies

[Teacher’s Choice Study Aired November 23, 2020]

Est 9:1  Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;) 
Est 9:2  The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people. 
Est 9:3  And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. 
Est 9:4  For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater. 
Est 9:5  Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them. 
Est 9:6  And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men. 
Est 9:7  And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, 
Est 9:8  And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, 
Est 9:9  And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha, 
Est 9:10  The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand. 
Est 9:11  On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king. 
Est 9:12  And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done. 
Est 9:13  Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. 
Est 9:14  And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons. 
Est 9:15  For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand. 
Est 9:16  But the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey, 
Est 9:17  On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 
Est 9:18  But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 
Est 9:19  Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another. 

In Esther chapter 8, we observed that Esther pleaded with the King to come out with a decree to nullify the letters which had already gone out to every province that the Jews must be destroyed, killed and cause to perish on the thirteenth day of the month of the twelfth month called Adar. This decree to destroy the Jews signifies the law of sin and death and the King’s new decree to nullify the first decree represents the law of the spirit of life which sets us free from the law of sin and death. Chapter 9, therefore, focuses on the effect of this new decree (the law of the spirit of life) by the King in the lives of the Jews.

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 
Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Est 9:1  Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;) 

According to the law of sin and death, we were destined to be destroyed as a result of our rebellion, which is symbolized by the thirteenth day of the twelfth month. As the scriptures say, the wages of sin are death.  For as long as the enemies within dominated us, we continued to rebel against God. However, God, who is rich in mercy, came up with a new decree which is the law of the spirit of life which has liberated us from the shackles of the law of sin and death with the birth of the new man in us that has rule over them that hated us inwardly.

Outwardly, there is a day of rebellion at the end of the period when the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. When the whole of the human race compasses the camp of the saints, fire will come down from God of the heavens and devour them. That is when the last enemy, death, will be destroyed.

Neh 9:17  And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Est 9:2  The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people. 

As indicated in previous reviews of this Book of Esther, the gathering of the Jews (the elect) is very important. It is through fellowshipping that we strengthen one another to face the day of the Lord in our lives. In the verse above, the gathering of the Jews was to help them to overcome those who sought their hurt (the enemy within). It is also to help them overcome any onslaught from any man. No man withstanding them means that fellowshipping creates the necessary condition for the Jews (the elect) to tread on serpents and scorpions and have dominion over all the powers of the enemy. The question is, “How does fellowshipping help us in overcoming those who sought our hurt and being able to tread on serpents and scorpions?” As we fellowship, we get to know the mind of Christ and therefore become of one mind with our husband, Christ. That is what the scripture is talking about when it says that a man leaves his family to get joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh. As we become one mind, nothing can withstand us as shown in the building of the tower of Babel. In Genesis 11:6, the people were of one mind (the people is one) when they were trying to build the tower of Babel (Positive application).  Until God intervened, nothing could stop them.

Mar 10:6  But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
Mar 10:7  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 
Mar 10:8  And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 
Mar 10:9  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 

Gen 11:6  And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 

Est 9:3  And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
Est 9:4  For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater. 

Verse 3 shows us that the resources of the kingdom of God have been made available to us (the Jews). However, the resources are only in earnest form while we live here on earth, until the redemption of the purchased possession. These resources are available to us through our knowledge of Him through His words. In His words He has given us exceeding great and precious promises that we may overcome the corruption which is in the world through lust.

These resources available to us are exemplified in the story of 2Kings 6:8-11. In this story, the King of Syria sent his men on horses and chariots to surround the town of Dothan in the night in a bid to capture Elisha. When the servant of Elisha woke up in the morning and saw horses and chariots surrounding the city, he was afraid and went to inform Elisha. However, Elisha rather prayed that God should open the servant eyes to see in the spirit. When the Lord opened the servant’s eyes to see, he saw a mountain full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. This portion of scripture shows God’s provision to protect us from our enemies within and without. These passages of scriptures mean that the kingdom of God which is now within, which is represented by the mountain, is possessed through war (symbolized by horses) in our heavens, and our weapon (our resources) for this war is the fiery words of the Lord signified by chariots of fire.

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. 

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

2Ki 6:8  Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. 
2Ki 6:9  And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down. 
2Ki 6:10  And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice. 
2Ki 6:11  Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel? 
2Ki 6:12  And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. 
2Ki 6:13  And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. 
2Ki 6:14  Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. 
2Ki 6:15  And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 
2Ki 6:16  And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 
2Ki 6:17  And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 

In verse 3 and 4, the reason the rulers and others were helping the Jews was because of the fear of Mordecai which has fallen on them. Here Mordecai represents the Lord Jesus who is great in the house of the Lord and is waxing greater and greater. The waxing greater and greater of Mordecai represents the brightness of the Lord Jesus coming into our lives and consuming the enemy within with the spirit of his mouth (His words).

Heb 1:8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 
Heb 1:9  Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 
Heb 1:10  And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: 
Heb 1:11  They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; 
Heb 1:12  And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. 

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:

Est 9:5  Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them. 
Est 9:6  And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men. 
Est 9:7  And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, 
Est 9:8  And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, 
Est 9:9  And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha, 
Est 9:10  The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand. 

Verse 5 begins with the word “Thus”. This word means as a result of or the consequence of what has been said earlier. What has been said earlier is as follows:

1. That the Jews gathered together – Talking about our fellowshipping.
2. The rulers, the lieutenants and the deputies of the kingdom helped the Jews – This is speaking of the resources available to the elect.
3. Mordecai waxing greater and greater and the fear of him causing the Jews to be favored – Here Mordecai represents the brightness of the  Lord Jesus coming into our lives (waxing greater and greater) which will cause the enemy within to be consumed with the spirit of his mouth (His words). 

As a result of these, we are able to smite the enemies within with the stroke of the sword (His words). Remember that the name Shushan means Lily. In the bible, the elect is referred to as a lily (Hosea 14:5). As indicated in Chapter 1 of Esther, Shushan is where the King’s throne is. Thus, the throne of God is in the elect’s heavens (hearts and minds). As indicated in verse 6, it is within (Shushan) that the Jews smote five hundred men of the enemies. Five hundred is equal to 5x10x10. This means that it is by grace through faith that the flesh is put to death. This grace is that which chastens us and brings about the death of the enemies within.

Verses 7 to 9 are the names of the ten sons of Haman. Remember that the number 10 represents the flesh. So, our war is against the flesh. What we need to understand is that the death of Haman did not end the fight against the flesh within. There were the ten sons of Haman to contend with then. It is a war that continues on a daily basis. That is why Paul said that we die daily (1Co 15:31). When the Israelites entered Canaan, they conquered the land one nation at a time. God told the Israelites through Moses that He will drive out the nations before them little by little, and the reason for this is that He does not want Israel to be overwhelmed by the beasts of the field.

Jesus explained to us that the word field means the world. The beasts of the field are therefore the same as the flesh or the old man as they drive us towards worldliness. This worldliness consists of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. This sums up the sins of the flesh.

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

Deu 7:22  And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

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

Verse 10 mentions that even though the Jews slew their enemies, they did not take possession of the spoil. The spoil represents worldly possessions. We are in this world but not of this world, and therefore our focus is not on worldly prosperity as our brothers in Babylon consider worldly prosperity as a sign of God’s approval. They will quote Deuteronomy 8:18 –  “But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day” as scriptural proof of their belief.

As spiritual Jews, we need to pay heed to Paul’s admonition to Timothy as follows:

1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. 
1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain. 
1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 
1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 
1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 
1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 

Est 9:11  On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king. 
Est 9:12  And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done. 
Est 9:13  Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. 
Est 9:14  And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons. 

What these verses teach us is that the slaying of the enemies within is the work of God and not anything we have done. It is the Lord who commands, and it is done. As those seeking the death of the enemies within, we need to continually seek the Lord to command the destruction of the enemies within just as Esther did. Such prayers will surely be answered. However, we need to be patient since the death of the enemies within takes time. Patience is one of the qualities God requires of us as the process of becoming his sons takes time.

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 
Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Est 9:15  For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand. 
Est 9:16  But the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey, 

The gathering of the Jews on the fourteenth day is a sign that they are progressing spiritually as fourteenth means spiritual progression. This spiritual progression is the result of the slaughtering of the enemies within. In this case 300 (300 = 3x10x10) men were slaughtered. This means that the process of spiritual completion entails putting the flesh (the enemies within) to death.

Again, in verse 16, more enemies were slaughtered by the other Jews. This was possible because the Jews stood for their lives. What does it mean to stand for your life? To stand for your life is to come to a place where you put your life on the line as Esther did when she appeared uninvited in the King’s presence not knowing whether the King would extend the sceptre or she would be put to death. This is the same as losing our lives, which will result in the eventual gain of our lives. This is what Jesus was talking about when He said that the kingdom of God has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. The violent are those who stand for their lives (lose their lives) in a bid to defeat the enemies within.

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 

Est 4:15  Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, 
Est 4:16  Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. 

Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 

In both verses 15 and 16, it is mentioned that the Jews did not lay hands on the prey. The fact that it is mentioned three times in this chapter means that we have to pay attention to it. I will therefore elaborate more on it. The prey is the same as the spoil, and it represents wealth (Mammon). This prey or spoil encapsulates all that is in the world which men and women go after – what we will eat or drink, what we will wear and the provision of shelter. That is what the cares of this world are all about. These have derailed the course of many aspiring men and women of God.

For example, there was this gentleman that Paul, in the early part of his ministry, trusted so much, and his name was Demas. Later on in his ministry, Paul said that Demas has forsaken him because he loved the present world. It is important to also note that the excuses that those invited to the marriage dinner gave were legitimate, but resulted in their exclusion from the marriage dinner. The scripture says that they made light of the king’s invitation and went their way, one to his farm and another to his merchandise. Yes, it is true that we have to work to provide food and shelter for our families, but the enemy can use these legitimate concerns to derail our course. It takes those who have progress spiritually to let go of the spoil. May the Lord help us so that we don’t touch the spoil just as the Jews did when they smote their enemies.

Col 4:14  Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.

Phm 1:24  Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers.

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

Mat 22:2  The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 
Mat 22:5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 

Est 9:17  On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 
Est 9:18  But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 
Est 9:19  Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another. 

Verses 17 to 19 focus on what happened after the defeat of the enemies of the Jews. The defeat of the enemies resulted in the Jews having rest; feasting, having a day of gladness and sending portions one to another. Let’s take them one at a time and elaborate on them.

The Jews had Rest

From the verses above, the Jews had rested after defeating the enemies within. As God’s spiritual Jews, our rest only comes from the death of the beast within. As long as the beast within sits in the throne of our hearts, we will always fall short of this rest. Death to the beast/flesh is what grants us the rest from our labors. Now, the question is what does it mean to have rest? The answer is in Hebrews 4:10-12, which says that having rest is ceasing from our own works. Now those who did not believe in His words (Heb 4:11) did not enter into his rest. This means that entering into His rest, or ceasing from our own works, is believing in His words. That is why in Hebrews 4:12, the writer was telling us about the potency of the word of God so that we believe and obtain that rest. When we come to that place where we depend on His words and know that what He has said He is able to accomplish, then we’ve started our rest in Him!! That is when we do not depend on what we do but what He does through His words.

Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead–those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.” (Berean Study Bible)

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 
Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

A day of gladness for the Jews

The day of the defeat of the enemies was the day of gladness for the Jews. In Psalm 126, the Jews were glad because God had done great things for them by delivering them from their captivity. The captivity here is our bondage to the flesh or the old man (represented by the enemies of the Jews). For whosoever sins is a slave to sin. So it is only when the Lord delivers us from our enemies within that we experience gladness or joy, and that is when we come to appreciate the great things that God has done for us.

Psa 126:1  A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
Psa 126:2  Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. 
Psa 126:3  The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. 
Psa 126:4  Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. 
Psa 126:5  They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 
Psa 126:6  He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

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

The Feasting of the Jews

Feasting is about eating and drinking, and it represents how God is enlightening the understanding of the word of God for His elect to know Him. Remember that eternal life is all about getting to know God and Jesus (John 17:3). So feasting is equivalent to being given eternal life. As our heavens are being cleansed through the death of our enemies (the old man), a door is being opened in heaven which is deepening our understanding of the word of God exponentially.

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

Rev 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. 

The Jews sent portions to each other

The portions being talked about here refer to properly weighed out food. As we are aware, food represents the word of God based on Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4, which say that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of the Lord. So the Jews sending portions to each other is about His elect sharing the word of God with each other, resulting in the building up of the body through love. That is what Paul was alluding to when he said that the body of the elect is fitted and compacted together by what every joint supplies.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Next time, we will conclude the Book of Esther by looking at the remaining verses of Chapter 9 and also Chapter 10.

[Study Posted September 7, 2020]

Est 6:1  On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. 
Est 6:2  And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. 
Est 6:3  And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him. 
Est 6:4  And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
Est 6:5  And the king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in. 
Est 6:6  So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself? 
Est 6:7  And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, 
Est 6:8  Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: 
Est 6:9  And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour. 
Est 6:10  Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. 
Est 6:11  Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour. 
Est 6:12  And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered. 
Est 6:13  And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him. 
Est 6:14  And while they were yet talking with him, came the king’s chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared. 

Chapter 5 deals with how Esther appeared before the King on the third day to request a feast with the King and Haman. As indicated, this feast is not the marriage supper of the lamb but rather the supper of the great God, which represents the invitation of fowls of the air to feast on our flesh. Esther was shown mercy which is accompanied by rulership which God has appointed for those who are shown mercy or overcome. Chapter 6, which we are reviewing today, is about what lies ahead of those who overcome. Let’s therefore take a look at the details of these passages of scriptures and how they relate to our walk with Christ.

Est 6:1  On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. 
Est 6:2  And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. 
Est 6:3  And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him. 

These verses remind us of Isaiah 63:9, which says that in all our suffering, he also suffered and that he personally came to our rescue. The night before Haman was going to ask the King to hang Mordecai, the King could not sleep and asked for the books of records to be read to him. It was through this reading that the King remembered that he had not rewarded Mordecai for revealing the plot to assassinate the King.  The King came to the rescue of Mordecai but not before Mordecai has been brought to his wits’ end.

These verses also assure us that God is a rewarder and that He never forgets the good works which He works through us!! Hebrews 11:6 says that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Isaiah 63:9: In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years. (NLT)

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Est 6:4  And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 
Est 6:5  And the king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in. 
Est 6:6  So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself? 

Our moments of destruction will turn out to be our salvation. Just when we feel that we have lost the battle is when God makes us realize that our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. From our carnal perspective, we may think that the decision by the King to reward Mordecai and the arrival of Haman at the court of the King to demand the head of Mordecai is coincidence or by chance. However, from the word of God, we know there are no coincidence in life. It shows the extent of God’s involvement in every little detail of our lives. God orchestrates every action of all human race, both good and evil. This story confirms to us that our steps are really ordered or planned – whether it is leading us to do evil, just like Haman, or to do good. We should therefore be encouraged by this that whatever our circumstances are, God is in perfect control and it will turn out for our good!!

The fact that Haman thought that if there should be any person that deserves to be honoured it should be him, makes us aware that the beast within us thinks that having favor with God is the result of our own effort, or what we call the free will.  This is the mindset we used to have when we were in Babylon as we glory in our works and our integrity, just as Job thought that he was righteous.  We were just like the Pharisee who was praying thinking he was more righteous than the publican. So the work of God in our lives is to give us an experience of evil as we walk through this earth so that we will be humbled (come to the realization that we are the greatest sinners) before Him.

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

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

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

Luk 18:9  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

Ecc 1:13  And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail (evil experience) hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised (humble) therewith. 

Est 6:7  And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, 
Est 6:8  Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: 
Est 6:9  And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.
Est 6:10  Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. 
Est 6:11  Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour. 

As shown in the scriptures, our God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. As we grow gradually in the things of God, we need our understanding to be enlightened so that we come to appreciate what is the hope of our calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in us. In other words, what we should expect when we overcome.  This is very important, as our Lord Jesus was motivated by the joy set out before Him, and therefore He endured the cross, despising the shame. In the same manner, we, too, must know the joy that is set before us to motivate us to fight this fight of faith. Verses 7–9 help us catch a glimpse of what lies in wait for us as we go through our struggles daily. Let’s list them:

Number 1:  We will receive be arrayed in a royal apparel if the King delights in us. Apparel or clothing is used to cover our nakedness (our sins). It is God’s righteousness that covers our nakedness (sinful nature). So, apparel represents God’s righteousness from a positive perspective. In Genesis, when Adam and Eve sinned, they sewed fig leaves to cover themselves when they realized they were naked (sinful). When they heard the voice of the Lord in the garden of Eden, they hid themselves, and when God asked why they were hiding, Adam said that it was because he was naked, even though he was wearing fig leaves as clothes. This means that our human endeavor cannot bring us God’s righteousness. We will always be naked before him. In the end, God clothed both Adam and Eve. It is God’s righteousness that matters. This is to emphasize the fact that the apparel the King wears here represents God giving us His righteousness as He delights in us. The royal nature of the apparel means that we are being made righteous to rule.

Gen 3:7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 
Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 
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. 

Jer 23:6  In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

Number 2: The one that the King delights in (the elect) is expected to ride a horse upon which the King rides.  In this case, the elect is expected to ride the horse through the streets of the city. The use of a horse and the riding through the streets of the city suggest that we have come out of a war and that we have been victorious. In other words, we are taking a victory lap as we see frequently in the Olympics when athletes go round the tracks celebrating their victory. In our case, we are celebrating the victory over the beast within (the flesh). All the wars Israel fought spiritually signify the fight against the flesh.  Paul calls it the good fight of faith. In Galatians 5:17, Paul further describes this war as the flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. These two are contrary against each other so that we cannot do the things that we would.

Proverbs 21:31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD. (NIV)

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 

The question is when do we celebrate our victory? If we are blessed to be part of the first resurrection, then that is when we will celebrate our victory as the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ (His elect). Revelation 19:11–15 describes our victory as follows:

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 
Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 
Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 
Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 
Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 

Number 3: The third honor for those that the king delights in is that they shall receive a royal crown upon their heads. This royal crown is also called the crown of life or the crown of righteousness.  Being crowned suggests that those who prevail will rule over the nations during the period when the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

2Ti 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

It is worth noting that it is the King’s most noble princes (the elect), represented by Haman as one of the King’s leading princes, that decorated Mordecai and paraded him in the streets of the city.  In this case, Haman here represents the elect which is a positive application. What this means is that it is through the agency of the elect that we learn to win this war of the flesh and to be clothed with Christ’s righteousness. The prophesying (the preaching) of the elect is to edify us (build us up), encourage us to reach for the mark of His higher calling and to comfort us in our trials. This is all done with the objective of us being part of those in whom the King delights so that we can receive the prize at the end of our journey here on this earth.

1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. 

Est 6:12  And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered. 
Est 6:13  And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him. 

The mourning of Haman (the beast within) means that his death is near.  As our eyes are being enlightened and we are going through trials marked out for us, our old man within has started his journey of death, and the new man is increasing in strength. Haman’s wise men and Zeresh, Haman’s wife gave Haman advice that as long as we are spiritual Jews, Haman (the beast within) will surely die! It means that once we have started dying daily, the old man will surely die!! In other words, as long as we have started seeing victories over the flesh in certain areas of our lives, we will surely win the war. He who has started the good work in us is able to bring it to completion.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 

Est 6:14  And while they were yet talking with him, came the king’s chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared. 

As indicated in the review of Esther chapter 5, this banquet that the King’s chamberlain hastened to bring Haman, is not the marriage supper of the lamb which is strictly for those who overcome (Haman will not be there). It is the supper of the great God as revealed in Revelation 19:17-18 where all the fowls that fly in the midst of our heavens, represented by Haman, are invited to come and eat our flesh (our old man) which will consequently result in the death of our old man (Haman) and the birth of a new man created after the image of Christ.

This feasting, or banqueting, is the opening of our eyes to understand exponentially the word of God. Thus, this banquet is when the truth of God’s words destroys our attachment to the things of the world signified by the flesh.

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 

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

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The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God – Part 3

The Instrument of His Power

Introduction

Review of first study – God does have a plan for all mankind

In the first study in this series on the Biblical overview of the plan of God we saw all the scriptures witnessing to the fact that God does indeed have a plan and a purpose for effectuating the salvation of all men of all time. What we saw was that His immutable intention is to head up all of His creation, in heaven and in earth, in the Christ:

Eph 1:10 For an administration of the fulness of the seasons, to reunite for himself (under one head) the all things in the Christ, the things upon the heavens, and the things upon the earth, in him: (REV)

Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Everything the Father is doing is being done “by [Christ] and for [Christ]”. God is the author of this plan, and He does not beat around the bush in explaining why He has given Christ the preeminence in all things. He is a God of love, so all He does is out of His love for us, but the reason He gives for placing Christ at the head of His creation is simply this:

Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

So God has revealed to us that He has a purpose and a plan in all He is doing and Christ has been chosen of His Father to be the head of all things, and through Christ the Father is in the process of redeeming to Himself “all things in heaven and in the earth” (Eph 1:10).

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

That was the essence of our first study.

Second study – The sequence of events in the plan of God

In our second study we saw the sequence of the main events of that plan and purpose. Though we did not include the holy days given to ancient Israel in that study, I want to include them in this study because they have hidden within them the revelation of those who will be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, who we are later informed will be the instrument by which Christ will accomplish all His Father sent Him to do. That is the subject of our study today, so I will go back through the Biblical sequence of events, which lead to the salvation of all men of all time, and we will take special note of the revelation of a dual firstfruits, which are later revealed to be that for which all the creation waits in great anticipation.

Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

These holy day festivals reveal the necessary sequence of events in the plan of God. These holy days, which Christ Himself gave to Israel, were actually given “Not unto themselves but… for our admonition” as spiritual shadows of the plan and purpose which God the Father is working out through Christ and for Christ.

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

1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

There we are. We are informed that the law of Moses, of which the holy days and their sacrifices and rituals are an integral part, was given to Israel “for our admonition… having a [mere] shadow of good things to come”, and yet most people have no idea what they were really all about, least of all the masses of the Jews and Christians of this world.

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

The holy day festivals given to Israel, “with those sacrifices they offered”, typified “good things [which were] to come” to Christ and His anointed, His Christ. They were not in reality, at that time ministering to the people of the Old Testament, because the faith of Christ was not yet available to any of that era. They were all, at the time those holy day festivals were instituted, still under the “law… for the lawless… [the mere] shadow of good things to come… to whom the promise was [in spiritual reality] made”:

Gal 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

The promise appears to the natural man to have been made only to Abraham and his physical seed, but the festival of Pentecost is also called “the feast… of firstfruits”, and it was on that particular feast that the New Testament church was founded:

Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Exo 23:16 And the feast of harvest, the first fruit of thy labours, [The feast of Pentecost] which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering [The feast of tabernacles], which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Exo 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first fruits of wheat harvest [Pentecost], and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

The reason the holy spirit came on the feast of Pentecost was because those who are in Christ, are also “a kind of firstfruits”:

Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

This is interesting considering that Christ Himself is called “the firstfruits of them that slept”, and His resurrection is typified by the offering of the wave sheaf of the barley harvest fifty days prior to “the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of [the summer] wheat harvest”.

Lev 23:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your [barley] harvest unto the priest:
Lev 23:11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Lev 23:12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish [typifying Christ] of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

The scriptures reveal that the firstfruits of the wheat harvest of the festival of Pentecost typify those in Christ who are now the spiritual ‘firstfruit’ seed of Abraham:

Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

It is believed by most Christians that because Abraham and all the Old Testament saints of Hebrews 11 are said to have had faith, therefore they will all be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. Is that really what the scriptures teach? The answer is absolutely not! That is the equivalent of using Exodus 16:4 to prove that manna was the true bread from heaven while ignoring the fact that Christ tells us that the “bread from heaven”, which Israel called ‘manna’, was nothing more than a type and shadow of Himself as the true bread from heaven.

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

Was that Old Testament manna the real “bread from heaven” or was it just a shadow of this Truth?

Joh 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Joh 6:34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Joh 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

The “bread from heaven” of the Old Testament was “not… the true bread from heaven”. It was nothing more than a spiritual type and shadow of the true bread from heaven, which “true bread” was Christ. Likewise the faith of Abraham was not the true saving faith of Christ, but was a mere type and shadow of that true faith:

Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed.

Did Abraham’s faith secure for Him the promises? What do the scriptures teach us?

Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

If they obtained a good report “through faith”, why did they “receive not the promise”? The answer is that their Old Testament ‘faith’ was not “the true” faith any more than “the bread from heaven” of the Old Testament” was “the true bread from heaven”. Both were mere spiritual types of the True, which is Christ, and which was available to no one “till the seed [Christ] should come, to whom the promise was made”. Until that time “We were kept under the law shut up onto the faith which should afterwards be revealed”:

Joh 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Gal 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

Abraham did not have “the faith which should afterward be revealed”. The faith of Christ teaches us to ‘love our enemies, and if they take your goods ask them not again’, while the faith of Abraham told him to destroy the kings who had taken Lot and the plunder of Sodom and take the plundered goods back.

Gen 14:14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
Gen 14:15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
Gen 14:16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Luk 6:30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.

The holy spirit revealed this same Truth to the apostle Peter who goes so far as to tell us that the Old Testament saints “ministered… not unto themselves, but unto us…”

1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Did the Old Testament saints receive saving grace? Absolutely not! They “prophesied of the grace that should come unto [us]… not unto themselves, but unto us…” Did the glory that comes with obedience to the faith of Christ come to the Old Testament saints? No, it did not! Rather it was “the glory that should follow… the sufferings of Christ”. Did all those things that happened to the Old Testament saints happen to them for their own admonition? No, absolutely not! “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister“.

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

With all of this in mind, let’s go back and consider what is revealed to us about the purpose and plan of God in the annual holy day festivals that were given to Israel “for our admonition”.

The passover

Those festivals begin with the passover, symbolizing the sacrifice of Christ as our sacrificial passover Lamb. That ‘passover’ sacrifice was foreshadowed in the Garden of Eden when Christ Himself killed an animal to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve after they were made aware of their nakedness by their predestined disobedience to Christ’s commandment that they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

1Co 5:7 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:

The days of unleavened bread

The passover festival is followed immediately with the days of unleavened bread, showing us that when we are granted to accept the sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood for our sins the consequential affect is that we begin immediately to put sin out of our lives. The days of unleavened bread symbolize the same thing the flood of Noah symbolized. They both foreshadow the doctrine of baptisms, the doctrine of having sin burned out of our lives and being washed clean of our sins by the blood of the Lamb:

Rev 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The sacrifice of the life of our Savior and the purging of sin from our lives are the first two steps of the plan of God for the lives of all men of all time. Whether our judgment is now or in the great white throne judgment, the lake of fire, the same steps must be taken in the same order as it is laid out in the holy day festivals God gave to ancient Israel.

The feast of Pentecost

What the holy day festivals reveal, and what the New Testament also reveals, is that our initial acceptance of Christ as our Savior at the passover festival, and the purging of sin from our lives which the days of unleavened bread signify at that point are an early baptism which is youthful, immature and outward in nature. Our passover and days of unleavened bread conversion precedes the trials of the wilderness where we all rebel against the trials of obeying our Lord’s commandments. We may well have witnessed all the miracles God has performed on our behalf against our enemies while still in Egypt. We have witnessed the death of the firstborn of Egypt for our sakes. We may have ‘come out of Egypt’, we may even have witnessed the power of God to part the Red Sea on our behalf, but all of those miracles are outward gifts which cannot yet change our hearts to the point that the holy spirit can take up its residence within us.

The fact that our knowledge of God is through His outward works on our behalf and not through the trials of the wilderness, which try our faith, is the significance of the “seven sabbaths until the morrow after the seventh sabbath”, before the festival of Pentecost at which holy day the holy spirit was given to the church.

Lev 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Fifty is a multiple of five and indicates the work of chastening grace and faith which begins upon the arrival of the holy spirit within us when we are brought to the day of Pentecost. Until we have been brought to Christ in a more mature stage, having repented of being “carnal… babes in Christ”, we cannot be given the indwelling of the holy spirit. In other words, babes in Christ are indeed “yet carnal” and without the holy spirit dwelling within in a way that begins the chastening and scourging which is experienced by a more mature child who is no longer an immature babe, but has progressed to the point of being capable of receiving the chastening, scourging and tribulations which must be endured by “every [mature] son who [is] received [of the] Lord”.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son [G5207, uihos, maturing son] whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons [uihos]; for what son [uihos] is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards [“carnal… babe[s] in Christ”], and not sons [uihos].

No parent chastens a baby, but any good parent does chasten children who are mature enough to benefit from the pain of a scourging which will make them think twice about disobeying their loving parent. It is of utmost importance for us to know that the Greek word for ‘babes’ in 1Co 3:1-4 is nepios, while the word for ‘son’ and ‘sons’ in Heb 12:6-8 is uihos, meaning a son who is now much more mature and is in need of being chastened and scourged for the purpose of giving him loving rebuking and correction.

This is the Pentecost stage of the plan of God within our lives, and within the plan of God for all men. It is the beginning of the day of judgment in the lives of all who will be part of that “firstfuits of [His] harvest”:

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

“Christ the firstfruits” is the resurrected Christ, the anti-type of that wave sheaf of the barley harvest during the days of unleavened bread. Christ’s resurrection immediately followed the passover sacrifice of Himself.

Christ’s resurrection was on the morrow after the sabbath during the days of unleavened bread.

“They that are Christ’s at His coming” is speaking of those who have the kingdom of God “within [them]” (Luk 17:19-20), and who have “died in Christ” since His death and resurrection, continuing up to the time of His coming to establish His kingdom over the kingdoms of this world for the symbolic “thousand years”.

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

The feast of trumpets

The events which lead up to the rulership of “this world” by the elect of God are pictured within and without by the feast of trumpets on the first day of the seventh month, in the Fall.

Lev 23:23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
Lev 23:25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Every holy day symbolizes a great work of God within each of us. Outwardly and dispensationally these holy days symbolize a step forward in the plan of God for all men, and yet every holy day is a sabbath because God wants us to know that He is working all things after the counsel of His own plan, purpose, and will, and not because of anything that we do:

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

Every step of God’s plan for mankind is to be taken only with “a sacrifice made with fire unto the Lord”. The fire of God’s chastening and scourging does indeed entail torment, but it is a ‘fire’ which burns up and consumes all that can be destroyed by that fire. That which is not consumed and destroyed is purified in that fire. The torment, like the fire itself, has a purpose and an end, and that purpose and end is the cleansing and purifying “every man”. ‘Every man… shall suffer [the] loss” of all the wood, hay and stubble, in his life, “but he himself shall [in the end] be saved, yet so as by fire” (1Co 3:15).

Joseph is a type of Christ, our judge, and the way he dealt with his brothers, who sold him into slavery in Egypt, demonstrates how the fire of the Word of God works in our own lives. It demonstrates how we are judged by the Words of our own mouth and how we reap what we have sown:

Gen 42:21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Gen 42:22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
Gen 42:23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
Gen 42:24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

It is an emotional thing to have to witness our own brothers and sisters being brought to true and deep repentance through the torment which their own words bring upon them. But we, too, must endure this very same “godly repentance” in our own lives before we will be granted to cause our brothers and sisters to be brought to that same place and time in their lives. Joseph could easily have said, “Hi boys, it’s me, Joseph, your little brother who you sold into slavery. Hey, don’t worry about anything, I have died for you in a sense by spending thirteen years as a slave in Egypt, and now all you have to do is to accept my generous sacrifice for all you did to me.” But that is not what Joseph did, that is not what Christ did for you and me, and that is not what we will do for those in the lake of fire. That fire is the word of God, and this is what that word teaches us about who we are and what we will do:

Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

Luk 19:22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

That is exactly what Joseph’s brothers thought of Him, and it tormented them for many long years. They really believed that when Jacob died, Joseph would get his revenge upon them all for what they had done to him:

Gen 50:15 And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

It was their own unforgiving heart that caused them to suffer in fear all those years, and so the scriptures were fulfilled which said:

Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Contrary to the smooth teaching of the false doctrine of “the substitutionary death of Christ”, Christ is not in the process of saving us with “coffee and doughnuts”. Rather “he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire”. It is much easier to be forgiven and at the same time refuse to forgive those who have trespassed and sinned against us. It would also have been much easier for Joseph to have revealed Himself to his brothers to begin with than for him to have restrained himself from doing so while he tormented them as he did. But these things happened to them, and they are written for our admonition upon whom these very same “ends of the world have come”. That is right, these events are the events that come upon us all in “the ends of the age”, both inwardly and dispensationally and outwardly.

As the apostle warned us, and as our Lord Himself taught us, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap [by] the tormentors… till the debt is paid”:

Mat 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Mat 18:34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Mat 18:35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

All of these lessons are learned first by those who are pictured as the firstfruits of the feast of Pentecost. From Pentecost to the feast of trumpets is the time from the summer to the fall. It is during this extended time that we are being matured through fiery judgments which “begin at the house of God”. Those fiery words apply to us first, and we are the first to be judged out of our own mouths, according to the idols of our own hearts” (Eze 14:1-9).

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?

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked [the first man Adam, the beast, the man of sin within all of us] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

“That wicked… shall [be] consume[d] with the spirit of His mouth”. In other words, “that wicked” is consumed by the fiery words of Christ in the mouths of His firstfruit witnesses.

Exo 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

“The feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest” is the feast of Pentecost, and “the feast of ingathering at the year’s end” is the double festival of tabernacles and the last great day.

This festival, “the blowing of trumpets”, is only nine days before the day of atonement, indicating that these two festivals are closely associated with each other. That association is the fact that our sins cannot be covered without first drinking the cup Christ drank and being baptized with the baptism He was baptized with, which are both typified by the trumpet judgments of Revelation 16 within our lives. This judgment is even now taking place within the lives of those who are “the house of God” and are acknowledged as such at the feast of trumpets (1Pe 4:17).

As the seven priests with the seven trumpets circling Jericho demonstrate, the festival of trumpets acknowledges that the day of judgment “begins at the house of God”, and has been taking place since that house was established within us. But judgment is accomplished in all men “each in his own order”. In time God’s trumpet judgments will include “all [who are] in Adam”, but at this time judgment is being administered by the “seven priests” who are also called the seven angels of the seven churches, which angels we are also told blow the seven trumpets and pour out the seven vials of the wrath of God which are essential to “consume [the man of sin} with the spirit of [their] mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming”.

Jos 6:13 And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked [the first man Adam, the beast, the man of sin within all of us] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Rev 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

Who is this angel and this beast? Here is the angel’s own answer to that question:

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him [the angel of Rev 17:1]. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

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

It is through the blowing of the seven trumpets by the seven priests that Jericho’s walls, typifying the walls and fortifications of the kingdom of the beast within us, are destroyed. As we showed earlier it all “begins at the house of God”:

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

“Begin” does not mean that this is the end of God’s judgments. It is just the beginning, and it begins within His own “house”, His firstfruits, His “body which is His church”. This is how Paul describes this judgment which “begins at the house of God”:

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

This verse reveals a great truth which many who have been deceived by the false doctrine of a “substitutionary death”, will and do consider to be blasphemy. Nevertheless Paul very clearly states here that his own sufferings are for “[Christ’s] body’s sake, which is the church”. He even states that this suffering in his body is “the afflictions of Christ in my body… which are behind [Greek: lacking] of the afflictions of Christ”. It is all a work of God and not of us, but it is being done through us “for His body’s sake, which is the church” as we will discuss in our study next week, if the Lord wills.

The next holy day is the day of atonement, only nine days after the feast of trumpets. It is followed five days later by the feast of tabernacles and the last great day, which we will get to next week, Lord willing.

[Click here to go to the next chapter.]

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Awesome Hands – part 45

“ Let my son go, that he may serve me”

In the previous study, we saw that Moses was told how to serve the Lord though Moses doubted each step of the way what the Lord told Moses were His commandments.

By the end of chapter 4, Moses was told to go to the Pharaoh and deliver the message of the Lord in order to deliver God’s chosen people from the bondage of the Pharaoh.

Before Moses gets to that point in chapter 5, Moses is told how to handle the serpent which God has placed in the power of Moses’ hand. Additionally, Moses is instructed that he must first take care of his own household in order for him to be able to deliver the same message to the Pharaoh.

In today’s study, we are going to see that the Pharaoh is delivered a message from Moses which will cause the Pharaoh to make it extremely hard for the people of God is listen to God’s commandments to serve Him alone via a sacrifice.

As a recap to lead up to the study today, I will read a few of the ending verses of chapter 4 of Exodus.

Exo 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Exo 4:23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
Exo 4:24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.
Exo 4:25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.
Exo 4:26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

Indeed, the circumcision or covenant that God makes with His chosen people is even one that our wife, typifying babylon of which we must “come out of,” will balk at the idea of what it is we must do when we listen diligently to the Words of our Lord.

Pharaoh and Moses wife are one in spirit when they rebel and confront us about the message we deliver to them when we say, “thus saith the Lord”.

“Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go”

 Exo 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

Exo 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

Remember, God had already told Moses that He was going to harden the Pharaoh’s heart, so this response is not unexpected.

However, there are a few points that make the Pharaoh’s initial response telling about how it is for all of us when we are first presented with the “Word of the Lord”.

Notice, Moses and Aaron present the words of the Lord in such a way as to say that the Lord has said that He wants a FEAST held for Him in the wilderness, but I thought they were going to the wilderness to sacrifice?

Exo 3:18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

Exo 5:8 And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

So, could it be that this sacrifice in the wilderness is one and the same as a feast held for the Lord?

1Sa 15:21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
1Sa 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

What we are reading and learning about in chapter 5 of Exodus is that the Lord is very keen on having His commandments obeyed.

When we present the Words of the Lord, He expects them to be obeyed. Yet, we cannot offer our own version of the sacrifice He requires. Otherwise, we are NOT giving the FEAST unto the Lord that He requires.

The “feast” is none other than what we see given to us in type and shadow of the Works that the Lord puts in our hands to do. The works are His works, and when we go about doing things our way or not according to the exact specifications that He requires, then “our sacrifice” and “His feast” are not ACCEPTED.

Here are a few examples of this idea in type and shadow.

Exo 10:9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.

Lev 23:39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

Lev 23:41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

Num 29:12 And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days:

Deu 16:15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

When we come delivering the message of the Lord, we are doing so because the Lord has spoken to US and has told US what it is He requires of us.

When we deliver this message saying the Lord will send us pestilence and/ or the sword, those we are speaking these things to will NOT be favorable at first or at all.

Exo 5:3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
Exo 5:4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.
Exo 5:5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.

“The Lord will send us destruction or fall upon us with the sword”. This doesn’t sound favorable to those who are delivering the message, and for the old man in us all, this is NOT a good prognosis.

Spiritually speaking, this is happening to ALL of us because the Lord is speaking His Word to the “king of Egypt” in us all.

The king of Egypt’s response is very revealing because it represents the flesh and the king which rules it!

“let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.”

In other words, let the flesh continue to do the works it does that satisfies itself and as for the messenger of God, “GO ABOUT YOUR OWN WORKS!”

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

The “king of Egypt” tells us that there are too many people being made IDLE by what we are telling him are the commandments of the Lord. The “king of Egypt” tells us that all we are doing is telling people to do NOTHING!

How many times have we been told, “So if God is doing it all, then what is there left for us to do, what is the point in doing anything?” This is the same mindset that blinds those who we are sent to deliver this message to.

“Building the tower of confusion”

Exo 5:6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
Exo 5:7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.
Exo 5:8 And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.
Exo 5:9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.

When the old man feels threatened and knows he is thrust into was with the new man Christ, the Word of God, the old man instantly makes things harder for us in order that we not “regard vain words”.

The true vanity however is in the actions and words of the old man! Not only are we going to be required to do what we always have, but the amount of energy and work it took to get the same result before is going to double or triple!

We are going to “gather straw” just to be able to build this false house we are constructing within ourselves as the tower of bable, the tower of confusion!

Gen 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
Gen 11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
Gen 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
Gen 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Gen 11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
Gen 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Gen 11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Gen 11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Gen 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Indeed, what we are seeing told to the new man within us by the old man as this spiritual war takes place is:

Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Luk 14:29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
Luk 14:30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

When we try to actually do the work the Lord commands of us, such as going “3 days journey into the wilderness to hold a feast/ sacrifice unto the Lord,” the old man will make it as hard as possible for us because the old man in me and in those around me wants me to “build my own tower” and claim it is “God’s house”.

Exo 5:10 And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.
Exo 5:11 Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished.
Exo 5:12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
Exo 5:13 And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.
Exo 5:14 And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?

When this situation took place for the Israelites, it must have been very hard. Not only do they have to provide their own straw, all they could find is stubble.

So, not only did they have to find a material that had already been provided for them before, they now have to work with something they hadn’t previously been required to work with.

Stubble is not straw so it would be harder to keep on task for the king than ever before.

This can and is likened to the result our family, friends and peers have when we tell them the Truth of scripture. When we present the Light of the Word to those in darkness, there is nothing they can do but be taken aback and dismayed at what they are hearing.

Next, they will make our lives a “living hell” so to speak, because now we have set the standard of “we must go and serve the Lord who has appeared to US,” and when we claim such things, they will CALL US OUT on it and how us to a much higher standard, just as the “king of Egypt” can be seen doing to the Israelites.

The “king of Egypt” and the Israelites are direct types of what happens with the old and new man in ALL OF US.

“Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants”

As this is playing out, we will have extreme doubts about what the Lord is doing in our lives. “What if I am wrong? Am I not being compassionate enough about my beliefs affecting others? My family doesn’t deserve my beliefs forced on them by my none- participation, etc”

This can be seen in type in the elders of Israel petitioning “the king” for this injustice; only the flesh has NO ANSWER for the ways the Lord works out His own counsel.

Exo 5:15 Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?
Exo 5:16 There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.
Exo 5:17 But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD.
Exo 5:18 Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.
Exo 5:19 And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task.

Now if you are paying attention, this is a desperate situation for the Israelites. They have to keep up with the same pace of making bricks as they have always had to.

They have now went directly to the king to try to get some relief, and the response of the king is basically, “if you have time to day dream about worshipping your God, then you have plenty of time on your hands.”

This is the same spiritual for us when we FINALLY figure out that we can of ourselves DO NOTHING to help our plight. We can NOT gain relief from “working this out on our own”. So, we go to the “messenger” to seek relief and to complain.

Exo 5:20 And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh:
Exo 5:21 And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.
Exo 5:22 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me?
Exo 5:23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.

Those we are sent to eventually get back to the same mindset we all have at one time or another.

This mindset is one of, “I wish I hadn’t known the truth I know now or this is too hard for the flesh so I want to turn back to what I once knew and did”.

Additionally, there is a time when we experience the despair of knowing we have been used to deliver the Truth of the Word of God to someone only to learn of the work of the Lord in that person’s life.

In other words, when the Lord starts burning away the “wood, hay and stubble” we have accumulated with the old man, it isn’t going to be a “pretty sight” or an enjoyable experience for anyone involved.

As messengers of the Lord, saviors who have the Words of Life, we need to be praying to the Lord to strengthen us with the Faith of Christ to know God is working out all things for good.

Next study, we are going to hear the response by the Lord to our lack of Faith. He is going to remind us of who He is and the covenant He has made with us as our Lord and confirm with us that we need a “new heart and a new mind,” His mind!

Exo 6:12 And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips?