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

[Study Aired December 30, 2025]

Introduction

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The apostle Paul states this plainly:

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

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

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

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

The Prince and King: Two Distinct Judgments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scripture defines that temple clearly:

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

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

God’s judgment upon the prince reflects this reality:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Anointed Cherub in Eden: Created Natural, Not Fallen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This explains the statement:

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

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

David acknowledged this reality when he wrote:

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

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

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

Scripture confirms that the natural was never meant to remain:

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

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

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

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

This pattern appears in three primary scriptural settings:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Anointed Cherub in Eden — Nine Stones and Gold

The description of the anointed cherub introduces a significant change:

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

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

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

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

This corresponds precisely with Scripture’s teaching:

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

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

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

The Foundations of the New Jerusalem — Twelve Stones Alone

The final appearance of precious stones occurs in Revelation:

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

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

The text explains their identity:

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

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

The progression is unmistakable:

Breastplate: Stones externally set in gold

Cherub: Stones serving as temporary covering alongside gold

City: Stones themselves become the foundation

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

The Pattern Reveals God’s Purpose

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

Paul describes this transformation plainly:

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

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

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

Gold: The Divine Element Through Judgment

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

The first mention of gold establishes this principle:

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

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

God’s law reveals how purification works:

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

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

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

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

“But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:2–3)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is why Christ counsels the church of Laodicea:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Book of Joel – Chapter 3:4-6

[Study Aired October 5^th 24]

The previous three verses of Joel Chapter 3 repeated our Lord’s seemingly endless plea and biblical theme for his wife, Old Israel and spiritually his incipient Bride, today, to reflect upon the dry bones scattered at their feet in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. That valley’s name is the same site named Armageddon, a name that strikes fear and mystery in the hearts of all Babylonian Christians. It is a place where all unbelievers are slaughtered because of Viles containing The Seven Plagues and The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath, as seen in Rev 15 and 16. The last verse of Rev 16:16 is the only place in the Bible where that inscrutable and terrifying name, Armageddon, appears,

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

The unnerving scriptural imagery of the result of the Vials containing the Seven Last Plagues and Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath is too chilling for the “fearful” to dwell upon.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is [understanding all the mysteries of God], so are we in this world. 
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love [understanding Christ’s truth and living by it]; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

The Valley of Megiddo is a measly 380 square km that equally incomprehensibly contains the billions of humanities not found in the Book of Life in the First Resurrection. Consequently, it is relatively easy to imagine their blood running to the depth of a horse’s bridle. Historically, with the major battles fought in that valley, no wonder the soil is fertile today—it is highly symbolic of them being food to enrich us.

Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

Psa 106:24  Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

The Bride of Christ is losing her fear of Armageddon because she alone is given the understanding of the mysteries and is given to use the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat 16:19). Her “fear” is converted into the most profound honour and respect in walking in her Husband’s every commandment in honour and glory and worship for the headship in and of the Father. She, today, is experiencing the vials of God’s wrath in personalised plagues as she fills up behind the afflictions of Christ. Her startling realisation is that the Seven Last Plagues are for her alone. She, the Elect of God, is pouring out the seven last plagues upon herself, in the same way, the Elect “show [are showing] the things to the Elect“. As seen here in 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:

The Elect of God come out of the sea, the “many waters” of humanity represented as Babylon the Great, the Great Whore and mother of harlots. After the Elect shows these things to herself, the Body of Christ, this is what we all do:

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [Babylon, the Great Whore that we are becoming less, once didn’t have the testimony of Jesus and worshipped another Jesus].

Rev 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
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 [Rev 1:3]: worship God.

And so, instead of rolling our eyes at being told that we have been a whore represented as Tyre, Zidon, Egypt, Sodom and Old Jerusalem, our wide eyes eagerly see that these dry bones in the Valley of Jehoshaphat are ourselves dying (a process) to our sins at the hands of our brothers and sisters, the Elect of God.

Overview:

Joe 3:4  Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; 
Joe 3:5  Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: 
Joe 3:6  The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 

Significations:

The key to this episode in the study of Joel, beginning in verse 3, is our Lord’s three opening questions,

Yea, and [1] what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? [2] will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily[3] will I return your recompence upon your own head; 

The two cities of Tyre and Sidon were delegated to the tribe of Asher to conquer when Israel settled in the promised land. The tribe of Asher, however, disobeyed God when they found Tyre and Sidon well “fortified” (Joshua 19:29) and submitted to their perceived greater strength than the Lord’s. Subsequently, Tyre and Sidon, both unconquered pagan cities, were thorns in the side of Israel who became intrigued by their gods:

Jdg 10:6  And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon [Sidon = hunting 1. ancient Phoenician city, on Mediterranean coast north of Tyre], and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.

Since Israel didn’t dispatch Tyre, Zidon and the coasts of Palestine and entirely cast out all the giants of her inheritance as the Lord requested, he acidulously mocks them with that first question, “What have you to do with me?” ~ effectively saying that ‘you have humiliatingly rejected my kisses for you, my harlot wife, and demonstrated that you don’t care one jot for my word, so, what do I owe you? Since you are profoundly sure of your (self) righteousness, you must be confident in giving me a swift answer to null my ignorance of your Queen Vashti-like beauty and rulership, and what to me might that glorious benefit be?’ Well, and for the much later Bride of Christ’s glorious hindsight, Old Israel was replaced by her since the Bride was given to enthusiastically receive her Lord’s kisses of spiritual understanding, knowing that her enchantment of him would further unite her.

Job 38:1  Then the LORD answered Job [Israel – you and I] out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 38:2  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 
Job 38:3  Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. 

Mat 11:20  Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: 
Mat 11:21  Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Mat 11:22  But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 
Mat 11:23  And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 
Mat 11:24  But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

Mat 10:14  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
Mat 10:15  Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

What the Lord is saying in Joel 3:4 is that had the people of pagan Tyre, Zidon, Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum been given the Lord’s commandments, their immense passion for seeking nation-building knowledge, wisdom and illusive moral standing was a greater passion than what Israel had for their Lord’s Commandments! Israel rejected her husband’s wisdom and laws that would ultimately lead to eternal life, the very thing the Sodomites and cities of the plain equally sort with like intensity! Hence, ‘It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city, Israel’.

Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

Act 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

A “recompense” H1576 means a ‘dealing’ or a ‘benefit’ to ‘requite God’s wrath. We, having insisted upon eating our own doctrinally kneaded bread, find more palatable than his “light bread” he now demands we give an acknowledgement of our sins, and his tone is one venting from eyes like flames of fire (Rev 19:11-12).

Subsequently, the answer to the Lord’s third question in Joel 3:4 is acidly rhetorical. “… will I return your recompense upon your own head?” ~ A resounding ‘YES’, he will return what Israel has sown to herself upon her own head! Because Israel didn’t route all the pagans out of her land, she is now reaping a harvest of pain and suffering that will ‘requite God’s wrath’ as it does with his chastisements upon our like disobedience for his goodness towards us and our subsequent acknowledgement and repentance!

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.

Israel, like the Athenians, Greeks and Sodomites, intrinsically lusts for God-like wisdom by their standards to toss intellectualised debate back and forth for self-elevation and status among their peers. People love to be the first to discover an outstanding new insight by which they can academically debate and win an argument against the nobility. It is precisely what Christianity does today with its 40,000-plus disputing doctrines and more ‘acidly’ pointing at the Bride herself for any lingering spiritual disjointedness; worse, that sniping at a fellow Saint should ensue.

Act 17:16-23  Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
Act 17:17  Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
Act 17:18  Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, [colloquially speaking, people who love to grandstand ( G4770 – “a portico”) a debate and brawl a concept and be puffed up and bowed to as wise], encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
Act 17:19  And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? 
Act 17:20  For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
Act 17:21  (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
Act 17:22  Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 
Act 17:23  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father.

Joe 3:5  Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: 
Joe 3:6  The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 

A “Grecian” (H3125 1. Grecian, Ionian) is a person from Greece, a Greek and its associated Mediterranean Islands. Classically, they are known in the H1121 equivalence as “mire” and “wine” (from H3196) and representative of being a “grandson member of a group”, suggesting the intrinsic habit of sitting around being drunk in the mire of their academic doctrinal disputes and never coming to the truth of God! Melbourne, Australia, where I live, has up to 400,000 Australians with Greek ancestry. Thus, it has the largest Greek population outside of Greece, and I notice the Epicurian habit of “old” (“grandsons”) Greek men sitting around at shopping centres, drinking short black coffee deep in debate, much as I suspect they did for ‘eternity’ (… and ogling the women with equal Epicurian leers).

Thus, and as demonstrated in 2 Tim 3:7, the Grecians represent the world’s, Israel’s and particularly our former propensity for,

Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1Co 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 
1Co 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
1Co 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 
1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Isa 56:9  All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
Isa 56:10  His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 
Isa 56:11  Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
Isa 56:12  Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

Our traditional Babylonian Christian focus is to point at the evil of others and thus unconsciously cloud our understanding that the primary point of a matter should lie at our feet. Subsequently, the exploits of the men of Sodom are almost always overly represented as homosexual. However, that confusing act against the order of God’s headship has a more profound spiritual connection.

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

For us, knowing that ‘first comes the natural (in this case ironically unnatural) and then the spiritual’, the Sodomite’s lust to “know” the Angels of the Lord tremendously amplified their Grecian/Epicurean-like enthusiasm to get first-hand knowledge from the very gods themselves! What an incredible opportunity! Hence, the Sodomites, sitting at the known world’s crossroads of commerce and Epicurean-like knowledge and wisdom, had an incredible thirst to “know” (H3045) the Angels in the natural academically, as a heterosexual man righteously ‘knows’ (H3045) his wife, as did Adam with Eve. While ‘knowing’ another man sexually is in accordance with the meaning of H3045, is an abomination to the Lord and ‘his Christs’; the primary point of “knowing” another person is to represent Christ’s Bride “knowing” Him spiritually.

In the opening verses of The Song of Solomon, the Shulamite, representing the Bride of Christ, utterly turns on its head the world’s insatiable worship of women, where she, the Bride, worships Christ, her husband. (That act of a wife in a physical marriage symbolically worshipping her husband in all that she does, rather than having her husband fawn on her every need, would solve almost all bitter marital disputes and 100% of accursed marital difficulties if both parties are Christs).

Son 1:2  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
Son 1:3  Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins [Joints in the Bride of Christ] love thee.
Son 1:4  Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

Of course, Lot did the degenerate act of presenting his daughters to the Sodomites. However, the Sodomites already knew every detail about a woman’s sensuality, effectively stating (and particularly to our former selves) that the world’s churches (“another Jesus” 2 Cor 11:4) bored them, whereas these new and exciting ideologies these ‘gods’ opportunistically dumped into their laps were too good to reject! Thus the Sodomite’s lecherous desires had to be satiated with this new philosophy, and our Lord designed their debauched ways to represent our lust for any new and more sensual doctrinal ideology that we likewise lustily have to “know“!

Lev 18:22  Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Lev 18:23  Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
Lev 18:24  Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
Lev 18:25  And the land [we are] is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
Lev 18:26  Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
Lev 18:27  (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
Lev 18:28  That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
Lev 18:29  For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
Lev 18:30  Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

Hence, and as seen in Joel 3:3, Israel sneered at her Lord’s word and sorted the more sensual Aholah and Aholibah-Epicurean lusts, thus disastrously casting lots for (gambling) the truth,

And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. 

Such was and is the world without Christ’s commandments. Abominable confusion results in the forms of “knowing” all and any sexual intimacy with any living man or beast of any interchangeable gender, Angels included, the very gods themselves having come to Sodom, delivering the imagined holy grail of knowledge and wisdom!

Since Israel, like Sodom, insisted upon “knowing’ every other ideology, especially ones of ‘unknown gods’, the Lord vexatiously demanded of Israel in Joel 3:4,

Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head [?];

Thus, the spiritual mirroring of “knowing” someone sexually is to be intimately acquainted with every detail of their mind and body, just as Solomon at Christ’s hand penned the creation of the Shulamite in “The Song of Solomon, which is Solomon’s”, meaning, Christ’s song of anticipation for the spiritual pattern of the heavenly, his Bride, “knowing” every detail about him. But, no, and by the act of “knowing”, mankind would rather worship women who broadly represent every other deviation from Christ’s truth by us falsely “knowing” them as we would righteously “know” one’s wife. How?

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

Hence, the act of a physical husband ‘knowing‘ his wife, his OWN FLESH’s every jot and title detail, and she in equal enthusiasm his, in righteous spiritual inspection, she is worshipping Christ, her husband by that Shulamite-like eagerness and so, too is her carnal husband in order of headship. It all represents the Church, the wife worshipping her husband, Christ..

Eze 33:13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Pro 9:9  Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach [H3045 – “know”] a just man, and he will increase in learning. 

Ecc 8:16  When I applied mine heart to know [H3045] wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)

Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Joe 3:5  Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

Since, formally, we have magically twisted our Lord’s silver and gold, representing his righteous word, hammered into an image to increase our physical and unrighteous spiritual wealth, how do we answer our Lord for the “recompense” he demands?

God owns all the silver and gold; they represent his righteousness.

Hag 2:8  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Hag 2:9  The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

Eze 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold [Their false doctrines] shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity. 

Gentile Christian’s false doctrines representing their imagined silver and gold, which were our very same doctrines, are a stumbling block and an iniquity. In fact, anything different to God’s word is iniquity and a stumbling block since, at that point, it blocks the truth of correlating scriptures, and the entire ‘lump’ of the Bible becomes corrupty leavened (Gal 5:9. 1 Cor 5:6).

Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? 

… is the same as the Lord in Joel 3:4 asking, “… what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine?”

An “idol in the heart” is a false doctrine, a stumbling block of iniquity, which the Lord will not tolerate. 

Isa 42:8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images [false doctrines].

God will not give his glory to a Gentile Christian who was all of us when we, the symbolic treacherous Judah, the priests of God, were in far worse error.

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.

The Lord answers his own question, “… what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine?” in Joel 3:4 with Joel 3:6, he says,

The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 

The act of Israel selling her unconquered self in the form of Tyre and Zidon, who in the time of Joshua’s wars should have utterly destroyed those heathen nations, she has now sold her Lord’s righteousness for the fascinating academic philosophies of the Greeks! Such is Israel’s and our former hatred for Christ’s Commandments. And, now, today, approaching 2025, the Gentile Christian nations seem to be in the final stages of selling their imagined remaining spiritual sight of God’s word (Rom 11:25) to the very same people as did Israel, with the perceived Sodomite-like intelligence whose governance is fast enslaving the world! Subsequently, and today, the Christian world has sold all the remains of their alleged spiritual wealth to Tyre, increasing the wealth of modern greater Babylon, the world. It won’t be long before the Bible will be assigned to misinformation and disinformation so that all of Christ’s truth will be ‘removed far from our borders’.

Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion [“a parched place” of God’s word] the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Rom 11:28  As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
Rom 11:29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 

Rev 6:5  And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
Rev 6:6  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Rev 6:7  And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:8  And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

In these apparent ‘latter days’ before the outward return of Christ, and by all news accounts, personal experience and observations, it appears that our physical food will become scarce. Its spiritual meaning is that God’s word will be very difficult to acquire since the world’s hatred of Christ will make it an offence to speak his name without being hauled off to stand before judges and kings of authority. However, the Lord’s “little flock” retain the “oil and wine” of spiritual understanding hidden in their hearts where no man can rob, or moths devour.

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 
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. 

Although inwardly, we are in and out of prison all the time in a struggle to keep Christ’s commandments, there is every likelihood that it will happen physically for some of the Elect to stand before a glowering magistrate as witnesses against this world and possibly be thrown in prison among the vilest of people.

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Zec 9:11  As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. 

And so, the narration of Israel in the Book of Joel, is mirroring us and our insatiable acts of seeking every spiritual Epicurean sensuality imaginable beyond the borders of our former coastline’s estate in Christ for the ‘water’ and ‘bread’ of another Jesus. And next week, Lord willing, we will see what Christ’s answer is to his questions, “… will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head [?]

The Book of Daniel – Dan 3:1-30  I see Four men Loose, walking in the midst of the fire

[Study Aired February 29, 2024]

Dan 3:1  Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 
Dan 3:2  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 
Dan 3:3  Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 
Dan 3:4  Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 
Dan 3:5  That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: 
Dan 3:6  And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 
Dan 3:7  Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Dan 3:8  Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. 
Dan 3:9  They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever.
Dan 3:10  Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image:
Dan 3:11  And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:12  There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. 
Dan 3:13  Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. 
Dan 3:14  Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? 
Dan 3:15  Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? 
Dan 3:16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 
Dan 3:17  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Dan 3:19  Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 
Dan 3:20  And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:21  Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 
Dan 3:22  Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Dan 3:23  And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 
Dan 3:24  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 
Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 
Dan 3:26  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 
Dan 3:27  And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
Dan 3:28  Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
Dan 3:29  Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
Dan 3:30  Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.

If we follow the flow of the first three chapters of the book of Daniel, a pattern emerges which reveals the problem, the cause, and now in chapter three, the solution regarding how we are to overcome in this life as the body of Christ.

Chapter one introduced how the undefiled word of God is likened to the food that Daniel and his companions will eat while in captivity, as opposed to the king’s meat which typifies the churches of Babylon who have had the whole stay of bread and water taken away by the Lord, which is the problem (Isa3:1).

Chapter two explains how all the empires of the world have been blinded by the power of Satan that is manifested throughout the ages and represented by the dream about a multi-part statue of which Nebuchadnezzar dreamed. The dream is further interpreted in the seventh chapter of Daniel and Revelation 13:1-3 where various creatures are connected with the different sections of the statue. 

This statue represents the cause of all of humanity’s sinful behavior throughout the ages. The source of that cause is Satan who is typified by the head of the statue, which head is Nebuchadnezzar, a king of kings who ruled over Babylon as Satan has ruled over the kingdoms of this world, all being accomplished according to the counsel of God’s will (2Co 4:4, Eph 1:11). To make this connection even more evident for us, we have the composite beast spoken of in Revelation 13:1-2 which shows how all these beasts in Daniel chapter 2 and 7 are the same beast spoken of in Revelation 13:2, which beast is identified in Revelation 13:18 revealing that this beast is all mankind, and his destruction is prophesied and likened to the man of perdition spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8.

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

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. 
Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon [Satan, the god of this world, represented by the dragon] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

The third chapter points to the solution through the miraculous destruction of this statue and all the beasts connected within us, a process of judgment typified by three men, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” and Christ, the angel who is in the midst of the fire with them making all this possible. These four men represent the whole of the elect who will be used to save all of humanity. We learn in this chapter, very graphically, that we are delivered from the bondage of sinful flesh by going into the fiery furnace, which is the same as going through the Red Sea and being put in the lion’s Den is where we learn how God can stay the mouth of the lions that represent the devil who wants to sift like wheat the people of God (Luk 22:31-32). These three events typify for us how the man of perdition is destroyed by the brightness of his coming, which man of perdition is symbolized by this great statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (2Th 2:8).

Dan 3:1  Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 

Nebuchadnezzar was being shown, by the interpretation of the dream by Daniel, that he is the beast, and instead of repenting in sackcloth and ashes, he rather takes the interpretation of the dream to mean that he ought to build a statue in its likeness and have the people come and bow down and worship this idol. These actions point to these verses in Revelation that parallel what Nebuchadnezzar is doing.

Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear [Nebuchadnezzar did not hear].
Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. 
Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 
Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 
Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Nebuchadnezzar’s newly made statue is “threescore cubits [60 cubits], and the breadth thereof six cubits [6 cubits]” telling us that it represents mankind with those sixes in the measurements. It is built in the “plain of Dura” that is “in the province of Babylon” as it represents that time when we are a defiled temple of God whose Adamic height is connected to the beast [6.6.6] as well as the breadth of six cubits. The word Dura means “circle or dwelling”, and a circle has 360 degrees in it, which is a multiple of six [6x6x10] that points to our Adamic dwelling place that is carnal and not able to inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50). It is not just the head that is gold now, but the entire image is made of gold, which confirms that Nebuchadnezzar, who was the head of gold in the dream, has affected every other lesser empire (the rest of the statue) with his proud and vain spirit, explained in these terms below in Revelation. His golden image is cankered as he has not been ‘tried in the fire’ and as such remains spiritually blind to the spiritual captivity that he is in, as is all the world – the entire statue.

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Dan 3:2  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 
Dan 3:3  Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

This section of scripture points to Revelation 13:15. The statue that Nebuchadnezzar had built of gold, which he demanded the people to either worship or they would be killed, represents how the god of this world will demand our unwavering acceptance and worship of his idolatrous ways that permeate society today (1Jn 5:19). How Satan accomplishes this deception is through the multitude of leaders who provide a perverted version of that safety that can only come through God’s counsel found in the body of Christ (Eph 3:10). The world’s counsellors are typified by those who Nebuchadnezzar gathered together, “the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” The reason they have been gathered together is to stand in a unified way to acknowledge the beast [mankind’s power in themselves independent of God] that is represented by Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, “and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up“. This gathering to do what Nebuchadnezzar requires of the people puts them all in the category of Revelation 13:8.

Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Dan 3:4  Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 
Dan 3:5  That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: 
Dan 3:6  And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 

There we have it! Comply or die is the command that is set forth. The herald crying aloud is like the negative blowing of the last trump that will summon the first resurrection (1Co 15:52). This heralding we’re reading is a cry unto captivity in the devilish world of the sensual, being associated with “the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick“ and compelling the masses to “fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up” or else you will be “cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” The music represents the unified strong delusion of Babylon whose mantra says “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity”, taking away the singleness and undivided mind of Christ (2Co 11:3-5) and leaving the power in the hand of the beast to determine what is essential and not essential. All of this signifies how the man of sin operates on the throne of our hearts, demanding our acknowledgement of his power and rule, and wanting us to do nothing less than worship him, making Satan the sovereign figure in our life rather than God and Christ  (Joh 17:3).

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
2Co 11:5  For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

Dan 3:7  Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 
Dan 3:8  Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.

These verses again demonstrate the unity that is found in the world in regards to worshiping the beast and claiming our own righteousness and free moral agency in this life. It is “all the people, the nations, and the languages” who come and fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. What unites all the world is the belief that they have free moral agency [the golden image], and unless our names are written in the Lamb’s book, that is what the carnal mind will just naturally believe, all the while thinking the things of the spirit as being foolishness for they are spiritually discerned (Rev 13:4-7, 1Co 2:14). We will be hated by all men for his name’s sake, and it is “certain Chaldeans  [who] came near” at this time of worshiping the beast who “accused the Jews“, the Jews being a type of the elect who are hated and persecuted for obeying the commandments of God that we’ve been granted the patience and faith of Christ to hold fast to as a crown of life (1Co 2:15-16, Rev 2:10, Rev 3:11, Jas 1:12, 1Jn 5:2). It is “certain Chaldeans” who came near to king Nebuchadnezzar to be accusers of the brethren, the “certain” implying not all have this role in life, but God has already ordained the ones who would betray Christ and His Christ, and it is they of our own household that “certain Chaldeans” signify, just as it was the religious of Christ’s day, the Sadducees and Pharisees (Mat 10:36, Joh 6:71, Act 20:29, Php 3:18).

[See this article from Mike Vinson on this subject: Enemies of His Own Household]

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast [“all the people, the nations, and the languages“]: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 
Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 
Rev 13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 
Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations [“all the people, the nations, and the languages“. This shows us that we all go into captivity (Rev 13:10) and it is the very few who are called out of Babylon by God’s great power (Eph 2:8)] 

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. 

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown [1Co 2:15-16].

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.

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

Dan 3:9  They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. 
Dan 3:10  Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image:
Dan 3:11  And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:12  There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Dan 3:13  Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. 
Dan 3:14  Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

This section of scripture reminds us that the world is looking at what the body of Christ is doing, and are bringing their report to ‘the powers that be’ to let them know that “they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Satan knows he has a short time, and the fidelity of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is making Nebuchadnezzar furious in this story as does the faithfulness of the saints in this life cause Satan’s wrath to manifest (Rev 12:12). 

Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

Our life is a vapor that appears for a little while (Jas 4:14), and so in that sense Satan knows “he hath but a short time” to try and deceive the very elect, if it were possible, in every age since Pentecost (Mat 24:24). Of course it is not possible, and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being brought before the furious king was all purposed by God (Eph 1:11) to give a witness to Nebuchadnezzar and all others of the greatness of the God of heaven and earth that they serve (Mar 13:9). 

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

Mar 13:9  But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

Dan 3:15  Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? 
Dan 3:16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 
Dan 3:17  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 
Dan 3:18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

God has set the stage for the words that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are about to give to the king, and the first thing they tell him is, “There is no need for us to give you an answer to this question” [BBE], meaning “We already have our minds made up in regard to what we are going to do and so will answer you what God has given us the power to proclaim, and what He proclaims is that we are more than conquerors through Christ and that whether we are delivered or destroyed by this fire, we will live unto the Lord and be delivered regardless.” Their answer typifies the faithful witnesses we have been called to be through Christ (Rev 11:3, Rev 11:7) and whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s, and He will deliver us and not a hair on our head will be hurt (Luk 21:18). This all implies that our spiritual status in the Lord, our crown, is not going to be taken from us if we believe and know that we are more than conquerors through Him in every dire circumstance, via the faith of Christ we’ve been given (Mar 13:11, Rom 14:8, Rom 8:37, Eph 2:8-9).

Luk 21:18  But not a hair of your head will come to destruction. 

Mar 13:11  And when you are taken and given up to be judged, do not be troubled about what to say: but whatever is given to you in that hour, say: because it is not you who say it, but the Holy Spirit.

Rom 14:8  As long as we have life we are living to the Lord; or if we give up our life it is to the Lord; so if we are living, or if our life comes to an end, we are the Lord’s. 

Rom 8:37  But we are able to overcome all these things and more through his love. 

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

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Dan 3:19  Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

As we submit to Christ and resist the devil, he will flee from us (Jas 4:7), and regardless of what men can do to our flesh (Mat 10:28), we are being told with this story not to fear men, but fear God (Luk 12:5) who is all-powerful and able to take us through the fiery trials of this life (1Pe 4:12) which will perfect His workmanship in us (1Co 10:13, Eph 2:10). The furnace being “seven times more than it was wont to be heated” typifies for us the seven plagues that must be poured out upon God’s elect. Those plagues represent the cup we drink in this life (Rev 15:8) that Christ makes a way for us to partake of by the power of God who calls us to be more than conquerors through Him (Mat 20:23, Rom 8:37). 

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

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

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

Mat 20:23  And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Dan 3:20  And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 
Dan 3:21  Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 
Dan 3:22  Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 
Dan 3:23  And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Binding Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by the most mighty men that were in his army, and casting them into the fiery furnace, represents how we are bound by our sins. It is “their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments” symbolizing their own righteousnesses, that cleaves to us in this flesh and must be thrown into the fiery furnace where Christ is in the midst to loose us from it (Joh 8:36).

The king’s commandment was urgent and the furnace was exceedingly hot, so that these mighty men who were putting them in the fire were killed themselves. These men represent the wood, hay and stubble (1Co 3:12), the carnal and natural things that are the first to be burned out of us (1Co 3:13-15). 

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.

Dan 3:24  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 
Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 

Here we see God defying the laws of physics which tells us that nothing is impossible for our Father, and when He says He won’t try us beyond what we can endure He means it (1Co 10:13), and will always make a way for us to bear the trials He gives us, even if they destroy our flesh, or the proud image of the beast that we all start off as. The natural man “Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied” and asked his counselors, “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” of which they responded “True, O king.“

Nebuchadnezzar then says “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” which is really an incredibly encouraging statement for us to contemplate. First of all there are “four men loose” which symbolizes that the whole [4] world will be loosed from sinful flesh or set free from sin by that fourth man who is in the midst of the fire, Jesus Christ (Joh 8:36, Rev 5:3, Act 4:12, Luk 17:24). It also tells us that the elect who are represented by the other three men will be saviors who come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau, setting the world free from sin with Christ as the Lord’s scapegoat (Oba 1:21). Three men in the fire also represents the process of judgement [3] we must go through in this life as God’s elect if we are going to be purified by God’s word which is likened to fire (Jer 23:29, 1Pe 4:17).

Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? [Joh 1:1] saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 

Dan 3:26  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 
Dan 3:27  And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
Dan 3:28  Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

Nebuchadnezzar came near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, but he did not get in it, symbolizing that he has not changed yet, but is being witnessed to, as the world will be, by those who have gone through the fiery words of God’s judgment in this life that will prepare the bride for the rulership that is set before the church (Rev 20:6). Again Nebuchadnezzar asks them to “come forth.” However, he does not go toward them because no man can go to the son unless the Father drags him (Joh 6:44). This also shows us how the Lord will use wicked men to accomplish His purpose in the elect, of being dragged into fiery trials (Psa 17:13, Luk 21:12, 1Pe 4:12, Rev 2:10).

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

Luk 21:12  But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.

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.

So they came forth and witnessed to all that had occurred to “the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.” This all represents the witness that the elect will be to the world, showing them what God can do through the weak of the world, the not many noble or mighty of this world, who are judged first (1Co 1:26-29, 1Pe 4:17), and whose garments are spoken of in this way at this stage, “upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them” (Isa 33:14-15, Mal 3:2, Rev 16:15, Luk 21:18).

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

Mal 3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap<:

Rev 16:15  Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

Luk 21:18  But there shall not an hair of your head perish.

Nebuchadnezzar then spake, and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.” The angel who is sent is Christ (Joh 20:21, Joh 3:17-18) who is our savior, and God’s elect are sent for the same purpose of being saviors who are prepared to be those saviors through a process of suffering with Christ, enduring fiery trials symbolized by this event with “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” (Heb 1:13, Oba 1:21, 2Ti 2:11-12). The elect are called out of Babylon to yield their lives to Christ long before giving the ultimate sacrifice as was demonstrated here in this story. This tells us that he who is faithful in little is faithful in lots (Luk 16:10). The servants trusted in God, and that trust is forged through the many fiery circumstances the Lord causes (2Co 1:9). The world will change its evil ways as a result of the miraculous new creation they will see when the first resurrection occurs “and have changed the king’s word“, but this change of attitude is not a permanent conversion of the mind.

2Ti 2:11  It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

Luk 16:10  He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

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

Nebuchadnezzar does not typify someone who is converted at this point, but rather someone who has to see a sign, which is for the unbelieving (1Co 14:22, Joh 20:29), after which he says, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.“

1Co 14:22  Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

Joh 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. [in type-and-shadow faith that is not unto salvation in their case, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego believe the Lord can deliver them through life or death (Rom 14:8), without having to see him before they claim this news to Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 3:16-18)]

Rom 14:8  For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

Dan 3:29  Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. 
Dan 3:30  Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon. 

Nebuchadnezzar’s enthusiasm is not to be mistaken as conversion and is more akin with an ‘anon with joy’ spirit (Mat 13:20) receiving of those things that “the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego“, not his God, but rather their God, has performed. 

Nebuchadnezzar makes this decree, symbolic of the wrath of God that will abide on all mankind until it does not (Rom 1:18), words typifying what will happen to the first man Adam in all mankind: “Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill.” In the negative shadow, Nebuchadnezzar is still in charge and calling the shots independent of truly understanding the sovereignty of God. 

Christ and His Christ, typified by Daniel (a type of Christ),  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, understand today that God is sovereign. However, Nebuchadnezzar at best, can only make a decree: “That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.” Again he points to the outward miracle but does not have a change of heart in regards to his own personal relationship with God. He believes in God, in other words, like the Christians today and the Jews in Christ’s day who Christ said believed on him, but needed to continue in the truth to become disciples indeed, who are crushed under the stone as a result of being blessed to continue in the truth (Joh 8:30-36, Mat 21:44, Joh 6:44).

Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Nebuchadnezzar then promotes “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon“, typifying for us when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Lord and His Christ (Rev 11:15). This represents what will happen during the thousand-year reign of the saints, and like Israel of old, the Israel of God (Gal 6:16) will ‘spoil the Egyptians’ (Exo 12:36), as Nebuchadnezzar is doing by promoting “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.“

Next week, Lord willing, we will get into chapter 4 of Daniel where one of the main lessons being shown is how pride comes before a fall.

Dan 4:30  The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? 
Dan 4:31  While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. 

Pro 16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. 
Pro 16:19  Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Lam 4:1-22 Part 4, Scattered Like Dry Sun-bleached Bones

[Study Aired September 2, 2023]

Our Lord has drawn out His little flock from every nation on Earth. Initially, they were unwitting dry bones, temple stones collapsed, dead in a heap until the Lord began raising them to life in Him. There are 120 accounts of scripture using the term “scatter/scattered”, and almost all refer to the Lord’s people in the Wilderness and having come out of Babylon. (Please see Ezekiel 37, The Valley of Dry Bones)

Jas 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

Joh 2:18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 
Joh 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

That is the Lord’s modus operandi; he destroys our flesh and then sets about rebuilding the new man in his spiritual image.

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

Lam 4:1 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. 
Lam 4:2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! 
Lam 4:3 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 
Lam 4:4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. 
Lam 4:5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. 
Lam 4:6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
Lam 4:7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: 
Lam 4:8 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. 
Lam 4:9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. 
Lam 4:10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 
Lam 4:11 The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. 
Lam 4:12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the World, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.
Lam 4:13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her, 
Lam 4:14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments. 
Lam 4:15 They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.
Lam 4:16 The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders. 
Lam 4:17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us. 
Lam 4:18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come. 
Lam 4:19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. 
Lam 4:20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen. 
Lam 4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked. 
Lam 4:22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins. 

Interpretations

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

Lam 4:1 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. 

Our gold is changed to ‘dim’ when we uphold our righteousness. Self-righteousness makes it hard to authenticate integrity without others, particularly Christ, seeing through our falsehoods. While building our temple under our strength in high places, the stones will likely remain crying out, a rubble heap without foundation at the top of every street in our city. Outwardly, Babylonian Christian denominations, and particularly Roman Catholicism, built their churches on the highest point in each town. At the beginning of the One Thousand Years, every edifice enabling magic arts will undoubtedly be made a ruinous heap of stones and wood at the top of their street.

Christ is the stone cut out without hands that will smash the idols of those He has chosen in this age, leave them in a heap, and break our self-made pot by his hand to pieces at the top of our street.

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.

Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 
Mat 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 
Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 

Jer 9:11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps [expressed outwardly by the Romans, and now his Elect within], and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. 
Jer 9:12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? 
Jer 9:13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
Jer 9:14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:

Lam 4:2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

Our Lord knows His precious sons of Old Jerusalem within are weak-framed earthen vessels we at first believe are so valuable as we journey to becoming the heavenly Jerusalem, fine gold, at the hands of the Master Potter [Rom 9:20, Jer 18:2-6].

Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. 

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 
2Co 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Lam 4:3 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 

We are the “sea monsters” coming out of the abussos, the deep, the bottomless pit (Rev 13), all representations of one and the same. We suckle the breast of the harlot and give seed to more evil children within. We become like our former mother from Mt. Sinai who, like female ostriches, abandons her eggs, never to look back, leaving the male (a zoological fact), the other Jesus, Satan, to brood and raise us.

2Co 11:3 But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, so your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity due to Christ. 
2Co 11:4 For if, indeed, the one [you and I in Babylon] coming proclaims another Jesus, whom we have not proclaimed, or if you receive another spirit, which you did not receive, or another gospel, which you never accepted, you might well endure these [… and we did]. 
2Co 11:5 For I judge myself to have come behind the highest apostles in nothing.

‘The Jesus’ chooses His disciples, the Elect of God, to be His Church, vagabonds in ragged clothes of no worldly prestige. We were left in the field in our blood, and He found us (as if we never knew we were there) and raised us to become His own beautiful young woman to be His wife.

1Co 1:26 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many wise men according to the flesh are called, not many mighty, not many noble. 
1Co 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the World to confound the things which are mighty; 
1Co 1:28 and God has chosen the base things of the World, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are; 
1Co 1:29 so that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Eze 16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations.
Eze 16:3 And say, So says the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem, Your origin and your birth is of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. 
Eze 16:4 And as for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you. And you were not salted, nor swaddled at all. 
Eze 16:5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these to you, to have compassion on you. But you were thrown out into the open field, because your life was despised in the day that you were born. 
Eze 16:6 And when I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you in your blood, Live! Yes, I said to you in your blood, Live! 
Eze 16:7 I have caused you to multiply like the bud of the field, and you are grown, and you are great; and you come in the finest ornaments. Your breasts are formed, and hair is grown, yet you were naked and bare. 
Eze 16:8 And I passed by you and looked on you, and, behold, your time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness. And I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Jehovah. And you became Mine.

Lam 4:4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. 
Lam 4:5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. 
Lam 4:6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

Those verses support and amplify the decoding of the previous ones. Old Jerusalem, Sodom, Egypt and Babylon, all of whom we were sent in slavery, fed us the most unsatisfying food and drink. We believed what we had was the best spiritual food available, yet the Lord annoyed our consciences by the undecipherable aspect of His word, eminently the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation, in fact, ‘endless’ aspects of the entire Bible subconsciously niggled us. We fed most sumptuously on Babylon’s richness, not knowing that we were poor, blind and naked, sitting in our dung (Rev 3:17).

Thankfully, our greater punishment and judgment are now, in this age, as we come out of Sodom and her sister cities, Old Jerusalem and Egypt, collectively called Babylon. We learn quickly to be incredibly grateful that we were overthrown in a moment.

1Th 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that I write to you. 
1Th 5:2 For you yourselves know accurately that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. 
1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety! Then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail upon a woman with child. And they shall not escape.

Mal 2:1 And now, O priests, this command is for you. 
Mal 2:2 If you will not hear, and if you will not set it on your heart to give glory to My name, says Jehovah of Hosts, then I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. And indeed I have cursed it, because you do not set it on your heart. 
Mal 2:3 Behold, I am rebuking your seed; and I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your appointed feasts. And one shall lift you up to it.
Mal 2:4 And you shall know that I have sent this command to you, to be My covenant with Levi, says Jehovah of Hosts. 

Php 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 
Php 3:8 But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9 and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith,
Php 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death; 
Php 3:11 if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. 

Lam 4:7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: 

That verse is the epitome of sarcasm. We were the Nazarites, the priests of God, saying that we had a husband and were not a widow and would not see death. We dressed ourselves in self-righteous purity and decked ourselves in fine jewelry like Jezebel and Queen Vashti for all to see, and we much later saw our nakedness to our enduring shame (Rev 18).

We begin to see that we have been Old Jerusalem sacked by the Romans, correlating to the Babylonians within. Our spiritual understanding was to us just as black as the Shulamite was to Solomon. We learn to delight that the Lord’s sword never leaves the city’s streets within.

In the positive sense, Christ is the ruddy one, whiter than milk, and as he is, so is the Bride outstanding among her ten-thousand sisters in Babylon.

Son 5:10 My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. 

Pro 3:15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. 

Lam 4:8 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. 
Lam 4:9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. 

That verse depicts our judgment today on the household of God in the hope of the First Resurrection. The Lord’s Elect are sustained with oil and wine, the holy spirit that keeps their flame brightly alive for the hope of their marriage to the Lamb of God.

Just as Solomon couldn’t understand the Shulamite’s outstanding purity that defied his God-given wisdom, her visage was black as the tents of Kedar, and she was seen in the streets of Old Jerusalem, Babylon, yet her sisters couldn’t and still don’t know her; she is blacker than coal. She is unknown in their inward streets of Old Jerusalem, and they, like the Elect of God, are slain, each in his own order.

Rev 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The rest in the “field” is the World since Adam until the First Resurrection, who have no whit that they are stricken while feeding luxuriously on the World’s spiritual bread of wokeness; they will be slain in the soon coming age in the Resurrection to Judgment.

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. 
Rev 20:3 And he cast him into the abyss and shut him up and set a seal on him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little time.
Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, nor had received his mark on their foreheads, nor in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. The second death has no authority over these, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him a thousand years.

Lam 4:10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden [Boiled; baked] their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 
Lam 4:11 The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. 
Lam 4:12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the World, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.

2Ki 6:26 And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. 
2Ki 6:27 And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? 
2Ki 6:28 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. 
2Ki 6:29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son. 
2Ki 6:30 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. 

Those three verses of Lamentations continue depicting the physical with the spiritual. The “pitiful women” have been the Lord’s very own people who have “come out of her”, that is, Jerusalem, Egypt, Sodom and collectively Babylon (Rev 18:4), while their brothers and sisters continue spiritually consuming their children in Old Jerusalem to this very day!

Our brothers and sisters in Babylon emphatically believe that salvation is of the Jews since scripture says so. In the sacking of Jerusalem by the Romans, its inhabitants believed that God wouldn’t forsake them, the holy people; until it was too late.

Joh 4:21 Jesus said to her, Woman [addressing our old woman and the Bride of Christ], believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither worship the Father in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem. 
Joh 4:22 You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 
Joh 4:23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him. 
Joh 4:24 God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.

Nonetheless, by the oligarchy of the financial and political World’s Satan-directed design, the Balfour Declaration finally and firmly established the idol of physical Jews leadership in the World. https://www.britannica.com/event/Balfour-Declaration Babylonian Christianity will not suffer its discretion, not knowing that the Beast will “burn her with fire”.

Salvation is through Christ and His spiritual Jews ~ Christs (plural). That event is profoundly spiritually discerned in the following verses and in cursed strong delusion for adherents of the Balfour Declaration.

 Oba 1:19 And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau [Our kin brothers and sisters of Mt Sinai, today’s Christianity]; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
Oba 1:20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south [the so-called “holy land”].
Oba 1:21 And saviours [plural] shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Rev 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 
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. 
Rev 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 
Rev 3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 

Lam 4:13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her, 

In the following verses, Christ speaks of our former ways that morph into the Elect of God by ‘sleight of spirit’ in verse 49.

Luk 11:47 Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 
Luk 11:48 Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. 
Luk 11:49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: [The “they” is us judging ourselves in this age, slaying our idols within]
Luk 11:50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; [~ the generation within, today if you hear His voice. Heb 3:15].
Luk 11:51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation [~ the Lord’s people right now]. 
Luk 11:52 Woe unto you, lawyers! [Pastors; ministers, our former unrighteousness of being a two-fold child of hell] for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

Those verses above richly depict in hidden minimal detail us coming out of Babylon and seeing that we are becoming the spiritual Jews who were the lying Jews who remain looking to rout the modern Romans from the World’s political establishment.

Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Joh 18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Lam 4:14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments. 

Just as the pure water from Mt Hermon runs down and through the midst of the former physical nation of Israel, so does our righteousness at the top of our streets run down in dead works through Sodom within to the dead sea of our rottenness, purified by salt.

Our spiritual wombs’ “streets” are automatically renewed every four weeks as depicted by the moon’s cycle. Its interior exfoliation has polluted us with blood, and it figuratively purges us of dead works, polluting our spiritual garments by our idols in secret places.

Gen 31:35 And she [Rachel / we becoming the heavenly Jerusalem above] said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images. 

1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he [The Father through Christ] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
1Jn 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 

Just as Rachel didn’t confess to her father, we, too, have hidden our idols beneath our self-righteous clothing, denying our sins and shed the Lord’s blood yet again.

Lam 4:15 They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there. 
Lam 4:16 The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.

Israel and we, in our time, departed like deranged King Nebuchadnezzar for his self-importance, figuratively announcing that he is god, and we, sitting in the Lord’s temple, unwittingly stating that we are God. We could not touch the Lord until he said, “Enough”, and blessed our dragging to himself with His spirit, symbolised by Nebuchadnezzar’s restoration to sanity and our God-given spiritual sanity.

Dan 4:28 All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
Dan 4:29 At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. 
Dan 4:30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? 
Dan 4:31 While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
Dan 4:32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 
Dan 4:33  The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws. 
Dan 4:34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 

Lam 4:17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us. 

Watching for a nation that cannot save us is a classic example of seeking answers from our many witches of Endor (1Sa 28). When we have suffered long enough with legions of evil spirits in our tombs within and being fearful of our blindness, as was Saul of Tarsus (Paul), our Lord begins setting us free, and we listen to our Elders in the Body who favour our salvation.

Mar 5:1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 
Mar 5:2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 
Mar 5:3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 
Mar 5:4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 
Mar 5:5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 
Mar 5:6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
Mar 5:7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
Mar 5:8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
Mar 5:9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. 

Act 20:26 Therefore I [Paul, the Elders and each of us] testify to you on this day that I am pure from the blood of all. 
Act 20:27 For I did not keep back from declaring to you all the counsel of God. 
Act 20:28 Therefore take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock in which the holy spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He has purchased with His own blood. 

Lam 4:18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come. 
Lam 4:19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. 

Our persecutors are evil spirits sent by the Lord, fouls of the air, represented as eagles generically denoting all kinds of raptors, including falcons (a little trivia), the Peregrine falcon being the fastest creature on Earth (dives up to 300 km (186 mph hr) – Rev 22:12-20, “… I come quickly…” with a ministry of 3 years – 300÷100=3)

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

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

Lev 11:13 Of birds these are they which you must not eat, and which are to be avoided by you: The eagle, and the griffon [vulture], and the osprey. [Griffon vulture, incidentally the world’s highest recorded flying bird at 36,000 feet, synonymous with high flying proud- evil spirits]
Lev 11:14 And the kite, and the vulture, according to their kind. (DRB)

Lam 4:20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

Pits are hollows, dungeons, the depths of the abussos we live with, the wilderness of Babylon’s shadow, yet are not partakers of her unclean bird’s ways. The Lord’s people have come out of her yet remain in the world.

Jer 29:4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; 
Jer 29:5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; 
Jer 29:6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. 
Jer 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. 
Jer 29:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. 
Jer 29:9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. 
Jer 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 

Zec 2:7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. [1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.]
Zec 2:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. 

Esau, whose land is Edom, is the elder brother of Jacob. The daughter of Edom represents the Lord’s people who despised their inheritance, as typified by Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for a pot of red lentils.

Lam 4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz [Edom synonymous with Babylon]; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked. 

Esau’s cup, represented by the daughter of Edom, reflects the Lord’s people’s transition to being the heavenly daughter of Zion that is Jerusalem above.

Lam 4:22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins. 

Just as Rachel’s idols hidden under her secret parts were eventually revealed, so will the Lord see under our skirts and discover our sins revealed in humiliation and horror upon our faces.

Jer 13:25 This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
Jer 13:26 Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear. 
Jer 13:27 I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?

Lord willing, that time will consummate for his Elect at the First Resurrection.

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Numbers 8:1-26  The Lighting of the Seven Lamps

[Study Aired June 19, 2023]

Num 8:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 8:2  Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick. 
Num 8:3  And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as the LORD commanded Moses. 
Num 8:4  And this work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, was beaten work: according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick. 
Num 8:5  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 8:6  Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. 
Num 8:7  And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. 
Num 8:8  Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering.
Num 8:9  And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together: 
Num 8:10  And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites: 
Num 8:11  And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD. 
Num 8:12  And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the LORD, to make an atonement for the Levites. 
Num 8:13  And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the LORD. 
Num 8:14  Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine. 
Num 8:15  And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering. 
Num 8:16  For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. 
Num 8:17  For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself. 
Num 8:18  And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel.
Num 8:19  And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary. 
Num 8:20  And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them. 
Num 8:21  And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an offering before the LORD; and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them. 
Num 8:22  And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them. 
Num 8:23  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 8:24  This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: 
Num 8:25  And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more: 
Num 8:26  But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge. 

Chapter 8 concerns the lighting of the seven lamps to give light in front of the candlestick, the cleansing of the Levites, the age requirement for service in the tabernacle of the congregation and retirement age of the Levites. 

Num 8:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 8:2  Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick. 
Num 8:3  And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as the LORD commanded Moses. 

The seven lamps represent the complete words of the Lord which give light in front of the lampstand or candlestick. According to the word of the Lord, the candlestick or lampstand represents the church.  This means that it is the complete words of the Lord which guide the path of the elect in this world.

Psa 119:105  Nun Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 

Rev 1:20  As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

As indicated, the candlestick is to give light to the space in front of it in the Holy place in the tabernacle. What is insightful to note is the fact that the light given by the candlestick is not seen outside the Holy place. It is to give light for the priest to perform his duty. In this dispensation, although we are the light of the world, we are not seen that way by many (the world). It is only the elect who see our light and use it to perform their duty – that is, live a life worthy of the Lord. 

In verse 2, it was Aaron the High Priest who lit the seven lamps. Here Aaron signifies the Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest. Before a lamp is lit, it must be filled with oil. As we know, the oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, sent to us by the Lord Jesus Christ to guide us into the truth of His word.  

Exo 27:20  And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always. 

Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Num 8:4  And this work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, was beaten work: according unto the pattern which the LORD had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick. 

It is very insightful to note that the candlestick was made of beaten gold. This is to let us know that the church is formed by those who are being tried or going through the judgment of their old man. 

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Paul sums up our being beaten like the work of gold in order to give light as follows:

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
2Co 4:8  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 
2Co 4:9  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 
2Co 4:10  always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies [providing light for the priest to function]. 
2Co 4:11  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

As indicated in verse 4, the candlestick is to be built according to the pattern which the Lord showed Moses.  The pattern shown to Moses is Christ. This implies that the church must reflect Christ in everything. 

Num 8:5  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 8:6  Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. 
Num 8:7  And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. 

If we are to serve in the house of the Lord, then we must be cleansed from all kinds of contamination such as false doctrines, worldly ways and traditions and deeds of the flesh. Verse 7 prescribes three ways of cleansing – sprinkling of the water of purification, the shaving of all their flesh, and the washing of clothes with water.  The water of purification is a symbol of the word of the Lord. It is the truth of the word of the Lord that washes our mind of all the false doctrines that have become idols of our hearts, worldly wisdom and the traditions of men.

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 
Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 
Eph 5:27  so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

In the Bible, the hair on the body is a symbol of our natural strength. Thus, the shaving of all the flesh signifies the cutting off of all our natural strength. This implies that in our service to the Lord, we must not depend on our natural strengths and abilities. 

Jdg 16:17  And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 

Clothes are a symbol of righteousness. Dirty or torn clothes therefore refer to unrighteousness, which could be the result of contamination or self-righteousness, which is iniquity.

Lev 15:6  And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.

Isa 4:1  And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.

Clean clothes (white linen) are the righteousness of the saints which is imputed by the Lord. 

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.

The washing of our dirty clothes therefore signifies the truth of the word of the Lord which cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

Num 8:8  Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering.
Num 8:9  And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together: 
Num 8:10  And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites: 
Num 8:11  And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD. 
Num 8:12  And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the LORD, to make an atonement for the Levites. 

The foundation for our cleansing is the sacrificial offering of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself as a meat offering and a sin offering for us. Christ therefore represents the young bullocks and the fine flour mingled with oil. Remember that the fine flour mingled with oil represents His word, and His word is the same as Christ.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

The putting of the hands of the children of Israel upon the Levites in verse 10 is to show that they are the same as the Levites and therefore are represented by the Levites in the presence of the Lord. In this regard, we, His elect, are representing the whole world in the presence of the Lord. Our victory will ultimately result in the victory of humanity in the fullness of time.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Num 8:13  And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the LORD. 
Num 8:14  Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine. 
Num 8:15  And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering. 

In verse 13, the Levites were to be offered as an offering to the Lord. As the elect, we are to be offered wholly to Christ for humanity’s sake. Being offered to Christ is offering our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to the Lord.

2Co 2:15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

The Levites being separated from among the children of Israel is another way of saying that we should not be conformed to the standards of this world but be renewed in our minds.

Rom 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

In another perspective, the Levites represent the elect, and the children of Israel stand for our brothers and sisters in Babylon. In that sense, the Levites being separated from the children of Israel is a type of the command by the Lord to leave Babylon. 

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

As we are offered to Christ and are separated wholly from the world, we can do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation as shown in verse 15 concerning the Levites.

Num 8:16  For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. 
Num 8:17  For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself. 
Num 8:18  And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel.

As we saw earlier in the Book of Numbers, the Levites were to replace the firstborn of Israel. The reason why they were to replace the firstborn of Israel was that at the time of Passover in Egypt, all the firstborn were condemned. However, it was only the firstborn of Egypt who were slain. As a result of the Passover, all the firstborn of Israel were redeemed or saved or replaced by the Passover lamb, who is Christ our Lord who came to serve. The firstborn therefore lost their position and were to be replaced by the Levites who were called to serve. This means that we, who have been redeemed by the Lord, are called to serve.

Mar 10:42  And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 
Mar 10:43  But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 
Mar 10:44  and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 
Mar 10:45  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

The Levites replacing the firstborn of the children of Israel is a foretaste of the fact that the Lord’s election is no longer dependent on a person’s pedigree or his or her birth. Paul made this clear when, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he made the statement that it is not one who is born a Jew that counts, but a Jew is a person who worships the Lord in truth and in spirit. 

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Num 8:19  And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary. 
Num 8:20  And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them. 

On a negative note, the Levites represent our brothers and sisters in Babylon who are also of Abraham’s seed. However, they are not counted as the seed of promise and therefore are not to be given any inheritance. This is not because we, the elect, deserve any inheritance. It is through the hardening of their hearts to believe that we are privileged to receive mercy to believe. In the final analysis, this mercy we have received will be extended to the whole of the human race. 

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

The Levites are given to the elect as a gift to help them minister to the Lord. They do the initial leg work of using the law of Moses as our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. After we get to know Christ through faith, we are no longer under their influence or the law of Moses. Today’s Levites represent the Christian religion. They are focused on building and taking care of physical churches (tabernacle of testimony). In other words, they are protecting the legacy of the Christian religion.

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. 

In verse 19, the Levites being given as a gift to Aaron and his sons positively signifies the elect being given wholly to Jesus, our High Priest, to assist Him to subdue all things so that God may be all in all. 

1Co 15:25  For he [Jesus] must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 
1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 
1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

On a positive note, the Levites symbolized the elect who are given the charge of serving in the tabernacle of the congregation as well as making atonement for the children of Israel so there will be no plagues among the children of Israel, as indicated in verse 19. Atonement is the process by which a person removes obstacles to his reconciliation with God. In the lake of fire age, the elect will help the whole of humanity, represented here as the children of Israel, by making atonement for them. This means that the elect will help the whole of humanity to see what the Lord has done for them and in so doing, remove every obstacle to their reconciliation with God. This is what will make every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that Jesus is Lord!!

Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 
Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 
Php 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

It is insightful to note that in verse 20, Moses, Aaron and the whole of the congregation of the children of Israel did to the Levites according to all that the Lord commanded Moses. Moses, Aaron and the whole of the congregation of Israel represent all humanity. It is at the end of the lake of fire age that all humanity will obey our Lord Jesus Christ, who is represented here by Moses. 

Num 8:21  And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an offering before the LORD; and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them. 
Num 8:22  And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them. 

It is when we are purified that we can offer a service pleasing to the Lord in the temple of the Lord. We know that the process of purification involves being judged. Verses 21 and 22 therefore means that we cannot offer pleasing service to the Lord with our bodies as a temple of the Lord unless we have been purified through the seven plagues. The verse below is therefore a rendition of verses 21 and 22.

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

Num 8:23  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 8:24  This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: 

To be enrolled in the army of the Lord, it is required that one is twenty years old or above. Being part of the army of the Lord does not mean that one has obtained maturity. In the physical, those who have gone through the ranks of the military are well-versed in the strategies of enemies. In a similar vein, it takes some time after being part of the Lord’s army to know the strategies of the enemy. It took a lot of experience for Paul to say the following:

2Co 2:10  To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also: for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
2Co 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. 

In verse 24, the required age to wait upon the tabernacle of the congregation is twenty-five. Although we are enrolled into the Lord’s army at the symbolic age of twenty years, it takes a while for us to be effective in performing the services pertaining to the house of God. The symbolic age of twenty-five, which is required for us to work in the house of the Lord, signifies the period when we have come out from tutors and governors at the appointed time of the Lord.

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 

In the Bible, the number twenty-five signifies the time that we start to reign as kings over our flesh.

2Ch 25:1  Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

2Ch 27:6  So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God. 
2Ch 27:7  Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
2Ch 27:8  He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

2Ch 29:1  Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 
2Ch 29:2  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 

Num 8:25  And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more: 
Num 8:26  But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge. 

According to verse 25, at the age of fifty years, the Levites are required to retire from active service in the tabernacle of the Lord. The number fifty symbolizes the liberty we have in Christ when we are set free from sin. Retiring at the age of fifty spiritually implies the period of our lives where we do not depend on our own strength to do the work of the Lord, but rather depend on Christ to do the work for us. In other words, we come to rest completely in Him. 

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

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. 

May the Lord continue to help us retire from our own works so we can come to rest wholly in Him. Amen!! 

The Book of Joshua – Part 7: Fame and Fear of the Sword Wielded by the Elect of God will go Globally – Joshua 6:18-27

[Study Aired April 1, 2023]

We concluded Part 6 in the Study of Joshua 6:1-17, with the Lord through Joshua detailing the events for Israel to take the ‘moon-city’ of Jericho. Joshua finishes the Lord’s directive by commanding the Israelites to not take anything the Lord has forbidden into the camp of Israel.

Jos 6:18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 
Jos 6:19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD. 
Jos 6:20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 
Jos 6:21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. 
Jos 6:22 But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. 
Jos 6:23 And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. 
Jos 6:24 And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 
Jos 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Jos 6:26 And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. 
Jos 6:27 So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country. 

The Body of the Study:

Jos 6:18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 
Jos 6:19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.
Jos 6:19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.

In verses 17 and 18, the Lord announces every detail of Jericho being cursed other than Rahab, whose minimal faith saved her and her household, including the base metals iron and brass and the precious metals silver and gold alone from Jericho. He reinforces his doctrine that only those who obey his commands will be accepted; he will never suffer a hint of corruption (accursed thing) by his people, Israel subverting his laws in letter and spiritually for the Body of Christ.

Accursed is H7045 – and means curse, vilification, execration [Detestation]. Its origin is H7043, and highly interestingly means,
to be slight, be swift, be trifling, be of little account, be light
(Qal) to be slight, be abated (of water)
to be swift
to be trifling, be of little account
(Niphal)
to be swift, show oneself swift
to appear trifling, be too trifling, be insignificant
to be lightly esteemed
(Piel)
to make despicable
to curse

The Lord is telling the Israelites and us to take His commands seriously and not permit a little trifling doctrinal leaven or seemingly innocuous thing to rule in our lives. An accursed thing also is H2764 origin H2763 – meaning, to ban, destroy utterly anything that festers corruption from sound doctrine and is to be immediately destroyed from within the Temple that we are.

Israel is in its infancy of being the Lord’s first wife, so base metals such as brass (copper) and iron identify that infancy to be purified by them keeping all the Commandants of their Lord. Since the Israelites were commanded to keep the silver of Jericho, it represents the Lord’s word, and the preservation of Jericho’s gold re-smelted epitomises the expected perfection in the individual.

Hag 2:8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. 

Psa 24:1 A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 

Psa 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 
Psa 50:11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. 
Psa 50:12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

Why can Israel take the base metals and silver and gold on this occasion, yet the Lord went to extraordinary lengths in Deuteronomy 6–9, hammering home to not take anything an Israelite deems precious from the nations to be utterly destroyed, including silver and gold? What we do with those items corrupts His spirit in the Temple we are.

Silver represents God’s unadulterated redemptive word as we transform into gold, the most precious of all metals, and represents their fullness in Him. They are nothing of their own as metals, nor is the molded image of idols anything unless they are considered worthy of worship. For the Body of Christ, it is similar to eating unclean meats or taking up deadly things such as symbolic poisonous snakes or drinking symbolically poisonous fluid representing “accursed” doctrine. Infant Israel had to be taught the physical lesson for us to learn spiritually; she had to listen closely to what her Lord said, even if it did seem a contradictory parable.

Deu 12:32 All the things I command you, be careful to do it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.

Eze 16:14 And thy [Israel and us in the flesh] renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD. 
Eze 16:15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. 
Eze 16:16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, 
Eze 16:18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. 
Eze 16:19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 16:20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,
Eze 16:21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? 
Eze 16:22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.

Mar 16:17 And miraculous signs will follow to those believing these things: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak new tongues; 
Mar 16:18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will be well.

As such, Joshua 6:18 says you surely shall keep clear of the cursed thing, lest you make yourselves cursed when you take of the cursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. For Christ’s Body, we do not look upon a cursed thing to lust after it because once lust is dwelt upon, we toy with the idea that the ‘little leaven’ of an accursed thing can’t hurt us and could amplify the inherent curse by taking that doctrine to our friends and family. To the spiritual church that rightly divides the word of God, normally, the accursed thing wouldn’t have an effect. However, for unspiritual Israel, the natural or physical law had to precede its spiritual application for our learning.

God’s Church came out of the harlot, Israel, and had her silver, gold, bronze and iron vessels taken from Jericho and resmelted to his modified use. The fiery purification of the accursed thing by refining its gold and making it into the purity of His image is the only process that will satisfy the Lord. That process is a perfect example of us, a figurative Rahab harlot being changed into His Wife eagerly consenting to her Lord’s judgments. First, Israel in the flesh is on a predetermined path, unconsciously in the future returning to being one immense Whore (Rev 17:1-18).

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
Isa 1:22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: 
Isa 1:23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. 

In taking these metals from Jericho and recasting the innocuous metal in the refining fire, Old Israel is unwittingly prophesying the future event for the spiritual Israel of God symbolically as their refinements through fiery trials.

Jos 6:21 And they completely destroyed all in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. 

The spiritual man is likewise overjoyed with a figurative “great shout” at the ram’s horns being blown within, with the walls protecting his idols of the heart falling flat, entering and leaving nothing that breathes alive. He likewise goes straight up into his city within. During the Resurrection to life, he learns to go through the gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem, whose foundation and gate are built in him by his Lord.

Eph 2:19 Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
Eph 2:20 and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
Eph 2:21 in whom every building having been fitly framed together, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord; 
Eph 2:22 in whom you also are built together for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit.

Rev 22:14 Blessed are they who do His commandments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter in by the gates into the city.
Rev 22:15 But outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie.

Joh 10:1 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who does not enter into the sheepfold by the door, but going up by another way, that one is a thief and a robber. 
Joh 10:2 But he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

Jos 6:22 And Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring the woman out from there, and all that she has, as you swore to her. 
Jos 6:23 And the young men who were spies went in and brought Rahab out, and her father and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had. And they brought out all her kindred and set them outside the camp of Israel.

Rahab and her family were undoubtedly not ready for such a climactic and devastating exhibition from the God of Israel, with the entire walls surrounding the city thunderously collapsing. Undestroyed was one remnant of the wall standing prominently alone as a tower. From that perspective, Rahab and the Shulamite in the Song of Solomon share a commonality. Both found peace in the eyes of God by being a tower within a wall.

Rahab symbolised the Bride of Christ while living in and amid sin, while the Shulamite was a wall that symbolically couldn’t be breached by sin. Within the walls of both women resolutely stood their breasts, denoting their gender and, particularly beneath, their faithful hearts.

With the tower of one breast, Rahab typifies unity with the budding old carnal Israel and Jerusalem going before future spiritual Israel with the two breasts (witness) of the Shulamite embedded in the wall of the Heavenly Jerusalem above.

Son 8:8 We have a little sister, and she has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? 
Son 8:9 If she is a wall, we will build on her a palace of silver; and if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. 
Son 8:10 I was a wall, and my breasts like towers; then I was in His eyes as one finding peace.

Towers in a city wall were strong fortifications, often on the corners of the city walls or astride the city’s gates, and added a buttress-like strength to better withstand the mighty boulder-throwing engines of the enemy. (Tower: G4444 – 1. a tower. 2. a fortified structure rising to a considerable height to repel a hostile attack or to enable a watchman to see in every direction). In defence, they, too, were prominent points commanding a wide view of the enemy’s positions for the defendants to respond with their engine’s projectiles and arrows. Because of the embedded tower’s structural strength, they were often the only edifice under siege left standing ~ so, too, is a woman’s heart magnified beneath her peaceful ‘towers’, especially spiritually for the Church.

Similarly, in the flesh, all women are highly aware of their relative beauty, and their hearts reject the lecherous boulders and arrows from the leering attentions of presumptuous suitors. So, too, is the Body of Christ fiercely watchful for lewd doctrines striking her spiritual heart.

As seen in the Song of Solomon study series, apart from a woman’s overall feminine shape, the heart beneath her breasts spiritually, for us, is emphasised figuratively by twin towers defending the word of God most fiercely. Whereas the peaceful city of Jerusalem is represented by the Shulamite, our dear harlot sister, Rahab, figured as only one tower remaining in the wall of Jericho, she represented. Rahab and Jericho saw what the Lord did for the Israelites. This frightened woman holding on with a little faith to not be destroyed desires to be one flesh with Israel, her saviour, her carnal Christs. 

Psa 61:2 From the end of the earth will I [Rahab and we] cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psa 61:3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. 
Psa 61:4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. 

Oba 1:20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south. 
Oba 1:21 And saviours [plural – Christs] shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

The young men did as they had pledged for Rahab and her entire household, just as the Christs will do for the entire world in the Resurrection to Judgment, saving the Camp of Israel and those outside the Camp.

While in the nation of Israel, Rahab, her family and her descendants were considered unclean until Christ’s death; hence, she and her family were set apart outside the Camp with the mixed multitude. Since Jericho was burnt, Rahab is a type of sin offering outside the Camp.

As was the Commandments of Moses:

Num 5:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 5:2 Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: [Rahab was influentially defiled by Jericho’s dead]
Num 5:3 Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell. 
Num 5:4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the LORD spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.

Lev 4:21 And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation.

Jos 6:24 And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 

The idols we subconsciously believe will save us by the power of our might, is us chasing the wind and utter vanity; they are nothing. They shall be soundly burnt and purified, and we fashioned into the Lord’s image.

Isa 44:9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. 
Isa 44:10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? 
Isa 44:11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. 

Jos 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Jos 6:26 And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. 

The fact that Rahab and her household dwelt in Israel “unto this day”, again is a testament to their descendants, the entire world being eventually saved. 

The Bride of Christ, the spiritual messengers who have spied out their inheritance (Christ), is likewise hidden by Him on a rooftop in the figurative walls of Old Jerusalem, the Babylonish system whose walls fall flat, leaving Christ, our tower for us to see our enemies within, from all directions.

2Sa 22:50 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. 
2Sa 22:51 He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

The last half of Joshua 6:26 seems incongruous with the first half ~ And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. Any man who rebuilds Jericho will be cursed, yet, in the same breath, the builder is laying a foundation in his firstborn and establishing the youngest in the city’s gates.

The ‘tel’ or ‘tal’ (mound of dirt and debris) formed by people subsequently rebuilding time and again upon an ancient city’s foundation is starkly seen today on Jericho’s site. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jericho+archaeological+dig

What can we learn from any who dares reconstruct Jericho? Of course, King Ahab would go to any lengths to do the opposite of what the Lord says.

1Ki 16:30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. 
1Ki 16:31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
1Ki 16:32 And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 
1Ki 16:33 And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. 
1Ki 16:34 In his days did Hiel [khee-ale] the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub [saw-gab], according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.

Ironically, the name Abiram (H48  Phonetic ab-ee-rawm – Definition: Abiram = my father is exalted or (the) Exalted one is (my) father 1. Origin H7311 – 1. to rise, rise up, be high, be lofty, be exalted a Reubenite, son of Eliab in exodus) 2. son of Hiel the Bethelite who worked to rebuild Jericho) is synonymous with a rebellious father; he was the son of Eliab from the tribe of Reuben (Num 16:1). Abiram and his brother Dathan were kingpins in Korah’s rebellion and were swallowed up by the earth. 

The second man named Abiram in Joshua 6:26 prophetically alludes is his father, Hiel. Hiel relaid the foundations of Jericho at the cost of eldest son Abiram’s life fulfilling the first part of 1 Kings 16:34, and Hiel setting up the gates of Jericho cost the life of his youngest son, Segub (saw-gab). The tragic irony of the meaning of Segub’s name cascades self-exultation within the family since his name means H7687 – exalted, and origin H7682 – 1. to be high, be inaccessibly high a. (Qal) 1. to be (too) high (for capture) 2. to be high (of prosperity).

For the Body of Christ’s spiritual learning, we had better take His word seriously; no matter how many decades or thousands of years pass, His word endures. Unless the Lord lays the foundation of the Heavenly Jerusalem within, and we enter through the straight gate, we die with Old Jerusalem to be raised in the refining Lake of Fire.

1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 
1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

1Co 3:9 For of God we are fellow-workers, a field of God, and you are a building of God.
1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let every man be careful how he builds on it.
1Co 3:11 For any other foundation can no one lay than the one being laid, who is Jesus Christ. 
1Co 3:12 And if anyone builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, 
1Co 3:13 each one’s work shall be revealed. For the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try each one’s work as to what kind it is. 
1Co 3:14 If anyone’s work which he built remains, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If anyone’s work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss. But he shall be saved, yet so as by fire. 
1Co 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 
1Co 3:17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God shall destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which you are. 

Mat 7:13 Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it. 
Mat 7:14 Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Just as Hiel rebuilt Jericho on its destroyed foundations, our symbolic elder son dies if we try to spiritually rebuild Old Jerusalem on even part of its former foundations since Old Jerusalem represents the rejected anointed Woman in the wilderness; we metaphorically return to Babylon.

Rom 9:12 it was said to her [Rebekah], “The elder [Esau] shall serve the younger [Jacob].” 
Rom 9:13 As it is written, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”

If the elected anointed in the Body of Christ, representing the younger son, likewise spiritually (who would dare physically?) attempts to build a gate for Christ to enter the bondage of Old Jerusalem (symbolically Jericho), like Segub (saw-gab), we will die to be raised in the Resurrection to Judgment.

Sarcastically, Babylon’s Ishtar Gate has been rebuilt to the grandeur of its originality and remains today ~ how fitting for an unwitting world.

Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and do not again be held with the yoke of bondage. 
Gal 5:2 Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 
Gal 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do all the Law, 
Gal 5:4 you who are justified by Law are deprived of all effect from Christ; you fell from grace. 
Gal 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness out of faith.

Jos 6:27 So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country. 

Joshua represents the Body of Christ, and for the moment, their fame to the world is insignificant and laughable. They are covertly being dressed in pure white linen that the world sees metaphorically as sackcloth, whereas their Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters in the court outside the temple dance an unwitting naked deluded dance thinking they are now saved.

Rev 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. 
Rev 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
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 [particularly in the One Thousand Year Reign].

The two witnesses, the altar, the two olive trees and two candlesticks are one and the same Elect of God whose fame will go throughout the entire world at their hopeful First Resurrection to life. However, there will be a mighty turbulence of emotions see-sawing in every person outside the camp of the Lord, between joy and immense fear during the rule with the rod of iron in the One-Thousand Year Reign.

Rev 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them [The Elect], and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them [The rest of the world] which saw them.

Rev 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. 

The nations will not come to worship with a willing spirit in the One-Thousand Year Reign, for they will worship from the fear of a fleshy heart.

Isa 30:27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: 
Isa 30:28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. 

Indeed, the Elect’s fame will go worldwide and be a constant fearful name on the world’s lips and minds.

[Study Aired February 27, 2023]

Exo 39:1  And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses. 
Exo 39:2  And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 
Exo 39:3  And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work. 
Exo 39:4  They made shoulderpieces for it, to couple it together: by the two edges was it coupled together. 
Exo 39:5  And the curious girdle of his ephod, that was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the LORD commanded Moses. 
Exo 39:6  And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel. 
Exo 39:7  And he put them on the shoulders of the ephod, that they should be stones for a memorial to the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses. 
Exo 39:8  And he made the breastplate of cunning work, like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 
Exo 39:9  It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being doubled. 
Exo 39:10  And they set in it four rows of stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this was the first row. 
Exo 39:11  And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.
Exo 39:12  And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst.
Exo 39:13  And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings.
Exo 39:14  And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes. 
Exo 39:15  And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold. 
Exo 39:16  And they made two ouches of gold, and two gold rings; and put the two rings in the two ends of the breastplate. 
Exo 39:17  And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate.
Exo 39:18  And the two ends of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it. 
Exo 39:19  And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which was on the side of the ephod inward. 
Exo 39:20  And they made two other golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. 
Exo 39:21  And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Exo 39:22  And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue.
Exo 39:23  And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend. 
Exo 39:24  And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen.
Exo 39:25  And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates; 
Exo 39:26  A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Exo 39:27  And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, 
Exo 39:28  And a mitre of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen, and linen breeches of fine twined linen, 
Exo 39:29  And a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Exo 39:30  And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
Exo 39:31  And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as the LORD commanded Moses. 
Exo 39:32  Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. 
Exo 39:33  And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets, 
Exo 39:34  And the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers’ skins, and the vail of the covering, 
Exo 39:35  The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat, 
Exo 39:36  The table, and all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread, 
Exo 39:37  The pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof, even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for light, 
Exo 39:38  And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door, 
Exo 39:39  The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,
Exo 39:40  The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation,
Exo 39:41  The cloths of service to do service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons’ garments, to minister in the priest’s office. 
Exo 39:42  According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. 
Exo 39:43  And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.

This chapter captures the making of priestly garments. In the Bible, garments have both positive and negative connotations. On a positive note, priestly garments represent the righteousness of Christ. 

Isa 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

The negative aspect of garments reflects the sinful deeds of the flesh during our walk in Babylon and the world.  That is why, in the scriptures, we are admonished to change our garments when we come to Christ as shown in the following:

Mar 10:50  And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

Zec 3:3  Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. 
Zec 3:4  And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
Zec 3:5  And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.

Gen 35:2  Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

What we need to know is that without these priestly garments, which reflect our righteousness in Christ, we cannot enter into the presence of the Lord. In the parable of the prodigal son, when he came to himself and asked for forgiveness from his father, he received a new garment or robe.

Luk 15:22  But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

Exo 39:1  And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses. 

The color red or scarlet symbolizes the first Adam being of the earth, while the color blue symbolizes the last Adam – Jesus Christ coming to be in our heavens. The colors purple and scarlet remind us of our sojourn in Babylon where our adamic nature became obvious while living under the law as shown in the following verses:

Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 
Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

What this means is that to change our old garments of flesh to put on Christ our righteousness, we must first recognize our spiritual poverty (purple and scarlet linen) while in Babylon before we are turned into blue linen, that is, Christ coming to us. All humanity must pass through the same process to put on the righteousness of Christ.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Exo 39:2  And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.
Exo 39:3  And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work.

The ephod was a garment of great importance and was a type of apron. It was an object to be revered in ancient Israelite culture. The ephod of the high priest was very special because it had a chest of twelve jewels on its front, which represent the twelve tribes of Israel. The ephod is worn as a ceremonial dress by the High Priest. We know that the High Priest is our Lord Jesus Christ. From the scriptures, our Lord Jesus Christ’s garment that He wore represents Him. That is why when the woman with the flow of blood touched Jesus’ garment, Jesus said that someone has touched Him. 

Luk 8:43  And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 
Luk 8:44  Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 
Luk 8:45  And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 

This means the spiritual significance of putting on the ephod garment is to put on Christ.

Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

The question is, “What does it mean to put on Christ?” The verse above shows us that to put on Christ means not to focus on gratifying the desires of the sinful nature. 

The ephod must be of fine linen and colored gold, blue, purple and scarlet. The color gold signifies the need to be refined just like gold refined in the fire. This is the judgment of our old man which brings us to learn righteousness. That is what will qualify us to put on Christ, the ephod. 

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

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

The fact that the ephod must have blue, purple and scarlet is to make us aware that putting on the righteousness of Christ is a process. We start our walk being earthy or scarlet or of the flesh. Then we proceed to the color purple which is a mixture of blue and red. As shown earlier, the color blue represents Christ coming to us in our earthly or fleshy state to produce the color purple. This represents our life in Babylon where our righteousness is of the letter of the word or the law of Moses. Finally, if we are called and chosen, then Christ will come to us with His judgment to conform us to the righteousness of Christ, represented by blue.

Exo 39:4  They made shoulderpieces for it, to couple it together: by the two edges was it coupled together. 
Exo 39:5  And the curious girdle of his ephod, that was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the LORD commanded Moses. 

In order for the ephod to become complete, two shoulder pieces must be joined to its two edges.  As indicated earlier, the ephod represents Christ our Lord. The two shoulder pieces are the elect and the rest of humanity who are to be joined to Christ at different times to complete the work of Christ. 

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 
1Co 15:23  But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 
1Co 15:24  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

The girdle of the ephod must also be gold, blue, purple and scarlet. It represents the truth of the word of the Lord. What this means is that to be given to know the mysteries of Christ, we must come to understand our spiritual poverty in Babylon (signified by the colors scarlet and purple) before Christ comes to us (represented by blue) to refine us (symbolized by the color gold) to learn righteousness.

Mal 3:1  Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 
Mal 3:2  But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 
Mal 3:3  He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.

Exo 39:6  And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel.
Exo 39:7  And he put them on the shoulders of the ephod, that they should be stones for a memorial to the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses.

Two onyx stones are to be mounted in gold and fastened on the ephod’s shoulder pieces. These stones are to be engraved with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel with six names on one and six on the other. These stones represent the elect as we are fastened to the Lord’s shoulders. This means that when He comes to us, He carries us on His shoulders. Being carried on the shoulder means that it is the Lord who does the work – we are only resting on His shoulders as He does the walking (leads us).

Luk 15:4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 
Luk 15:5  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

Exo 39:8  And he made the breastplate of cunning work, like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.
Exo 39:9  It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being doubled.

The breastplate was one of the sacred priestly garments to be worn by the High Priest. As a breastplate, its primary spiritual significance is that it stands for the righteousness of Christ. 

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

In Exodus 28:15, however, it is called the breastplate of judgment in connection with the attachment of the Urim and Thummim. The judgment here relates to knowing the mind of Christ concerning issues brought before the Lord. We can therefore see that it is only when we put on the righteousness of Christ we can know the mind of Christ. That is to say that it is when we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord, that we are able to know the will of God in our lives.

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The breastplate was to be made of fine twined linen of gold, blue, purple and scarlet. As indicated earlier, this refers to the process we must go through to put on the righteousness of Christ. What this means is that we must come to understand our spiritual poverty in Babylon (signified by the colors scarlet and purple) before Christ comes to us (represented by blue) to refine us (symbolized by the color gold) to learn righteousness.

The fact that the breastplate must be four squared in shape is to let us know that all humanity must obtain the standard of the righteousness of Christ, though each in his own order. This is also another way of saying that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No man can come to God without Christ. 

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

Exo 39:10  And they set in it four rows of stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this was the first row. 
Exo 39:11  And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. 
Exo 39:12  And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst.
Exo 39:13  And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings.
Exo 39:14  And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes.

The precious stones represent the elect. The fact that the stones are of different types is to suggest that we all play different roles in the body of Christ. 

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 
Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 
Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 
Rom 12:6  Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Rom 12:7  Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 
Rom 12:8  Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. 

Aaron was the first High Priest. Aaron represents Christ, who is our High Priest and bears the names of all the elect of every generation in His heart. This is another way of saying that as our High Priest, Jesus is able to sympathize with our weaknesses as He intercedes on our behalf. 

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.

Rom 8:34  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Exo 39:15  And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold. 
Exo 39:16  And they made two ouches of gold, and two gold rings; and put the two rings in the two ends of the breastplate. 
Exo 39:17  And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate.
Exo 39:18  And the two ends of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it. 
Exo 39:19  And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which was on the side of the ephod inward. 
Exo 39:20  And they made two other golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. 
Exo 39:21  And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses.

The priests wore a long robe covering their whole body, then on top of this robe, there was a tunic, a kind of coat (breastplate) to the knees. On top of the tunic there was the ephod. These verses are to show us how the ephod is fastened to the breastplate (coat) through chains and rings made of pure gold. The importance of the chains and the rings is to ensure that the breastplate does not swing out from the ephod. As we have indicated, the whole of the priestly garments represents Christ. Since we are the body of Christ, we also represent the priestly garments. Just as the breastplate and the ephod must be fitly joined together, so is the body of Christ which must be fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies.

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.

Fitly joined together implies that there are no divisions in Christ. Any sign of division means that we have failed. We are all of the same mind pursuing one goal in Christ, which is to please God, and this is achieved through what everyone offers in the house of God. 

1Co 1:12  Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
1Co 1:13  Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? 

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? 

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Exo 39:22  And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue.
Exo 39:23  And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend. 
Exo 39:24  And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen.
Exo 39:25  And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates; 
Exo 39:26  A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD commanded Moses.

As we have indicated, the color blue represents the Lord Jesus in our heavens. The robe of the ephod represents righteousness. These verses therefore imply that our righteousness is of Christ and not by ourselves. 

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

The robe of the ephod must have an opening for the head in the middle of it. This opening should have a woven binding around it so that it does not tear. This woven binding is decorated with pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarns around the hem with bells of gold in-between them.

Spiritually, the opening for the head regarding the robe of the ephod is another way of saying that in order to put on the righteousness of Christ, we should make a way for the Lord. To make a way for the Lord is to repent from our sins. In other words, we must be aware of spiritual poverty if we are to repent from our sins. This is the message that John the Baptist preached throughout his ministry.

Luk 3:2  Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
Luk 3:3  And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
Luk 3:4  As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

As stated in verse 23, the opening for the head and the binding of woven work are what prevent the robe of the ephod from tearing. As indicated, the woven work is the embroidery work of pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet, inter-spaced with golden bells. Pomegranates symbolize the bearing of the fruit of the spirit when we start to possess our bodies or land.

Deu 8:7  For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
Deu 8:8  A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;

The embroidery work of pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet is to remind us that we start our walk in the Lord bearing fruits of the flesh (purple and scarlet) before we bear the fruit of the spirit or Christ.

The golden bells, which are part of the embroidery work, are inter-spaced between the pomegranates. As we indicated in the previous study, the robe is one of the sacred articles of clothing for the High Priest. It was worn under the ephod. The significance of the robe was the bells attached to it. Their sounding as a result of Aaron’s movement, is to alert those outside the Holy place that Aaron is alive and well. The symbol of the golden bells on the embroidery work is therefore to remind us of the holiness of the Lord. It is when we walk in holiness that we are alive in Christ. The bells therefore represent holiness. 

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.

Exo 39:27  And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons,

Aaron and his sons represent the elect of every generation. All the Lord’s elect are priests before the Lord and are therefore required to serve or minister in the presence of the Lord.

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Though many priests served in the Tabernacle, there was only one acting High Priest at any given time. The first High Priest was Aaron, the brother of Moses. At his death, the office of High Priest was then transferred to his oldest son, down through the generations. As we are aware, we are the firstborn sons and therefore are entitled to wear these priestly garments as transferred to us by the Lord Jesus Christ who is our High Priest.

Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Exo 39:28  And a mitre of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen, and linen breeches of fine twined linen, 
Exo 39:29  And a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Exo 39:30  And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
Exo 39:31  And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as the LORD commanded Moses. 

Now we come to the mitre which is the turban that covers the head of Aaron, the high priest. The mitre or the turban represents the helmet of salvation. Remember that all parts of the priestly garments are to be made of fine linen as linen which does not cause sweat. This means that putting on the righteousness of Christ is not the work of man. Everything is of Christ.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 

Eze 44:17  And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.
Eze 44:18  They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

In verse 30, the mitre bears the inscription “Holiness to the Lord” and was to be put on the forehead of Aaron, the high priest. This is to remind us that we were marked by the Lord to walk in holiness before the world began.

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

The fact that the inscription was made of gold is to show us the need to be refined just like gold refined in the fire to attain holiness. This is the judgment of our old man which brings us to learn righteousness. 

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

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

In verse 31, the inscription was to be put on a blue lace. The color blue signifies the Lord Jesus in our heavens. It is when the Lord comes to our heavens that we can attain holiness and be designated as “Holiness to the Lord”.

Exo 39:32  Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. 
Exo 39:33  And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets, 
Exo 39:34  And the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers’ skins, and the vail of the covering, 
Exo 39:35  The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat, 
Exo 39:36  The table, and all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread, 
Exo 39:37  The pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof, even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for light, 
Exo 39:38  And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door, 
Exo 39:39  The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,
Exo 39:40  The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation,
Exo 39:41  The cloths of service to do service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons’ garments, to minister in the priest’s office.

These verses are to demonstrate the work carried out in building a tabernacle for the Lord to dwell. This is New Jerusalem where the Lord dwells with His people. Our temple will be completed in the fullness of time when we see our Lord Jesus Christ face to face.

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

Exo 39:42  According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work.
Exo 39:43  And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them. 

These verses remind us that we should build according to the pattern, which is Christ. 

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

Moses here signifies the elect. As Moses was faithful in executing all that the Lord required, we are required to be faithful in building the temple of the Lord.

Heb 3:4  For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. 
Heb 3:5  And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

May the Lord grant us the grace to be faithful to building according to the pattern of Christ. Amen!!

Exo 32:1-35  The Making of the Golden Calf

[Study Aired January 9, 2023]

Exo 32:1  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 
Exo 32:2  And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 
Exo 32:3  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 
Exo 32:4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 
Exo 32:5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
Exo 32:6  And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Exo 32:7  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
Exo 32:8  They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 
Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 
Exo 32:11  And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 
Exo 32:12  Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
Exo 32:13  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
Exo 32:14  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. 
Exo 32:15  And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 
Exo 32:16  And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 
Exo 32:17  And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 
Exo 32:18  And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
Exo 32:19  And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 
Exo 32:20  And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
Exo 32:21  And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
Exo 32:22  And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 
Exo 32:23  For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 
Exo 32:24  And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. 
Exo 32:25  And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) 
Exo 32:26  Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 
Exo 32:27  And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. 
Exo 32:28  And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 
Exo 32:29  For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. 
Exo 32:30  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. 
Exo 32:31  And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
Exo 32:32  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 
Exo 32:34  Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. 
Exo 32:35  And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

Today’s study shows us that many of the Israelites were uncomfortable with the idea of an invisible god. They rather preferred a god that could be represented in some solid, tangible, and visible form. Aaron building the golden calf was therefore not meant to displace God, but to make Him more tangible to the Israelites. Flesh always begets flesh. In our carnal state, we always want something that is tangible or fleshy. However, a sign of maturity is believing even though we have not seen. This was what the Lord told Thomas when he doubted that the Lord had risen. 

Joh 20:26  And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 
Joh 20:27  Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 
Joh 20:28  And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 
Joh 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Our life in Babylon is characterized by worshiping what we see as tangible. That is why Babylon is dependent on evidential proofs of the spiritual reality portrayed in signs and wonders and gifts of the spirit such as word of knowledge, tongues, etc. As we are aware, it is children who are always looking for gifts from parents. As we mature, we become less dependent on gifts. The fact that many come with signs and wonders must alert us to be wary since these signs and wonders are all rudimentary as our brother Paul warned us. In his letter to the Corinthians, he told them that it is only love (obedience to the Lord’s words) that will endure. In other words, a mature person is the one who obeys or trembles at the Lord’s words. Other gifts of the spirit such as word of knowledge, prophecies, signs and wonders, are all elementary, and as we mature, they become less and less significant. 

1Co 13:8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 
1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

What we must understand as we mature in the things of God is that we serve a living God who is hiding Himself in this dispensation, and it is only as we worship Him in spirit that we come to appreciate the spiritual reality of His existence, love, care and His wonderful plan of salvation for us. 

Isa 45:15  Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. 
Isa 45:16  They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. 
Isa 45:17  But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

In today’s study, we shall learn about what the golden calf signifies during our walk in Babylon, why Aaron was not punished for his role in building the golden calf and the significance of the death of three thousand men who played the harlot.

Exo 32:1  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

One of the qualities that the Lord desires to instill in His people is patience! Moses’ delay in meeting the Lord in Mount Sinai resulted in the people of Israel wanting a tangible presence to go with them to the promised land. As the story unfolds, we can see that their lack of patience in waiting for Moses costs them their lives. If we are to receive the promise as we carry on the Lord’s will here on earth, then we must learn to be patient.

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.

Patience has great reward, and as we go through our experience of evil in this world, we gradually learn to be patient. By the things that are made, we learn more about the spiritual reality. As we are aware, children are never patient. If they want something, they want it now!! As we grow, then we learn to be patient. A measure of our spiritual maturity is our level of patience.

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

In verse 1, Aaron negatively represents our leaders in Babylon who put a stumbling block of iniquity – idols of the heart – before us and cause us to become worse than when we started our walk with the Lord.

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

Exo 32:2  And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
Exo 32:3  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 
Exo 32:4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

The idols of the heart, which are represented here as the molten calf, come at a cost. In other words, we exchange the gold we have received from the Lord’s words with false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition. This gold of the Lord’s words we have received is accompanied by our fiery trials which cause us to learn righteousness. Thus, exchanging the gold we have received for a molten calf or idols of the heart also means our rejection of the fiery trials we must go through in favor of the smooth words in Babylon which exclude our fiery trials. We all at a certain point in our walk with Christ worshiped or bowed down to the molten calf (idols of the heart) instead of Christ’s words.

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, 

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:
Isa 30:11  Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 
Isa 30:12  Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
Isa 30:13  Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

Exo 32:5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.
Exo 32:6  And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

As we indicated in the introduction part of this study, the Israelites wanted something tangible to worship. The fact that Aaron told the people to hold a feast to the Lord is to attest that the people thought they were worshiping the true God through the molten calf. In Babylon, we turn aside from worshiping the true God to serving our idols of the heart. Yes, we did eat and drink while in Babylon, but it resulted in the entrenchment of our idols of the heart. The consequence of this is that we ended up becoming harlots, which is the meaning of “the people…rose up to play”. The verses below summarize our time in Babylon.

Mic 6:14  Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
Mic 6:15  Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. 

If we are called and chosen, then our Lord will cause us to leave Babylon.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Exo 32:7  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
Exo 32:8  They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

In these verses, the Lord brought to the attention of Moses the true state of the people whom he was leading – that they have turned aside and are worshiping other gods. As we grow in Christ, we must pay attention to the state of the Lord’s flock. It is when we know the state of our brothers and sisters that we can be of help. Our brother Paul gave us the following example to follow:

Gal 1:6  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 
Gal 1:7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 
Gal 1:8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 
Gal 1:9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

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.

We have all in our own time deserted the true gospel preached to us and have followed after fleshly means of worship in terms of our focus on prolonged music sessions, signs and wonders, etc. just like the Israelites.

Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 
Exo 32:11  And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 
Exo 32:12  Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
Exo 32:13  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.

We are all stiff-necked people whom the Lord by His grace is transforming us to become His bride. In verse 10, the Lord was testing Moses to see what was in his heart as He mentioned that He wants to destroy the people and raise a new nation through Moses. As the Lord’s people, we must love the church by laying down our lives for her, just as our Lord Jesus did. Moses, a type of the elect, interceded on behalf of the Lord’s people when the Lord offered to make out of him a nation. He was prepared to die for His people’s sake. We are not here to serve ourselves and our interests. We are here to serve the body of Christ.

Exo 32:32  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Our brother Paul was also prepared to lay down his life for his fellow Israelites.

Rom 9:1  I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 
Rom 9:2  That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 
Rom 9:3  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

All that happened to Moses, Paul, the disciples, etc. are for our sake. Their inability to be faithful to Christ and the church in this wilderness of life is all for our sake – so that the Lord will show mercy to us. The blindness which has engulfed our brothers and sisters in Babylon is all for our sake. It is not because we are wise. It is all because the Lord has shown mercy to us and that through this mercy, they also will be shown mercy.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Exo 32:14  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. 

To understand what this statement means, we need to look at the sum of the Lord’s words.

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth forever. (ASV)

From the following verses, which run contrary to verse 14, the Lord is not a man to repent or change. If the Lord had changed His plan, then the children of Israel would have been consumed. 

Num 23:19  God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and will he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

The statement in verse 14 is therefore written for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. However, there are many that are unlearned and would wrest verse 14 unto their own destruction.

2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 
2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Exo 32:15  And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
Exo 32:16  And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
Exo 32:17  And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
Exo 32:18  And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
Exo 32:19  And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

The question is “why did Moses cast the tables of the ten commandments out of his hands to break them after spending forty days and forty nights in Mount Sinai to receive them?” This was a foreshadow of the fact that the law of Moses was our schoolmaster until faith came. In other words, being our schoolmaster means that the Law of Moses makes us realize that we are sinful. Once Moses came to that realization, there was no need for the law again. The casting of the tables out of his hand therefore signifies that we are no longer under the law when we come to realize that we are sinful. It is at this point that faith comes.

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.

It is also instructive to know that when Joshua heard the noise of the people, he thought that it was the noise of war in the camp. Moses corrected him by telling him that it was the noise of them that were singing. We are all prone to make mistakes, but we should be humble enough to accept correction from the body of Christ.

Pro 15:31  The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.
Pro 15:32  He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.

Exo 32:20  And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

This verse means that it is as our eyes are opened and our ears are hearing the word of the Lord that all our idols of the heart, represented by the molten calf, are destroyed, that is, ground to powder. As we are aware, the word of the Lord is the fire that burns out completely all our idols of the heart. The drinking of the water by the children of Israel means that it is not only hearing of the word of the Lord, it is the application of the word of the Lord in our lives that takes away our idols of the hearts.

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

Exo 32:21  And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
Exo 32:22  And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
Exo 32:23  For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Exo 32:24  And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.

In verse 21, Moses was questioning Aaron on why he had brought so great a sin upon the people of Israel. From Aaron’s explanation, we can see that he was most guilty and did not repent for this outrageous sin. He was rather blaming the people for their stiff-necked nature. As we can see in the subsequent verses, Aaron was not punished for his sins.  As explained earlier, Aaron in this context represents the leaders in Babylon. Belonging to the Babylonian system means that Aaron is a symbol here of those who are not being judged in this life as they haven’t admitted that they are sinful. It is only the Lord’s elect who are being judged in this age.

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Exo 32:25  And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) 

The effect of the idols of the heart is that we are deceived. Therefore, we play the harlot thinking we are serving the Lord. This is all part of the Lord’s plan for us as His elect so He will have the occasion to judge us. 

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
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; 
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Exo 32:26  Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 
Exo 32:27  And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
Exo 32:28  And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
Exo 32:29  For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.

Our Lord has several tools He uses to judge us and to cause us to learn righteousness. The whole of His tools for judgment are classified as His four sore judgments as follows:

Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

The consequence of our action of playing the harlot just like the people of Israel did by worshiping the golden calf, that is, worshiping another Jesus is that we are judged by the Lord, if we are called and chosen before the foundation of the world. In this case, our judgment comes in the form of the sword which negatively represents the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary. It also includes bitter words spoken against the Lord’s elect by those close to us.

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

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

The essence of this judgment of the sword against the Lord’s people is to put to death the old man. As we can see in Exodus 32:28, three thousand men were killed by the Levites on the orders of Moses, who in this case represents the Lord Jesus Christ who comes to judge us. The number three thousand consists of three and multiples of ten (3,000 = 3x10x10x10). What this means is that we obtain spiritual maturity through the judgment of our old man after our fleshly deeds have reached their fullness. The death of our old man means the birth of our new man who is after the image of Christ. It is significant to know that on the day of Pentecost, three thousand men came to receive Christ. The death of the three thousand men of the people of Israel playing the harlot is therefore a foreshadow of the birth of the church of Christ.

Act 2:40  And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Act 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Exo 32:29  For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.

Here in verse 29, we are told that Moses commanded the people to consecrate themselves even as they fall on one another with the sword. This is to let us know that the end result of the Lord’s judgment of our old man is consecration, which means being set apart as holy to the Lord. It is through righteousness that we are set apart.

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.

Exo 32:30  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
Exo 32:31  And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
Exo 32:32  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the Lord and as a result have had our names deleted from the Lord’s book of life. However, if we are called and chosen, then our names will surely be restored in the lamb’s book of life.

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

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

Exo 32:34  Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
Exo 32:35  And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

What the Lord starts, He is able to finish. The reason He is able to finish is that He is the one (mine angel in verse 34) leading us through this wilderness of life. Even though at certain times in our journey, He may plague or judge us as a result of our sins, He will surely bring us to our safe haven. 

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:

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

May the Lord continue to lead us as He brings us to our safe haven!! Amen!!

Song of Solomon 3:6-11 – Part 7, Solomon Arrives for the Wedding

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom; [with gladness in his heart].” (Luke 12:32, Son 3:11)

[Study Aired December 10, 2022]

Christ has almost finished building His Temple, the Body of Christ, His Bride, and is on His way, even at the door. While living the Shulamite’s dream, we are watchful and careful in preparing to receive our Lord. With growing gladness in our hearts, the Lord, more than any preceding groom could ever experience, has immense gladness for the forthcoming wedding.

Son 3:6 Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? 
Son 3:7 Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. 
Son 3:8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. 
Son 3:9 King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. 
Son 3:10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. 
Son 3:11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart. 

To the Elect of God, it is obvious that the Shulamite’s Groom is Christ. In chapter 3:6, Christ is the pillar of smoke.

Son 3:6 Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

Notice that the towering pillars of smoke are plural. I remember the early pioneering days in the Wandoan district of Queensland, Australia, back in the late fifties and into the seventies, pillars of smoke. New farmland needed clearing, and crawler tractors with ship anchor chains linked between them would pull down swathes of trees on tens of thousands of acres. In subsequent years when the dead trees lay in thick summertime grass, the farmers would sporadically light up huge areas, sometimes a thousand acres or more, in one hit. Random pillars of smoke could be seen dotted up to eighty kilometres or more in any direction most summers for decades. Within the fire, violent tornados (thermals) of fire fed the Sodom-like furnace forming an atomic bomb-like pillar of smoke, often with a thundercloud atop. Such a sight was what Lot’s wife saw when she turned and looked back; the entire plains were ablaze, and she became a pillar of salt.

The Seven Candlesticks in the Temple (and incense), as they burn daily (Rev 1:12, 13), are effectively smoke pillars. Undeniably, those pillars of smoke result from the aromatic incense, the prayers ascending from the Elect of God. Every word in Joel 2 speaks of an event perfecting the Elect.

Joe 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 
Joe 2:29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 
Joe 2:30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 
Joe 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. 
Joe 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Pillars are almost always metaphors for Christ and his Christ; even the pillars that Moses built at Sinai were an outward affirming of the Covenant and pointed to the twelve tribes that are the twelve pillars of Israel (Exo 24:4).

Pillars – H8490
– Original: תּמרה תּימרה
– Transliteration: Tiymarah
– Phonetic: tee-maw-raw’
– Definition:
pillar, column
palm-like spreading at top
– Origin: from the same as H8558
– TWOT entry: 2523d
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine
– Strong’s: From the same as H8558; a column that is cloud: – pillar. 
Total KJV Occurrences: 2 
pillars, 2
Son_3:6; Joe_2:30
Pillars. Strongs for H8558 means erect, with emphasis on palm trees.

H4670 – A monument, a personal memorial; altar.

H5324
– To station oneself; take one’s stand; be appointed.

Upon having his dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder to the heavens, Jacob named the location Bethel and built a pillar representing Christ, the Lord’s house of Israel.

Gen 28:22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Of course, the original Tabernacle had twenty pillars of the court, with many more references to pillars within the Tabernacle. Most famously, the Lord stood over the Tabernacle by day as a pillar of cloud that turned into a pillar of fire by night.

Exo 13:20 And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. 
Exo 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: 
Exo 13:22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. 

Exo 24:4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Solomon coming out of the wilderness with his command of soldiers like pillars (plural) of smoke can be established in the next verse (vs 7) with his threescore valiant men all representing pillars of smoke. With Shulamite-like imagination, seeing 60 men walking through the shimmering mirage distorting their movement, they would look like ill-defined shapes as small pillars of smoke. Of course, the Shulamite didn’t understand the spiritual nature of her dream, with the number 6 representing the entirety of mankind x 10 for the completeness of dying flesh, ground to powder as fine incense going up as a pillar of smoke with Solomon representing Christ as their head.

Solomon’s sixty men coming out of the wilderness represent the end of David’s household, where war through the physical sword was largely finished. Solomon and the dual witness of the Shulamite represent a coming from the wilderness of perpetual war to a kingdom of peace. The Elect of God will deliver that peace through the sword of the spirit, a fiery sword and billions of pillars of smoke following the one-thousand year reign beginning with the eighth day of judgment.

The 60 men of Solomon’s troupe are effectively perfumed with myrrh, frankincense and powders of a merchant (God’s word), and can also physically represent those renowned and mighty men who serve the Tabernacle and the Elect of God. These unwittingly surround and protect the Lord’s priests, the chariot of his word, and Solomon’s consummative bed since Christ’s death.

Christ is the merchant who grinds the world to powder (Triturator – not a biblical term), with the Bride of Christ being the first to experience the merchant’s stone breaking her into pieces and ground to powder. (Triturator – one grinds into powder or pulverizes; a device grinds into powder or pulverizes). The trituration stone, a millstone (abrasion; friction; grinding; pulverization), has a central hole to receive the grain or broken pieces of rock to be ground to flour or powder; hence, in Matthew 21:44 they fall on the stone into its central hole and are ground to powder and propelled outwardly to the grinding stone’s perimeter for collection.

Mat 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 
Mat 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Continuing…

Son 3:7 Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.
Son 3:8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

These threescore valiant men also represent every joint of the Bride holding a sword of the word and being expert with its use against the forces of darkness within. They don’t fear the night since Christ is fighting their spiritual battles. The fear spoken of in verse 8 is for disobeying the Lord and is a healthy, alert fear for the machinations of the Devil speaking against her, day and night, and her knowing that her Lord goes before her as the sword of his word.

The Lord has chosen the Bride, the New Jerusalem above, for himself, and the Bride rests assured of His protection with His name fire-branded in her heart, having been plucked from being thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Zec 3:1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 
Zec 3:2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 
Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

SOS continued…

Son 3:9 King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.
Son 3:10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple…

A chariot is a conveyance, a covering, even a cloud (Psa 104:3). Solomon’s chariot is not a war chariot; it appears to be a carriage of extravagant majesty and elegance with an open cabin with silver pillars upholding a covering of purple, somewhat reminiscent of the majesty of the much larger British Royal family’s ceremonial horse-drawn carriage. Although Solomon’s carriage is made of wood, like the wood in the Temple of God, it is overlaid with silver and gold and a priestly cloth of purple, all no doubt in the detail of tasteful cunning workmanship.

It is inconceivable that a gold and silver chariot would be used for anything other than to highlight kingship. As was common for the time, a conveyance (chariot) for royalty was carried on the shoulders of valiant men representing the nation over which the king or queen ruled. The Ark of the Covenant was carried in like manner, and since Solomon represented Christ, it was fitting for his ‘chariot’ to be conveyed likewise. There is no evidence that Solomon’s ceremonial chariot was horse-drawn, denoting our more powerful trust in the world’s wisdom and works of the flesh (Rev 9:16).

The altar, the Ark of the Covenant, with the cherubim’s wings stretching over the Ark as a covering (H4817), is described as a “chariot”. Solomon symbolised the Lord behind a veil of purple, riding not only on the chariot but under the covering, also identified as a chariot. The entire chariot was a symbol of the Ark, that is, Christ, behind the temple veil ruling the nation of Israel.

1Ch 15:15  And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD. 

1Ch 28:18 And for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubims, that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

Son 3:10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering^[H4817] of it of purple…

Covering H4817
– Original: מרכּב
– Transliteration: merkab
– Phonetic: mer-kawb’
– Definition: 
chariot, place to ride, riding seat
chariot
seat (of a litter), saddle
– Origin: from H7392
– TWOT entry: 2163e
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine 
– Strong’s: From H7392; a chariot; also a seat (in a vehicle): – chariot covering saddle. 
Total KJV Occurrences: 3 
chariots, 1
 1Ki_4:26 
covering, 1
 Son_3:10
soever, 1
Lev_15:9

Solomon’s chariot’s silver pillars represent the Bride’s intense arousal and desire for her Lord’s word; he is the pillar, the Word, with its foundation of gold holding up the Temple, his Bride. Silver’s root meaning is H3701 and figures 287 times in scripture. 112 times it depicts money that the negative spirituality means our self-righteousness.

The clouds are the Elect of God upon whom Christ bears witness to humanity, and she is a covering veil (chariot) of the earth to her brothers and sisters yet to be saved; they cannot see the blue and purple of Christ above since they are the scarlet, the yet to be saved earth below. Almost every scripture mentioning those colours is in the order of blue, purple and scarlet from the top down ~ God (blue), his priestly Elect (purple thunder clouds stark white on top) and the earth, that is, mankind (scarlet), under the clouds in gloomy spiritual darkness.

Psa 104:3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: [covering] who walketh upon the wings of the wind: 

Silver primarily represents atonement and redemption through repentance as we become solid gold. Silver’s monetary representation is either our God-given righteousness or unrighteousness. Here are the Hebrew meanings of silver.

Silver – H3701
– Original: כּסף
– Transliteration: Keceph
– Phonetic: keh’-sef
– Definition:
silver, money
silver
as metal
as ornament
as colour
money, shekels, talents
– Origin: from H3700
– TWOT entry: 1015a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine 

– Strong’s: From H3700; silver (from its pale color); by implication money: – money price silver (-ling). 
Total KJV Occurrences: 403

The origin for Silver is H3700, and like the Shulamite for her Lord, she yearns or longs for him as the Elect does for Christ is effectively spiritually ‘greedy’ (hungry) for his word.

– Original: כּסף
– Transliteration: Kacaph
– Phonetic: kaw-saf’
– Definition: 
to long for, yearn for, long after 
(Qal) to long for
(Niphal)
to long for (deeply) 
being longed for (participle)
– Origin: a primitive root
– TWOT entry: 1015
– Part(s) of speech: Verb par
– Strong’s: A primitive root; to shear: – X only poll. Compare H3765.

– Strong’s: A primitive root; properly to become pale that is (by implication) to pine after; also to fear: – [have] desire be greedy long sore.
Total KJV Occurrences: 6 
desire, 1
Job_14:15
desired, 1
Zep_2:1
greedy, 1
Psa_17:12
longedst, 2
Gen_31:30(2) 
longeth, 1
Psa_84:2

Solomon’s chariot’s floor and lower structure (“the bottom thereof of gold”) were made of gold, and it seems that the four pillars of silver supported a roof, and since there weren’t glass windows, it all was an open cabin for his seat. The entire image was breathtakingly beautiful in a fiery bright splendour of royal colours “being paved [H7528] with love” in fact, a bright fiery love mingled with exceptional beauty as H7529 denotes.

Paved H7528
Original: רצף
– Transliteration: Ratsaph
– Phonetic: raw-tsaf’
– Definition: 
to fit together, fit out, pattern
(Qal) to be fitted out, design
– Origin: a denominative from H7529
– TWOT entry: 2210
– Part(s) of speech: Verb

– Strong’s: A denominative from H7529; to tessellate [meaning inlayed] that is embroider (as if with bright stones): – pave.
Total KJV Occurrences: 1 
paved, 1
Son_3:10

The chariot’s cabin was fitted out with love for the daughters of Jerusalem, and the H7529 defines that fitting out as:

H7529
– Original: רצף
– Transliteration: Retseph
– Phonetic: reh’-tsef
– Definition: 
hot stone, glowing stone or coal, flame, firebolt, spark 
– Origin: for H7565
– TWOT entry: 2223a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine 

– Strong’s: For H7565; a red hot stone (for baking): – coal. 
Total KJV Occurrences: 1 
coals, 1
1Ki_19:6

The subsequent derivative is H8313 and means to burn, to be burned, burnt up.

Solomon’s chariot was a spectacular image of royal grandeur, with its ornate fiery brilliance reminiscent of the fearful imagery of Elijah’s fiery chariot. Elisha, having been handed Elijah’s mantle, witnessed the powerful, and no doubt terrifying, vision of a fiery tornado carrying Elijah’s chariot into the heavens (2Ki 2:11). The breathtaking fiery and colourful beauty of Solomon’s chariot represents the Bride’s ardour for her Lord’s word as does Elijah’s chariot of fire, God’s word, exacting obedience on Israel.

Jer 23:29 Is not my word [his love] like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 

Heb 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 
Heb 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Son 3:10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved [H7528] with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

Paved – H7528 means to fit together, fit out, pattern, design, and its denominative is H7529 and respectively H7565 means, 1. hot stone, glowing stone or coal, flame, firebolt, spark.

The Strong’s derivative is H8313
– Original: שׂרף
– Transliteration: Saraph
– Phonetic: saw-raf’
– Definition:
to burn
(Qal) to burn
(Niphal) to be burned
(Piel) burner, burning (participle)
(Pual) to be burnt up, be burned 
– Origin: a primitive root
– TWOT entry: 2292
– Part(s) of speech: Verb 
– Strong’s: A primitive root; to be (causatively set) on fire: – (cause to make a) burn ([-ing] up) kindle X utterly. 
Total KJV Occurrences: 117

As such, the daughters of the New Jerusalem above, the Bride, burn with a fiery passion that is love for her Lord’s word. She is dressed in the fine white linen of the Saints and is “paved” in white, like a sapphire stone’s clarity of brilliant hues of blue (azure sky blue). If we accidentally see the sun reflected up close in a mirror, we see a brief, blinding flash of very pale sapphire blue; such is the brightness of the Bride’s white linen clothing.

Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The Bride of Christ is the Seraphims in Isaiah 6. The Seraphims are the Christs who are given to place the burning coals of the Lord’s word on another’s lips and he has his spiritual mind purified by its fire. Coals of fire are the Lord’s word that only the Angels, the Saints who have overcome the evil one, can handle.

Isa 6:1  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 
Isa 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims: [H8314] each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 
Isa 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 
Isa 6:4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 
Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 
Isa 6:6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 
Isa 6:7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 

See IWWB for a detailed understanding of the Seraphims https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?s=seraphims

Notice that the Hebrew for Seraphims is closely associated with coals of fire and its translation and phonetics.

Seraphim – H8314 and, as seen above, its derivative H3313
– Original: שׂרף
– Transliteration: Saraph
– Phonetic: saw-rawf’
– Definition:
1. serpent, fiery serpent
a. poisonous serpent (fiery from burning effect of poison)
2. seraph, seraphim
a. majestic beings with 6 wings, human hands or voices in attendance upon God
– Origin: from H8313
– TWOT entry: 2292a,2292b
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine

– Strong’s: From H8313; burning that is (figuratively) poisonous (serpent); specifically a saraph or symbolical creature (from their copper color): – fiery (serpent) seraph.
Total KJV Occurrences: 7
• fiery, 2
Num_21:6; Deu_8:15
• seraphims, 2
Isa_6:2; Isa_6:6
• serpent, 3
Num_21:8; Isa_14:29; Isa_30:6

The Bride has learned to be comfortable walking in the coals of fire for many years and has had the wood of her chariot burned up. She has had the coals of fire touch her lips and was thunderstruck by the understanding and stirred-up love she is given at her Lord’s pleasure. Only gold and silver are left, emphasising gold and the colourful purity of the heavenly Jerusalem descending from above; she is immensely aroused in desire for her Lord, and nothing will turn her away. It is a major part of why she frequently says,

Son 2:7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

The Lord confirmed the Covenant through Moses and the seventy elders of Israel; they saw the Lord just as the Bride would look.

Exo 24:9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 
Exo 24:10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved [H3840] work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

Paved H 3840 – tile, pavement, brick from H3875
– Original: לבן
– Transliteration: Laban
– Phonetic: law-ban’
– Definition:
to be white
(Hiphil)
to make white, become white, purify 
to show whiteness, grow white 
(Hithpael) to become white, be purified (ethical)
(Qal) to make bricks
– Origin: a primitive root
– TWOT entry: 1074b,1074h
– Part(s) of speech: Verb 
– Strong’s: A primitive root; to be (or become) white; also (as denominative from H3843) to make bricks: – make brick be (made make) white (-r).

Rev 4:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 

Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Solomon’s chariot was effectively the Lord’s throne coming in its fiery and colourful grandeur, signified as Christ coming to his Bride, the collective daughters of the heavenly Jerusalem, the Temple of God. In its midst is His heart, the Ark of her Lord paved with love in the purity of His word, fire branded on His heart and in hers (1Jn 4:7-21)

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

In the negative, that is a future positive for the other daughters of the earthy Jerusalem of the entire world; the chariot is paved with eternal life for God’s love of the world ~ (John 3:16).

Son 3:11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

King Solomon wasn’t crowned by Bathsheba, effectively denying the headship of God by women ruling over men.

1Ki 1:34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon. 
1Ki 1:35 Then ye shall come up after him, that he [Solomon] may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. 

However, at the Lord’s hand, Bathsheba was alerted by Nathan, the prophet, to Adonijah’s machinations to wrest the Kingdom from Solomon upon David’s death (1Kings 1 and 2). In effect, she was highly instrumental in crowning Solomon on the day of his “espousals” The term espousals being plural, prophesied his many subsequent wives.

Jer 2:2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. 
Jer 2:3 Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

Christ is the head of the Body, the Woman of His espousals, to bring forth the heavenly Jerusalem above represented by the Shulamite.

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.

Solomon, who represents Christ, is the watchman over the walls of the Shulamite, the New Jerusalem, the second, final and espoused witness. Like Boaz with Ruth, Solomon (Christ) had “no rest” for his espousal obligations until what was righteously ordained was consummated (Ruth 3:1-18).

Isa 62:5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
Isa 62:6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [Shulamite] which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, 
Isa 62:7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

Indeed, the Shulamite did not rest day or night with her most staunch and passionate arousal and desire for her Lord. As we know, she represents the Bride of Christ, the Elect of God, who have increasingly glowed brightly like Solomon’s chariot, the Ark of her Lord in which she rides with Him.

So the plural of Him being glad in the day of his “espousals” refers to the aggregation of the Bride, her every joint and member of her Body, though she being one Body. It is her Lord, her God, “and in the day of the gladness of His heart,” She anticipates her espousal.

In the next study, Christ admires His Bride; he is effectively admiring her right this moment, today.

Exo 26:19-37  Instructions About the Construction of the Tabernacle, Part 2

[Study Aired October 31, 2022]

Exo 26:19  And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. 
Exo 26:20  And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards: 
Exo 26:21  And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 
Exo 26:22  And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards. 
Exo 26:23  And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. 
Exo 26:24  And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. 
Exo 26:25  And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 
Exo 26:26  And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 
Exo 26:27  And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward. 
Exo 26:28  And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end. 
Exo 26:29  And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold.
Exo 26:30  And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount. 
Exo 26:31  And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: 
Exo 26:32  And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. 
Exo 26:33  And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. 
Exo 26:34  And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.
Exo 26:35  And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.
Exo 26:36  And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. 
Exo 26:37  And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them. 

This second part of Exodus chapter 26 continues with instructions given to Moses regarding the building of the tabernacle. Today’s study continues with the instructions about the boards to be used for the construction and other items such as bars, the four pillars and the veil. The tabernacle was constructed with boards made of acacia wood. Apart from the fact that acacia wood grows wild in the desert, it is considered incorruptible. It is very dense and resistant both to disease and insects, just like cedar. Each of the boards is required to stand upright, not lying down and must have two tenons. A tenon is an end of a piece of wood that is cut into a special shape to fit into a hole on another piece of wood to make a strong joint. Twenty boards were to be fixed in the southern part of the tabernacle. The Boards of shittim wood represent the elect whom the Lord is using to build His temple. The fact that the boards must stand upright is to remind us of standing in the presence of the Lord.

Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 

We are the two candlesticks and the two olive trees that are standing before the presence of the Lord, just as the boards are standing before the Lord. Each of the boards must have two tenons for support. As indicated, a tenon must be shaped to fit into another wood to make a strong joint. As boards, we are being shaped to fit the standard of Christ. This is being done through the judgment of our old man in this life. The result of the judgment process we are going through is to form a strong joint with Christ for the building of His temple.

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 
Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

In Exodus 26:18, twenty boards were to be used for the southern side of the tabernacle. The number twenty, on a positive note, refers to those who are mature enough to wage war. This means that the twenty boards on the southern side signify the fact that those whom the Lord is using to build His temple are those who are mature enough to wage war with the flesh to overcome it.

Num 1:20  And the children of Reuben, Israel’s eldest son, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;

Num 1:24  Of the children of Gad, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;

Today’s study focuses mainly on the sockets of the board which give firm stability to the upright boards.

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

As indicated, each of the boards must be supported by two tenons. A tenon must be shaped to fit into another wood which in this case is the socket to hold the boards firm. Since there were twenty boards for the southern side, there must be forty sockets which were made of silver. The northern side also had twenty boards which were also supported by forty sockets of silver. The forty sockets on each side of the tabernacle – the south and the north sides show us that trials (the significance of the number forty) form an integral part of becoming part of the temple that the Lord is building. 

Psa 95:9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
Psa 95:10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 
Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

On the west side, there were sixteen sockets supporting eight boards. Thus, in total, there were 100 sockets for the boards. Apart from supporting the boards, it is the sockets on which stood the pillars that support the veil.  These sockets therefore represent the foundation of the tabernacle. What this means is that the hundred sockets of silver symbolize the atonement and the redemptive work of Christ on our behalf. The strength of the whole structure depended on this foundation which rested on the silver of atonement. Fellowship with God can only be based on redemption.

1Ki 20:39  And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver.

Jesus Christ therefore has laid the foundation for our temple to be built. 

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 
1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Silver also signifies the doctrine of Christ as shown in the following verse:

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, 

Joe 3:5  Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: 

As we are aware, Christ is the word of God. This means that the materials we need for the foundation of the Lord’s temple within us is Christ’s work of atonement and redemption, and His words. 

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Exo 26:23  And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.
Exo 26:24  And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. 
Exo 26:25  And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

At the two corners at the rear, the setup was different. Two boards were made for each corner, thus a total of four boards. The corner boards, however, were to be coupled together by a ring at the top and at the bottom. The two corner boards, plus six boards, totaling eight boards were to be at the west end. The Bible does not describe in detail how the corner boards were made. The joining of the boards at the corner provided the needed stability to the rear of the tabernacle. It is through our coming together as one that we become witnesses of Christ (the meaning of the number two) and therefore become established in Christ. What brings us together is the spirit of the Lord, which in this case refers to the ring at the top and the bottom used to couple the corner boards together.

Act 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 

Act 5:32  And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

The coupling of the two boards at each corner results in eight boards being at the rear of the tabernacle. As we are aware, the number eight signifies a new beginning. In the process of becoming a habitation of the Lord, we are turned into new creatures before God – the old things are gone!!

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Exo 26:26  And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 
Exo 26:27  And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward. 
Exo 26:28  And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end. 
Exo 26:29  And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold.

Along with the boards and the sockets, the LORD commanded that bars be made. They were needed to reinforce the frame of the tabernacle walls. The Israelites were to make bars of acacia wood. The bars mentioned here, were probably crossbars that supported the sides of the tabernacle. As we have indicated in previous studies, the bars being made of acacia, which were found growing wild in the Sinai desert and the Jordan River valley, means that they were not planted and taken care of by man. In other words, it is not the work of man. If we are to become a habitation for the Lord, then we need to know that from the beginning to our maturity it is all the work of God – not man. Even our sins are all part of the work of God. All we do to become like Christ is to believe in Him.

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

There were to be fifteen bars in all. Ten bars were to be used for the boards on each side; five on the north side and five on the south side. Another five bars were to be used on the back (west) side of the tabernacle. The middle bar in the center of the boards shall pass through from end to end. This might mean that the middle bar was longer than the rest. It apparently passed through a hole drilled in the boards, whereas the other bars passed through rings.  

Overlaying the bars with gold means that to become like Christ, we must be refined just like gold refined in the fire. This is the judgment of our old man which brings us to learn righteousness. That is what will qualify us to be crowned with gold just as our Lord Jesus Christ overcame and is wearing a crown of gold. 

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

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

Exo 26:30  And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount. 

In the process of becoming a habitation for the Lord to dwell, we are to fashion our lives according to the pattern the Lord Jesus has shown us with His life here on earth. 

1Jn 4:17  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

Let’s look at the few examples of how the Lord was made a habitation in which God can dwell. Our Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience by the things He suffered. We are also to learn obedience through the judgment of our old man.

Heb 5:7  In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 
Heb 5:8  Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 
Heb 5:10  being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. 

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

Jesus Christ was motivated by the reward ahead of Him. Therefore, He despised the shame He was to go through in this life and rather focused on the reward He was to receive.

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

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 
Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

We are also to focus on the reward. If we are not excited about what lies ahead of us in terms of our glorification, then we have lost the driving force which will bring us to our expected end. This is what Paul has to say about this:

Php 3:15  Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. (ESV)

Our Lord laid down His life for His sheep – the church. We must also lay down our lives for His church. We do this through what every joint supplies. What we need to note is that this supply is possible only through the assembling together of the saints. 

Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 
Joh 10:12  But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 
Joh 10:13  The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 
Joh 10:14  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
Joh 10:15  As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 

Php 2:19  But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state (the state of the church).
Php 2:20  For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state [the church].
Php 2:21  For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.

Jesus pressed on toward the mark of His higher calling by God. Without dying on the cross, Jesus did not consider Himself as having already attained even though He had not sinned while in this life. We are also to follow His example, just as Paul did, if we are to become the dwelling place of God. 

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 
Php 3:16  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

Exo 26:31  And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: 

The word “vail” in the Hebrew language means “to separate.” The veil was at the gate of the entrance into the tabernacle just before the bronze altar. We are the veil. What this means is that it is through us that all the people of the world, including Babylon, will have access to the Lord. 

Rom 11:29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 
Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

The veil acted as a barrier between the Lord and the world. The fact that Cherubims must be woven on the veil was to remind us that just as the Cherubims served as a barrier to Adam and Eve from accessing the tree of life, which is Christ, as the veil, we are playing the same role as the Cherubims in preserving the things of God from the world in this age. 

Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The veil must be of fine linen and colored blue, purple and scarlet. The color red or scarlet, symbolizes the first Adam being of the earth, while the color blue symbolizes the last Adam – Jesus Christ coming to be in our heavens. The colors purple and scarlet reminds us of our sojourn in Babylon where our adamic nature became obvious while living under the law as shown in the following verses:

Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 
Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

What this means is that the process of becoming a veil, through whom salvation will come to the world, starts with us recognizing our spiritual poverty (purple and scarlet linen) while in Babylon before we are turned into blue linen, that is, Christ coming to us. All humanity must pass through the same process to become a habitation for the Lord to dwell.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Exo 26:32  And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver.

The four pillars upon which the veil must be hung represent the whole of the elect in every generation. The fact that the pillars were made of shittim wood and were overlaid with gold means that to become the dwelling place of God is the Lord’s work as He takes us through fiery trials to learn righteousness.

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.

Exo 26:33  And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.
Exo 26:34  And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

There were three veils within the tabernacle. The first one is at the entrance to the tabernacle. The second one is hung at the door to the Holy place and therefore separates the outer courts from the Holy place. The third veil divided the inside of the tabernacle into two rooms: the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. It is in the Holy of Holies that we have the ark of testimony which represents the Lord. As we have indicated, the veil (curtain) represents the elect. It is through us that the whole of humanity can come to the presence of the Lord.

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.

Exo 26:35  And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.
Exo 26:36  And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. 
Exo 26:37  And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them. 

At the Holy Place, there was the table with the shewbread and the candlestick placed at the north and south sides respectively. We have already talked about the color of the hanging being blue, purple and scarlet. What is insightful here in these verses is that there must be five pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold for the hanging of the veil at the entrance to the tent. As indicated, the pillars represent the elect. The number five signifies that to enter into the presence of the Lord is by faith through grace.  What is insightful about verse 37 is that the five sockets for the pillars were made of brass. All the other sockets were made of silver signifying the redemptive work of Christ. However, it is through the brass sockets that we get access to the tabernacle. These brass sockets represent the elect. It should be noted that when the Lord appeared to Apostle John to unveil Himself to him, His feet were like fine brass. This is to show us that Christ does everything through His saints who are still in bodies of corruptible flesh and blood.

Rev 1:15  And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 

Rev 2:18  And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; 

May the Lord continue to prepare us to be counted worthy recipients of the glory to be revealed. Amen!!!