Hearkening – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty Mon, 13 Jan 2025 16:43:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cropped-headerlogo-32x32.png Hearkening – Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word https://www.iswasandwillbe.com 32 32 Proverbs 5:1-23 “Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding” https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/proverbs-51-23-hear-ye-children-the-instruction-of-a-father-and-attend-to-know-understanding/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=proverbs-51-23-hear-ye-children-the-instruction-of-a-father-and-attend-to-know-understanding Thu, 05 Dec 2024 05:16:21 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=31513 Audio Download

Proverbs 5:1-23

“Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father,
and attend to know understanding”

[Study Aired Nov 28, 2024]

There are two words that I want to draw our attention to, which summarize for us the central point being given to us in this fifth chapter of Proverbs. Those two words are attendH7181 found in the first verse, and the word instructionH4148 found in the last verse of this chapter.

If we look at the root of the word silverH3701, which we know is connected to repentance (Rom 2:4), it is similar to the word attendH7181, in that we won’t repent without a strong desire to do so, and that desire comes about by hearing the word of God that we are blessed to hear in this life if God is working with us (Rev 1:3, Mat 13:16). For a more in-depth study on this concept, please see Mike Vinson’s 7-part series on Silver, of which Part 1 starts here.

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

God considers His leading us to repentance as the riches of his goodness where we learn of his forbearance and longsuffering spirit (Jas 5:7, Luk 21:19) not knowing at first that it is God’s goodness that leadeth thee to repentance for an extremely valuable purpose (Heb 11:24-25, Mat 19:27-28). It is instructive to note that the first time H7181 qâshab kaw-shab’ is used, it is in the context of what God considers most valuable in our relationship with Him, and that is that we hearken unto Him and obey him (1Sa 15:22, 1Jn 5:2-3).

1Sa 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearkenH7181 than the fat of rams.

If God has granted us a humble and contrite heart (Isa 66:2), then this process of going from glory to glory as we acknowledge our shortcomings by looking into His word, that is likened unto a mirror, (2Co 3:17-18) will turn us into a peculiar and zealous people toward the Lord through this examination of self, becoming doers of the word and not hearers only. Hearing the word but also attending to what those words say as they motivate us to move with fear in obedience toward our heavenly Father (2Co 7:11, 1Pe 2:9, 1Co 11:31-32).

1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: [the light that reflects off this mirror we look into, and remember what we see, and then attend to what God shows us in the process]

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.

The second word we are considering is instructionH4148, which is in the last verse of this study. It takes on a much brighter meaning when we see how it is used in the context of this fifth chapter of proverbs. As we noted, it is God’s forbearance and longsuffering spirit that needs to be working within us (Php 2:12-13) in order for us to not grow weary of His correction, as we are received as sons of God through it [Heb 12:6]. This word instructionH4148, is connected to ‘chastening’, ‘chastisement’, ‘correction’,’ discipline’,’ doctrine’, and ‘rebuking’.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

There’s no getting around this point. Every son has to suffer in this life in order to cease from sinning and fulfill the will of God, which is to prepare us to become kings and priests who will rule and reign under Christ (1Jn 2:16-17, 1Pe 4:1-2, 2Pe 3:11-12).

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

1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh (Eph 5:30), arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

Christ is the one who can take us through these humbling experiences (Ecc 1:13) that will bring us to cease from sinning, being given a humble and contrite heart that is subject to our Creator and to one another as unto Christ (1Pe 5:6, Heb 12:2, Php 1:6, Eph 5:21). God will be exalted through Christ who washes us of all our iniquities and cleanses our hearts and creates in us a new spirit that is zealous for the Lord (Psa 51:10-12, Eze 36:26). These are the wonderful works within us that God’s elect are to offer up as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to our merciful Father (Psa 107:22-30, Heb 13:15).

We must go through a process as His children, bringing us to see the hypocrisy of our own flesh, and also how, in the end, the Lord is far greater than the power that sin has over us (Joh 8:36). We will deny him less and less, and if He is working with us in this age, he will abide faithful to finish this work of grace through faith in us (Eph 2:8), not denying himself as the author and finisher of our faith (2Ti 2:13, Mat 26:34).

Pro 5:1 My son, attendH7181 unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
Pro 5:2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

We’ve looked at the word attendH7181, showing how it is connected to repentance, and in this opening couple of verses we are being shown that ‘attending unto wisdom’ requires that we go through a humbling process, bow thine ear to my understanding. The fruit of that experience of being humbled under God’s hand is that we will be able to regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. It is only through having our senses exercised that we can then grow in that discreet and discerning spirit of the Lord and truly have lips that keep knowledge (Heb 5:14, Rev 13:4, Isa 6:5-8, Rev 5:2-5).

Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

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

Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. [Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?]
Isa 6:6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Isa 6:7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.[After we go through a process of purification we have a strong desire [silver – kaw-saf] to serve the Lord and to be sent Joh 20:21, Joh 3:17, 1Jn 4:17].

Rev 5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
Rev 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. [no one is worthy and no one can open the book, but Christ in us as our hope of glory]
Rev 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. [Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?]
Rev 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals [free indeed Joh 8:36] thereof.

Pro 5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

The lips of a harlot that represent mystery Babylon the mother of harlots (Rev 17:5) is contrasted with those who have lips that keep knowledge in the previous verse. This strange woman [whose lips] drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil is a perfect description of the churches of this world who are estranged from Christ and speak words that are easy to digest like honey, and smoother than oil which is no oil at all (Isa 3:1, Mat 25:8, 2Co 11:4).

Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus [strange woman [whose lips] drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil], whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, strange woman [whose lips] drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Pro 5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

The end of those who are seduced by this harlot system is one that is bitter as wormwoodH3939, and not in the positive sense of God’s word being sweet in the mouth like honey and bitter in the belly. No, this is the exact opposite of that, just as this sharp as a twoedged sword does not represent the word of God (Heb 4:12), but rather is a counterfeit sword that is used to pierce Christ and keep the words of life that He wants to bring us, dead and hidden (2Co 4:3, Joh 19:34, 2Sa 14:14).

Joh 19:34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

2Sa 14:14 For we must needs die, [Gal 2:20] and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

Pro 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hellH7585(‘sheol’, grave).
Pro 5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

Pro 5:6 Lest you should ponder the path of life, Her routes rove about, yet you know not where.”(CLV)
Pro 5:6  For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known. (Brenton)

This harlot system directs the laity down to death as her steps take hold of hell , all telling us that the spiritually dead can’t help but bury their spiritually dead, as the world is further and further deceived and being deceived (Luk 9:60, Mar 13:22, 2Ti 3:13).

Mystery Babylon is a mystery to those who are blinded to how the god of this world operates (2Co 2:11), but unto the elect, Babylon is falling within and is being exposed by the grace of God (Eph 2:8) as we ponder the path of life which path of life is Christ (Joh 14:6).

Studying to show ourselves approved is how we can avoid being deceived by the myriad of lies in Babylon (Rev 9:2), not laying hold of Christ, having ways that are slippery, deceiving even the very elect if it were possible (Mar 13:22).

It is through the judgement that comes upon the elect in the house of mourning where we die daily (1Co 15:31, Ecc 7:2) that we can continue to overcome the lies of the harlot system that God’s people are blessed to come out of (2Co 6:17) in this life, through judgement (Psa 84:10, 2Pe 3:8).

Pro 5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Pro 5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
Pro 5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
Pro 5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
Pro 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
Pro 5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
Pro 5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
Pro 5:14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

In order to Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth, we must be given to attend to the instruction in these verses in the book of James (Jas 1:19-24). Right after telling us to hear and not depart from God’s word, we are shown the consequence of not doing this when we don’t remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house. This harlot represents Mystery Babylon and all the false religions of this world of whom God says we are not to give thine honour unto nor thy years unto the cruel. This section of our study is an admonition to give heed unto Christ’s words and hold fast to the crown that God has given us, not being seduced by the lies and falsehoods of Babylon. Giving our honour to others and our years unto the cruel is what we do when we cast our pearls before swine (Mat 7:6) who represent the unconverted that we witness to with fear and trembling, when the Lord requires it of us, as opposed to carelessly casting our pearls to the unconverted who never asked an answer of the hope within us in the first place (1Pe 3:15, Php 2:12).

Mat 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

1Pe 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts (Jas 1:19-24): and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

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.

The pearl of great price is Christ who is hidden within us and we must walk circumspectly in this world we’ve been sent forth into, “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Mat 10:16, Mat 7:6).

If we’re not wise then strangers [will] be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger. This grave mistake of saying too much to the unbelieving, filling their house with our wealth in other words, is what was typified as being done in the life of Hezekiah (2Ki 20:13). The end result for Hezekiah and the nation he ruled (2Ki 20:16-21) is what the proverb continues to reveal would happen: you will mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed.

2Ki 20:13 And Hezekiah hearkened unto them [from Babylon], and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

Hezekiah’s house was his empire which does represent a kingdom within that he was supposed to rule over properly, but he did not. We all must go into Babylonian captivity to come out of it and so How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof are words that discuss our own inability, without Christ, to be faithful to God’s words as we come to realize, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. It is in the midst of the congregation and assembly for a reason, as this is talking to us about how we can just naturally take for granted God’s exceedingly great and precious promises (2Pe 1:4), until we are chastened and scourged of Him for doing so.

Pro 5:15  Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Pro 5:16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
Pro 5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.
Pro 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
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.

We are not left in the dark to know what the solution is to overcome that typical spiritual apathy of Hezekiah, that caused the nation to go into Babylonian captivity, or exile, which is where God intends we will lose our first love. If He shows mercy toward us in this age, we will come out of her and be drawn to the living waters that are found in Christ alone, and not in the churches of this world (Isa 1:3, Isa 3:1, 1Jn 4:6).

The singleness of our relationship with Christ (2Co 11:3) and his body is being discussed with these verses, (Pro 5:15-19).

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 simplicityG572, that is in Christ.

That singleness which we share in Christ as His flesh and bones (Eph 5:30) is likened unto the fidelity that we are to have between husband and wife, and this is the mystery that is hidden from this world (Eph 5:32, Col 1:27), where there is no fidelity but rather many lovers, many churches, vain philosophies, and only infidelity to the word of God (1Co 3:4). Therefore we are told to Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well, meaning we are to protect the word of God and not let it be defiled by the iniquity that is abounding more and more in this age (Mat 24:12). We protect God’s word by labouring in it, and sowing bountifully in this life so that we can reap bountifully (2Co 9:6). His word goes with us in our day-to-day affairs, as we pray without ceasing and bring every thought into “the obedience of Christ” (2Co 10:5). That is how we Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Again, as we go about our life being led of the spirit of God (Rom 8:14-15), we are ready to give to others an answer for the hope that is within us, not being ashamed of the gospel, but we are not forcing our faith on others, and so it is written, Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. The wife of our youth is the wife of Christ who we are associated with as a many membered body of Christ that makes up his wife. We protect and hold fast to the words that God has given us and Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. Once again, this relationship that we have with Christ and His body is described in the most intimate of terms, 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, because that is the way Christ feels toward His wife, and how we should respond to the body of Christ as no spiritual man [the body of Christ] ever hated his own flesh (Eph 5:29-30).

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.

Pro 5:20  And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Pro 5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
Pro 5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
Pro 5:23 He shall die without instruction;H4148 [Heb 12:6] and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

Nothing is hidden from God “with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13-14) and so the question is asked, why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

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.
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

All of our ways are before the Lord and he knows that this is exactly what will happen to all of us at first. We will be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger, and that won’t be hidden from God but rather is caused by Him (Eph 1:11) in order to snare us in Babylon, which represents this stranger that we first embrace. Our own sins will correct us, our own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins (Jer 2:19), until the son of God sets us free (Joh 8:36) by binding the sacrifice to the altar (Psa 118:27). The simple truth is that we will die without instructionH4148 [Heb 12:6] and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray, speaking of what happens to all of us until God shows mercy to us and causes us to attendH7181 unto his words. Lord willing, or God permitting that will happen to each of us in this age, we pray (Heb 6:3).

]]> Study of the Book of Kings – 2Ki 17:24-41  “The LORD your God ye shall fear https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/study-of-the-book-of-kings-2ki-1724-41-the-lord-your-god-ye-shall-fear/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-of-the-book-of-kings-2ki-1724-41-the-lord-your-god-ye-shall-fear Fri, 27 Jan 2023 02:31:53 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=27055

2Ki 17:24-41 “The LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies”

[Study Aired January 26, 2023]

(We will start tonight with these 2 verses from last week, for context:

2Ki 17:22  For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; 
2Ki 17:23  Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. )

2Ki 17:24  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
2Ki 17:25  And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them. 
2Ki 17:26  Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. 
2Ki 17:27  Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. 
2Ki 17:28  Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. 
2Ki 17:29  Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. 
2Ki 17:30  And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 
2Ki 17:31  And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
2Ki 17:32  So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
2Ki 17:33  They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
2Ki 17:34  Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
2Ki 17:35  With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: 
2Ki 17:36  But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. 
2Ki 17:37  And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.
2Ki 17:38  And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
2Ki 17:39  But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
2Ki 17:40  Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
2Ki 17:41  So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

The first question I had while reading this last section of chapter 17 of 2 Kings is in the language of these verses (2Ki 17:32-34, 2Ki 17:41) which say Israel feared the LORD, when clearly they did not.

2Ki 17:32  So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
2Ki 17:33  They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
2Ki 17:34  Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

2Ki 17:41  So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

This fear that Israel had is the negative example of Godly fear, and was fear that was based on their superstitious pagan beliefs which continued to dominate their heavens, even while they claimed to be servants of the LORD who feared His name (Isa 3:1, Isa 4:1, Isa 1:3).

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

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

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.

Having God’s name and holding fast to your own righteousness may produce a perverted sense of fear, but the lesson is that when our fear toward God is taught by the precepts of men, it is a vain relationship with a heart that is far from God, and far from true Godly fear which is a gift from our Father (Isa 29:13, Isa 66:2).

Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

The only time the phrase “I fear God” is mentioned in the KJV bible is in Genesis 42:18 where Joseph was trying his brothers and proving them through this experience of evil which was starting to bring great fear upon them, all typical circumstances that explain to us what it takes for our flesh to learn patience and faith, which are the spiritual by-products of those who “trembleth at my word” (Gen 42:14-21).

Gen 42:14  And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
Gen 42:15  Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. [We can’t be freed from the bondage of sin, the ward, the prison, unless Benjamin, a type of the elect, comes hither (Oba 1:21)]
Gen 42:16  Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. 
Gen 42:17  And he put them all together [1Jn 5:19] into ward three days.
Gen 42:18  And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God: [in other words I “Joseph” fear God, and you don’t, and won’t until you go through this process of judgment represented by three days (Luk 12:5)]
Gen 42:19  If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
Gen 42:20  But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. [Rom 14:23, 1Pe 1:7, Jas 2:24]
Gen 42:21  And they said one to another, We areverily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

What is clearly brought out in these verses is that there is a process of judgment we have to go through (“he put them all together into ward three days“) in order to come to fear the LORD, or “fear God,” and that process was being orchestrated by Joseph who is a type of Christ and the elect who will prove the world in the lake of fire as typified by this story in Genesis (Gen 42:14-21).

Godly fear does not paralyze us but rather motivates us (Heb 11:7) to be true servants who realize how blessed we are to be His workmanship (Eph 2:10) who are being motivated to work righteousness, and are being heard when we pray in that we fear God as Christ did (Heb 5:7). Joseph’s brothers were now motivated to “carry corn for the famine of your houses” and the bargaining chip was “one of your brethren be bound in the house,” which typifies for us how we become bondservants for God and each other (Rom 12:1), bound to the altar and put in a place in this life where Christ strengthens us to endure until the end (Php 4:13, Mat 24:13) so that one day our judgment and suffering we experience in this life will produce all the corn for our families, which symbolizes God’s purified word within us that will be used to feed the nations and judge the world. The world will learn of His righteousness through the elect, and they will become part of the family of God who fulfill God’s will (Pro 9:10, Ecc 12:13, 1Jn 4:17, Isa 26:9, Mar 3:35). 

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.

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Pro 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 

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.

Mar 3:35  For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Today’s verses are focused on demonstrating the long and arduous journey Israel had to go through as they went into captivity and were shown that they were incapable of following God as He commanded them. This is written to show us that bondage to sin is an unavoidable part of being human and that only God alone can set us free from that sinful condition by giving us a new heart which will be able to follow and keep all His commandments (Joh 8:36, Eze 36:26).

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

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

2Ki 17:24  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. 
2Ki 17:25  And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.

The king of Assyria is a type of Satan who wants to pervert the land of Israel with heathen people that have been brought in from these foreign cities and places to possess that land. These actions typify for us what happens when God sends an evil spirit into our lives [the Israel of God – Gal 6:16] that perverts our judgment (Isa 63:17, Isa 9:16) and brings His wrath upon us by sending “lions among them, which slew some of them” (1Sa 16:14).

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

Isa 9:16  For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. 

When we look at the names of these places in the PNBkjv bible version, it shows us what kind of spirits Israel, a type of the Israel of God (Gal 6:16), was dealing with in the early stages of this dispossessing/transplanting when we are easily overtaken by the powers and principalities of the spirit realm that we wrestle against (Eph 6:12).

2Ki 17:24 and the king of (plain)Assyria brought men from (confusion)Babylon, and from (burning up)Cuthah, and from (perverted)Ava and from (wall of anger)Hamath, and from (two scribes)Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of (watch tower)Samaria instead of the children of (he will rule with god)Israel and they possessed (watch tower)Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. [PNBkjv]

God is working all of this according to the counsel of his own will for our sakes (Eph 1:11, 1Co 10:11), and He does send lions that typify Satan to buffet us, chastening these wood, hay and stubble perversions out of our lives, all happening at the beginning (1Co 5:5), “it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.“

1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

2Ki 17:26  Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. 
2Ki 17:27  Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
2Ki 17:28  Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

The wrath of God has been poured out upon the people who have been placed “in the cities of Samaria,” and this humbling experience is accompanied by the actions of the king of Assyria who reasons that the solution to this problem with the people being destroyed by lions is to “Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.” However, as stated in the introduction of our study, this is not going to bring the people to “fear the LORD” because these priests who are going to be teaching these other pagan cultures are not true servants of God and therefore cannot instill the fear of God within the people (negative – 2Co 11:13-15, positive – Heb 1:5-7).

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

Heb 1:5  For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 
Heb 1:6  And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 
Heb 1:7  And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

These “priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD” represent Babylon today that cannot eat at the altar we eat (Heb 13:10) and are guilty of feeding God’s other fold (Joh 10:16), as we all did in our appointed time with the precepts of men and not as men who fear God and demonstrate that fear through the fidelity of their thoughts and actions (1Ki 12:31, 1Co 4:6). It is our Father in heaven who gives us the increase as He matures us and receives us (Heb 12:6) by the grace through faith process we’ve been called to, which is a gift of God (Isa 29:13, Eph 2:8-9). These priests who come on the scene and minister to the nation of Israel and the people within it are only going to make them “twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” which is what happens to us when the deadly wound from the lion is healed and we take on the more insidious and harder to detect spirit of self-righteousness, represented by the two horns of a lamb, a witness of another Christ, who speaks as a dragon (Mat 23:15, Rev 13:11).

1Ki 12:31  And he [Jeroboam the son of Nebat] made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

2Ki 17:29  Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. 
2Ki 17:30  And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 
2Ki 17:31 And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

The fruit of these actions of the king of Assyria having “priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD” is revealed in these following verses (2Ki 17:29-31). They all made “gods of their own” demonstrating the self-willed spirit of the beast that is still on the throne of our hearts at this stage in our walk. Those “gods of their own” represent the different ideologies and false gods which are forged in our yet carnal heavens which have not overcome the god of this world as yet. The power of the beast showcases this earthly wisdom that is typified by the ten horns, and the ten crowns upon those fleshly horns the God of this world controls on a beast that has seven heads and ten horns (Rev 13:1, 2Co 4:4).

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.

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

The places that the men of Babylon and Cush, and Hamath make up are connected to harlotry, or defilement of the word of God, typifying the worldly churches of Babylon that have no stay of bread or water (Isa 3:1). Then there are two other nations mentioned “And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.” Altogether there are five nations and seven gods mentioned where all these idolatrous acts are unfolding on the seven-headed beast that comes out of the earth, listed below:

2Ki 17:30  And the men of Babylon(PNB = “confusion”) made SuccothbenothH5524, and the men of Cuth(PNB = “burning”) made NergalH5370, and the men of Hamath(PNB = “wall of anger”) made AshimaH807,

2Ki 17:31  a) The Avites(PNB = “perverter”) made NibhazH5026 and Tartak,H8662

2Ki 17:31  b) The Sepharvites(PNB = “scribes”)  burnt their children in fire to AdrammelechH152 and Anammelech,H6048 the gods of Sepharvaim(PNB = “two scribes”).

2Ki 17:32  So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 
2Ki 17:33  They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. 
2Ki 17:34  Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; 
2Ki 17:35  With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

So did they fear the LORD or not? Emphatically YES/NO! They may have thought that they were dedicated in their service to God, but their actions betrayed their thoughts as demonstrated by these words how they “made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places” just as Jeroboam the son of Nebat had done. So, in short, Israel feared God but did not work righteousness (Act 10:35, Ecc 12:13).

Act 10:35  But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

1Ki 12:31  And he [Jeroboam the son of Nebat] made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

This is how they demonstrated their fear of God, but it was mingled with a perverse spirit as they “served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.” Then we are straightforwardly told that they were following their former manner of behavior, which was an abomination unto God, “they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; [Act 10:35, Ecc 12:13] With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:.”

2Ki 17:36  But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. 
2Ki 17:37  And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. 
2Ki 17:38  And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
2Ki 17:39  But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. 

God mercifully reminds the elect where we’ve come from, and if we are His in this age we grow to heed those admonitions which encourage us to remember the days of old when we fought a great fight of affliction against the bondage of sin (Heb 10:32, Neh 4:14) and how God delivered us from that bondage with “great power and a stretched out arm” as He continues to do for us day by day, reminding those now who have God’s spirit that He has made a covenant with us, “And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.” It is a covenant that he will honor for His name’s sake, and it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom of God (Luk 12:32). If God is working with us, we will have His fear within us, is what we are being told here “But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies” (Joh 8:36), not that we can of our own selves generate that fear, which these old covenant stories show us is impossible as it is God who must put that fear in our hearts, giving us a humble and contrite heart which is a precious gift from him (Isa 66:2, Mat 21:44).

Heb 10:32  But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;
Heb 10:33  Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. 

Neh 4:14  And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

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

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. 

Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. [how our Father forms the humble and contrite heart within the body of Christ]

2Ki 17:40  Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. 
2Ki 17:41  So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

Without that gift of a changed heart, we will not hearken unto the LORD and will continue to embrace our “former manner” which is another way of saying our former conversation of (Eph 2:2-3).

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

So these nations feared the LORD all right, but not with humble and contrite hearts that would have brought them to stop serving “their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.“

I want to end this study with these verses (Psa 2:1-12) that Jim Carnevale recently sent in an email regarding a discussion about the so-called saviors of this world who are no saviors at all, because there is only one savior, Jesus Christ, who as a result of the new heart given from God, will produce saviors who come up on mount Zion to judge the mount Esau. That new heart is forged out of a life-long process of judgment that God has blessed the elect to experience before the rest of the world.

Psa 2:1  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Psa 2:3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 
Psa 2:4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Psa 2:5  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Psa 2:6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion [Oba 1:21].
Psa 2:7  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee [1Jn 4:17].
Psa 2:8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 
Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel [Rev 2:26-27]. 
Psa 2:10  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Psa 2:11  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling [Isa 66:2, Mat 21:44, Mat 18:3]
Psa 2:12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

]]> Study of the Book of Kings – 1Ki 22:1-29  “Take heed” https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/study-of-the-book-of-kings-1ki-221-29-take-heed/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-of-the-book-of-kings-1ki-221-29-take-heed Thu, 07 Jul 2022 22:06:55 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=25936 https://www.dropbox.com/s/cipjrxfqedu31dl/20220707-Study_TonyC-TakeHeed.m4a?raw=1

1Ki 22:1-29  “Take heed”

[Study Aired July 7, 2022]

1 Kings 22:1-29 is one of the clearest examples in the bible of how God uses the spirit realm to accomplish all the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). In this story, the time has come for Ahab to meet his demise, and God is the one who created the circumstances needed through prophets who had been given a lying spirit to convince king Ahab that, with the joined forces of Jehoshaphat king of Israel, they can come up and battle the king of Syria and possess “Ramoth in Gilead”.

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 

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

Ahab has consistently separated himself from the counsel of the Lord and rejected the words of God’s faithful prophet Elijah, and this first half of chapter 22 of 1 Kings sets the stage for how God is going to punish Ahab for past and present sins that have brought him and the nations of Israel and Judah to the brink of destruction which will come suddenly and without remedy (Pro 29:1).

Pro 29:1  He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Ezekiel 14 reveals the condition of the idolatrous heart we all have in our appointed time and the punishment it necessitates (Eze 14:7-10). As the Master Potter, God is the one who has created these conditions and is the One who can take that marred condition and make it into something new and holy at the time that He appoints this to happen through judgment that comes in the form of fiery trials (Jer 18:4, Rom 9:19-21, 1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:12, Heb 12:6).

Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself: 
Eze 14:8  And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 
Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel [Rom 9:21]. 
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

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.

Ahab was unwilling to listen to Micaiah when he came with a warning from God that he will not be victorious in this battle against Syria, which were contrary words to what the four hundred prophets have been given to say (1Ki 22:18). The reason he states that there will be no victory is found in 1 Kings 22:17 that talks about a lack of leadership in Israel that has been brought about by Ahab’s idolatrous way of living. This tells us that when we don’t obey Christ as our head, we put him to an open shame, scattering the flock, leaving them with “no master” (Mat 26:31).

1Ki 22:17  And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace. 
1Ki 22:18  And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?

Mat 26:31  Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

God can easily harden our hearts over and over to the point where sudden destruction comes upon us as was the case with Ahab. The overall lesson for the elect of God today is to take heed from these stories written for our sakes (1Co 10:11) as we continue to die daily, and  examine ourselves daily, less a root of bitterness, which often stems from pride, take root in our heart and thereby many be defiled (Heb 12:15, 1Ti 4:16, Act 20:28, 1Co 9:27). If we are examining ourselves, and being granted to be washed with the word of God through that examination, the root of bitterness will not have an opportunity to take root but will be dealt with by God’s grace through faith (Eph 2:8).

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

1Ti 4:16  Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 

That root of sin is always going to be at the door of our heart because God made flesh to be that way with a law of sin in our members (Jer 17:9, Gen 4:7), and so our focus needs to be on “Micaiah” in this story, who typifies the Christ-centric life we can be granted to live through him, as we fight a good fight of faith, taking heed to His commandments and not shunning to declare all the counsel of God’s will to those to whom God brings us to deliver that message (1Pe 3:15).

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.  

[We are accepted in the Lord who knows our hearts  (Eph 1:6, Jer 17:10, Col 1:27)]

There are many entries in the KJV using some form of the english expression “take heed“, all of which are very instructive for us as we know that Christ will come to us via the true church (Eph 3:10) in the spirit, typified by the life of “Micaiah“, and it will be for the express purpose of having us “take heed” to those admonitions.

There are actually eight different Strong’s Hebrew numbers and 6 different Strong’s Greek numbers that can be found in the KJV translating some form of this concept of the english word “heed”, and there is a total of just under 80 times (in this positive application) using the english word “heed”, but using a total of 2,724 Hebrew and Greek instances in the KJV to describe the concept we are looking at in this study.

In the new covenant, five entries can be noted as very specific admonitions to beware of the leaven of the “Pharisees and of the Sadducees” or “the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod” or “that no man deceive you” or “lest any man deceive you“. God has called us to be watchmen looking without (outwardly), through Christ, and there is also a great emphasis on watching within and examining the fruit of our life as these statements make very clear: “Take heed what ye hear” and “take heed to yourselves” and “Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.“

God’s spirit shows us that the primary place where we start to take heed is ‘within’ as we wash the cup within so we can detect the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees ‘without’. The following verses express the outward:
Mat 16:6, Mat 24:4, Mar 8:15, Mar 13:5, Luk 21:8…

…while these verses emphasize the within, of which there are more:
Mat 4:24, Mar 13:9, Luk 11:35, Luk 17:3, Luk 21:34, Act 5:35, Act 20:28, Rom 11:21, 1Co 3:10, 1Co 10:12, Heb 3:12, 1Ti 4:16, 2Pe 1:19…

…and these verses have their emphasis on examining the fruit of our life:
Mat 6:1, Mat 18:10, Luk 8:18, Luk 12:15, Act 22:26, 1Co 8:9, Gal 5:15, Col 4:17.

Ahab represents our old man of sin, the first corrupt king who cannot take heed, and will be destroyed as a result of that. “The king’s [whose] heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: [that] he turneth it whithersoever he will.” That turning, as we’re seeing over and over, is a work of the Lord, and He alone is the one who determines what the outcome will be of all unprofitable servants in this life, which we all are of our own selves (Pro 21:1, Luk 17:10).

Pro 21:1  The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Luk 17:10  So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

If we are part of the river of Life that can flow from our belly as a result of the life of Christ within us (Joh 7:38, Col 1:27), then the positive outcome of our hearts being in the hand of our Lord which He turns in this age (Php 2:12-13) is that we will be led by His holy spirit. As such, we will be able to say in faith that “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”; a purpose which includes that we live by the faith of the son of God and endure to the end through Christ in order to be saved, receiving His kingdom which is God’s good pleasure to give to His little flock (Rom 8:14-16, Rom 8:28-31, Gal 2:20, Luk 12:32).

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 

Pro 21:1  The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. 

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

One other important thing we must always heed when we are reading these old covenant stories is, “If the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet.” This statement tells us that knowing the mindset of and understanding the condition of the world’s heart is a gift from God (Luk 8:10) as we look at this deceived and dying world with love and compassion in our hearts for every single soul as our Lord did (Luk 23:34, Joh 20:21, Joh 3:16-17).

Luk 8:10  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. 

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

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.
Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

1Ki 22:1  And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel.
1Ki 22:2  And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.
1Ki 22:3  And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?
1Ki 22:4  And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramothgilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.
1Ki 22:5  And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.

The Lord gave Ahab this three-year period of grace because of the contrite heart which he displayed in the previous chapter when he heard what God was going to do to him and to Jezebel (1Ki 21:29). The brokenness of Ahab spoken of in 1 Kings 21:29 was a wound that would be healed in time however, symbolizing for us that this period of judgment that was upon Ahab, or God’s wrath that was upon him, had no effect in the long run as would be revealed by his disregard for the counsel God gave him via the prophet “Micaiah the son of Imlah” who warned Ahab to not go to battle with Israel against “Ramothgilead“.

It is also in the third year that Judah and Israel, who are types of Babylon, consulted to join forces to do battle against Syria, symbolizing the deadly wound (of Ahab) being healed (after three years of reprieve from war) in Revelation 13:12. Although they were joined in their purpose to take back that which was Israel’s, God is going to thwart their efforts to show us that the “whole head is sick”, represented by Judah and “the whole heart faint…from the sole of the foot even unto the head”, representing Israel (Isa 1:5-6). This story reveals stages of what we go through so that God can seek an occasion against our flesh, Ahab representing our old man that seeks alliance with other nations like a companion of fools who will soon be destroyed (Pro 13:20).

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 

Isa 1:5  Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 
Isa 1:6  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Pro 13:20  He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. 

Jehoshaphat was speaking the truth when he said “I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses“, meaning they were of kindred spirits like the ecumenical spirit of the churches of Babylon whose power is in the earth symbolized by the horses, the beast that gets his power from Satan, “the dragon which gave power unto the beast” (Psa 33:16-17, Rev 13:4). Jehoshaphat asked Ahab, “And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.” In itself this is not a problem, but inquiring of the Lord with an idol in our heart is the stumbling block of Ahab’s iniquity, as he inquired with a heart that only wanted to hear what he wanted to hear (Eze 14:6-7). This idol in the heart of Ahab represents our former conversation (Eph 2:1-5) when we claimed to have a right relationship with God but served Him on our terms and conditions, calling him Lord, Lord, but not doing the things which he says (Luk 6:46, Jer 10:2).

Psa 33:16  There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. 
Psa 33:17  An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. 

Eze 14:6  Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. 
Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself: 

Jer 10:2  Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

1Ki 22:6  Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

Ahab gathering four hundred men, who were prophets, is a symbol of how the whole stay of bread (4×10) and water can be taken away even from the prophets of God (Isa 3:1-5,  Mat 24:24) who have come with a lying spirit, as God intended. The lesson for God’s elect is to try the spirits whether they are of God even if they come as an angel of light (2Co 11:14). We do this by going to God’s word and by listening to “Micaiah the son of Imlah” who typifies Christ and His elect bride who have remained faithful to the commandments of God, listening to the voice of the true shepherd saying, “Let God be true and every man a liar” (400 prophets – Rom 3:4) as was the case in this story. When God wants a nation or individual to be deceived, He takes away the truth from Judah and Jerusalem, by the many divergent ways expressed after that first verse of Isaiah 3:1 (Isa 3:1-5).

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, 
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, 
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. 
Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. 
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. 

In this case, it was the four hundred united voices of the prophets that God used to convince Ahab and Jehoshaphat to make war against Syria. Seeing we know God does not change (Mal 3:6), it will be by the same means that God will ultimately bring Gog and Magog from the four corners of the world up against the holy city to destroy God’s elect (Rev 20:8).

1Ki 22:7  And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him? 
1Ki 22:8  And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. 
1Ki 22:9  Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah. 

Jehoshaphat is willing to ask if there is any other prophet “that we might enquire of him.” Ahab reluctantly says, “(Yes) yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD.” He makes sure Jehoshaphat knows how he feels about Micaiah: “but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” By this comment Ahab reveals the murderous spirit that was in him (1Jn 3:15). Neither of these two kings who have joined forces have in type and shadow passed from death to life which can only be accomplished through Christ (1Jn 3:13-14). So God has moved king Jehoshaphat to ask Ahab, which caused him to go get Micaiah. Now they both (2 = witness) are without excuse when they finally carried out an attack on Syria despite the warning that God would deliver to them through his faithful prophet “Micaiah (who is like Jehovah) the son of Imlah (replenish).” (PNB-kjv)

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

1Ki 22:10  And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. 
1Ki 22:11  And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the LORD, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them. 
1Ki 22:12  And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king’s hand. 

The “king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne” showing that this was a joint effort that these two kings were getting involved in, and it was all being deliberated “in a void placeH1637 in the entrance of the gate of Samaria.” The symbolism of “a void place” is important to notice as it reminds us that these two kings were being judged by the Lord at a void place that means ‘threshing floor’, which in biblical terms represents a place of judgment. They were certainly void of God’s counsel in their lives and were now going to be visited by God’s prophet of whom they will inquire with hearts that were already made up regarding what they were going to do.

There is already a persistent spirit around the kings from all the prophets that were falsely prophesying before them both, along with “Zedekiah (righteousness of Jehovah [PNB-kjv]) the son of Chenaanah (humiliated [PNB-kjv]) [who had] made him horns of iron“, representing the false prophets’ power in their own flesh that generates lies like this one: “Thus saith the LORD, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.” This was the circus-like atmosphere that “Micaiah the son of Imlah” walked into where all the false prophets were in accord: “all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king’s hand.“

1Ki 22:13  And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.
1Ki 22:14  And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak. 

Now that we’ve been shown the spirit which surrounds the two kings, Ahab and Jehoshaphat, we learn of the warning that was given to “Micaiah” from the messenger who was sent from Ahab: “Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.” Micaiah is not going to pay any heed to this messenger and tells him straightway he will declare the whole counsel of God saying, “As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.“

1Ki 22:15  So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king. 
1Ki 22:16  And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD? 
1Ki 22:17  And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.

Keeping in mind the scene that Micaiah is walking into, and having already heard clearly what he knows Ahab has heard, Micaiah sounds like he’s agreeing with the prophets that they should go and do battle. However, there’s no doubt he was being sarcastic with Ahab, who agrees and therefore says: “How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?” Then the truth comes out, a witness given for us to heed, when Micaiah faithfully tells him what the Lord intended him to say  for our sakes: “And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.“

Note that Micaiah did not lie in either case. First, he seems to tell Ahab what he wants to hear and then seems to contradict himself, but for the elect, we need to hear what he actually says. “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd“… (Therefore Ahab, go ahead, it’s a done deal!)… That is a shadow of how Christ spoke first to the Pharisees and scribes, only revealing the hidden meaning to His apostles (Mar 11:28-33, Mat 28:18).

Mar 11:27-28  And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authorityG1849 to do these things? 

Mar 11:33  And they [the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders] answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authorityG1849 I do these things.

Mat 28:16-18  Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All powerG1849  is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

1Ki 22:18  And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? 

All the fanfare of Babylon won’t change the truth one iota, represented by all this activity around the two kings of Judah and Israel. No matter how many people say otherwise, the truth will prevail through those whom God has ordained to be sent to bring that true gospel message in this age, which is what this story represents (Mat 16:18). Notice that Ahab does not take heed to this message, even though it is the one that will bring safety and security to the nation. He instead tells us where our heart is until it’s not (the first man Adam) by saying: “Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?“

1Ki 22:19  And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. 
1Ki 22:20  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. 
1Ki 22:21  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. 
1Ki 22:22  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. 
1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee. 

Micaiah goes so far as to explain how this has all been ordained of the Lord to send these prophets who would have a lying spirit put in their mouths, which was how the LORD was going to speak this evil concerning Ahab, to lead him into this battle that would lead to his demise. Micaiah gave God the glory and said with all truth, “This is of the Lord, Ahab, listen! God is sovereign, your day of judgment has come and you’re going to be persuaded by these lying spirits that will lead to your demise.” Yet, instead of being thankful for these words and works of the true prophet, they are rejected by both kings as well as the surrounding false prophets who have heard what he had to say from the LORD (Isa 3:1 rejected and hated for his name’s sake – Mat 10:22).

1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 

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.

1Ki 22:24  But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee? 

These words of “Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah” were prophetic in their nature and remind us of the men who held Jesus and mocked him and smote him in Luke 22:63-64. The actions against Micaiah were against Christ himself and is something that happened and was written for our sakes upon whom the end of the ages is come (1Co 10:11), both to remind us of our guilt of the blood of the prophets that are required of the elect’s generation (Luk 11:50-51). We are also reminded how we in turn become the ones who are persecuted by the world when we become one with the body of Christ. Paul tells king Agrippa that very thing in his witness to him of the changes that started to take place in his life from the road to Damascus experience going forward (Act 9:5, Act 26:1-12, Act 26:13-14).

Luk 22:63  And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.
Luk 22:64  And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? 

Act 26:10  Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. 
Act 26:11  And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Act 26:13  At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. 
Act 26:14  And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

1Ki 22:25  And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.

Right after Micaiah is unjustly smote by “Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah” he continues to prophesy and says to Ahab that when these things unfold, he would go and hide himself in “an inner chamber”. The inner chamber is a symbol of seeking solace with ‘another Jesus’, just as Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah reveals to us by the very meaning of his name (righteousness of another Jehovah the son of humiliated). The real Christ is not found there (Mat 24:23-26).

Mat 24:23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25  Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

1Ki 22:26  And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son; 
1Ki 22:27  And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.

These last few verses of our study explain how the world will react to a faithful witness of Christ. Yet, Christ tells us not to fear any of the things we are going to suffer in this life, and these events happening to Micaiah are typical of those events that will happen to those that have been predestined to overcome and endure until the end through Christ (Rev 2:10).

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

1Ki 22:28  And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you. 
1Ki 22:29  So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead.

One last witness and warning from Micaiah’s mouth before being led into prison admonishes them that if these events don’t unfold, then he is indeed a false prophet who has been deceived by the Lord  (Deu 18:22, Eze 14:9). He does not sway from obeying the LORD and His words.

Deu 18:22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

It is obvious at this point that Ahab and Jehoshaphat do not want to hear the words of a true prophet, Micaiah in this case, but would rather listen to smooth words being deceived by the Lord, else they would have never gone “up to Ramothgilead” (high mounds of testimony – PNB – kjv).

Isa 30:8  Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: 
Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

In our next study we will see the outcome of all these prophesied events of punishment that was going to come upon Ahab for the reasons explained in the last verse of the chapter (1Ki 22:53).

1Ki 22:53  For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the LORD God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

]]> The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 11:1-12 Though They Cry Unto Me I Will Not Listen https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-111-12-though-they-cry-unto-me-i-will-not-listen/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-book-of-jeremiah-jer-111-12-though-they-cry-unto-me-i-will-not-listen Sun, 13 Jun 2021 02:01:06 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=23716

Jer 11:1-12 Though They Cry Unto Me I Will Not Listen

[Study Aired June 13, 2021]

Jer 11:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 11:2  Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
Jer 11:3  And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,
Jer 11:4  Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:
Jer 11:5  That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.
Jer 11:6  Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.
Jer 11:7  For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
Jer 11:8  Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.
Jer 11:9  And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Jer 11:10  They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
Jer 11:11  Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
Jer 11:12  Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

Throughout the prophets, each prophet reminds us to whom it is that “the Word of the Lord [comes]”:

Jer 11:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 11:2  Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

“The Word that [comes] to Jeremiah” is the Word that comes to you and to me. Jeremiah, along with all the prophets of the Old Testament, typifies the Lord’s elect. They alone are given ‘eyes that see and ears that hear’:

Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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.

Jeremiah and all the Old Testament prophets typify those to whom the word of God comes in this age. The entire nation of Israel is typified by the multitudes who came to Christ to hear His parables, eat His loaves and fishes and be healed by Him. “But to them it is not given… to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” Those who are blessed with ‘eyes that see and ears that hear’ are called to be judged and purged of their sins and their false doctrines and rebellions against their Lord in this age (1Pe 4:17, Rev 1:3, Rev 14:6-13, Rev 15:8).

So what is ‘the Word of the Lord’ to Jeremiah and to you and me?

Jer 11:3  And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,
Jer 11:4  Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:

In this study we will learn that “obey[ing]… the words of this covenant” and “obey[ing] not the words of this covenant” typifies and foreshadows obedience/disobedience to the new covenant. This phrase, “The words of this covenant” here in verse 13 referred originally to the old covenant. Our Reformer, Christ, has revealed that the entire economy of the ancient nation of Israel was a type and a shadow of His reforms and His new covenant, which  is “not according to the covenant

Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Heb 8:8  For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

In the next chapter of Hebrews, Paul makes clear that the entire Old Testament economy was a type and shadow of Christ’s new covenant:

Heb 9:9  Which [the original tabernacle (vs 8)] was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Christ came to be a high priest of good things to come “by a greater and more perfect tabernacle”. Where is this “greater and more perfect tabernacle [by which] Christ [became] an high priest of good things to come?” Where is this ‘tabernacle’? “Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands” refers to us as the place of His dwelling, and the law of Moses and all the events in ancient Israel leading up to the giving of that law were mere types and shadows of Christ and His Christ, His ‘tabernacle’, through whom He has come to be our high priest.

Paul elsewhere puts this same message in these words:

Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Of course, Christ died for our sins and “all things are for [our] sakes”, but that is not what is being said in this verse. The two occurrences of the word ‘for’ in this verse are the Greek word ‘dia’, G1223. ‘Dia’ is the Greek word from which we derive our English word ‘diameter’. This is Strong’s definition for this word:

Our heavenly Father saw us in Christ before He ever created Christ (Rev 3:14). Our heavenly Father does not think of Christ without us to the extent that He tells us that “all things are for our sakes”:

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by [Greek: ‘dia’, through – G1223] Jesus, and shall present us with you.
2Co 4:15  For all things are for [Greek: ‘dia’, through – G1223] your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

If we put Romans 4:25 together with this verse, it is not at all adding to the scripture to read 1Co 4:14 in this way: “Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus [through our justification] shall raise up us also [through] Jesus and shall present us with you.”

Romans 4:25 and 2Corinthians 4:14-15 are both telling us that Christ was “delivered through our offences and was raised again through our justification. What this tells us is that all of this was planned by our heavenly Father “before the world began” (2Ti 1:9 and Tit 1:2), and it was all prefigured through ancient Israel, through the law of Moses and through the entire economy of that time.

Heb 10:1  For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Heb 10:2  For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Heb 10:3  But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Heb 10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Heb 10:5  Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

The “body” being prepared for Christ and His Father is His church. It is you and me if we are granted ‘eyes that see and ears that hear the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven’ (Mat 13:9-15).

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

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

Now, with this knowledge we can understand why Christ told us:

Luk 16:16  The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

John’s ministry was the bridge between the old and new covenants, but John was under the law of Moses and did not partake of Christ’s new covenant. Therefore, Christ make this revolutionary statement which few believe even until this day:

Luk 7:28  For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Christ also told us that the physical manna of the Old Testament was merely a type of Himself and His doctrines.

In Hebrews 9 and 10 we are being told that the physical tabernacle and the physical temple were types of His true tabernacle and His true temple which we are:

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

The most difficult type for us to see and grasp as a mere shadow of “the True” is that the law of Moses is just a type and shadow of the covenant Christ is making with us. As with all shadows and types, unless we are given eyes that see, we will inevitably mistake the shadow and type for the reality which it prefigures. Such spiritual blindness is God’s tool to keep the masses from seeing and perceiving His True Covenant, which the first covenant foreshadowed. So, the covenant the Lord made with Israel, the covenant of which Jeremiah speaks in this 11th chapter, is not the covenant Christ is making with us. That old covenant, with its blessings and its curses, typifies the new covenant which Christ is bringing to us with its blessings and its curses:

Jer 11:5  That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.

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

That is to be our prayer… “So be it, O Lord… Not my will but Thine be done”.

We know that even our sins are an integral part of the work the Lord is doing to drag us to Himself:

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

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

We are just as guilty of sinning against the new covenant as ancient Israel was of sinning against the old covenant. We cannot remain under that old covenant and expect to reap the benefits and blessings of being obedient to the words of the new covenant.

When the rich young ruler asked Christ:

Luk 18:18  And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Christ’s answer was:

Luk 18:20  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Luk 18:21  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Luk 18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Luk 18:23  And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful:  for he was very rich [very self-righteous in ”the righteousness which is in the law”].

Matthew calls this “certain ruler” a “young man” (Mat 19:20). Christ told this young man that keeping the law outwardly was nowhere near enough to “inherit eternal life”. When Christ told this young ruler, “Yet lackest you one thing: sell all that thou hast…” He is not requiring him to forsake his wife and children. None of the apostles were required to forsake their responsibilities to their families to follow Christ. While we are not given the details, we are told that Christ healed Peter’s wife’s mother of a fever, and we are told:

1Ti 5:8  But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

What Christ is telling this young ruler, and what He is telling us, is that we, too, must divest ourselves of our own self-righteousness and give it to those who are destitute of the Truth. Give it “unto the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven…” When we give our own self-righteousness to those who are spiritually poor, we are giving up what we thought was ours to others who think they, too, are righteous “according to the law [of Moses]:

Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Deu 6:25  And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

The great lesson of the book of Job is that none of us is righteous of ourselves, rather we are all just naturally self-righteous, and like Job we must come to see ourselves as vile, and we must recognize that what makes us so very ‘vile’ is our insidious self-righteousness, which always leads us to condemn our own Creator and heavenly Father for our fiery trials with which He is in the process of humbling us:

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?

Like the rich young ruler and as Job, when we see ourselves as being righteous by our own will, then we see no need for God to judge and chasten and scourge us. When we see ourselves in that light, we are the “ninety and nine [who] need no repentance”:

Luk 15:4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Luk 15:5  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luk 15:6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
Luk 15:7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which [self-righteously think they] need no repentance.

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

When Christ told the rich young ruler to “come and follow me” what He was requiring of this man, and what He is requiring of each of us, is to believe and live our lives in accordance with His “…but I say unto you…” doctrines which directly contradict the law of Moses… “love thine enemies” versus “hate thine enemies”; “turn the other cheek” versus “eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth”. These are just a couple of the beginning changes Christ made to the law of Moses which is later revealed to be merely “a carnal commandment… [with nothing more than] a shadow of good things to come”:

Heb 7:16  Who [Christ… “our high priest”] is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

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

It is this “shadow of good things to come” to which our next verses refer:

Jer 11:6  Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.
Jer 11:7  For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

Yes, it is true that at this time Jeremiah is referring to the old covenant, but he and his prophecies are “a shadow of good things to come” and that “Good Thing” is Christ and His new covenant”, which we are to “hear… and do… and obey.” He is “even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice”.

Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Just as with our original parents, the Lord’s method of operation is to give us commandments which He knows we will not obey. The Truth is that He ‘makes us to err from His ways and He hardens our hearts from His fear’ so that we cannot even see or hear His words:

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

Rom 11:8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day.

It is all summarized as “an experience of evil” for which He can judge us and destroy our rebellious old man who wants to remain under the first covenant and maintain his own righteousness. As we will see, the Lord reveals to us that we are in reality incapable of doing anything – good or evil – of ourselves.

Jer 11:8  Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.

These words are just as applicable to the new covenant and to us as they were to ancient Israel’s disobedience of the old covenant. The Lord will not give us His strength to be obedient to “the things that [He] says” until after He has demonstrated to us beyond any doubt that we do not have it within us to obey His Words. In and of ourselves this is what is within us:

Jer 11:9  And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Jer 11:10  They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.

We may well want to be obedient to the things Christ commands us to do, but the “one lawgiver” has “made us to err from His ways and has hardened our hearts from His fear” (Isa 63:17) by placing within our flesh, within “[our] members… the law of sin”, which brings us all, “to [our] wits’ end” (Psa 107:27).

This is what we are up against before the Lord “teaches [Greek: ‘paideuo’, chastens] us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts” (Tit 2:11-12):

Rom 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law [the ten commandments] had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 7:8  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
Rom 7:9  For I was [considered myself to be] alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Rom 7:10  And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Rom 7:12  Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Rom 7:13  Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14  For we know that the law [of Christ] is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin [under the law of Moses].
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 [No free will, but slaves to sin].
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.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do [No free will].
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

We have just twice been told “it is no more I that do it”, referring to our sins. That is how the Lord fulfills this next verse within each of us. He does so through a law which He has placed “in [our] members” from our mother’s womb, and there is but “one lawgiver”:

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

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who [through His laws] is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

It is this “law of sin in [our] members [which brings us to] our wits’ end”:

Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

It is only at this point that we all, with the apostle Paul, are made to cry out in desperation to the Lord:

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself [my “new man] serve the law of God; but with the flesh [my old man] the law of sin.

1Jn 3:9  Whosoever is born of God [“I myself”, my new man] doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

This is all addressed to those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 13:9-15). Paul had just clarified to whom he was speaking:

Rom 7:1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another [“another man”, with another law], even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5  For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6  But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Look at those words, “Ye also are become dead to the law by the [physical] body of Christ”. To what end? “That ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” There we have the mind of Christ on this subject. Christ’s flesh and our flesh is “another man” which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. These words here in Romans 7 are the basis for this statement from Paul in 2nd Corinthians:

2Co 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2Co 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more [after the flesh].
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.

Christ had His Father’s spirit ‘without measure… from His mother’s womb’. Yet the risen Christ is “another man”. Each of us who will be given “the purchased possession”, meaning a part in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, are becoming ‘another man’ which we are now in “earnest”, in down payment form:

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
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 [Greek: ‘down payment’] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession [that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”], unto the praise of his glory.

I must repeat that the Lord will not give us His strength to be obedient to “the things that [He] says” until after He has demonstrated to us beyond any doubt that we do not of ourselves have it within us to obey His Words. That is the meaning of our last verses of our study today:

Jer 11:11  Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
Jer 11:12  Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

Yes indeed! That is exactly how it is when we are on the raging seas of our rebellious, carnal life, and being brought to our wits’ end. That storm is not our doing. It is a work of the Lord Himself. That God-ordained storm in our lives is what it takes to drag us to “[our] wits’ end], and make us to cry out to the Lord, “Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” At that time, the Lord Himself has forsaken us and does not hear us as we are brought to face the fact that our false doctrines, the idols of our hearts, are doing nothing to give us any relief from the desperate straits in which we find ourselves.

If we are blessed to be given eyes that see and ears that hear these mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in this age, then our calling is to be “hated of all men” including our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, families and friends, and our old man is just naturally repulsed by such a thought. Yet Christ was clear about what we should expect if we are given to be His witnesses in this age:

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat 10:18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles [“all men”].
Mat 10:19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Mat 10:20  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
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.

Every great leader among men recognizes the crisis of His time, and he challenges those he is given to lead to face that crisis and to overcome all obstacles which are in the way. Great leaders, such as Christ, do not promise their followers coffee and doughnuts while they are struggling to overcome the crisis they face. Rather, a great leader prepares those he leads for the challenges that lie ahead.

Christ is the greatest of all leaders, “the captain of [our] salvation”:

Heb 2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Heb 2:10  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

That is why He tells us right up front, “Ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake”, then goes on to be much more specific about what we can expect if we are blessed to be given to follow in His steps:

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
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.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 10:40  He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Every great leader also gives those he challenges to follow Him an incentive to do so.

Mat 10:41  He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
Mat 10:42  And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

The apostle Peter later asked the Lord to be more specific about what rewards lay ahead for those who followed Him. Peter’s inquiry was after Christ invited the rich young ruler to follow Him, and after that young man refused Christ’s offer Peter wanted to know what exactly would those who give up all for Christ receive in return for their sacrifice:

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the [first] regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Mat 19:30  But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

Christ promises us, “…he that endures to the end shall be saved [from the white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death, Rev 20:11-15], and in the beginning of the 20th chapter of Revelation we are promised to be placed as the judges over the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years, followed by the judgment of Satan and all of his angels, including all of mankind in the “lake of fire”.

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
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.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

“Judgment is given to them” only who have already been judged in this present time:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves [in “this present time” – Rom 8:18], we should not be judged [In “the resurrection of damnation” G2920: ‘krisis’, judgment].

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [first resurrection]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920: ‘krisis’ same word translated as ‘judgment’ in verse 27].

Why is the first ‘resurrection’ here called “the resurrection of life”? The answer is that this is the one resurrection in which those being resurrected were already judged in “this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings [judgment] of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you [in “this present time”, Rom 8:18], as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

There are great rewards awaiting those who love the Lord’s judgments. Those whose names are in the book of life will be given a crown of life, and they will be kings and priests who will rule with Christ a thousand years, after which they will judge those who are cast into the lake of fire.

That is why the Lord caused Isaiah to minister not to himself but to us (1Pe 1:12) these words:

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

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.

Thank the Lord for His judgments against our old man, “the way of [which] judgments” we will learn more in our next study, which will cover these last 11 verses of this 11th chapter:

Jer 11:13  For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
Jer 11:14  Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
Jer 11:15  What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.
Jer 11:16  The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
Jer 11:17  For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
Jer 11:18  And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.
Jer 11:19  But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
Jer 11:20  But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
Jer 11:21  Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:
Jer 11:22  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:
Jer 11:23  And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

]]> Why Was Eve Deceived but Not Adam? https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/why-was-eve-deceived-but-not-adam/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-was-eve-deceived-but-not-adam Mon, 21 Jul 2014 23:45:28 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=8055

Dear Mike,

I am reading over your article, The Head of Christ is God, and going on the assumption that you appreciate comments from readers like me, I would like to share my view about Adam and Eve with you. It could be that I am too sheltered, but I have not come across this view of mine about God’s mercy in the “fall” anywhere (and I have heard a lot of sermons in my time). A song I have been listening to for years by John Michael Talbot (a Catholic monk) called “The Shepherd Boy” helped me to see the spiritual meaning of Eve’s deception and Adam accepting her sin, symbolized by the fruit of the tree. After hearing the song many times, I somehow made the connection between the shepherd boy in the song and Adam who loved his wife so much that he took her sin. Eve was just the first to be deceived/beguiled.

Rom 7:11  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived <1818> me, and by it slew me.

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled <1818> Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

I noticed that Adam was found guilty of two things:  1) taking the fruit and 2) hearkening unto his wife. I found that “hearkening” by Adam, and others such as Abraham (another type of Christ) when he hearkened unto Sarah’s plea for a child by Hagar, is the doctrine of Mercy. As a type of Christ, I believe Adam was showing mercy to Eve. The whole matter of Eve’s deception – and Adam not being deceived – suddenly made wonderful sense to me, from seeing the spiritual side of the first sin.

Thank you for reading.

In Christ,

A____

Hi A____,

Thank you for sharing this with me. I very much agree that Adam knew what he was doing, and he placed his love for Eve above his own spiritual life and his standing with Christ, bringing the plan of God into action to have all who are in Adam subject to death.

Since we had no choice in that decision, and since Adam’s days were all written in God’s book, before there were any of them, God already had Christ “in [His] book… slain from the foundation of the world” as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world and not just for the sins of His elect in this age:

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. 

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Those two verses make the meaning of “as in Adam all die” to mean just what they say. “In Christ” is not exclusive of anyone. “Not for ours only [who are] in Christ, but for the sins of the whole world”.

This is reiterated by the apostle Paul:

1Ti 4:10  For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially [not ‘exclusively] of them that believe.
1Ti 4:11  These things command and teach.

“These things command and teach”. Have you ever heard a sermon commanding and teaching that “Christ is the Savior of all men, specially of them that believe”? Has any minister ever shown you the scripture that teaches that “[Christ] is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world”?

Those are just a few of the many dozens of verses of scripture which teach that God is in Christ bringing His entire creation, whose days He has already written in His book, to Himself through Christ, just as He gave all men over to death through “the first man Adam”.

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 

These words are “not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world”.

What is missing in the doctrine of so many who come to see the Biblical teaching of the salvation of all is the means of producing that salvation. That means is through symbolic “fiery trials” in this age, and through a symbolic “lake of fire” in the coming age. It is fire that will save all men by destroying the old man and birthing the new man. This principle applies to “every man” who has ever lived:

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.

So what is it that God’s judgments accomplish?

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.

God’s judgments are ultimately for one purpose only:

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world [to the “great white throne… judgment”].

God’s chastening judgments do not exclude the “great white throne… judgment”:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

It is the fact so many universalists leave out the entire subject of judgment which causes them to corrupt the doctrine of universal salvation.

I hope this helps you to see that just as Adam knew that he was laying his life down for his love of his wife, Eve, so to Christ has laid down His life to redeem all who are in Adam, through His death and resurrection to live His life of dying to this world in the lives of His elect of this age.

Here is another verse you may never have seen:

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

Your brother who is praying to be granted to suffer with and to be glorified with our Lord:

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

Mike

 

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