Shame ~ How do we Cope with its Increase in the Latter Days

[Study Aired May 22, 2022]

Luk 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

I no doubt speak for everyone on the strange irony that our flesh earnestly desires to be adored by everyone, approved by the world’s unwitting unrighteous mammon. The hidden spirit of that desire is that when we are approved of men, we are equally yoked with their ideologies and thus incompatible with Christ. You will love one and hate the other.

Deu 22:10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.

For this example, it means not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers.

Of course, almost all of God’s word to unbelievers sounds like hate speech. It will be used against us, hopefully soon, to facilitate the destruction of man’s government pictured by the smashing and grinding to powder of Nebuchadnezzar’s image.

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 

Psa 40:13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. 
Psa 40:14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. 
Psa 40:15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. 

Rom 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 
Rom 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Rom 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 
Rom 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Pro 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee. 

Mat 5:39 but I—I say to you, not to resist the evil, but whoever shall slap thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other; 

Heb 10:30 for we have known Him who is saying, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will recompense, saith the Lord;’ and again, ‘The Lord shall judge His people;’

One of the most outstanding hallmarks of Christ’s Elect in the latter days is being hated for the truth of Christ; and standing firm and sometimes mute in the face of shaming accusers and expected humiliating allegations while counting it all joy.

Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Vengeance is Christ’s and, ultimately, his Christ’s. Vengeance will be ours to give our accusers the equivalent humiliation and shame in the love Christ has given us to drink ~ even a double portion. To them, a seeming hopelessness they shall surely drink!

Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they [those in the Great White Throne Judgement] refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

Rev 6:10 And they [Christ’s elect] cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Remaining mute at times, as Christ did before his prosecutors, or not planning what to rebuff them with pre-planned speech is recommended. Instead, waiting on the Lord for His words will be the best witness against them. We know that in the end times, and exponentially, our Lord will permit the Devil to ramp up his putrid allegations against the Christs. The mere mention that God calls His small group Christs is despicable and worthy of death by these cryptos (fifth columnists) Jews who don’t know they are old school Jews since they attempt to keep a contorted version of the Old Covenant ~ they are unwitting anti-Christs with a bit of scripture ringing in their ears, “salvation is of the Jews”.

When we must account for our Christ-given faith within, we speak wisely and openly by Christ’s power and conviction and not be afraid of the Jews within and within our very families.

Joh 7:13 Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.

Sometimes it is best to hold our peace and not say anything by not answering a fool according to his folly.

Pro 23:9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. 

Rom 3:17 And the way of peace have they not known: 

Rom 3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 
Rom 3:14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 
Rom 3:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:

They have no wit of how they shed blood since spiritually shedding blood is contorting God’s word and they only see it physically and are blind to what the Lord is doing within each of us ~ it is not their fault, for the Lord takes responsibility for blinding them.

Rom 3:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 
Rom 3:17 And the way of peace have they not known: 
Rom 3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Pro 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. 
Pro 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Mat 27:11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 
Mat 27:12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 
Mat 27:13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?

Our Babylonian brothers and sisters will increasingly accuse us of our many actual sins, mainly historically. As with Christ’s accusers, they were a host of witless trumped-up charges primarily based on their God-given self-righteousness.

Mat 27:14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.

Overwhelmingly, someone facing assured death will verbally fight his innocence to the last gasp; no wonder the governor marvelled greatly at Christ’s silence ~ as if Christ wanted to die, and he did! Likewise, and spiritually, as He is, so are we. We die for the truth and quietly die within from the snarling humiliations of our sometimes nearest and dearest husbands, wives, children, sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law who delight in our scandals and downfall.

Of course, the more spiritually despicable Jew is within us when we break the least of these commandments. The unwitting ‘Jews’ outwardly of our time are our Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters and sometimes former Babylonian Christians who have sided with the mixed multitude outside of the Camp of the Lord. They have returned to carousing a more vile “vomit” than they had in Christendom and take pleasure in being particularly repulsive in their verbal attacks. They mindlessly likewise blame us for doing the same to them.

Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 

We can’t help it that it sounds ostentatious, yet, they are not given to understand in this age.

The verses following are part of what happened after Jesus had healed the man crippled from birth at the sheep market pool called Bethesda.

Joh 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. 
Joh 5:15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 
Joh 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 
Joh 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Likewise, we can expect our Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters to verbally “kill” us through their God-given ignorance, precisely as the Jews in Christ’s time literally killed him by their God-given ignorance because He rightly claimed to be equal with God as we are with Christ.

Joh 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

1Co 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Heresies within the Body are the most damnable version of hate.

To our earthly adversary’s dismay, we commonly echo the apostle Timothy’s expression that we, and currently of all people, are the chief of sinners! ~ and our archrivals rarely see that decreasing condition mostly hidden within, and since they love to remember our sinful history of weeks and even decades ago.

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

And again:

Luk 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

We never wear our sin as a badge of honour. We wear with honour that we are given to eventually see and acknowledge our many sins as Christ removes them from the temple within.

Act 6:11 Then they suborned [meaning to gather to themselves like minds] men, which said, We have heard him [that is, Stephen] speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.

Just as Christ was accused of blasphemy, so was Stephen, who cried out to our Lord not to count the stoning his accusers were giving him to their account. We, too, request the same attitude since their sins are food for us.

Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. 
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, [and he] calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 
Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Those who speak evil of our actual sins and their trumped-up charges are feeding us and are witless for the blessing they are providing for our spiritual development!

2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 

Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Our accusers love to remember our sins, hold us up against no higher authority of morality and personal ideology than themselves, and firmly establish the Beast for us to remember from where we all have come.

It is at the Lord’s hand for me to hopefully show how we can face the inevitable increasing shame of our accusers.

There are numerous studies on our site on the shame of being naked, so it is not my intention to review the excellent work already done; instead, to hopefully, at the Lord’s hand, encourage us by His faith to be strong in the face of both justified shame and unjustified shame.

All scandal, whether bonafide or fabricated, is humiliating, and to the dismay of our adversaries, we eventually learn to be gladdened by any mortifying shame since the accompanying fire of His word brings forth only gold. We all are in an outstanding company of humbled men and women in God-designed ragged clothing that serves to hide our identity too late for our accuser’s immense humiliation ~ the gulf of Lazarus will be unbridgeable.

Often in scripture, the elder shall serve the younger.

Ecc 10:16 Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! 

Pro 31:15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

Indeed, “woe” unto all the earth when the Bride of Christ comes from behind; when the entire world sees that we, the weak of the world vagabonds, the chief of sinners, are given rulership. It will be an odious measure for the Gentile Christians and our immediate fleshly families and worldly associates to swallow. They knew our sins and delightedly held them against us in joyful humiliation. We deem the shame as food, even hidden manna, to their dismay.

Christ found us alone in our blood, salted us, and made us the apple of His eye without us having any “gift” that the world recognized as worthy for their spiritual or financial benefit.

We are hidden in the night before the dawning light of His truth and arise before dawn to feed the household of God.

Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

1Pe 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.  [A “busybody” takes the supervision of affairs pertaining to others and in no wise to himself, a meddler in other men’s affairs.] 
1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
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? 

Of course, as we once did, our accusers would never consider that they were particularly ungodly. The Beast proudly rules.

1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. 

We seek the Lord with all our heart when we are driven to our wits’ end by the Lord’s hand and frequently by evil seducers and family accusers.

Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 
Mat 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

Those foes are predominately within, yet more often can be our spiritual family and our physical family and closest friends; and ironically in an outward sense.

Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 

2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 

1Co 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 
1Co 4:10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. 

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. 
Ecc 9:3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Do we fret ahead of time to word our defense convincingly? How do we prepare for the inevitable humiliation and hatred?

The answer is that we don’t pre-plan our defense; since we are increasingly given to know Christ’s word, we are being prepared in this age with Christ’s confidence within.

Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 
Mat 10:18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 
Mat 10:19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 
Mat 10:20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

There are endless self-help videos and books on how to compose oneself in combating humiliation and shame, powerfully and eloquently putting down your opponents, and even grinding your adversaries into the ground “with pride”. We need not waste our time on their wisdom.

There are three categories of deceitful workers and abusers, and the most insidious can and will be within our ranks of the Tabernacle.

1. The Tabernacle ~ where only the priests handle the sacred things that is Christ.
2. Court ~ is where the Levites serve by handling the utensils and initial preparations of sacrifices. Today they are our Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters who unwittingly serve the Tabernacle.
3. Camp ~ this is the rest of Israel, and within is a subgroup of a mixed multitude of figurative Egyptians and different ethnic groups who came out of Egypt with Israel.

Increasingly so, and at Satan’s request, certain entities from all three groups will stir up painful shame and humiliation to test us by Satan’s God-given authority.

Currently, and over the past few years, and as always since Christ, there will arise false Christs and workers of magic arts. The tares are the hardest to identify and reside within the Tabernacle and consistently appear as angels of light until their leaven has risen. These soothsayers will cause many to be deceived ~ we are a little flock, so one or two heretics can easily seem like the many rising against the Body of Christ. Yet we know that the entire world will be against Christ and his Christs to varying intensity.

When these folk haul us up before their courts to be judged by their deceitful wisdom, they are the hardest to identify outwardly and yet the easiest to judge by the word of God. Nonetheless, emotionally their backstabbing is the most frustrating of the three categories since they allegedly knew the truth of Christ and now babble spiritual confusion since the whole stay of bread and water is taken away. As was Ahithophel to David, these people were our trusted friends.

2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 

1Co 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 

Mat 18:16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

The second group in the Court of Israel is frequently our carnal families, the very people who are nearest and dearest, apart from the Tabernacle. It is exasperating when they abuse, shame, and humiliate us since they do not know what they do, like Stephen the disciple stated in the above scriptures. By their shame, it is virtually impossible to communicate any sense with them since the word of God to them is illogical and hidden. From that standpoint of their God-given cluelessness, they argue against Christ like a clanging gong. It is best to be polite and largely mute with these folk after one or two witnesses against their shame as they await their immense humiliation at having no husband.

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

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.

The third and final group is the Camp of Israel. These folks are the remaining entirety of humanity and the mammon of the world in which all three groups rub shoulders.

Speaking of Christ’s Christs… 

Joh 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, [of mammon] I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, [mammon] even as I am not of the world.

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 
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. 
Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 
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. 
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 
Rev 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 
Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 

As has happened and is decreasingly happening to us ~

Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 
Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Our accusers will, at a future date, drink double the portion of the very same cup that we have been made to drink and say, as Saul who became Paul said:

Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. 

Of course, the ultimate coup de grace of reversed humiliation upon all those who haul us up before their jeering and prejudiced courts is:

Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, [the entire world and Christiandom] which say they are Jews, [and unwitting 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.

How humiliating! No wonder they will wish the rocks to fall upon them to hide from the face of Christ’s Christs!

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 

For a little while, we endure our vile body with its waning affections of the flesh.

Php 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 
Php 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Even though our words stink in the nostrils of our adversaries, the most incredulously disarming method for our accusers and most liberating experience for us is to be vulnerable and admit our sins one unto another. Our Lord will bless us to cast aside their haughty looks and snide remarks as we fearlessly become convinced that the Kingdom is ours.

Of course, every scripture is ours, especially inwardly.

Job 19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.

Jas 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 

Eze 2:6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 
Eze 2:7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. 

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

Jer 1:7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 
Jer 1:8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. 
Jer 1:9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. 
Jer 1:10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. 

Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

We pray that the Lord blesses us to go from glory to glory in utter commitment to Christ’s commandments.

Amen.

Video Links

Job 9:13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
Job 9:14 How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?
Job 9:15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
Job 9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
Job 9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
Job 9:18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
Job 9:19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
Job 9:20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Job 9:21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.
Job 9:22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
Job 9:23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
Job 9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

Introduction

Let us not forget that Job is the Old Testament type and shadow of those “in Christ” who have been granted “the patience of Job”. In the book of Revelation those who are granted “the patience of Job” are said to have “the patience and faith of the saints”.

Jas 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

According to James, Job is our “example of suffering of affliction”, and all of Job’s suffering and affliction prove “that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy”. So what was the source of Job’s suffering? What does Job himself tell us was the source of his sufferings?

Job 9:13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
Job 9:14 How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?

We saw in our last study that Job recognized that the man who contends with God will have the mountains within himself ‘overturned… in His (God’s) anger’.

Job 9:2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
Job 9:3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
Job 9:4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
Job 9:5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.

Job 14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

Job 16:9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

Does God really “hate” Job? Should we hate our “old man” or “first man Adam” within us? What do the scriptures teach?

Psa 139:19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
Psa 139:20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
Psa 139:21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
Psa 139:22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

What we need to understand is that God’s ‘hatred’ is scripturally defined as ‘loving less’ those who are our ‘enemies’, even as this applies to our “old man… the first man Adam”. Notice how “the sum” of God’s Word reveals this to us.

Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Now here is how the holy spirit inspired Luke to make this same statement:

Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

We are here to “hate… [our] own life” and yet we are told”:

Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

The Lord’s church is, at this time, “in earthen vessels”.

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.

So our “hatred” for “our own life” means that we love our life less than we love God and obey Him. We are ‘the Lord’s church’, and while our “flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God”, even in these “earthen vessels” He “nourishes and cherishes” us.

Who is Job referring to as “mine enemy [who] sharpens His eyes upon me?”

Job 19:11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

As surely as our Lord created Satan to be His adversary, He also created “the first man, Adam”, the first Job in all of us, to be “of [his and our] father the devil”.

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Job “believed in” God, but God’s ‘word had no place in Job’. Job believed himself to be righteous; certainly more righteous than to have to endure God’s wrath being poured out upon himself.

Elihu, who is speaking for God, tells Job and us this about Job and about us:

Job 35:14 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.
Job 35:15 But now, because it is not so [you do not “trust in Him”], he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:

Like Job, we will go through God’s “goodness and His wonderful works to the children of men” (Psa 107:21, 31), through His wrath and His anger against our “old man” be brought to “trust… in Him.”

Psa 107:21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Psa 107:23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
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!

Neither Job nor we are able at first, to “sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing”, much less “praise the Lord for His goodness, and His wonderful works to the children of men”. At first we identify with “the first man Adam”, and we see God only as having made us His enemy, and we see that He has set out to destroy us, and we do not want our “old man… the first Adam” to be destroyed.

Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?

We actually think our first man Adam, because he does “believe on” Christ, is a son of Abraham and therefore worthy of being saved. But this is what God has decreed from “before the world began”:

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Flesh was “corruption” while still “in the Potter’s hand” (Jer 18:4), and was designed with what we today call ‘built in obsolescence’. Corruption is the natural and necessary state of all flesh. From the moment God places His ‘breath of life’ within all flesh, “the days ordained for” us begin to be counted down. But while we are in the strength of our flesh, that is the last thought on our minds, and all we can see is just how good and how glorious and how righteous we are having overcome so many weaknesses of our flesh.

Job 9:15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
Job 9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.

Job actually thinks he is righteous of himself, and he (and we) thinks He has no right to treat us as He does.

“If… He had answered me; yet would I not believe that He had listened to my voice”. What utter presumptuousness on our part and on Job’s part! Job does not trust God, and we now know that “without faith it is impossible to please [God]” and yet Job, the Old Testament type of each of us, comes right out and admits that if God did answer him he would not believe that God had heard his prayer”. So Elihu was simply taking Job at his own word when he told Job that He did not trust God.

Job 35:14 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.
Job 35:15 But now, because it is not so [ because you do not “trust in Him”], he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:

What Job is telling God, in effect, is that he simply doesn’t like God’s ways of dealing with His creatures. Why is this so? Here is why Job hates God’s ways:

Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Here is the essential part of God’s ways which our flesh refuses to accept as being needed and essential to our salvation. Here is what our flesh considers to be our suffering at the hands of God “without cause”. This is “enmity against God”:

Job 9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

“Without cause”??? That is how little we know of the mind of God at this point in our walk. God “seeks an occasion against our flesh”, and He provides Himself with that “cause”. Our condemnation of Him with statements such at these are the ‘occasion’ and the ’cause’ He is seeking to destroy our old man. We dare not condemn our own Creator, and yet that is exactly what we do. We simply cannot see any love in His dealings with us when is bringing us “to our wits’ end”.

God provides His own ‘occasion’ against His adversary. That includes Job and you and me. This “tempest” with which God is ‘breaking’ Job is the “stormy wind” which King David calls “the wonderful works of God”. The scriptures call Job’s trial “His goodness and… His wonderful works to the children of men”.

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 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Why is it necessary to raise this “tempest and multiply our wounds… [and bring us to our] wits’ end”? It is necessary to reveal to us what is within our flesh. This trial is essential to show us that we are contending with, reproving, and condemning our own Creator.

Is it true that God does this “without cause”? Of course, that is not true. Christ tells us that ‘the kingdom of God is within us’ (Luk 17:20-21). But He also reveals that His inward kingdom is first full of uncircumcised spiritual Philistines who are bearing rule in His kingdom and who must be destroyed from His kingdom which is within us. So He tells us that He is “seeking an occasion against” those Philistines who are ruling in His kingdom.

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.

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

There it is. Many hundreds of years after Job, Samson’s parents were not aware that it is God who is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”. “They knew not that it was of the Lord…” So Job, of course, knows nothing of being subject to the spiritual Philistines of his own self-righteousness, as well as the self-righteousness of his miserable comforters. “Though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make my supplication to my judge.” Neither Job nor us are “righteous” as he and we suppose ourselves to be. We may not “deserve” what God does to us, simply because even our own sins, including our sin of self-righteousness, is all of Him, and none of this is of us (Rom 7:17-21). But our trials are nevertheless, exactly what we need. We need our trials in order to have our “old man… the man of sin… revealed” and then destroyed.

2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Our “old man” must be destroyed for the very same reason we need our trials. That reason is that we are “marred in the Potter’s hands” (Jer 18:4). The reason we are marred in the Potter’s hands and we must be revealed as “that man of sin”, is that “all things are of God”, and none of it is of us (Eph 1:11).

Neither Job nor his friends, who are both types of us at this stage of our spiritual journey, know anything of any of this. We know God is sovereign, yet we have no idea what that means.

1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

The adversary has to convince our carnal mind that it is not loving to destroy our fleshly, old… man of sin. When we do that, we are believing what he is commissioned to have us believe. When we refuse to believe that it is in God’s love that He will destroy our flesh through His wrath, then we have succumbed to the lies of the adversary. No one can enter the temple of God until the seven plagues of the seven angels is fulfilled. That is the patience and the faith of the saints (Rev 13:5-10 and Rev 14:9-12), and that is the goodness of God and His wonderful works to the children of men:

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

But it is all part of the revelation of Jesus Christ. It was God Himself who created us “marred” in His own hands. So it is ever so true:

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

We were “made to err”, and God Himself has “hardened our heart from [His] fear… even for this same purpose”, that our “first man, Adam… Esau” might be destroyed and that a “new man… the last Adam… Jacob” might be birthed within us. Another way of saying all of this is that Esau within us is being destroyed through the wrath of God, and Jacob is being birthed within us, as we “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4).

Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

If “it is not of him that wills”, who then is it “of”?

Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It is “all… of God”. “It is God which worketh” even our will and our doing “of His good pleasure”!

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

Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

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

We and Job know this to be true, and yet we reprove, contend with and condemn our Creator for His ways which we hate:

Job 9:18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
Job 9:19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?

Verse 19 is so true. God is stronger than all the nations of this world.

Isa 40:15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

Here is what God said to His own people concerning their strength as compared to His:

Eze 22:13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.
Eze 22:14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
Eze 22:15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

But Job knows fully well that he still has his breath, and He is ill advised by his own bitterness to condemn His Creator, who is showing Job and all of us just what is in our flesh.

Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Along with Job, we simply cannot see the Truth that is those verses in Rom 7, until we “hear behind us” those words. They are heard “behind us” for the very reason that we have this all “behind us” when we are finally granted, as was Job, to see that we have been contending with, reproving and condemning our Creator every time we question Him and His way of working with His Creatures.

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

“The Lord’s day” is our day of judgment, and it is only when God’s judgments are in the earth that we learn righteousness.

Zep 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.

We are all first proud and unrighteous before “the day of the Lord’s anger” comes to judge us and to humble us.

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil [ including “the day of the Lord”] Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

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.

As Job, we know nothing of the fact that “in me… is no good thing”. Job believes that he is righteous of himself:

Job 32:1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

Job claims that he trusts God even as he contends with and reproves God for God’s ways with His creatures, while maintaining his (Job’s) own ways before God. Both ways cannot be right, and God will not be condemned by His own creatures:

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

The capacity we are given to contradict ourselves and be blinded to that fact is beyond understanding or explanation, other than to know that we are all by nature born blind, and are not even aware of that Truth.

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

So Paul continues condemning himself.

Job 9:20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Job 9:21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

Job is truly “filled with confusion”. He knows that if he contends with God and justifies himself he will at the same time condemn himself. “My own mouth shall condemn me… it will prove me perverse”. Still he is just getting started doing just that. His condemnation of God is clarified in these verses:

Job 9:22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
Job 9:23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

There is no such thing as an ‘innocent’ human being. The fact that we are “made to err” or that God has “made the wicked for the day of evil” does not change the fact that God has made us to be the sinning machines which we are by design:

Psa 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Pro 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

There is no human who has ever lived who was not “proud in heart” by nature. That is especially true of the self-righteous Job part of our evil experience which we are given to humble us, and we will not go unpunished by God’s wrath against that ‘proud… man of sin’ within us:

Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
Jer 25:29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

“Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished”. In other words, there is no safety in numbers when it comes to disobeying God. While there is no such thing as “the innocent”, there is such a thing as ‘the just’ man in Christ:

Psa 7:9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.

Job does not know Christ, yet he sees himself as “the just upright man”.

Job 12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.

The fact is that there is no righteousness apart from Christ.

Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

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.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

But Christ had not yet come, and Job’s entire experience “happened to him and was written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come”.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

We do not “stand” before God. Only “in Christ” do we have any standing before God.

Job 9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

It is true that God rules “over all the kingdoms of the heathen”.

2Ch 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

But Job’s quip at the end of this verse, “If not, where, and who is He?” is overflowing with Job’s and with our disapproval of God’s ways in dealing with us, His creatures. That is the very reason we need the reproof and the trials we receive at the hand of our Lord and our “Potter” (Jer 18:4). We are all first this first Job and “the first man Adam” before we are made “of the same lump… the last Adam”:

Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

That “quickening spirit” is given us now in “earnest” even while we are still in these “earthen vessels”.

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

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.

In time, Job will be granted to know his own lack of spiritual integrity. But at this time He is condemning God for ‘covering the faces of the judges of this earth, and giving this earth into the hand of the wicked’.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will continue with ourselves, in Job, castigating our Lord for His failure to acknowledge that we have ‘washed ourselves with snow water and are never so clean’. Here are next week’s verses:

Job 9:25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.
Job 9:26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.
Job 9:27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself:
Job 9:28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
Job 9:29 If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?
Job 9:30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
Job 9:31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
Job 9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
Job 9:33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
Job 9:34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:
Job 9:35 Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.