Worship – Part 2, The God-Given Act of  Listening Internally to His Spirit

[Study Aired September 30, 2023]

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life – Gen 3:17 

Today’s second part study on “Worship”, meaning devoted reverence, focuses on one of the most formidable acts of worship through which only the holy spirit can inspire. it results from being in the spirit today, the Lord’s day, for any biblical revelatory understanding. It is the act of diligently “listening.”

Here is Job, the Beast, who is you and I, sitting on the throne of God, spiritually stating that we are God! He’s telling God to diligently listen to him ~ our audacity is breathtaking!

Job 13:2  What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. 

Job 13:17  Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears. 

The world’s spiritualism uses the modern term “mindfulness” to denote a genuinely outstanding tool that ingeniously works for spouses to deeply experience the ‘sound’ that each other’s bodies and minds speak for deeply intimate Shulamite-like espousals. Our Lord uses that modern term “mindfulness” by His terms of “harken/hearken; hear/heareth” condensed to “LISTEN.”

Eve didn’t honour and reverence (worship) Adam as she did not hearken to him or their Lord (Eph 5:22-33, 1Pe 3:1-7). Ironically, their subsequent guilt certainly caused them to suddenly “hear” the Lord walking in the Garden! It’s not so different from Saul, who became Paul, to abruptly “hear” the Lord in crystal clarity following his terror of blindness (Act 9:3-6).

By not listening to our Lord in spirit and truth, we automatically have an idol of the heart since our dogma is the only remaining ideological means to attain some semblance of an enjoyable life. It is the damning process of Eden’s curse on us in Babylon, ruling Christ whom we claim as our husband. In Babylon, we love lies, the opposite of worshiping Christ in spirit and truth.

Rev 22:12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 
Rev 22:13  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. 
Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 
Rev 22:15  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Rev 22:16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Rev 22:17  And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy [by making a lie], God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Rev 22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 
Rev 22:21  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

I would be the precise personage of a Babylonian wife if I avoided spiritual intimacy with my Husband; if I didn’t up front and unashamedly state that the Elect’s center of worship is around Christ. He is our husband, and from this point in this study, we are working backward from whence we have come to identifying worship.

The God entity in Genesis 1 undertook the first act of biblically “listening”, responding to the yet higher personage of the Godhead we came to know as the Father. That “God” in the creation sequence in Genesis 1 was Elohim, the Word, who was created as the Son of God and became Christ, the Bride’s Husband.

It wasn’t until Genesis 1:26 that we realised two individuals of the Godhead conspired creation. To collaborate on the creation plan, these two luminaries must communicate, and the subordinate to the authority of the supreme Godhead entity had to listen and enthusiastically respond to His authoritative superior, just as an earthly righteous wife without a lying heart like snares and nets and hands like bands brightly interacts with her husband. Such a husband is oh, so glad to die for his wife without a hint of bitterness (Ecc 7:26).

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Christ, in responding to his disciples about the Pharisees’ narky opportunity to condemn him for working on the Sabbath, says:

Joh 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

‘Seeing’ inspires communication that involves attentive ‘listening.’

Joh 5:26  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life within Himself, 
Joh 5:27  and has given Him [Elohim who became Christ] authority to execute judgment also, because [and in sequence…] He is [became] the Son of Man.
Joh 5:28  Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves shall hear His voice,
Joh 5:29  and shall come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have practiced evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

The Son of God communicated with his Father before He, the Son, brought into existence the heavens and Earth. Their interaction before that event involved speaking and attentive listening to detail, particularly by the Son.

Much later in the continuing process of the creation and recreation of man, the Son attentively listened to the exacting details for recreating His Bride, who, in order of creation, goes on to recreate through her husband the rest of mankind.

Our Lord sternly commanded Moses to create the Tabernacle, the Ark and all its utensils in the exact proportions God had told him on Mt Sinai. To do that, Moses had to pay particular attention to the details by listening, as shown in all of Exodus 25–30, which is interspersed with:

Exo 25:40  And see [be diligent] that you make them after their pattern, which was shown you in the mountain. (Heb 8:5)

Col 2:17  For these are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.

The Lord gave Adam and Eve, Moses and the Israelites the ability to meticulously listen to all He said, yet, to their immense frustration, they were incapable of walking with equal diligence in what was commanded because of their flesh. Their spirit of the flesh, infused by Satan in the Garden, always caused them to question the Lord, as do all earthly wives (and husbands comprising worldly churches) sceptically question rulership over their very questionable husbands.

Adam and Eve’s God-given inability to meticulously listen to the Lord set the path of all humanity to fail miserably in worshiping him by having the missing ingredient, the holy spirit that quickens, enliven their understanding to diligently do the will of God! (Joh 6:63, Mar 3:35, Mat 12:50, 1Jn 2:17).

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
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 [because without the spirit good is impossible to sustain].

Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying [in harmony with listening], Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 
Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 
Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 

The most profound levels to mindfully “listen” are allegorical for ALL of our senses. It is attained by relaxing from the anxiety of the noisome, beastly world’s chaos and deeply “listening” to every nuance of our Lord, through our Husband’s very body, the church. In that case, His word comes alive within our body (hopefully the Bride) and spirit with euphoric trembling elation. Such a beautiful response on His Bride’s face amplifies His ravishing for her and, in unity, her for Him. It is the impetus for the Shulamite’s electrifying epiphany: [“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. (Son 1:2)] and is “Worship.”

It wasn’t possible for Adam, without spiritual foresight or hindsight, to see the incredible depth of meaning to all the Lord said, including the magnitude of the subsequently prophetic curses for mankind.

The Shulamite, who directly symbolises the Bride of Christ, vigorously retained her ‘blackness’ of being understood by her sisters in Babylon through her poetic song, the Song of Solomon. Every word of her song of songs is spiritual foreplay, denoting its hidden spiritual interaction. It all is about profound spiritual “LISTENING” to every detail of her Lord by her interplay ~ in fact, the entire Bible!We ‘listen’ to every arousing sense our Lord has imbued us. We ‘listen’ to Touch, Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste now experienced by His spirit, discerning the spirit of the matter in truth!

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard [nor any of our physical senses], neither have entered into the heart of man [another act of hearing], the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit: for the spirit searcheth [1. to search, examine into. H2046 – 1. to utter, speak, say – Origin: probably a fuller form of G4483, an alternate for G2036 meaning, 1. to pour forth, to utter. 1. to speak, say]   all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

The act of the spirit speaking to us is in lockstep with us listening and profoundly understanding by hearing what the spirit says on all occasions, as stated to the “Seven Churches of Asia” (Rev 1:4-18). That understanding is why Adam, Eve and everyone up until the death of Christ couldn’t, with immense frustration, “do the will of God.” They were utterly incapable of worshiping in spirit and in truth.

Following is how we worshiped another Jesus while lounging around in Babylon. These verses epitomise physically the only way we knew how to ‘listen’ and thus understand His word.

To Your Name Give Glory:

Psa 115:1  Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory [worship!], for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. 
Psa 115:2  Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?
Psa 115:3  But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased [For this study’s purpose, hidden his word from all but His Bride who alone can ‘hear’]. 
Psa 115:4  Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
Psa 115:5  They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 
Psa 115:6  They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 
Psa 115:7  They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 
Psa 115:8  They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

By our Lord’s hand, I hope with less stammering lips to show how the Bride worships the Father in Spirit and truth through our Lord’s detailed interaction with His Wife’s body and thus make the Bible, the Lord’s handbook of foreplay, come alive.

In last week’s Introduction to this study on Worship, we saw that “worship” must be accomplished in spirit and truth and is outwardly represented by giving reverence by outwardly bowing down. The spiritual act reflects the ‘natural’ and is potently (inclusive of the entire Bible!) seen in the following verse regarding the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

Luk 18:9  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 
Luk 18:10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 
Luk 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 
Luk 18:12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 
Luk 18:13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 

One of the most animated acts of spiritual worship is seen by the publican, who unconsciously began spiritually to stand afar from Babylon while in Babylon. Upon looking back on his life, his horror from instant understanding shook him to the depths of his growing spiritual awareness. His stark realisation of his sins caused him to not give a thought to ‘bowing’; he was “standing”, transfixed in dread and, no doubt later, dichotic joy for his realisation of his condition. Appalled and humiliated, he unwittingly fiercely worshiped upward in spirit and truth! The horror of his endemically sinful flesh made him worship where he stood. Regardless of physically bowing, he profoundly and spiritually bowed before his Lord and Saviour. His prayers were heard and moved the Lord!

Those thrown alive into the Lake of Fire will involuntarily collapse in dread as dead men, a figurative forced bowing of fearfully induced worship before the terrible vision of their imminent future. Those very same people resurrected to spiritual life will dynamically bow and worship the Christ in and through His Christs (plural) with quivering fear. The Lord’s very own in this age right now, both physically and spiritually, fall on their faces in the worship of God as a precursory event to all mankind (Ecc 9:3).

Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; [effectively a forced bowing in worshipful fear] 
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. 

The Bible is nominally 98% “unsearchable”, governed by our former Babylonian riches in believing that we were already saved while figuratively remaining stuck at Sinai ingloriously dancing nude with our brethren around a ‘different Jesus’ (2Co 11:4, Exo 32:19-25, Isa 20:2-4, Isa 47:3). 

How often in this age have we heard our former fellow dancers in Babylon say that nobody can understand the Bible! Of course, nobody can except the Elect, dragged from the ‘chosen’ and given to clothe their nakedness with the spirit of truth, an act of worship. 

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [Greek: G1670, Phonetic: hel-koo’-o; helkuō, ‘drag’. You, me or anyone else cannot come to the Father, except the Father which hath sent Christ draw (helkuō: ‘drag’ him against his will] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Of course, the Lord’s Elect are ‘dragged’ out of Babylon and thus raised up on this day, in this age representing the literal last day of their age before the holy First Resurrection. They are right now, being clothed in His righteousness.

Luk 8:10  And he said, Unto you [the ‘dragged’ ones] it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others [Our naked brothers and sisters delightedly enriched in Babylon] in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable^[G419] are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 

Notice that the KJV placed an exclamation mark at the end of that verse to amplify the impossibility for anyone other than His Elect to find out the unsearchable sum total of our Lord’s word.

We know that the Lord’s Elect, alone as his Bride, is given to know the ‘unfathomableness of his riches’ that defies their brothers in Babylon.

Unsearchable G419
Phonetic: an-ex-er-yoo’-nay-tos
– Definition: 

1. that cannot be searched out

Assumed derivative of G1830

ex-er-yoo-nah’-o

– Definition: 

1. to search out, search anxiously and diligently. To search after, thoroughly investigate (first used to tell of a dog sniffing out something with his nose). The prophets searched to find out the time of messiah’s appearance.

From G2045 – 1. to search, examine into.

Searching anxiously with diligence is the mindful act of listening to the inner heart and soul by our Lord’s spirit. Its startling revelation is grasping the “unsearchable” word of God.

What is Listening Mindfully?

Listening mindfully is intrinsically worshiping in spirit and in truth. It all is one and the same. Worshiping in the spirit is the God-given deciphering and understanding of our Lord’s word through His impregnating spirit that causes us to drop spiritually and often physically to our knees in awestruck ‘worship.’ That truthful spirit of understanding is for the Elect alone, having been given His mind to search out the ‘unsearchable’ with arousing excitement dramatically increasing on the individual’s “Lord’s day.”

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

We are fully conversant with John’s account of his particular “Lord’s day” and his suddenly electrified growing spiritual understanding of our Lord’s word. (Please see all of Revelation 1:9-20 to review that narration.)

The God-given spiritual ability to finally begin to understand scripture results in the pursuit of enthusiastically deep and diligent attention to detail condensed to the contemporary term “mindfulness” and, to his Wife, the act of mindful “listening”. Mindfully listening is the spiritual alpha and omega understanding of a thing, only achievable through the Lord’s Spirit. His spirit gives us a growing intensity of enlightenment for God’s hidden, unsearchable things. That state of being is the beginning of ‘receiving ‘the end of our faith in the salvation of our souls’ (1Pe 1:9).

“Unsearchable”, as seen in G419 above, has the same meaning as “searched diligently” G1830 below in 1 Peter 1:10.

1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 
1Pe 1:7  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: 
1Pe 1:8  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:
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently^[G1930], who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you [The Elect, today]: 
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels [the Elect and chosen rejected] desire^{[G1937] to look into.}

Desire G1937 – from G2372 meaning: 1. passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again 2. glow, ardour, the wine of passion, inflaming wine (which either drives the drinker [of His spirit!] mad or kills him by its strength).

As seen in the Song of Solomon study and “A Mystery Hidden from the Ages and Generations: How Not to Be Bitter against One’s Wife; How Not to Make a Husband Bitter”, a wife, meaning a church, can “desire” espousal intimacies all she likes, but her desire for inflaming reality will largely remain dull (weak – Gen 29:17) or at best, lukewarm until she is aroused in spirit and truth by her Lord’s kisses.

The hour has come since Christ, where God’s “unsearchable” things are revealed as highly searchable alone for the Bride.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 
Joh 4:24  God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

Upon an Elect babe in Christ given the Lord’s spirit of understanding by listening to the heart of his mother (the Church), and her reverence of her husband, he eagerly drinks in the milk of the word as the Shulamite’s baby brother did (Son 8:1). Let’s continue studying how to listen mindfully in detail to Christ’s words and in unity worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, and be electrifyingly aroused as was the Shulamite. Spiritually listening, hearing and understanding her poetic speech is the consummative understanding of our re-creation; its grand finalé. 

Listening mindfully is a God-given spiritual devotion to the “still small voice” of detail of our Lord’s word, understood and worshipfully expressed from our heart in response to His words, which are  His “kisses.” 

Upon fleeing from Jezebel to Mt. Horeb, Elijah understood the Lord’s word, not through the frightening physical expressions that tend to overshadow the nuances of what is said, but rather by very attentive listening, an organised spiritual inspection of one’s thoughts by the Lord’s spirit connecting his spirit within. 

1Ki 19:11  And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 
1Ki 19:12  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
1Ki 19:13  And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 
1Ki 19:14  And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 

The fullness of those understandings is the major part of what makes the Bride’s burden seductively light.

Mat 11:28  Come to Me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Mat 11:29  Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. 
Mat 11:30  For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

That kind of mindful detail inflamed the Shulamite to insatiably know more and famously expressed in her opening line in the Song of Solomon: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love [His word] is better than wine” (Son 1:2). Spiritual listening, as with sexually listening to the nuances of one’s spouse’s mind and body, shouldn’t be obsessed with rushing to a consummative goal. Most potently to experience every exquisite detail of each other’s body, it spiritually reflects luxuriating in every jot and title of the Lord’s word, learning and experiencing new nuggets of intimate delight. It is Shulamite-expressed spiritual foreplay. It’s a leisurely journey, stopping to see, breathe, feel the texture and mindfully sense each other’s every delight in harmony with His word. It all is reverential worship.

Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 
Mat 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The Lord blesses his Bride to righteously decipher in detail every jot and tittle of His word by His spirit. She diligently searches her body for every imperfection that doesn’t mirror her study of her Lord’s body.

Son 6:11  I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.

Son 7:12  Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
Son 7:13  The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, [the word…] new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

Why should the Shulamite fiercely protect every detail of her Lord’s body, His word? Because she is espoused to her Lord, whose word is for her alone. She uses that intricate, detailed understanding felt as a deep spiritual presence in the centre of her body with her breasts and heart beneath, every woman’s first port of call of heartfelt emotion directly connected to her mind. Her spiritually devoted listening, in perfect harmony with her Lord’s arousing word, is what ravishes Him to guard her most jealously. It is the mutual worship in unity of spirit and truth.

Pro 5:19  Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

The wording, The song of songs, which is Solomon’s (Son 1:1), with far-away eyes, can be read as a sentence: a matter of not seeing the forest for the trees. However, the Shulamite and the Bride’s eyes chew the cud while mindful of its individual flavours, textures, and pH neutrality, coming alive with alkalinity contrasting with the mini bursts of acidity of the ‘food.’ “The song of songs, which is Solomon’s” IS the Bride’s thunderstruck epiphany for the “unsearchable” detailed understanding of the Bible. Without meticulously looking into (1Pe 1:12) scriptures in spirit and truth, they remain “unsearchable” or, at best, lukewarmly searchable. Both forms of searching, regardless of understanding, are “worship.” The Shulamite richly sings the unsearchable wisdom of the Song of Solomon that Solomon and his 1,000 wives cannot understand. His wives, representing our former state while with our Christian Babylonian brothers and sisters, sing a discordant song of fools since they can’t equate chastisement with love.

Ecc 7:5  It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. 

Col 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in  psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace [Tit 2:12. i.e. chastening – paideuō] in your hearts to the Lord. 
Col 3:17  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks [worshipping for his chastising grace] to God and the Father by him. 

God’s unsearchable riches and wisdom come alive through His spirit alone through deep and lingering Mary-like listening (Luke 10:38-42 – the account of Martha and Mary at Jesus’ feet). The depth of our understanding of scripture is dramatically amplified by lingering on the minute details of every word to obtain its flavour, texture, alkalinity, acidity, light and darkness, and positive and negative reflections! This is the act of being deeply spiritually aware of details; it is the act of glorifying, that is, “worshiping” by spiritually detailed inspection, the act of listening to our Lord’s body and He, the harmony of his Wife’s most delightedly arousing response! It is a profoundly spiritual foreplay of the Lord’s Spirit in us, unifying with His spirit, resulting in body-trembling worshipful understanding.

In keeping with the studies “The Song of Solomon” and “A Mystery Hidden from the Ages and Generations: How Not to Be Bitter against One’s Wife & How Not to Make a Husband Bitter”, in fact, all of the IWWB studies, that act of worship between a husband and wife is for Babylon, spiritually “unsearchable.” Gentile Christianity ‘touches’ Christ’s very Body and, in doing so, blasphemes His name by claiming His name while adulterously worshiping another Jesus. They and those associated with them outside the Camp of Israel are forbidden to look upon (Num 4:20), yet have “touched” the Jesus and must die at the end of the One-Thousand Year reign. Only the Bride of Christ, His Wife, can intimately “touch” her husband’s Body, mutually inducing righteous “drops of the night” in spiritually deeply connected understanding (Son 5:2). With the physical pointing to their spiritual counterparts, and with Shulamite poetic preparatory arousal, those “drops” result from His Bride’s listening to her Lord’s every arousing nuance of His body. From the misty night of trembling excitation, they form as dew upon our locks and dawn with daylight clarity and climactic spiritual understanding. Every millimeter of the Bride’s body is a sensory organ tuned by Christ to “listening” and understanding. Just as drops of water instantly merge upon them touching, so do the Shulamites and her Lord’s “drops of the night” instantly merge in ‘knowing’ each other in His unity of truth (Gen 4:1). 

By not worshiping in spirit and truth, our former Babylonian nature has no whit to understand the still many unexpressed sophistications of the Song of Solomon, indeed the complete Bible, without blunt expression.

Mar 4:11  And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: 
Mar 4:12  That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. 

2Sa 6:6  And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God [Christ], and took hold [touched] of it; for the oxen shook it.
2Sa 6:7  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

Num 4:20  But they [the Levites] shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

Many Eastern cultures assuredly know how to maximise the worship of physical marital intimacy, yet tragically it is mixed with their heathen esoteric mysticism. With wonderful potency, their marriages connect with physical erotic mindfulness, often to our Christian Babylonian brothers’ and sisters’ shame. Yet, at least they, our close kin, preach Jesus, even if they worship “another Jesus” (Php 1:12-17, Luk 9:49-50). Either way, they are forms of worship.

While reflecting upon the connections of songs, psalms and hymns, another beautiful example of finding the nuances of the spirit in our hearts is being in the zone of listening to a heavenly orchestra. It is not a place to chat, eat popcorn, or fidget with your phone. The audience must be deathly quiet to get the most out of the experience ~ to hear our Lord’s still, small voice (1Ki 19:11-13) behind us while worshiping in spirit and truth. One needs to be mindful of every sensory organ of his body with relaxed breathing, listening intently for every minute detail of instrumentation ~ it is Shulamite spiritual foreplay. Depending upon how mindful you are, it is, on many levels, deeply spiritually arousing ~ it is worship. 

The Bible is mostly about the Lord creating a breathtakingly beautiful spiritual wife for Himself from beginning to end. Just as the creation of the heavens ‘suddenly’ came into existence, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, the Song of Solomon graphically portrays the Bride’s sudden enlightenment (1Th 5:3) and unrestrained (mindful – detailed) pursuit of her reason for existence. Her bright and elaborate enthusiasm for her Lord is overwhelmingly arousing for them both. Her Rachel-like devotion would make any husband howl with tears of joy, as did Jacob ~ and now, Christ. (Son 4:9  Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.)

Worship isn’t only a devotion to Christ and our Father; we even worship others ignominiously or reputably. The inevitable contention with our Lord is honouring others or an item “more than” our Husband without giving Him “all” our heart, soul and mind.

Mat 22:35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 
Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 
Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love [worship] the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind [mindfully!].
Mat 22:38  This is the [spiritually mindful] first and great commandment. 
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love [worship] thy neighbour as thyself. 
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Eph 5:28  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 
Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 
Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

True worship in spirit and truth is profoundly loving, that is, worshiping our Lord more than a wife, husband, children, or anything more than God.

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. 

Gen 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Of course, Jacob represents our heavenly Father, who loves Christ “more than” carnal humanity. The Son implicitly agreed with the Father’s plan to create a carnal form of themselves in mankind for them to torturously learn to become as they are in spirit. That process begins with the Son’s creation of Himself in His Bride, the Elect of God being the first fruits (plural) of Him, the first fruit.

Est 2:17  And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 
Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man [The Beast upon the throne of God], and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the [corruptible, as opposed to righteous] lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 

I pray we have no residing rebellion of listless harlotry by fooling around delaying buying oil for our lamps at this apparent late hour before hearing the pounding hooves of our Saviour’s horse coming for His Bride. With an irritated sigh, one such ‘madam’ thought could be, “Here we go; Grant is off infusing sex again with his studies…” To that possible notion, and in keeping with salvation, my response is, “Isn’t marriage an underpinning cornerstone of the Bible?” Marriage without enthusiastic [mindful] boudoir intimacies is a lukewarm and bitter marriage; didn’t Christ already experience that lamentable condition with His first wife? Look what happened to her! God forbid it happens to us! Yet, we fill up behind the very same, mostly inward afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24).

As the Lord wills, I look forward to more detailed inspection of our Lord’s body next weekend as He, in the meantime, inspects ours.

[Study Aired September 1, 2022]

2Ki 4:17  And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
2Ki 4:18  And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. 
2Ki 4:19  And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. 
2Ki 4:20  And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
2Ki 4:21  And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.
2Ki 4:22  And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. 
2Ki 4:23  And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.
2Ki 4:24  Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.
2Ki 4:25  So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: 
2Ki 4:26  Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. 
2Ki 4:27  And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
2Ki 4:28  Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? 
2Ki 4:29  Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child. 
2Ki 4:30  And the mother of the child said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her. 
2Ki 4:31  And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked. 
2Ki 4:32  And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. 
2Ki 4:33  He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD. 
2Ki 4:34  And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. 
2Ki 4:35  Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 
2Ki 4:36  And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. 
2Ki 4:37  Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out. 

In keeping with the theme of provision, we come to this section of the story where the “great woman” of 2Kings 4:8, who represents the church, gives birth to a son. The “great woman” can typify both the church of Jerusalem above and also of the church in the wilderness from where the manchild of Revelation 12:5 comes. 

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

The “great woman”, who starts in the wilderness and represents Babylon the great out of which we all come, can also represent the other later stage of that woman as a new creation (2Co 5:17), or new woman, who is represented by Jerusalem above, the mother of us all, and both women are represented in this one verse: “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (2Co 6:17) 

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. 

There is a lifelong process involved in being born again, and this story in Kings helps identify that process of which Christ declared, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The natural birth of a child is nine months, 3×3, which speaks to that process and the need to die daily so we can “see the kingdom of God” within as we endure all things through Christ (Php 4:13) Who makes a way for the called and chosen to remain faithful being brought to full term in the blessed and holy first resurrection (Mat 24:13).

2Ki 4:17  And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

The church is also typified by Mary, the mother of Jesus, and this great woman of  2 Kings 4:8 is an earlier type and shadow of Mary (Luk 1:30, Luk 12:32).

Luk 1:30  And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 

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

The favor that Mary had with God represents the blessing God’s election brings upon those who are called and chosen and faithful to the end of their physical lives having the Lord complete this work of faith within God’s workmanship (Eph 2:10) that will bring forth the manchild in a moment and a twinkling of an eye (1Co 15:52-53). Christ’s maturation in the womb of Mary is typical of that which is happening to the manchild who has been raised to Jerusalem above, the mother of us all (Gal 4:26).

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. 

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

“The woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life” reminds us in typical language that our “time of life” in God’s eyes is not when we are physically born, but rather when we are born again and able to see the kingdom of God within. That is when true life begins (Psa 139:16, Joh 3:3, Joh 6:54). 

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. [ASV] 

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

All our days are written in God’s book (Psa 139:16), and the life of those who have the mind of Christ can say, “And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.” Because of God’s love that is shed abroad in our hearts, it is possible for us to fulfill God’s purpose to which we have been called (Rom 8:28, Luk 13:32, 1Co 3:6, Rom 5:5). That thought of all things includes the good and the evil, the light and the dark (Isa 45:7) and the way in which God leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4) so we can grow in the mind of Christ and remain zealous in His service.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

Rom 5:5  and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us.

2Ki 4:18  And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. 

Christ had to mature to a certain stage according to the will of God and that stage was predestinated and prophesied of throughout God’s word (Heb 9:27-28, Heb 10:7), and is typified by this verse, “And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.” 

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 
Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. 

Heb 10:7  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

Going “out to his father to the reapers” is symbolic language that tells us Christ went where His father went to do the work or will of God that He was called to do in this life, a work which obediently led him to His death as the first of the kind of first fruits who was reaped of God. God could not have sown more abundantly and shown us more clearly how he would now give us all things freely through the sacrifice of Christ (Luk 2:49, Php 2:8, 2Co 9:6, Eph 3:20, Rom 5:10, Joh 3:16, Joh 5:17).

Joh 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

Luk 2:49  And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?

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. 

2Co 9:6  But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully [1Co 15:22].

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

2Ki 4:19  And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. 
2Ki 4:20  And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

Saying “my head, my head” is symbolic language that is repeated by Christ to His spiritual head and Father, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, (“my head, my head“) [1Co 11:3] why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mat 27:46)

It was the spiritually adolescent “a lad” who carried the son to his mother, and this is a shadow of our helping Christ bear His cross like Simon of Cyrene prior to conversion (Mat 27:32). 

Mat 27:32  And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

He is brought “to his mother” so she can behold his state, “Woman, behold thy son!” “And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died” (Joh 19:25-27). Again we learn of God’s provision in times of sorrow and death and agony, He never leaves us, and as a high priest who suffered under the most severe circumstances, He is able to comfort us in our times of need (Heb 4:15-16, Rom 5:10).

Joh 19:25  Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 
Joh 19:26  When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 
Joh 19:27  Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

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 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

“He sat on her knees till noon, and then died” is symbolic of how Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham, who is a type of Christ whose body is represented by this woman (Luk 16:23). We die daily until our last breath “and then died” as a result of bringing Christ to the church, as shown in this story where the son was brought to the mother. That good work God does through us is connected to the bosom of Christ where we rest as we labor to enter into that rest (Luk 6:38, Joh 13:23).

Luk 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Luk 6:38  Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Joh 13:23  Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.

Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

2Ki 4:21  And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.

Laying her dead son on “the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out” is symbolic of being buried into Christ’s death, Who now gives us the strength to be dead to sin and alive in him, as we rest in the Lord (Rom 6:3). 

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 

She “went up” to where Elisha’s room was, reminding us that this death and resurrection of the child typifies the passover that was also held in an upper room (Act 1:12-14). That symbolism of the passover is further confirmed with the words “and shut the door upon him, and went out” (Exo 12:22-23). She went out because she has not yet found this man of God who, when he does come, will be able to resurrect her son. That is her hope (Joh 11:32). 

Exo 12:22  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. 
Exo 12:23  For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

Joh 11:32  Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

2Ki 4:22  And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. 
2Ki 4:23  And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. 
2Ki 4:24  Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. 

Her calling unto her husband demonstrates her submission to her head, and regardless of what he says and does (Eph 5:22), God knows her heart and will make provision for her to take this journey today to find Elisha. She asks for “one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again“. Both request “one of the young men”^H5288 which means a young servant and “one of the asses”^H860 (Luk 21:19) which are both also symbols of how God blesses us to search for the Lord as we possess our souls patiently and with the heart of a servant (Php 2:6-7). These things are required and accompany those who are called in this age to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Tit 2:12-14) “that I may run to the man of God, and come again“, which is a statement that typifies this verse (Php 3:14).

H5288  na‛ar  nah’-ar the young men

From H5287; (concretely) a boy (as active), from the age of infancy to adolescence; by implication a servant; also (by interchange of sex), a girl (of similar latitude in age): – babe, boy, child, damsel [from the margin], lad, servant, young (man).

H860  ‘âthôn  aw-thone’ one of the asses

Probably from the same as H386 (in the sense of patience); a female ass (from its docility): – (she) ass.

Her flesh is also represented by her husband who does not have the same sense of urgency that she has to go find this man of God. His life represents one bound by the law, and so he asks “And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.” Shouldn’t you go and see him on a particular holy day in order to receive what you’re looking for? This was the question he was asking her, and what the world’s religions do to this very day, assigning new moons and sabbath and holidays, as being important in our relationship with God (Gal 4:10-11).

Her faith is increasing as demonstrated by the words that she uttered and works accomplished: “Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.” “Except I bid thee” is a significant phrase as she represents a Christian moving with fear and only going where the spirit leads (Rom 8:14) as she moves in haste as opposed to her husband whose actions are being regulated by days, months, times and years (Rom 8:14, Heb 11:7).

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

2Ki 4:25  So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: 
2Ki 4:26  Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

The servant Gehazi runs to the Shunammite woman telling us that when we cleave to Christ and resist the devil, or search for Him with all our hearts He will be found of us, and the devil will flee from us (Jas 4:7, Jer 29:13). God makes provision for those who seek Him diligently as she was granted for her diligent search (Heb 11:6). 

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

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

The spirit of God makes diligent search, which actions are symbolized by Elisha’s servant Gehazi, who is asked this of Elisha, “Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.” All of this struggle and seeking and using of her resources is for the purpose of bringing forth fruit in her life, as she seeks to save her son. The destination mount Carmel is symbolic of this desire within the woman, “So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel”^H3760. The “man of God saw her afar off” symbolizes the fact that nothing is hidden from God (Heb 4:13).

H3760  karmel  kar-mel’

The same as H3759; Karmel, the name of a hill and of a town in Palestine: – Carmel, fruitful (plentiful) field, (place).

Total KJV occurrences: 25

Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

2Ki 4:27  And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. 
2Ki 4:28  Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? 

This is the moment in her sojourn that typifies our coming “boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” when we are at our wits’ end and our souls are vexed (Heb 4:16). The implication is that there are forces that will try to impede us from doing this as Gehazi did in this instance with the woman (Rom 8:37-39), but if God is for us nothing will separate us from His love as demonstrated with these words, “And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.” 

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 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now the stage is set for her to cast all her care upon this man of God, which is what God causes us to do in our appointed time. “Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?” She needs faith now and sounds like one of the Israelites in the wilderness saying, “Why did you take us out here just to have us die in the wilderness?” In fact that is the present seemingly impossible situation she has been brought to (Exo 14:11, Jer 32:27, Mar 9:24).

Exo 14:11  And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 

Jer 32:27  Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? 

Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. 

2Ki 4:29  “Gehazi, get ready and go to her house,” Elisha said. “Take along my walking stick, and when you get there, lay it on the boy’s face. Don’t stop to talk to anyone, even if they try to talk to you.”
2Ki 4:30  But the boy’s mother said to Elisha, “I swear by the living LORD and by your own life that I won’t leave without you.” So Elisha got up and went with them. 
2Ki 4:31  Gehazi ran on ahead and laid Elisha’s walking stick on the boy’s face, but the boy didn’t move or make a sound. Gehazi ran back to Elisha and said, “The boy didn’t wake up.” [CEV]

The mother knows that Elisha has the power to do miracles, but she does not have the confidence to believe that Gehazi can do this miraculous act of healing without Elisha being present and instrumental in the healing. Gehazi’s role is somewhat like that of John the Baptist in this story where he is told this from Elisha, “Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.“

John came preaching the gospel and taking all the right outward actions as Gehazi did, but his baptism did not bring forth the spiritual fruit of life in Christ which will happen in type and shadow when Elisha steps in as a type of Christ who can bring healing and raise this young boy from death. The rod laying on the face of the dead child is a symbol of how God’s word set before us can bring healing and raise us up into heavenly places (Psa 23:4, Psa 107:20). 

Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. 

Elisha’s directive to Gehazi is what Christ requires of us and reminds us of the directive which Christ gave His disciples for them to tarry in Jerusalem until the holy spirit comes (Luk 24:49). These words speak to the singleness or simplicity (2Co 11:3) of mind God requires of us as we remain focused on what He has called us to do: “Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.“

Luk 24:49  And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

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.

2Ki 4:32  Elisha arrived at the woman’s house and went straight to his room, where he saw the boy’s body on his bed. 
2Ki 4:33  He walked in, shut the door, and prayed to the LORD. 
2Ki 4:34  Then he got on the bed and stretched out over the dead body, with his mouth on the boy’s mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hand on his hands. As he lay there, the boy’s body became warm. [CEV]

When we recognize death within ourselves, we shut the door and pray to the LORD (Mat 6:6). It is only through Christ that we can be healed of the wages of sin which is death (Rom 6:23), and we can no more be freed from sin than this dead child can live again unless the LORD intervenes as He does (Joh 8:36) and will in this physical instance through Elisha. How we are delivered from death is symbolized by the actions that Elisha takes to bring this child back to his mother.

Mat 6:6  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

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

Elisha brings life back to this lifeless child by stretching forth over him, and this symbolic act is also seen in Genesis where God’s spirit “moved upon the face of the waters” over the marred creation that was “without form^H8414, and void”^H922 and made that way to the glory of God (Joh 11:4) who would bring complete physical healing to His creation over a period of seven days, which seven days represent the process we must go through to go on to perfection (Gen 1:2-3).

Joh 11:4  When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 
Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

God’s spirit that moves upon us quickens us and brings life to us, but our mouth must be next to his mouth, speaking the same thing and breathing the same breath of life that comes from God which is His word. Our “eyes on his eyes” as we look to the Lord (Mic 7:7) whose eyes are like fire that pierce our souls and bring us to see who we are and our need to repent (Rev 2:18, Rom 2:4). The end result of this closeness to Elisha is resurrection, and so it is with the body of Christ. Our closeness to Christ is what will bring us to see Him one day “face to face” (1Co 13:12). Elisha’s hands on the child’s hands symbolizes that we recognize that Christ is the one who is doing the work within us as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Php 2:12-13). God’s provision comes to us through Christ is what we are learning in this parable of the child being healed and warmed by the flesh of Elisha. Otherwise we are just the dead burying the dead (Luk 9:60). We are Christ’s flesh and bones and warm each other up through our communion we have together in Christ (Eph 5:30, 1Co 10:16).

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;

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. 

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

2Ki 4:35  Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
2Ki 4:36  And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. 
2Ki 4:37  Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

This event of having her son given back to her alive and healed is typical of salvation that comes to God’s elect first as a kind of first fruits. Those saviors who come up on mount Zion will indeed eventually be seen for who we are face to face through a process of judgment, typified by Joseph who eventually saw his brothers who were brought into a typical judgment explained for us in Genesis (Gen 45:7).  The great white throne judgment, or the last great day as it is called (Joh 7:27), is when all humanity will be saved by this close relationship that will be forged through judgment that began at the house of God and ends in the lake of fire (1Pe 4:17). It is a time of great mercy and spiritual healing just as this time with the mother and child, and it will take time which is indicated by this statement, “Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up.“

Joh 7:27  Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. 

We experience judgment first which is akin to having Christ stretched out over our land where we learn of His righteousness first via the seven last plagues (Exo 6:6-7, Psa 136:6). 

Exo 6:6  Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
Exo 6:7  And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 

Psa 136:6  To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.

After a specific amount of time is required in the lake of fire, where the body of Christ has “stretched himself upon him” we will help exorcize all these evil spirits out of the entirety of mankind, typified by what Elisha had done to this child. The world will have sneezed seven times which is a symbol of bad spirits coming out of us as a result of the seven last plagues having been poured out upon them as they are upon the elect today (1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17). This exercise is what is required for all mankind to see with spiritual eyes symbolized by the words, “and the child opened his eyes” which happens after the seven sneezes (Rev 15:8). After those spirits are exorcized, the world will be able to “take up thy son” which represents receiving correct doctrine (Luk 11:28). 

Luk 11:26  Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
Luk 11:27  And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
Luk 11:28  But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it [Rev 1:3].

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.

There is an acknowledgment of what God has done through His bride symbolized by these words, “Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground” (Rev 3:9). Elisha throughout this story you will notice is giving direction to Gehazi, as Elisha represents Christ, and Gehazi represents our flesh that is against the spirit and must be brought into subjection by the commandments of the Lord typified by the direction that Elisha gives him throughout his walk. Gehazi is us, and his leprous condition will be revealed in later chapters that tells us how God sees all flesh (Act 2:17, Luk 3:6). 

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.

Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 
Act 2:18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

Luk 3:6  And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

[Study Aired March 27, 2020]

Jer 34:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,
Jer 34:2  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3  And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:
Jer 34:5  But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.
Jer 34:6  Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
Jer 34:7  When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.
Jer 34:8  This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
Jer 34:9  That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
Jer 34:10  Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.
Jer 34:11  But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

The first four verses of our study today tell us of the fate of our old man. His fate is to die as a blind man in Babylon being lamented by those who honor him.

Jer 34:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,
Jer 34:2  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3  And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

That is the fate our old man, and this is what happened to King Zedekiah:

Jer 39:2  And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.
Jer 39:3  And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
Jer 39:4  And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.
Jer 39:5  But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.
Jer 39:6  Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Jer 39:7  Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.
Jer 39:8  And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.

Look once more at what the Lord told Jeremiah to tell King Zedekiah of his fate:

Jer 34:2  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3  And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
Jer 34:4  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

“Thou shalt not die by the sword” is not a positive pronouncement of the Lord’s love and mercy. Whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges (Heb 12:6). Whom the Lord loves, as He loved King David, He tells him “the sword shall not depart from thy house”:

2Sa 12:10  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

King David in scripture, with all his faults, typifies our new man who is “a man after mine own heart” as the Lord speaks of King David.

Act 13:21  And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
Act 13:22  And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

King Saul and King Zedekiah both typify our old man who at first loves the Lord, but then loses that love, and typifying our own flesh, are not given to inherit the kingdom of God.

King Zedekiah would no doubt have preferred to have died by the sword before having to watch all his own sons, all the princes of Judah, and all his closest associates and friends, “all the nobles of Judah” be slain before his eyes, just before having his “eyes… put out” and carried away alive to Babylon. Everything Jeremiah prophesied came to pass, and more:

Jer 39:6  Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Jer 39:7  Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.

Let us compare all these words about the “king of Babylon… and all the kingdoms of the earth…” who are fighting against God’s unfaithful wife, Judah, and Jerusalem, with the spiritual application of these words in:

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.

Revelation 14 makes clear that even the Lord’s elect must endure the torment in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb:

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, [“all men” do (Rev 13:16)]
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond [“all” inclusive], to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

Remember how the Lord looks upon King Nebuchadnezzar:

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

As ‘the Lord’s servant’, Nebuchadnezzar’s judgment upon Zedekiah signifies the Lord’s judgment upon our own old man. It is we who [Isa 40:1-3 and Rev 14:9-12] “receive double” at the Lord’s hand for robbing Him of our worship, and it is our own old man whose “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, and it is he, our old man, who receives double at the Lord’s hand for all his iniquities and sins:

Exo 22:4  If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.

Isa 40:1  Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Isa 40:2  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.
Isa 40:3  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Mal 3:9  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

It is our judgment in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) which ‘prepares the way for the Lord’ to establish His “house”, His kingdom within us (1Pe 4:17). When we refuse His residence and His dominion over us, we are robbing Him of His rightful claim upon the throne of our hearts and minds because we are all “bought with a price”.

Gen 47:23  Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.
Gen 47:24  And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
Gen 47:25  And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
Gen 47:26  And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1Co 7:23  Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Compare the spirit of the seventh verse of Revelation 18 with these words which concern the Lord’s own people:

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:

Compared with:

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.

Those two verses are addressed to the same ‘whore’, and they give the Lord the occasion He is seeking to give us the same dire warning Jeremiah gives King Zedekiah:

Jer 38:17  Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:

Those are the same words the Lord uses in speaking with us via “the church of the Laodiceans”:

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.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten [in “this present time” (Rom 8:18 and 1Pe 4:17)]: be zealous therefore, and repent.

There are two points which must be seen and understood if we are to understand who “Babylon the great” is. The first point is the fact that “her fornication is with the kings of the “earth”, and it is “the earth” which “is waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies”. If we are granted the gift of comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1Co 2:13-14), then we will know that the ‘earth’ signifies spiritual “Judah and Jerusalem”, the Lord’s own unfaithful wife, as Jeremiah has already revealed:

Jer 22:2  And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

Speaking to the same people in this same 22^nd chapter of Jeremiah, Judah and Jerusalem are addressed as:

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

It is few indeed who understand that it is “the earth” which stands over against and in opposition to the heavens. The opposite of ‘heaven’ in scripture is not ‘hell’ as so many suppose. Rather the opposite of heaven is the earth. It is fewer still who are given to see and understand that “Judah and Jerusalem” are the great whore whose ‘fornication and delicacies have enriched “all nations… and the kings of the earth” (Rev 18:3).

This is the fate of our self-righteous, iniquitous, rebellious, adulterous old man who is robbing Christ of His throne which is in our hearts and our minds:

Jer 34:5  But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

Here is the New Testament spiritual fulfillment of these five verses which concern the fate of our rebellious, self-righteous old man:

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,

“The kings of the earth” lament the destruction of our old man, and they are quick to let it be known. But the Lord has devised means to bring about both our destruction and the lamenting of the demise of our old man by those who identify with him and were made rich by him, the king of Judah and Jerusalem, who is also “become a harlot” (Isa 1:21).

The natural man will say, “Revelation 18 is a prophecy of the great harlot, and it has nothing to do with Zedekiah, the king of Judah and Jerusalem.” Nothing is further from the truth! The King of Judah and Jerusalem is labeled by the Lord himself as this very harlot of Revelation 17-18, and that very title was given to “Judah and Jerusalem” by the prophet Isaiah 70 years prior to these prophecies of Jeremiah:

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

The Lord’s covenant with His people at Sinai was a marriage covenant, and these verses demonstrate that Judah and Jerusalem had not been a faithful wife. Lest anyone miss this point Isaiah goes on to place the label of ‘harlot’ squarely upon the “kings of Judah and Jerusalem”:

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.

Nothing changed between the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah except that ‘evil men and seducers waxed worse and worse’. The only change was that Jerusalem became even more of a harlot, and that is our story for many necessarily sinful years of iniquity while we all justify our self-righteous transgressions.

Jer 34:6  Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
Jer 34:7  When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.

Notice that the events of this chapter of Jeremiah transpire “When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem.”

This is the state of our own ecumenical Christian mind. In our appointed time, we all are fighting against ‘the Lord’s servant’ by denying that we are already in spiritual bondage to “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of this world” (Rev 17:4). We all, in our own time, deny the fact that the “time is at hand” that we must “read… hear and keep [all] the things which are written” in this prophecy of how Christ must come to be revealed within us. That confession must include the fact that we have been a harlot and not a faithful wife to our Lord.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that  hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

King Zedekiah typifies our self-righteous old man who ‘reproves, contends with, disannuls the Lord’s judgment, and condemns God to make himself righteous.’

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

The answer to the Lord’s question to Job is, “Yes we have done all those things to make ourselves righteous. We have done ‘many wonderful works’, and we did them in Christ’s name (Job 27 and 29).” We simply cannot see ourselves as an unfaithful whore, and yet it is of this very whore within us that the Lord speaks these words:

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity [self-righteousness (Eze 33:13)].

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.

Acknowledging our infidelity to our spiritual Husband is integral to our salvation. Christ Himself was “called… out of Egypt” and confessed that even His flesh was not ‘good’:

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

Jer 34:8  This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
Jer 34:9  That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
Jer 34:10  Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.

Our old man, signified by King Zedekiah, all his ‘good works’ notwithstanding, despises the word of the Lord by His certified prophet, Jeremiah. Yet he self-righteously “made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto [their Hebrew servants].” This was done “When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem” (Jer 34:7). Even if this were done to seek the Lord’s mercy while under siege, it was the right thing to do, and no doubt it was given Jeremiah’s approval. Indeed, the king of Egypt came up against Nebuchadnezzar and caused the Chaldeans to lift the siege for a short time, during which time the people went back on their word to their Hebrew servants.

Here is the New Testament fulfillment of this story of going back on their word to release their Hebrew slaves:

Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

Releasing our “Hebrew servant” from bondage to ourselves, typifies our willingness to receive and be obedient to the things the Lord tells us to do. Christ asks us:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

This story about King Zedekiah’s covenant with the people to release their Hebrew slaves right in the midst of the siege of Jerusalem signifies that the Lord’s chastening hand has begun its work in our lives when we “anon with joy” receive His word. However, when we realize how hard things are “because of the word”, when we don’t have the services of a Hebrew slave, that trial is more than we are willing to endure, so we go back on our own word and demand the services of our Hebrew slave. It is a ‘Hebrew servant’ because it is the word or Christ and not the doctrines of men. A Hebrew slave signifies our willingness to use the Lord’s own words to serve us instead of us being obedient to the Lord’s words. We begin to twist and wrest His words to mean what we want them to mean, and Christ goes on to tell us the result of doing that. It is the very same thing that happened to Jerusalem when they refused to be obedient to the Word of the Lord by Jeremiah. Here are the very next verses in Luke 6:

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. [(Psa 15:4) “sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not”]
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Psa 15:4  In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

When we release the bondage of our Hebrew slave, we are setting the Word of God free to show us how we are to obey Him. Setting our Hebrew servant free typifies being given the dominion over sin in our lives and being willing to bear the cross to achieve that liberty. We are now grateful to be given to “labor to enter into His rest” knowing that it is the Lord who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Php 2:12-13).

Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

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

Part of that “example of unbelief” (Heb 4:11) was the example of Judah and Jerusalem who agreed to release their Hebrew servants but when the trials came, “because of the word”, and from having to labor without their subjugation they were offended and went back on their covenant.

“These things happened to them, and they are written for our admonition” (1Co 10:11) and this is what our Hebrew slaves do to us when we abuse them:

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

The release of our ‘manservants and maidservants’ signifies spiritually our obedience to the Lord’s words which serve and nourish and minister to us. We are all given to release those doctrines to minister to us when we first come to the Lord. Then we are all also given to ‘lose our first love’ as we twist and wrest and force the Lord’s words to cover the idols of our hearts. The idols of our hearts always accommodate the flesh of our old man and require much less labor on our part.

Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil [at the first]: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars [at the first]:
Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted [all at the first part of our walk with the Lord].
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Jer 34:11  But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

When we bring our ‘servants and handmaids’ back into subjection to ourselves we are no longer being submissive to the Lord. Rather, we begin to wrap and wrest His words around the idols of our own self-righteous, iniquitous false doctrines to justify not letting them go free to serve the Lord. When our servants are free to serve the Lord, then we, too, are free from the bondage of all our false doctrines and self-righteous iniquities:

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,

The Lord’s gold and silver, His broidered garments, His oil and incense, His fine flour, oil, and honey, and His sons and daughters, are one and all symbols of His doctrines and His words which we bring into bondage to our own will and to our own false doctrines. We make His words into our doctrines, and in doing so we are placing ourselves under the bondage of sin in our lives, and yet sin’s dominion comes to an end at the appointed time in the life of “every man” (Rom 6:14, 1Co 3:13-16).

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. [God’s chastening grace (Tit 2:11-12 and Heb 12:6)]

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[Study Aired October 24, 2021]

Jer 22:1  Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
Jer 22:2  And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:
Jer 22:3  Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
Jer 22:4  For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
Jer 22:5  But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
Jer 22:6  For thus saith the LORD unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
Jer 22:7  And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
Jer 22:8  And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?
Jer 22:9  Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
Jer 22:10  Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
Jer 22:11  For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:
Jer 22:12  But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
Jer 22:13  Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
Jer 22:14  That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
Jer 22:15  Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
Jer 22:16  He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

These first two verses reveal to whom the Lord is addressing these words:

Jer 22:1  Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
Jer 22:2  And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

Keep in mind who and what the Lord, through the pen of Isaiah, means by the words “the king of Judah and thy people who enter in by these gates [of Jerusalem].” Jeremiah and Isaiah are sent by the Lord to the exact same people. Here is who and what the Lord means by the words, “the king of Judah and thy people who enter in by these gates.”

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isaiah was also sent to “Judah and Jerusalem” and to kings “Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah”, and this is who the Lord says the king of Judah and his people are:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

It is the Lord Himself who equates His own people as a murdering harlot. It is the Lord Himself who considers those who claim His name and reject His doctrine to be “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth”:

Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

It was the “great whore” of Revelation 17-18 who “murdered” our Lord. This “great whore”, this “harlot” is revealed to be those who think of themselves as the Lord’s own chosen people. This “harlot” is any and all men who claim to know God but refuse to be obedient to Him.

Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

That “sinful nation” includes each of us, while we are first a part of this great whore before we are dragged out of her:

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

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.

It is the Lord’s own people who have rebelled against Him and His ways. Jeremiah is also inspired to reveal that the Lord considers those who claim his name and hate his doctrine as “the harlot”:

Jer 3:6  The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

Jer 3:8  And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

Israel and Judah are not two different people. ‘Israel’ is just the early part of our apostasy, and ‘Judah’ signifies the latter part of our apostasy, leading to our being dragged out of Babylon and beginning to be judged in this present age. Far from avoiding the fiery judgments of God, His elect are simply the first to experience them:

Luk 12:49  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

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?

Our “fiery trials” are the Lord’s judgments which He is at this very moment pouring out on His own house because “He first loved us” and therefore we are the first to be judged and chastened.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

Those who comprise “the house of God” are all first in “Babylon… the mother of harlots” before they are dragged out of that great whore to “begin” the purging work of grace and judgment in their lives.

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.

When Peter speaks of “Judgment… first… beginning… at the house of God” he is referring to the pouring out of the seven last plagues of His wrath upon ‘the throne of the beast’ within each of us in “this present time”:

Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat [G2362: ‘thronos’, throne] of the beast;  and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

This is the fruit of the rebellious house of the carnal mind in each of the Lord’s elect. This is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the end this fruit produces death regardless of how much knowledge of good is in it. The Lord’s standards are so much higher than simply coming to know about good and evil. The knowledge of Christ is not dead knowledge. The knowledge of Christ is life and liberty:

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

The great harlot is spiritually murdering all her adherents. So, the Lord tells us the benefits of coming out of the house of this murderous harlot:

Jer 22:3  Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

Why is the Lord telling us to “Execute… judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place?” He is telling us to do these things because we do not just naturally execute judgment… or deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor. He is telling us that we just naturally do what is wrong and are just naturally violent to strangers, the fatherless and the widow, and we are just natural murderers in the eyes of a God whose standard of what constitutes murder is:

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

We all self-righteously deny that we are guilty of any of those sins. I tell myself that I have never once done violence to any stranger, fatherless or widow, and I certainly have never murdered anyone. However, by the Lord’s standards I am lying to myself and to God, but He sees right through that lie and, if I am His, He cannot deny Himself. What that means is that He must pour out the seven plagues of the seven angels upon the kingdom of my old man so I can enter His temple, become His bride (2Co 11:1: Rev 21:9) and become a part of the family of God (Eph 3:15):

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.

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:
2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

If we are “dead with Him” then we will believe Him. It is our flesh and our old man in that flesh who is capable of not believing Him. But Christ has overcome my flesh and will not “deny Himself” because He knows those who are His:

2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

If we “are His” then He has us bound to the altar with cords, and we are being sacrificed daily in His service, not of our will or our works but because “we are His workmanship”:

Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

No sacrifice binds itself to the horns of the altar. That would be “His workmanship”, the work of His chastening grace and not of our own works:

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 [our own] 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.

It requires a miracle of God to blind us to the Truth of those words, and we have all been blinded to those words in our own time.

Therefore, when we do the “good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them”, we are simply fulfilling our next verse:

Jer 22:4  For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

In words which are not intended to be understood by “the natural man”, the scriptures teach that the Lord spiritually has two wives. The first one is a harlot, and the last one is “a chaste virgin”. The scriptures are very clear on this matter, but the Lord has blinded the eyes and stopped the ears of our “first man Adam… until the time… appointed of the Father”:

Psa 105:19  Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.

It is the fiery words of God (Jer 5:14) which try us all, and those fiery words teach us that we are all spiritual infants, “carnal babes in Christ”, before we begin to be judged and mature into spiritual adulthood:

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child [G3516: ‘nepios’, an infant], 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 [G3516: ‘nepios’, infants], were in bondage under the elements [G4747: ‘stoichion’, elements, principles] of the world:
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son [G5207: ‘uihos’ adult 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 [G5206: ‘uihothesia’, an adult son].
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons [G5207: ‘uihos’, spiritual adults], God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son [G5207: ‘uihos’, adult] into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son [‘uihos’]; and if a son [‘uihos’], then an heir of God through Christ.

Only the spiritual adults can receive this same message in these words concerning Christ’s two wives. Here in this same fourth chapter, this process of passing from being spiritual infants to the beginning of spiritual adulthood is repeated in another form with these words:

Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid [spiritual infant, ‘nepios’], the other by a freewoman [spiritual adult, ‘uihos’].
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh [naturally]; but he of the freewoman was by promise [super-naturally].
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 

This is where the mind of the natural man “cannot receive the things of the spirit because they are foolishness unto him” (1Co 2:14). The only people at Mount Sinai were the physical descendants of Sarah, the physical ‘freewoman’. Yet the holy spirit equates the physical descendants of Sarah at Mount Sinai with the descendants of Hagar, the physical bondwoman:

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

The Lord has blinded the entire orthodox Christian world to the Truth of these words of Galatians 4:

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all [“all” who are in Christ].
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise [super natural birth].
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

We are all spiritual infants before we can become and grow into spiritual adulthood. It is in this ‘nepios’ infantile stage that we are simply incapable of seeing with our spiritual eyes and hearing with our spiritual ears these words:

Jer 22:5  But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
Jer 22:6  For thus saith the LORD unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
Jer 22:7  And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

“This house” is the ‘house’ and ‘kingdom’ of our old man.  In this chapter of Jeremiah, King Josiah typifies both the father of his evil sons and the father of our new man, just as Christ Himself is “the beginning… first man Adam… and the end… the last Adam”. Christ was “made of a woman, made under the law (Gal 4:4), and made sin (2Co 5:21). It was through His death to His physical flesh that He became the savior of all men of all time and the ‘Everlasting Father’ of our new man.

King Josiah was the best king Judah ever had, and yet, as a type of us (1Co 10:6), Judah is still judged and must suffer with “the whole creation… in this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Therefore, Lord’s elect are part of “this city” who must endure the humiliation of having denied their own Lord and Savior:

Jer 22:8  And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?
Jer 22:9  Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

It serves no good purpose to fail to acknowledge that each of us have denied our Lord and have been party to His crucifixion and death.

Jer 22:10  Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

This is just one more verse which confirms The Truth that the day we begin to die to our old man is much better than the day we were born into our old man:

Ecc 7:1  A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

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.

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

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

The remainder of this chapter is addressed to the sons of Josiah, Shallum and Jehoiakim, who typify our old man. Our Lord Himself had to accept the fact that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, and even He endured the pain of His heavenly Father’s rejection of His corruptible flesh.

This is an experience which is common to all men:

Psa 22:1  To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me,  and from the words of my roaring?

Isa 54:7  For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8  In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Mar 15:34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

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

Josiah’s sons typify how our own corruptible old man is indeed unworthy of being accepted by our Lord:

Jer 22:11  For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He [Shallum] shall not return thither any more:
Jer 22:12  But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
Jer 22:13  Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
Jer 22:14  That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

These verses are a perfect description of what we do when we fleece the Lord’s flock or participate in being fleeced. The one is as evil as the other, because the one supports the other. A house built by unrighteousness is a house built upon false, lying doctrines which are taught to the Lord’s flock by men who are “corrupting [and are] peddling the Word of God”:

Here is that message in the King James Version of the scriptures:

2Co 2:17  For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

Look at what Strong’s, Brown, Driver, and Briggs, and Thayer reveal is the meaning of the Greek word translated as ‘corrupt’ in the KJV:

G2585
καπηλεύω
kapēleuō
kap-ale-yoo’-o
From κάπηλος kapēlos (a huckster); to retail, that is, (by implication) to adulterate (figuratively): – corrupt.

– Transliteration: Kapeleuo
– Phonetic: kap-ale-yoo’-o
– Definition:

1. to be a retailer, to peddle
2. to make money by selling anything
3. to get sordid gain by dealing in anything, to do a thing for base gain
4. to trade in the word of God
5. to try to get base gain by teaching divine truth
6. to corrupt, to adulterate
7. peddlers were in the habit of adulterating their commodities for the sake of gain

– Origin: from kapelos (a huckster)

The CLV does a better job of giving us the sense of this word:

2Co 2:17 For we are not as the majority, who are peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God in Christ, are we speaking.

Christ instructs all who follow Him and tremble at His words:

Mat 10:7  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 10:8  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

It is a dead giveaway that there is no “stay of bread [nor any] stay of water” if so much as a penny is requested by those who claim to be preaching the kingdom of heaven. There is obviously little regard for these words of Christ and absolutely no one is “trembling at [His] Words” (Isa 66:2).

The holy spirit poses this question in contrast to the example of Josiah typifying Christ:

Jer 22:15  Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
Jer 22:16  He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

It is natural for us to be choked out of the kingdom of God by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. As Christ grows within us, more and more, day by day, we begin to think outwardly of the physical and spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are blessed to be given to minister to those needs as the Lord provides.

“Was not this to know me? Saith the Lord” is another way of saying ‘Is not this life eternal?’

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

That is our study for today, and here is the rest of this chapter for our next study which will demonstrate that “while we were yet in our sins” Christ died for us. Thus, the words “O earth, earth, earth, hear the words of the Lord”:

Jer 22:17  But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
Jer 22:18  Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
Jer 22:19  He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
Jer 22:20  Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
Jer 22:21  I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
Jer 22:22  The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
Jer 22:23  O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
Jer 22:24  As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
Jer 22:25  And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Jer 22:26  And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
Jer 22:27  But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.
Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
Jer 22:30  Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Gospels In Harmony – “They” Say and Do Not

Mat 23:1-39, Mar 12:38-40, Luk 20:45-47

[Study Aired July 27, 2021]

Luk 20:45 in the audience of all the people,
Mar 12:38 Jesus said unto them in his doctrine,
Mat 23:1 to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Mat 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Luk 20:46 Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes,
Mat 23:5 but all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Mat 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
Mat 23:7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
Mat 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Mat 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
Mat 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mat 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Mat 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
Mat 23:17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
Mat 23:18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
Mat 23:19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Mat 23:20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Mat 23:21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
Mat 23:22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mat 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mat 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Mat 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Our last several studies have been a back and forth exchange between Christ and the leaders of the Jews. The Jews have been conspiring how they might catch Christ in His words so that they can put Him to death. Christ has answered their questions and shut them up for now. In this study He warns everyone about their leaders the scribes and the Pharisees.

Luk 20:45 in the audience of all the people,

Mar 12:38 Jesus said unto them in his doctrine,

Mat 23:1 to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

The scribes and the Pharisees do know the law and Christ says to obey what they say about the law but to not follow their example. Here is “his doctrine” on following the law.

Mat 5:17-20 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least command- ments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The issue is “For they say, and do not”. This is Christ’s judgment against the scribes and Pharisees.

Luk 6:46-49 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and  heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

We also must be careful to do what is said by our Lord and not be guilty of the following.

Mat 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

Paul warns of this in the following scriptures.

1Co 8:1-13 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 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. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

By using our knowledge of Christ against the weak of the church, and even against the world, we would be no better than these scribes and Pharisees.

Luk 20:46 Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes,

Mat 23:5 but all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Mat 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
Mat 23:7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

When we believe our righteousness exceeds those that lack the knowledge of God in and of ourselves, we are guilty of sinning against Christ.

Joh 15:1-5 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Continuing with our verses:

Mat 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master,  even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Mat 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
Mat 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mat 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

What is Christ telling us here? He is telling us that within the church of the living God there is order, and we should not think of ourselves as having more than we receive of Christ. He is our head, and God is his Father, and we are His body.

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.

Christ continues His judgment of the scribes and Pharisees.

Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Does this sound familiar to any of your own experiences? This was my experience while in the churches of the world. I was becoming a good Baptist and doing these very things mentioned. The warnings continue.

Mat 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
Mat 23:17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
Mat 23:18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
Mat 23:19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Mat 23:20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Mat 23:21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
Mat 23:22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

The point being made here is the scribes and Pharisees are more concerned with their traditions than the actual law. They do not care about true holiness; only their traditions.

Exo 30:22-29 Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense, And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot. And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy.

Everything they do is only for show. They think this convinces everyone they are holy.

Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mat 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all  uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

These next verses show us how arrogant we are at this point of our process of salvation.

Mat 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

We believe we are more righteous than others after we say the so-called “sinner’s prayer”. At first we may be humble about it, but as soon as the “scribes and Pharisees” of this world teach us their traditions, we do believe we are more righteous. As was mentioned earlier, we cannot be anything unless it is given to us by Christ. The righteousness we are given is not ours; it is God’s righteousness.

Here are our final verses.

Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Mat 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Every one of us is guilty and will be judged and shall be sentenced to death so that we can receive life. Just because verse 36 says “All these things shall come upon this generation” does not give us escape from this judgment.

Mar 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

If Christ gives you the ability to read and understand, then the following will be your calling.

Rom 12:1-21 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. 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. 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. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 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. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 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. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Jas 1:19-25 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 68 Discussion

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Isa 17:8-14 This Is The Portion o​f Them That Spoil Us, And The Lot of Them That Rob Us

Isa 17:8  And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
Isa 17:9  In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
Isa 17:10  Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
Isa 17:11  In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Isa 17:12  Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
Isa 17:13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
Isa 17:14  And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

Our Creator is in the process of completing His creation. His final creation is not​, was not​, and was never intended to be a physical creation. This physical realm is just a necessary evil step in the completing of His spiritual creation. The process required to accomplish and produce a new spiritual man requires that "every man" first be a corrupt and wicked "man of sin". Only after this "man of sin" is revealed for who he is will "the new man" begin to be given life within these "corruptible... earthen vessels" into which we must all first be placed by our Creator as He continues His work of "conform[ing]... every man... into the image of His Son": ​

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many breth

Php 3:21 Who will transfigure the body of our humilation, to conform it to the body of His glory, in accord with the operation which enables Him even to subject all to Himself." (CLV)

Our old man was never "in the image" of his Creator as these verses make so clear:

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

The word 'created' is in the aorist tense, and should read 'creates him' or 'is creating him'.

This is the beginning of what we first are,​ and this is the beginning of what He is doing:

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

The churches of this world teach that Adam was created in a perfected state from which he fell when he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, after the serpent persuaded Eve "You will not surely die". But that is not at all what scriptures teach. The fact is that the scriptures actually teach that the creation is an ongoing process, and that the physical realm of the events which occurred in the Garden of Eden are but the first steps in making mankind in the image of "the One creating him".

Col 3:10  and having put on the new, having been renewed in full knowledge according to the image of the One creating him, (LITV)

The Concordant Version captures the sense of the Hebrew which tells us what Christ was doing with His creation in the Garden of Eden. The fact is that nowhere are we ever told that God made man in His image, rather this is how the Hebrew actually reads:

Gen 1:27 And creating is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them.

Adam is being created in the image of God, but that creation and that image is "the image of God", which Adam never possessed as the "marred... vessel of clay" he was in the Garden of Eden. These are Christ's own words concerning this "vessel of clay" stage of His creation:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Here we are clearly told that as the vessels of clay, which we all are, we are "marred in the hand of the Potter".

There it is for any and all who are hungry for the Truth of the scriptures. "God... is... creating man in His image". Nowhere are we told He has already done so. God did not create Adam in a perfected form from which Adam fell. Rather God created Adam in a "marred" condition from which God is in the process of delivering Adam, much like a hen lays an egg from which she will,​ through the 'magic' of controlled heat, deliver a chick which will grow up to be just like her - 'in her image'. "The first man Adam" was not at all created in the image of God because God is not a "vessel of clay".

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 So also it has been written, "The" first "man", Adam, "became a living soul;" the last Adam a life-giving Spirit. (Gen 2:7)
1Co 15:46 But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man was out of earth, earthy. The second Man was the Lord out of Heaven. (Gen 2:7)
1Co 15:48 Such as is the earthy man, such also are the earthy ones. And such as is the heavenly Man, such also are the heavenly ones.
1Co 15:49 And as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. (LITV)

God is not "earthy", rather He is heavenly. God is not physical or "natural" and cannot be seen with physical "natural" eyes. He is instead spirit and as such can only be seen with spiritual eyes.  That is why we are plainly told that He is "invisible" to the natural man:

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

What God is doing with mankind is "understood by the things that are made", but He Himself is "invisible", and what the scriptures actually teach is that there is only one person in all of the universe who is, at this time, "the only begotten Son of God". He alone truly has been "made in the image of God", then He "emptied Himself" of His invisible heavenly glory to come into this human "valley of... death", for the explicit purpose of setting an example for all those who after Him are in that process of being "made in the image of God", made of invisible spirit:

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Yes, it is true that "now are we the sons of God", and it is even now true that He "has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son". But these blessings​ are ours at this time only in down payment, "earnest" form:

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

"The redemption of the purchased possession" is given us only at the resurrection from among the dead, so we are told:

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.

"The holy spirit of promise" is what gives us the hope of being in that "blessed and holy... first resurrection":

Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

When were we called to be in either resurrection? At what point was Christ and His Father aware of those who "first trusted in Christ" (Eph 1:12)

In complete accord with the fact that God's creation is an ongoing process, which, from "before the world began",​ included a "marred... vessel of clay" which was never to begin with intended to "inherit the kingdom of God", we are plainly told:

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

We are even told that this "experience of evil",​ which is a marred clay vessel of sinful flesh and blood,​ was given to "the sons of humanity" by God Himself for this specific purpose:

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 Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

So Adam ate of the tree because it was determined "before the world began" that Christ would come into this realm of death,​ known as dying flesh and blood, for the purpose of judging mankind and teaching mankind His righteousness:

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.

That is what "thy judgments" produce in "the inhabitants of the world", whether it is the judgment which is now on the house of God or the judgment of the "great white throne" with its accompanying "lake of fire". All judgments are the Lord's chastening for the stated purpose of teaching "the inhabitants of the world... righteousness":

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

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Understanding all of this we will begin our study,​ and I am including the last verse from last week'​s study:

Isa 17:7  At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 17:8  And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

Any time we read the phrase "that day" the first thing that should come to our mind is the day of the Lord's wrath and His judgment upon the kingdom of our old man within us first, as it will eventually be upon the outward kingdoms of this world when they will "become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ":

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Rev 11:18 demonstrates that the day of God's wrath upon the kingdom of our old man is also "the time of the dead, that they should be judged". It is a very dark and dreadful day for the kingdom of our old man:

Isa 17:9  In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
Isa 17:10  Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

In the day of God's wrath and His judgment upon the inward kingdom of our rebellious and stubborn old man,​ all of the "cities" of our old man are "as a forsaken bough" except for what the Old Testament calls 'a remnant'. In verse 9 "an uppermost branch, which they left because of "the children of Israel", refers to "the very small remnant", spoken of throughout this prophecy of Isaiah, and it is just another Biblical phrase for God's​ chosen few. It is another name for 'the new man, God's elect few'.

Here are but a few examples of this "uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel":

Isa 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Isa 10:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 
Isa 10:21  The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

"Plant[ing] pleasant plants" only to discover we have "set it with strange slips" is just another way of revealing to us that our "righteousnesses" are as "filthy rags" before God.

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

When our self-​righteous, rebellious old man claims the name of Christ while stubbornly refusing to "do the things [He] says" (Luk 6:46), this is what God tells us He thinks of our own self​-​righteous efforts to serve him as we see fit instead of being obedient to Him and serving Him in the way He commands us to serve Him:

Pro 21:4  An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

All of our righteousnesses, everything we attempt to do to please God is rejected by Him if we stubbornly refuse to listen to and be obedient to what He tells us to do in His service.

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

This is what Christ told Israel before they had even gotten to the promised land:

Deu 12:28  Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.
Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Our attention had better be toward what "is good and right in the sight of the Lord [our] God", and not what we want to do to please Him. We are nowhere given the liberty to serve God in the way we see fit. Rather we are commanded, both in the Old and in the New Testament, to do "what thing soever [Christ] command(s) [us]... to... observe... and to do". We are commanded, "thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it":

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

This is what our efforts to serve God as we see fit produce:

Isa 17:11  In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

We can plow and "plant pleasant plants", we can work hard and "make the seed to flourish", but even "the plowing of the wicked is sin", and when we come to the harvest we will discover that our "pleasant plants" are nothing more than "strange slips". We planted what we thought were good grapes,​ and we find out they are worthless wild grapes. Verses 9-11 are simply a repetition of what the Lord has already told us in:

Isa 5:1  Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Isa 5:2  And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Isa 5:3  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
Isa 5:4  What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
Isa 5:5  And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
Isa 5:6  And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Isa 5:7  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

You and I are "the vineyard of the Lord of hosts". It is we who have oppressed Christ and have produced the cries of oppression when He was looking for righteousness and judgment.

If we are granted to see ourselves for what we are in this age, then we will not be judged in the age to come:

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
1Co 11:30  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

"If we would judge ourselves we should not be judged... with the world." Being judged with the world is the subject of our last three verses:

Isa 17:12  Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and [woe] to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
Isa 17:13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
Isa 17:14  And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

Let's break down the symbolism in these verses. Why is "the multitude of many people" likened unto "the noise of the seas"? Why is "the rushing of nations" likened unto "the rushing of mighty waters"? The answer to these questions is that throughout scripture the nations and the multitudes of humanity, with all of the Babylonian religions and false doctrines which deny and rebel against Christ and His sovereignty in the affairs of the nations of this earth, are always referred to as "the sea" or as "many waters" as demonstrated in these verses in the book of Revelation:

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.

This "beast" is the Biblical symbol for all of mankind in rebellion against their own Creator.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has a mind calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is the number of mankind, and its number is six hundred sixty-six. (CLV)

These words are inspired by the same spirit which had told us this hundreds of years earlier:

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

Satan is called Leviathan in the book of Job,​ and we are told "he makes the sea like a pot of ointment... one would think the deep to be hoary", because we are also told in Psalms that Satan was made for the specific purpose of playing in the sea:

Job 41:31  He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
Job 41:32  He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
Job 41:33  Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
Job 41:34  He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride

Psa 104:25  So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
Psa 104:26  There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

The angel who shows us the revelation of Jesus Christ tells us in no uncertain terms what the meaning of the sea and of "many waters" is:

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

So "the noise of the seas" and the "mighty waters" of Isaiah 17:12 represent all the nations of the earth within ourselves​ and outside of ourselves. Verses 13-14 tell us of their relationship to Christ and His Christ and what the result is ​of that relationship:

Isa 17:13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
Isa 17:14  And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

The nations will rush upon Christ and His elect "like the rushing of many waters; but God shall rebuke them". These words have had an application to God's elect in every generation since Christ. These words happened to the people who lived at the time they were penned by Isaiah, but neither those people, nor​ Isaiah knew their spiritual meaning.

The New Testament scriptures make this fact known to us on two separate occasions. First the apostle Paul tells us:

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.

That verse alone could be construed to mean that 'these things happened to them, and they are written for our admonition also', but the Lord wants us to know that is not how we are intended by our Lord to understand that verse. Peter makes clear that the lessons of the Old Testament were not  for the benefit of those who lived at that time, but they are meant only to minister to those who are in Christ:

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

We each know how these words of Isaiah 17:13-14 have transpired inwardly within our own lives.

​These words had an outward application for the time in which Isaiah penned them, but ​they also have had an inward application within the lives of each of God's elect since the time of Christ, and they will have both an outward application to the time immediately preceding the millennium, and again at the time of the final rebellion against Christ and His Christ "when the thousand years are expired" and the nations will one last time attempt to push God off His throne to their eonian chagrin and their destruction.

This is what is proclaimed at the beginning of the millennium:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

So here once again the book of Revelation confirms the prophecy of Isaiah. The Lord has shown no mercy to the kingdom of our old man within each of us. That brute beast was made to be taken and destroyed, and his destruction within us is our very salvation:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

None of us know​ exactly how He will accomplish the destruction of those who "destroy the earth", but we know that it will happen,​ and the sovereign God will give the kingdoms of this world to "our Lord and His Christ", and He "will destroy them which destroy the earth".

Isa 17:14  And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

"Us" is not ancient Israel, "us" is "the Israel of God" (Gal 6:15-16).

"​Us"​ is the overcomer of Rev 2:26-27. "Us" is:

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
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.

This is where the apostle learned that the Lord will yet "shake not the earth only, but also heaven":

Hag 2:6  For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
Hag 2:7  And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.
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.

"This latter house" is you and me and all in whom Christ dwells. [It is] the general assembly and church of the firstborn".

That is our study for today. Up to this point we have seen ourselves in our own flesh as Edom, Moab, Ammon, Syria, and the Philistines and Assyrians.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will begin to be shown who we are as those nations of the world who are nowhere near Israel. In our next study we will begin to see ourselves and our old man as the Ethiopians, who, according to the scriptures and secular historians, had conquered Egypt and were a very great power on earth in the days of the prophecy of Isaiah:

2Ch 14:9  And there came out against them [Asa, King of Judah] Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.

This event was quite some time before Isaiah's day, but it serves to demonstrate that Ethiopia was a great nation at that time, and like Egypt, Ethiopia was not related to Israel except through Noah, who was the father of all nations.

The point being made is that our old man, being "the vessel... made of clay (Jer 18:4), of the dust of the earth" (Gen 2:7), is related both to "the earth... and the sea":

Rev 5:13  And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

These nations which are within us are nowhere near Israel, and they have no ethnic connection to Israel, yet they, too, are subject to the judgment of God upon our old man, and they will be our subject in the next few chapters of Isaiah.

Next week, Lord willing, we will begin with Ethiopia:

Isa 18:1  Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
Isa 18:2  That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
Isa 18:3  All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
Isa 18:4  For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
Isa 18:5  For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
Isa 18:6  They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
Isa 18:7  In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

Hi Mike,

Greetings, and I trust you are fairing well.

What is the difference in terms of spiritual significance between eyes and ears? In order words, hearing and seeing? Look forward to hearing from you.

Your brother who wants to know more,

M____

Hi M____,

Thank you for your question.

I will answer your question, but I feel I must also explain why not all are given eyes that see and ears that hear in this age.

As Joseph told the Pharaoh, “the dream is one”, the seven fat cows eaten by the seven famished cows, and the seven ears of fat corn eaten by the seven “blasted” ears, were both saying that Egypt and the countries around Egypt were about to endure seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

The same is true of what Christ is saying when speaking of how He is hiding His Truth right out in the open. The seeing and hearing of that Truth are both concerning its understanding, and as is always the case with a parable, the message of the parable is found in the meaning of the words of the parable and not in the words themselves:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

“Hearing they hear not, neither do they understand”. So both the seeing and the hearing are speaking of “understand[ing]” what is being said, and it is given only to Christ’s elect to “understand the deep things of God”.

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

I hope these verses of scripture help you to see that both hearing and seeing are speaking of understanding, and that the multitudes who come to Christ to this very day are “not given… to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God… within you”.

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.

The fact that the kingdom of God, from Christ to the millennium, “is within you” does not mean that there will not be an outward kingdom during the millennium. God’s elect will rule over the kingdoms of this world during that “thousand years”, and they will do so “with a rod of iron”, which will bring down upon them the rebellion of the nations at the end of that thousand years.

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

This insurgency against the rule of God’s elect will give God the “occasion” He is seeking to destroy all flesh with “fire… from God out of heaven”.

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

This event is immediately followed by the great white thone judgment, and this is the purpose for all of God’s judgments:

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. 

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

“Condemned with the world” means ‘condemned to a later judgment, the white throne judgment, where the whole world’s populace which has ever lived will then be “chastened of the Lord [and] will learn righteousness”. Death will be destroyed through the death of all flesh through the fire of the lake of fire, which is those in whom Christ and His Word dwells:

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire [“the lake of 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;

It is a little “lake” and not a ‘sea’ because God’s elect are few indeed. But through that ‘lake’ the entire ‘sea’ out of which the beast rises (Rev 13:1) will be purified and brought to God:

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 
Col 1:21  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

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.

“Through death”, a fiery death, the old man is destroyed and lost, and life is given to all, to “every man”:

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. 

Now that is the truly good news of the gospel.

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

Your brother in Christ,

Mike