“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility” Part 1

(Aired on June 26, 2025)

Pro 15:1  A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Pro 15:2  The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
Pro 15:3  The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Pro 15:4  A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
Pro 15:5  A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.
Pro 15:6  In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.
Pro 15:7  The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.
Pro 15:8  The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Pro 15:9  The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
Pro 15:10  Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.
Pro 15:11  Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
Pro 15:12  A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise.
Pro 15:13  A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Pro 15:14  The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.
Pro 15:15  All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

There is a main theme in this fifteenth chapter of proverbs that has to do with the humbling experiences of this life that makes me think of (Ecc 1:13) which reads:

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it. (CLV)

As we learn to apply our hearts by “inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens”, our own heavens are going to be humbled under His mighty hand (1Pe 5:6-8, Mat 23:12), as we come to see ourselves as a corrupt beast (Ecc 3:18) that needs to have God’s judgments come upon us through His word, which will heal us via the baptisms into Christ’s death that we are called unto, as we die daily (1Pe 4:17-18, Psa 107:20, Rom 6:3-4).

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

It takes the fiery trials of this life (1Pe 4:12) that God prepares our hearts to endure (1Co 10:13) for something new in Christ to be formed (2Co 5:17). It is that beaten gold that is everywhere in the temple that we are (1Co 3:16), which represents His workmanship that has been fashioned by God through Christ, symbolized also as a bride, new Jerusalem, that comes down from heaven (Eph 2:10, Rev 21:2).

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

This process of judgement that God’s elect must go through in order to become that fitly framed bride happens as a result of light coming out of darkness as we’ve seen explained over and over in these proverbs. The many members that make up the bride are being placed in the body of Christ exactly where our Father has determined that we fit (1Co 12:18). It is in a humbled state of life, which comes as result of God’s chastening and scourging of His sons and daughters, that the bride will be made ready (Heb 12:6-7, Rev 19:7).

1Co 12:18  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

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

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

Let us be glad and rejoice as we build ourselves up in our most holy faith (Jud 1:20), the faith of Christ that God has mercifully given to us, along with His strength so we can endure all things, and be saved by His mighty hand (Rom 8:37-39, 1Jn 5:14, Heb 10:35-36, 1Jn 5:4-5).

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

1Jn 5:14  And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Pro 15:1  A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Pro 15:2  The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.

Christ’s exemplary life gives us hope that, with the same spirit within us (Luk 2:51-52, Isa 50:6, 2Pe 3:18, 1Jn 4:17), we can, with all humility as Christ did, also turn away the wrath, the grievous word of those who come up against us, to try to provoke us unto anger (Rom 12:21, Luk 18:1).

Luk 2:51  And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
Luk 2:52  And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

Isa 50:6  I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

The key is the soft answer as Christ demonstrated against Satan in the wilderness, not being angry at his adversary but realizing this was all a work of God that was proving him as God’s only begotten son through whom we have become more than conquerors (Mat 4:3-4, Php 4:13, 1Jn 4:17).

Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which

Christ did not just have the knowledge, the wisdom and stature that he grew into (Luk 2:52), but also committed his judgement unto God so that he would always know how to deal with the mouth of fools that pour out foolishness (Joh 5:30, Joh 20:21, Pro 26:4-5). It was the word of God that gave him victory over the adversary and it is the word of God in our lives that will give us the same victory Lord willing (Jas 4:13-15).

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

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

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

Pro 15:3  The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

God is omniscient, God is omnipresent (Rev 19:6), and He has called the elect to endure in seeing Him who is invisible and has eyes in every place (Heb 11:27), with whom nothing is hidden with whom we have to do (Heb 4:13).

Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

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.

It is by the ripping of the vail of this carnal mind, which must die daily, that we see more clearly through a glass darkly (1Co 13:12) the one who we serve who created both the light and darkness, the evil and the peace (Isa 45:7), the severity and the goodness of life (Rom 11:22).

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1Co 13:13  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity (God is omniscient, God is omnipresent, and God is love 1Jn 4:7-8, 1Jn 4:16, Rom 5:5).

Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1Jn 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (Rom 8:28).

Pro 15:4  A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
Pro 15:5  A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.

The “tree of life” is Christ in us our hope of glory (Col 1:27) who can give us the power to bridle this tongue that is impossible to rule over without His life within us opening up the seals that contain the plagues that must be poured out upon us in order to overcome the “perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit”.

Lord willing we will not despise his chastening that burns out that breach, and be granted to show the same love toward one another (Joh 14:21, Rom 5:5-8). Christ in us can mature us to become prudent sons and daughters who regard his reproof and don’t despise it (Pro 15:32)

Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Pro 15:32  He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Rom 5:6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.(1Pe 4:18)

Pro 15:6  In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.
Pro 15:7  The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.

The good treasure that is in our house is the righteousness of Christ with a relationship that we have with our Lord where we can worship our Father in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:23). Nothing could be more valuable than this privilege that God has given His children, to be seated in the heavens with Jesus Christ, even today (Eph 2:6). This is where we lay up treasure in heaven, “In the house of the righteous is much treasure”(Psa 84:4, Mat 6:20), a shadow of the promise of the resurrection to life, the blessed and holy first resurrection (Joh 5:29, Rev 20:6).

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

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Psa 84:4  Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

Conversely if we are not growing in the mind of Christ and dispersing the words of Life that we are sent out to do in order to bring spiritual healing, then our heart will be that of a fool that is not built upon the rock, Jesus Christ, God’s word (Mat 16:18). Or we may be as the wicked whose knowledge that is laid up is likened unto revenues that will only bring trouble, a foolish and corrupt heart has not been judged and therefore no good fruit can come from that ground that has not been broken (Isa 66:2).

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

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.

Pro 15:8  The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Pro 15:9  The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.

The fervent prayer of the righteous avails much and gives us victory over our deceitful and desperately wicked hearts which are an abomination unto God, and only by mortifying the deeds of the flesh through Christ can we offer up sacrifices that are acceptable unto God, “the prayer of the upright is his delight” (Eph 1:6-7). It is Christ’s life in us that offers up the prayers of the saints, who are led of God’s spirit into the path of righteousness for His name sake and to the glory of God (Rom 8:14-16).

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;

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Pro 15:10  Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.
Pro 15:11  Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
Pro 15:12  A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise.

It’s the scorner, the despiser of God and of those who do good, who does not love God’s reproving of himself, and neither will such a hardened heart go unto his brother to confess his fault or to tell his brother between you and him alone what they have done against Christ (Mat 18:22-28, Mat 18:3, Mat 18:35, Mat 5:24).

When God’s ways are grievous [H7451 = Ra (evil)]  unto us, we must beg God for a spirit of repentance (Jer 36:3, Rom 2:4) so that we don’t forsake the way of God and find ourselves having hated reproof right into the lake of fire (Psa 51:2-3).

Jer 36:3  It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil [H7451 = Ra] which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil [H7451 = Ra] way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

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?

These verses are telling us that nothing is hid from Him, not the unknown to us, “Hell [the grave/death] and destruction [ruin/decay]”, and certainly not what is in our deceitful and wicked hearts (Jer 17:9).  He knows when we are despising His goodness that is leading us unto repentance, and so the solution is to pray for a new heart that is cleansed of the Lord (Psa 51:2-3), kissing the Son of righteousness, and healing yet another breach in the body of Christ (Psa 2:12, Rev 3:3, Rev 3:11)

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.

Rev 3:3  Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

Pro 15:13  A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Pro 15:14  The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.
Pro 15:15  All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

The spirit of man can be broken easily Christ told Peter, ‘sifted as wheat’ is how He put it, and so it is important to understand that vulnerability within each of us and to continue to pray for each other that we don’t lose heart (Luk 18:1). By doing that we can rejoice and again I say rejoice as we draw near to God and resist the devil, making way for “a merry heart” that puts forth a “cheerful countenance”. We may not make the immediate connection but Stephen’s face shining like an angel in the midst of martyrdom is how great God’s power is toward us as he brings us to rejoice and be glad even in the midst of fiery trials (Jas 1:2-3).

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

With an understanding heart we desire to seek knowledge with all our hearts that will be cheered by the revelations that God will bestow upon those who seek him early in this life. If our life is void of His word and we are not coming together often to break bread, we will naturally drift toward having mouths that feed on foolishness, the unprofitable things of this world that are passing and likened unto dung by the apostle Paul (Php 3:8).

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility, and to be partakers of those who have merry hearts that have a continual feast before them we must first be granted to be given victory over the evil experience or evil day of our own lives that God has prepared for our benefit and growth in the Lord (Pro 16:1-2, Pro 16:4, Pro 15:33, Pro 18:12, Pro 22:4).

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Pro 16:2  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.

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

Pro 15:33  The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

Pro 18:12  Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.

Pro 22:4  By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.

Oba 1:8  Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

[Study Aired January 24, 2024]

Oba 1:8  Shall I not^H3808 in that^H1931 day,^H3117 saith^{H5002 (H8803 Qal)} the LORD,^H3068 even destroy^{H6 (H8689 Hiphil)} the wise^H2450 men out of Edom,^{H4480 H123} and understanding^H8394 out of the mount^{H4480 H2022} of Esau?^H6215

H3808 – lo; a primitive particle; not (the simple or abstract negation); by implication no; often used with other particles: –    X before, + or else, ere, + except, ig [-norant], much, less, nay, neither, never, no ([-ne], -r, [-thing]), (X as though . . . , [can-], for) not (out of), of nought, otherwise, out of, + surely, + as truly as, + of a truth, + verily, for want, + whether, without

H1931 – Hoo, he, she, it, himself, that, it (neuter), a primitive word

H3117 – Yome, day, time, year, a working day, a day’s journey, days, lifetime, period (general), today, yesterday, tomorrow, from an unused root meaning to be hot

H5002 – Nehoom, (Qal) utterance, declaration, revelation, from a primitive root H5001, Na’am, to prophesy, utter a prophecy, speak as prophet, say (Used once in OT)

H3068 – Yehovah, Jehovah = the existing one, the proper name of the one true God, unpronounced except with the vowel pointings of 0136 (not found in E-sword) from a primitive root H1961, Hayah, to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come into being, become, arise, appear, come, become, become like, be instituted, be established, be in existence, abide, remain, continue, stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated, accompany, be with, occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about, be done, be finished, be gone

H6 – Abad, (Hiphil) to destroy, put to death, of divine judgment, a primitive root

H2450 – Khakahm, wise, skilful, shrewd, crafty, cunning, wily, subtle, learned, prudent, from a primitive root H2449, Khakam, to be wise, to be or become wise, act wisely, to make wise, teach wisdom, instruct, to be made wise, to show oneself wise, deceive, show one’s wisdom

H4480 – Min, from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than, some of, after (of time), from…even to, both…and, either…or, too much for, through, because, from H4482, Mane, musical chord, a stringed instrument from an unused root to apportion

H123 – Edom, red, descendants of Esau, land of Edom, Idumea – land south and south east of Palestine, from H122 Adom, red, ruddy (of man, horse, heifer, garment, water, lentils), from H119 Adam, to be red, ruddy, be rubbed red, dyed red, reddened, cause to show red, glare, of unknown derivation

H8394 – Tahboon, understanding, intelligence, the act/faculty of understanding, skill, insight, the object of knowledge, teacher, from a primitive root H995, Bene, to discern, understand, consider, perceive, understand, know, observe, mark, give heed to, distinguish, have discernment/insight/ understanding, be discerning/intelligent/discreet, cause to understand, give understanding, teach, show oneself discerning or attentive, consider diligently, instruct, prudent, regard

H4480 – see above

H2022 – Har, hill, mountain, hill country, mount, a shortened form of H2042, Harar, mountain, hill, hill country, mount, from an unused root meaning to loom up

H6215 – Esav, hairy, apparently a form of a primitive root H6213, Asah, to do, fashion, accomplish, make, work, produce, to deal with, act, act with effect, effect, prepare, attend to, put in order, observe, celebrate, acquire, appoint, ordain, institute, bring about, use, spend, pass, be done, be made, be produced, be offered, be observed, be used, be made, to press, squeeze

Here is the Young’s Literal translation of Obadiah 1:8

“Is it not in that day—an affirmation of Jehovah, That I have destroyed the wise out of Edom, And understanding out of the mount of Esau?” (YLT)

The “wise out of Edom” will be destroyed, and the word used for wise is H2450 (khaw-kawm’) meaning wise, cunning or subtil. The word is first used in Genesis:

Gen 41:8  And it cometh to pass in the morning, that his spirit is moved, and he sendeth and calleth all the scribes of Egypt, and all its wise men (H2450), and Pharaoh recounteth to them his dream, and there is no interpreter of them to Pharaoh.

There is a positive and negative application of wisdom. In the positive sense, wisdom is an essential characteristic for rulership. It is because Joseph had God’s spirit, the Pharaoh considered him wise, and therefore appointed him as a ruler.

Gen 41:38  and Pharaoh saith unto his servants, ‘Do we find like this, a man in whom the spirit of God is ?’
Gen 41:39  and Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, ‘After God’s causing thee to know all this, there is none intelligent and wise as thou;
Gen 41:40  thou—thou art over my house, and at thy mouth do all my people kiss; only in the throne I am greater than thou.‘
Gen 41:41  And Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, ‘See, I have put thee over all the land of Egypt.

We see a contrast in scripture between the wisdom of men (the wise men of Edom, the sorcerers and magicians of Egypt) and the Wisdom of Christ. Here is how God views the wisdom of men, which is earthly and carnal:

Jer 9:23  Thus said Jehovah: Let not the wise boast himself in his wisdom, Nor let the mighty boast himself in his might, Let not the rich boast himself in his riches,
Jer 9:24  But—in this let the boaster boast himself, In understanding and knowing Me, For I am Jehovah, doing kindness, Judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, For in these I have delighted, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Jer 9:25  Lo, days are coming—an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have laid a charge on all circumcised (H4135) in the foreskin,
Jer 9:26  On Egypt, and on Judah, and on Edom, And on the sons of Ammon, and on Moab, And on all cutting the corner of the beard , Who are dwelling in the wilderness, For all the nations are uncircumcised, And all the house of Israel are uncircumcised (H6189) in heart!

The word used for uncircumcised is H6189 (aw-rale’) meaning exposed. On the other hand, the word for circumcised H4153 (mool) means to destroy. The spiritual implication is our hearts are circumcised/destroyed as in the verse from Joel, so that we may be made anew.

Jol 2:13  And rend (revile, tear) your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God 

We are privileged to have judgment now on the house of God as He tears down the earthly wisdom and destroys the false doctrines in our lives we have inherited from Babylon and Satan, the father of lies. This is all carried out for the purpose of humbling us.

Ecc 3:10  I have seen the travail that God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

The process of destroying “the wise out of Edom” is the same as Jacob supplanting Esau. Our carnal wisdom is supplanted by Christ’s wisdom. Here is how the Lord’s wisdom is described.

Pro 4:5  Get wisdom, get understanding, Do not forget, nor turn away From the sayings of my mouth.
Pro 4:6  Forsake her not, and she doth preserve thee, Love her, and she doth keep thee.
Pro 4:7  The first thing is wisdom—get wisdom, And with all thy getting get understanding.
Pro 4:8  Exalt her, and she doth lift thee up, She honoureth thee, when thou dost embrace her.
Pro 4:9  She giveth to thy head a wreath of grace, A crown of beauty she doth give thee freely.

Wisdom is described in the feminine because Jesus is God’s wife, signifying his wisdom is in submission to his father. The wisdom of Jesus was still obedient to his Father in the garden of Gethsemane.

Mat 26:39  And having gone forward a little, he fell on his face, praying, and saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou.

James 3 describes two types of wisdom: “earthly wisdom” and “wisdom from above”.

Jas 3:15  this wisdom is not descending from above, but earthly, physical, demon-like,
Jas 3:16  for where zeal and rivalry are, there is insurrection and every evil matter;
Jas 3:17  and the wisdom from above, first, indeed, is pure, then peaceable, gentle, easily entreated, full of kindness and good fruits, uncontentious, and unhypocritical: 
Jas 3:18  and the fruit of the righteousness in peace is sown to those making peace. (LSV)

The wisdom of Edom is a high thing that exalts itself against the wisdom from above. We are commanded to cast down these imaginations.

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
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

The high things that exalteth itself against Christ includes the wisdom of Edom. Any doctrine that is contrary to the wisdom from above (against Christ) is anti-Christ. Here is how man’s earthly wisdom is described in Revelation

Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Here are four verses that describe who the antichrist(s) are.

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1Jn 2:22  Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

The Greek word for antichrist is G500 (antichristos) meaning an opponent of the Messiah: the antichrist.

Just as the carnal mind opposes the mind of Christ, anything that is in opposition to Christ’s wisdom is that same “spirit of antichrist”, of which there are many.

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Mat 24:5  for many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they shall lead many astray

This verse in Matthew 24 was one of my first revelations given to me since I started reading the articles on IWWB. I had always thought it meant that false prophets would stand up saying they themselves are Christ, an act that would be easy to discern as false. Instead, this verse speaks of what is happening everyday in the mega churches around the world. Many stand up saying “Jesus Christ” is “the Christ” yet they are preaching a different Jesus. Their Jesus is tainted with the wisdom of Edom. Their Jesus has no concern with the sum of the words of Christ, hence it is to be expected they lead many astray. Not all have been given to eat of the tree of life in this lifetime; this is reserved for a special few, the elect of God.

Pro 3:13  Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
Pro 3:14  For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
Pro 3:15  She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
Pro 3:16  Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
Pro 3:17  Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
Pro 3:18  She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Jesus is the tree of life because His words are life, and He is the Word. 

Mat 7:24  Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock

It is when we truly hear the words of Christ that we begin to overcome the old man and the wisdom of Edom is destroyed [H6: aw-bad’ meaning destroy, perish, blotted out].

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Rev 3:6  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

How do we hear “these words” of Christ? How do we avoid having our name blotted out of the book of life? I grew up in a church that believed we could avoid eternal judgment by inviting Christ into our heart. This invitation could be delivered in seven seconds and was a simple act that assured salvation. The subtlety of this deception makes it extremely convincing, but what it does in essence is the opposite. It places the old man back on the throne saying that he has no need of judgment because he is saved. He now has Jesus Christ in his life because he has chosen to become a follower, and he has made the decision. He is a new creation, all because he, of his own free will, invited Christ into his life. Instead, here is the truth of how we are brought to Christ.

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

The words of Christ impel us to Him and lead us into judgment. It is natural for the flesh to want to escape judgment and remain uncircumcised so we can say what we want and do what we please. However, as the elect, we know how important it is for Christ to rebuke the nations within and destroy the wisdom of Edom.

Psa 9:5  Thou hast rebuked nations, Thou hast destroyed the wicked, Their name Thou hast blotted out to the age and for ever.

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Conclusion and Spiritual Principle: This process of the old man being blotted out is a grievous experience as we are brought to our wits’ end, but, it yields the New Man in us. It is this new man in us that allows us to be partakers of His holiness as we are dragged to eat of the tree of life.

Rev 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it [including the Wisdom of Edom], nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Acts 15:22-41 It Seemed Good to the Holy Ghost and to Us

[Study Aired May 21, 2023]

Act 15:22  Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
Act 15:23  And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Act 15:24  Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
Act 15:25  It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Act 15:26  Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 15:27  We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
Act 15:29  That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Act 15:30  So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:
Act 15:31  Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
Act 15:32  And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
Act 15:33  And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.
Act 15:34  Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.
Act 15:35  Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
Act 15:36  And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.
Act 15:37  And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
Act 15:38  But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.
Act 15:39  And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;
Act 15:40  And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
Act 15:41  And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.

We ended our last study with the judgment of the apostles being to send a letter to the Gentiles which was intended to irradicate the heresy being taught by many believing Jews that the Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. There had been “much disputing” about this question and everyone was given the opportunity to give their own convictions for consideration.

Act 15:7  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

Why was there “much disputing” about this question? The answer is that the heretics, as is always the case, appeared to have the scriptures on their side:

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.

How do all heretics transform themselves into the apostles of Christ? They do so by taking the many blessings poured out upon themselves, His faith and His chastening grace, and using those gifts to cover the idols of their own hearts:

Eze 16:9  Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
Eze 16:10  I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
Eze 16:11  I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
Eze 16:12  And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
Eze 16:13  Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
Eze 16:14  And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 16:15  But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
Eze 16:16  And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

The Lord’s most successful heretics are those He blesses the most outwardly. They give God the credit for their outward blessings, while at the same time refusing to do the things He says we are to do to avoid schisms and heresies among ourselves. By “doing many good works” which really do appear to be selfless, and which do indeed appear to be “the righteousness of saints”, they are given to “deceive many”:

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Luke puts it in these words:

Luk 21:8  And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

The most effective heretics have also been chastened by the Lord and have been through a baptism of fire:

Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Then heretics take the Word of God and twist it by wrapping the Lord’s ‘gold’ and His ‘silver’ (His Words and His Doctrines) around the idols of their own hearts:

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images [doctrines] of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
Eze 16:18  And tookest thy broidered garments [many good works which appeared to be “the righteousness of saints” (Rev 19:8)], and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil [the Lord’s words, which are spirit (Joh 6:63)] and mine incense before them [the idols of your heart].
Eze 16:19  My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, [the Lord’s precious words] wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them [before the idols of your heart] for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

Here is how all of this played out in this first recorded heresy which attempted to divide the apostles themselves. The Lord’s own words were used to cover the idol of their heart, which was physical circumcision is essential to salvation. Here are the Lord’s own words concerning the need for circumcision for anyone to read:

Gen 17:9  And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
Gen 17:10  This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
Gen 17:11  And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
Gen 17:12  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
Gen 17:13  He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
Gen 17:14  And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

Those are clear instructions, and those who were insisting that the Gentiles must be circumcised in order to be saved no doubt also pointed to these words of the Lord:

Deu 13:6  If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
Deu 13:7  Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
Deu 13:8  Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
Deu 13:9  But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

Those are the words for which Saul of Tarsus had been so very zealous. So Saul, whose name is now Paul, was very familiar with their doctrine, as were Peter and Barnabas. Deuteronomy 13 however, is not “the sum” of the Lord’s Words. There are also these words:

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Deu 18:16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

The most striking way in which Christ is “like unto [Moses]” is that both are great reformers. Moses made many profound changes to the way things had been. Before Moses, there was no Aaronic priesthood, no tabernacle, no ark of the covenant, no tithing, and one could offer an offering to God at any time and in any place. Christ, like Moses, was a great reformer, and Moses Himself has prophesied:

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

“Unto Him ye shall hearken” is telling us that He will not be saying the same things Moses said. Both Peter and Paul had been made painfully aware of just how much difference there was between what Moses said and what ‘the prophet like unto Moses’ had said to them.

Peter was three times told to slay and eat unclean creatures which he was made to understand meant that he was no longer to call Gentiles common or unclean, contrary to the doctrine Moses taught which was:

Deu 7:2  And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

Paul had been struck down on the road to Damascus and made blind for three days. At the end of those three days, he willingly accepted that the Christ he was persecuting was that “prophet like unto [Moses]”, and that contrary to Moses’ doctrine, Christ was now sending Saul, soon to be ‘Paul’, to take the gospel to the Gentiles.

At this conference, which was called to consider whether Gentile converts were required to be physically circumcised, Peter, speaking for himself, and Paul and Barnabas, made it clear that the three of them believed that God “put no difference between us [Jews] and them [Gentiles] purifying their hearts by faith” and not by being physically circumcised nor by keeping the law of Moses.

The rest of the apostles and elders agreed with Peter, Paul, and Barnabas that the Gentiles did not need to be physically circumcised, but they did not agree with them that the Jews did not need to continue to be circumcised and keep the law. They all felt that the Jews must continue to be circumcised and keep the law.  At this conference we must notice and follow the example of all the apostles who all submitted themselves and their convictions to the consensus of their leaders as we are all commanded to do:

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

Being persuaded of and deferring to your leaders is not checking your brain at the door. Rather, it is a simple matter of being obedient to the Lord’s commandment which is anything but checking your brain at the door. Faith in “the things that [He] says” (Luk 6:46) is very well founded and is essential to knowing Christ and His Father, and it will lead to life eternal.

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

Knowing Christ and His Father is a matter of knowing how They think and then acting accordingly. This letter to the Gentiles tells them that they need not be physically circumcised or keep the “carnal commandments” of the law of Moses… and at the same time it affirms that the Jews must do so. This decision was really nothing more than the holy spirit acknowledging that the Jewish Christians were still ‘weak in the faith’:

Rom 14:1  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

At this point Peter, Paul, and Barnabas were spiritually more mature than the 11 other apostles. Nevertheless, they humbled themselves and submitted themselves to the consensus of the other apostles, and that decision was inspired of the holy spirit just as surely as these words are also inspired of the holy spirit explaining why the fullness of understanding at this Jerusalem conference is not yet known on this matter:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will [eventually] guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come [“Words which it is not (yet) lawful for a man to utter” (2Co 12:4)].

The judgment was made to send a letter to all the Gentile converts and the decision to do so was unanimous:

Act 15:22  Then pleased it [all] the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
Act 15:23  And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Act 15:24  Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
Act 15:25  It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Act 15:26  Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 15:27  We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

This decision was not just the decision of the apostles and elders. It was also sanctioned by “the holy spirit”. They all agreed that the Gentile converts did not need to keep all the law of Moses, including the law of circumcision. Here are the few things that were still expected of the Gentile converts:

Act 15:29  That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

These are a mere four requirements which were expected to be observed by the new Gentile converts to the gospel of Christ. They were 1) abstain from meats offered to idols, 2) from fornication, 3) from things strangled, and 4) from blood. “Abstain from meats offer to idols” in verse 29 explains what is meant by “abstain from pollutions of idols” in verse 20.

Act 15:19  Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
Act 15:20  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

While I was a faithful member of the Worldwide Church of God from 1963 through 1973 we circumcised our males on the eighth day, we kept the weekly sabbath and all of the holy days except for the new moons… we tithed a tenth of our gross income, and we kept the laws which proscribed which meats were clean and unclean. Yet we somehow told ourselves that we were “not under the curse of the law.” Our reasoning was that the many laws not mentioned in the letter to the Gentiles here in Acts 15 were obviously meant to be kept because many of the Old Testament commandments not mentioned here are mentioned in Romans 13 as things which the Gentile Romans were expected to keep and observe:

Rom 13:8  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9  For this, [1] Thou shalt not commit adultery, [2] Thou shalt not kill, [3] Thou shalt not steal, [4] Thou shalt not bear false witness, [5] Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

“Love is the fulfilling of the law” was explained to us as being the same as keeping the commandments of Moses. To make this clear we were shown:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

“His commandments are not grievous” means they are not a yoke “which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear” as Peter characterized the law of Moses:

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

It is obvious that “His commandments [which] are not grievous” is not referring to the commandments of Moses but is referring the “but I say unto you…” commandments of Christ.

We who were in the Worldwide Church of God at the time I was a member of that church were in the same spiritual position as the eleven apostles who thought it was a very good thing that:

Act 15:21  For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

At this early stage of the reforms which Christ came to make, the apostles could not yet conceive of this being the time for “worshiping God in spirit [and not] at Jerusalem”, which is exactly what Christ Himself had told the woman at the well would someday come:

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the [spiritual] Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

A reformation of the scope Christ brought to His people took time. No flesh, other than Adam and Eve, is given to be born in a mature physical body. It certainly is not given to be born spiritually mature, and that applies to Adam and Eve who were both made “marred in the Potter’s hand” (Jer 18:4). We all, including the original apostles, begin our spiritual lives as “carnal babes in Christ”:

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

It is natural for children to think of themselves as mature adults, long before they become mature adults. No one just naturally conceives of himself as a “carnal babe in Christ”. Yet that is exactly how Christ in us brings us to see ourselves before we can become spiritually mature:

Mat 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

A humble child is a teachable child. Any child who is brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord reveres and respects his parents and believes what his parents teach him. Christ is not commanding us to become naïve or foolish. What He is commanding us to do is “humble [our]selves [and become teachable] as this little child” or we will “not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Children are not given charge of the Lord’s flock. That duty is placed only upon mature men who have their own spiritual house in order:

1Ti 3:1  This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
1Ti 3:2  A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife […if he is married. Neither Christ nor Paul were married], vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:3  Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1Ti 3:4  One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5  (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
1Ti 3:6  Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
1Ti 3:7  Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

All the events leading up to this 15^th chapter of Acts, and all the events recorded in this chapter, are written for our admonition to teach us the need for heresies in our midst, and to teach us how to deal with those heresies when they rise up against the knowledge of God.

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

There were many in the church in Antioch, and in all the churches, who were familiar with the laws of God concerning the covenant of circumcision and all the other 612 laws of Moses. Those laws were concerned with everything from not plowing with different animals being yoked together, to tithing, to not weaving with different fabrics, to which meats could be eaten and of course the commandment for all males to be circumcised, all necessary for them to be considered the seed of Abraham. If the Lord had not given the Gentiles in Cornelius’s home the holy spirit without the benefit of circumcision (Act 10:44-45), and if Saul of Tarsus had not been zealous of destroying Christ before being struck down and converted to being zealous of preaching the gospel of Christ (Act 22:8) and sharing with us “words which were not [yet] lawful for men to utter” (2Co 12:4), then we Gentiles and Jewish Christians would still be under the law of Moses which Peter confessed ‘neither we nor our fathers could bear’:

Act 15:7  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
Act 15:8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we [Jews] shall be saved, even as they [the Gentiles].

Peter was speaking about what the Lord had revealed to him and Paul and Barnabas. These three apostles also knew that the Lord Himself also inspired the other apostles to teach that, for the present, the Jews were still obligated to keep the law of Moses. So, Peter, Paul, and Barnabas were persuaded of their leaders, and they deferred to them (Heb 13:17 CLV) and went back to Antioch and gave the church in Antioch the good news that all the apostles and elders agreed that the Gentiles were not required to keep the law of Moses, but the Jewish Christians were expected to do so.

Act 15:30  So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:
Act 15:31  Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
Act 15:32  And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them [confirmed the words of the epistle from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem].
Act 15:33  And after they had tarried there space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.
Act 15:34  Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.
Act 15:35  Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

In this very same chapter, we are given a story which confirms that agreeing on spiritual doctrines does not mean that we must also agree on which flavor of ice cream tastes the best. This story confirms that none of us has dominion over another’s faith. That is the significance of the story of how Paul and Barnabas went separate ways but preached the same gospel.

Act 15:36  And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.
Act 15:37  And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
Act 15:38  But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.
Act 15:39  And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;
Act 15:40  And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.

Let us not think that because we are told Paul and Silas were “recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God” that Barnabas and Mark were not also recommended by the brethren to the grace of God. Unless the scriptures qualify any point, it is never good to insert our own opinions into scripture. For example, when were are told that God is “the eonian God” (Rom 16:26 CLV), we are not being told that He was not God before the eons began, or that He will not be God after the consummation of the eons. When we are told that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exo 3:6), we are not being told that He is not also the God of the Gentiles (Acts 17:30). Also, when we are told He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psa 50:10), we are not being told that the cattle on hill one thousand and one are not His cattle also. There is no doubt that Barnabas and Mark were also “recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God” as well as Paul and Silas.

Act 15:41  And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.

Paul and Silas did not sail to Cyprus as Paul had done with Barnabas on their first missionary journey. This time he went by land, and he and Silas first went to Derbe and Lystra, the last two cities Paul and Barnabas had visited on their first journey.

In our next study, before we continue with the chronological order of events in Paul’s missionary journeys, we will take time to analyze what brought about the complete apostasy of the church before the death of the apostles who had raised up those very same churches.

The apostle Paul tells us simply that “all the churches in Asia be turned away from me” (2Ti 1:5). Referring to the same churches, the apostle John calls them “the seven churches of Asia” (Rev 1:4, Rev 1:10). While the only two churches in Revelation 2-3 which are not admonished for their failings are Smyrna and Philadelphia, nevertheless Paul tells Timothy, “All they in Asia have forsaken me” (2Ti 1:15), and John tells all seven churches, “He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit says to [all seven of] the churches” (Rev 2:7). That would include Smyrna and Philadelphia. We will see how the Lord worked matters to bring about the apostasy of His church and turn His own physical church into “the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” (Rev 17:4).

Before we continue following the chronology of Paul’s second journey, we will consider what would have happened if Peter, Paul, and Barnabas had rejected the counsel of their elders. The church will completely apostatize toward the end of Paul’s life when he tells Timothy:

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

“All they which are in Asia” refers to “the seven churches of Asia” to whom the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ is addressed:

Rev 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

It is this same ‘John’ who also tells us that the apostasy of the church was so complete before his death that a “false apostle” named “Diotrephes… cast… out of the church” those whom John had sent to them:

3Jn 1:9  I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
3Jn 1:10  Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

‘Loving to have preeminence’ is just another way of saying “the pride of life”, the last and most insidious of the three categories which encapsulate “all that is in this [evil and wicked] world”:

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, [1] the lust of the flesh, and [2] the lust of the eyes, and [3] the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Doctrinal differences, as we have learned, should be settled within the body of Christ by seeking the counsel of the elders. That counsel is rejected only because of “the pride of life” which afflicts us all. When “all they which be in Asia” and when “the seven churches of Asia” apostatize, they do so because they were made to make the conscious decision to follow “false apostles” who ‘appear as angels of light’ and take away disciples after themselves. Paul had been made to know this would happen in his own lifetime. This is what he prophesied to the elders of Ephesus:

Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

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.

There is nothing new under the sun, and there is no doubt that false apostles have been key to the scattering of the Lord’s flock in every generation. We ourselves have seen it happen. Men who had been appointed in our own fellowship and by our own leaders, were sent an evil spirit from the Lord which insisted that there is no natural element to the Lord’s words. After all, Christ did indeed say, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” As mentioned earlier in this study, just because Christ says His words are spirit does not mean there are no words which have a natural application. We are in fact told the exact opposite:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

As I made clear earlier in this study, there is no qualifying statement anywhere in scripture which states, “The words I speak unto you are only spirit.” In fact, the exact opposite it true:

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.

Every spiritual doctrine and the mind of God and His Godhead are “understood by the things that are made”, meaning things that are not spiritual.

Rom 1:19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. [How has ‘God shown it unto them?]
Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Next week we will see how not recognizing the truth of Romans 1:20 and 1 Corinthians 15:46 can and has led many to believe there will be no literal thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ over the kingdoms of this physical world:

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

2Ki 21:13-26, 2Ki 22:1-2  “The Line and the Plummet”

[Study Aired March 30, 2023]

[We start with the last verse from last week’ study:  2Ki 21:12  Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.] 

2Ki 21:13  And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. 
2Ki 21:14  And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; 
2Ki 21:15  Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. 
2Ki 21:16  Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. 
2Ki 21:17  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 
2Ki 21:18  And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. 
2Ki 21:19  Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 
2Ki 21:20  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did. 
2Ki 21:21  And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: 
2Ki 21:22  And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD. 
2Ki 21:23  And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. 
2Ki 21:24  And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
2Ki 21:25  Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
2Ki 21:26  And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.
2Ki 22:1  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

The book of kings is a long, stretched out experience of good and evil events throughout history that remind us what the vanity of flesh is capable of and how God works all things according to the counsel of His own will; a work that will in time humble all of His creation (Eph 1:11-13).

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

Being those “who first trusted in Christ” is the blessing and honor bestowed upon those who are being first judged in this life (1Pe 4:17), and given the power and boldness to put off our flesh as Christ did (1Jn 4:17). There is a definite correlation with learning to trust God as a result of our judgment as these verses make very clear in 2 Corinthians 1:9-10.

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? 

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. 

2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 
2Co 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

In this second part of chapter twenty-one, there is a more detailed account of those judgments upon Jerusalem which represent the people of God who are up against all the various characters God uses to accomplish His judgment [in our lives] which He does via “the line of Samaria” and “the plummet of the house of Ahab.” It is the experience of “evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it” that we are looking at again, learning more deeply what these words mean for us today in Isaiah 45:7 via events that were written for our admonition (1Th 5:20) upon whom the ends of the ages are come (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11)

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, (2Co 4:15) 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.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, (2Co 4:15) upon whom the ends of the world are come.

2Ki 21:13  And I [the LORD God of Israel] will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.
2Ki 21:14  And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; 
2Ki 21:15  Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. 

The two other times we see the word “plummet” used in the bible are found in Isaiah 28:16-17 and Zechariah 4:10. Both verses express how God will judge His people through Christ who is typified by “the hand of Zerubbabel” in Zechariah 4:10 and “a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” speaking of Christ in Isaiah 28:16-17. His function as our high priest is described as one who knows how to destroy the hidden sin of our life using that plummet which represents God’s word he will lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet so that “the hail [God’s word] shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place” (Psa 19:12-14).

Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; [the body of Christ] they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth [Jer 22:29] .

Isa 28:16  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

Psa 19:12  Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. [“the hiding place“ of Isa 28:17]
Psa 19:13  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. [Heb 6:4-6, Heb 10:26]
Psa 19:14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. 

In these verses (2Ki 21:13-15) it sounds like God is simply done with ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘the remnant of mine inheritance’ and cut it off completely as He did with “the house of Ahab” [2Ki 9:8], but it is the necessary experience of evil we must go through that separates us from God so we are brought to our wits’ end and cry out to him for deliverance. It is the flesh and bones of Christ’s body, the church (Eph 5:30), that “despised the day of small things” having to go where we don’t want to go by God’s hand, experiencing His correction which is never pleasant when you’re going through it (Psa 22:1, Mat 27:46, Joh 21:18, Heb 12:11), but it must happen (Heb 12:8) so that the desired effect will be achieved by our LORD who will “stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down” which will lead to our rejoicing in Him for these wonderful works to the children of men (Psa 107:31). Wiping a dish and turning it upside down are symbols of the actions that God must take against our sinful flesh in order for us to come to our senses and see our need for God’s continual cleansing through “the righteous judgment of God” (Rom 2:5). He turns our world upside down as often as He needs to (Rom 2:4) and uses our own iniquities represented by “the line of Samaria” and “the house of Ahab” to accomplish this (Jer 2:19).

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

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

God will not forsake His remnant, but He will forsake the first man Adam part of our existence that cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50, Mal 4:1), so when we read “I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies“, it is speaking again of God giving us over to our own sinful condition for an appointed time until we are delivered and are no longer “a prey and a spoil to all their enemies.” That does not sound logical to the law of sin in our members (Rom 7:23) that contends with the way God does things, causing us to err (Isa 63:17) and bringing us to our wits’ end so that we cry out, and yet it is through the trials and the storms of this life that we begin to cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1-2) and eventually stop asking God why did you form me this way? God delivers us, and a new spirit is given to us so that in the end we rejoice in how our Creator does things, as He brings us to our safe haven, Jesus Christ. “Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven” (Rom 9:19-21, Psa 51:1-3, Psa 107:28-30, Psa 62:7-8).

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, 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.

Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 

Psa 51:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Psa 51:2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 51:3  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Psa 62:7  In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 
Psa 62:8  Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Why does God chasten and scourge us? “Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.” He does so because He loves us and receives us through this process if we are His sons in this age (Heb 12:6). Enduring His wrath upon our old man is a miracle in itself that requires the life and strength and faith of Christ within us to do so (Gal 2:20, Php 4:13), and it is that suffering we go through which makes it possible for us to be of service to God, both now and Lord willing, if we endure to the end as the bride of Christ who will be made ready (2Ti 2:12-14, Rev 19:7-8).

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

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: [Php 2:12-13] and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 
Gal 2:21  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law [Rom 7:23], then Christ is dead in vain.

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer (Gal 2:20), we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself [he cannot deny his own body (Eph 5:30, Mar 14:72, Rom 7:24-25, Php 2:12-13)].

Mar 14:72  And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept [the twice and thrice add up to 5, reminding us how Christ will not deny Himself of this work of grace through faith toward those who are bound to the altar (Psa 118:27)].

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 serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

2Ki 21:16  Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. 
2Ki 21:17  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 
2Ki 21:18  And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza^H5798: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

“Till he had” is telling us that degree to which we have been in bondage to the powers and principalities in our heavens without Christ, being overcome and held in bondage by the man of sin represented by Manasseh who is revealed in our life at the appointed time (2Th 2:5-7). That man of sin within us “fill[s] Jerusalem from one end to another; (Luk 11:50-51). It speaks to how sin has to come to that place of being filled up in our lives (Gen 15:16) until we are brought to our wits’ end and fed up with sin, like the prodigal son who was brought to see his need for our Father’s provision found only through Christ (Luk 15:17). Only then can we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ through a lifetime of laying down our lives as servants of righteousness in our Father’s home (Luk 15:17-18) being no longer servants to sin (Col 1:24, Rom 6:18-20, Rom 6:14).

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Rom 6:18  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 
Rom 6:19  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 

“The rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?” was written as a witness to the depths of what our flesh is capable of doing without Christ staying the hand of the devil and our not being given to be strengthened through Christ.

The place where our old man ends up is expressed with this verse “And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza^H5798: and Amon his son reigned in his stead”. There is no inheritance found in Christ for those who are only given to operate in their own strength, “in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza^H5798” (Php 3:9), where what we grow in this life comes from our own strength and is not the blessed treasure that is laid up in heaven by God through Christ in the life of His kind of first fruits who are given that increase by God (Mat 6:20, 1Co 3:6). Amon is the heritage of Manasseh, who represents the next generation of sinful behaviour that is going to continue to wax on as long as we continue to rely on our own strength and not rest in the Lord Jesus Christ (Lev 25:4).

H5798‛ûzzâ’    ‛ûzzâh ooz-zaw’, ooz-zaw’

Feminine of H5797; strength; Uzza or Uzzah, the name of five Israelites: – Uzza, Uzzah.

Total KJV occurrences: 14

Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, (Eph 2:8, Heb 4:11) a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. 

2Ki 21:19  Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 
2Ki 21:20  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did. 
2Ki 21:21  And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: 
2Ki 21:22  And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD. 

The next king of Judah is Amon, who is very much like Manasseh. His reign began at “twenty and two years old” and “he reigned two years in Jerusalem“. He did “evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did” and so the witness [2] of beginning his reign at 22 and ruling for that short two-year reign is a witness of the evil and corrupt pattern that had been established through Manasseh’s reign and passed on to his son who (1Co 15:33-34) “did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did. And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.“

1Co 15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
1Co 15:34  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

2Ki 21:23  And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. 
2Ki 21:24  And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

The death of Amon coming from his own servants who slew the king in his own house, reminds us how evil this anointed king was, whose own iniquities would chasten him to the point of death, iniquities symbolized by his own servants who slew him in his own house, his own temple (1Co 3:16) where that iniquity abided (Jer 2:19). 

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

There is change coming, however, as the people of the land know how egregious it is before God to touch His anointed king, and so they do the right thing by taking vengeance on all those who conspired against Amon (1Ch 16:22, Psa 105:15). These actions made way for “the people of the land”  to make “Josiah his son king in his stead” who would be a just king.

1Ch 16:22  Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 

Psa 105:15  Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 

2Ki 21:25  Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
2Ki 21:26  And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.

2Ki 22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. 
2Ki 22:2  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 

As mentioned earlier “Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza^H5798: and Amon his son reigned in his stead”. Amon’s fate was no different than that of his dad Manasseh who was “buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead“. 

It takes the final destruction of these two evil kings [Manasseh and Amon] witnessing to the sin in our own members, to bring about the new king Josiah who would walk “in all the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (2Ki 22:2).

Josiah’s reign was for thirty-one years in Jerusalem, and he was eight years old when he began to reign. The eight year old commencement date symbolizes the typical new man [8] who was going to be on display with this just king, and his reigning thirty-one years in Jerusalem can be seen as a positive number as well if we consider that the number 3 is connected to the process of judgment that must be upon anyone who is going to be a good ruler, and the [1] which reminds us that it is the Lord alone who can change our stony hearts and make it possible for us to become His servants who are “sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” through that process of judgment (2Ti 2:21). 

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

That process is painful, as the title of this study “The line and the plummet“, reveals. It requires judgment and much tribulation through this life (Act 14:22, Heb 11:26), and yet the fruit that will be borne out of that suffering and the ultimate joyous liberty (Rom 8:21) of being changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, will far outweigh anything we have to go through in this life (Rom 8:18, 1Co 15:52, Joh 16:21).

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ [“A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow“] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 

Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

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

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Joh 16:21  A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

2Ki 5:11-27  “Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean”

[Study Aired September 22, 2022]

2Ki 5:11  But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
2Ki 5:12  Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
2Ki 5:13  And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
2Ki 5:14  Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
2Ki 5:15  And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
2Ki 5:16  But he said, As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. 
2Ki 5:17  And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD. 
2Ki 5:18  In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing. 
2Ki 5:19  And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way. 
2Ki 5:20  But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
2Ki 5:21  So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? 
2Ki 5:22  And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.
2Ki 5:23  And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him. 
2Ki 5:24  And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. 
2Ki 5:25  But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.
2Ki 5:26  And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?
2Ki 5:27  The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

God’s expectation for the body of Christ, and all of humanity in time, is clearly stated in these two verses: (Jer 29:11, 1Co 15:22), and yet our flesh has many preconceived notions as to the way we think (1Pe 4:12, Heb 12:6) we should go that is pleasing to God in order to find this expected end (Pro 14:12, Luk 18:21-22). 

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, [Isa 55:8] saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 

Pro 14:12  There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death [That way in our flesh excludes the process of judgment that stems from the affliction, the persecution, the tribulation, the suffering, of which God says is necessary if we are going to overcome and enter into the kingdom of God within us day by day (Luk 17:21) as we die daily – these things (affliction –  persecution – tribulation – suffering) represent what will bring death to our old man, and going in the way that seems right to us is what will keep our old man alive and bring death to Christ in us (Heb 6:6)].

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 [Mat 16:25] 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.

[It was a “certain ruler” in this parable (Luk 18:18) who represents the fleshly pulls of our life that want to rule over us, who was rich in a self-confidence or a self-righteous spirit that did not acknowledge his need to be continually dragged to Christ who is the only one who can do the work within us of overcoming (Php 2:12-13, Joh 15:5) – Both physical riches and doing many wonderful works can blind us from our need to continually acknowledge our blind and naked condition in this life, causing us to go back into the world (Joh 9:41, 1Ti 6:8-10, 2Ti 4:10). Without following Christ and His body, the church (Eph 5:30, Heb 10:24-25), we will surely experience that blindness of (Joh 9:41), which will keep us from seeing truth that, if continued in, will set us free (Joh 8:31-32)]

God is dragging the elect out of Babylon in order for us to learn what it means to have the true patience and faith of the saints which is realized through a lifetime of much tribulation leading to our ultimate deliverance from these bodies of death (Rom 7:24-25) in the first resurrection, Lord willing (Rev 14:9-12, 2Th 1:4-5, Act 14:22, Rev 20:6).

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 serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

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

[Keeping God’s commandments and having the faith of Jesus is why we will be hated of all men for His name’s sake, His word (Mat 10:22)] 

2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: 
2Th 1:5  Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: [2Ti 2:12]

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

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.

In type and shadow, Naaman, who is a type of the elect, is showing us in this section of scripture how if we are God’s kind of first fruits, despite ourselves we will be dragged to Christ (Psa 118:27, Joh 6:44) and go through a process of judgment that will wash away our leprous condition and make us ready or mature us to be in the first resurrection (Luk 13:32, Rev 19:7). Being made completely ready is symbolized by Naaman being dipped seven times in the Jordan river, and all such spiritual increase comes from God alone, the giver of every good and perfect gift (1Co 3:6, Jas 1:17). Those gifts are given to us from our Father through Christ who is typified by Elisha who, when Naaman finally listened, was able to be washed: “Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God.“

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Rev 19:7  Let us [those who are being judged in this age and going through a process that is leading to maturity] be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

2Ki 5:11  But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

This reaction of Naaman towards Elisha is a shadow of how we at first despise God’s goodness that leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4) not knowing that the work that God is doing in the body of Christ has nothing to do with a fleshly outward show: “Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place“. Rather, we come to see that it is not by might nor by power but by the spirit of God (Zec 4:6, 2Ti 1:7) that we are given the ability to mortify the deeds of the flesh, destroying the inward man of perdition who wants to rule and reign on throne of our hearts (Rom 8:13, Rom 3:20, 2Th 2:8). 

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? 

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

Naaman “was wroth“, and this anger is directed toward Elisha, who is a type of Christ that Naaman wants to know after the flesh, as was indicated with these words: “Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.” No, none of those things happened. Instead, Elisha “sent a messenger unto him” which is symbolic of the comforter coming to us to do a work that requires that we hear the still small voice of God through our prayerful and repentant relationship that is our strength (1Ki 19:12, Isa 30:15). 

1Ki 19:11  And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
1Ki 19:12  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

Isa 30:15  For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

2Ki 5:12  Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

We all just naturally look at the outward appearance and don’t look at the heart of a matter the way Christ did and can through us (1Sa 16:7, Joh 7:24). 

1Sa 16:7  But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Joh 7:24  Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

2Ki 5:10 and Elisha [my god is salvation] sent a messenger unto him, saying, go and wash in Jordan [descent] seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. (PNBkjv)

2Ki 5:12  are not Abana (unchanging/^{H71 ‘stony’}) and Pharpar(rapids^{H6554 ‘swift probably from H6565 [break up/violate/frustrate] in the sense of rushing’}), rivers of Damascus(sack of blood/^{H1834 ‘silent is the sackcloth weaver’}), better than all the waters of Israel(he will rule with god) may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he [Naaman(pleasantness)] turned and went away in a rage. (PNBkjv)

When we judge a matter in the flesh, as we can see even with the definitions used of all these names in the ‘Proper Names Bible’ version above, we are looking to be washed by what the strength of our flesh can offer, symbolized by “Abana (“unchanging”) and Pharpar (“rapids”), rivers of Damascus (sack of blood”)“. Then Naaman asked the question, “May I not wash in them, and be clean?” to which Christ tells us emphatically, “No, there is only one place where we can be washed and find living waters (Heb 13:10) and that is through Christ where we are baptized into his death to be given living waters to never thirst again.” (Rom 6:3, Mar 1:9, Joh 4:9-14)

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

Mar 1:9  And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

Joh 4:9  Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 
Joh 4:10  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 
Joh 4:11  The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
Joh 4:12  Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 
Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

When flesh doesn’t get its way, it foams up in a rage (Jud 1:13, Jas 4:5); but if Christ is working within us He can and will still those raging seas and bring a calm to us (Psa 107:29-31), a peace that passes all natural understanding that is carnal and in battle against the spirit (Rom 7:24-25). Naaman is us turning away in a rage, “So he turned and went away in a rage” until God mercifully sends someone his way to restore him from this condition (2Ti 2:25-26).

Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Jas 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

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 serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

2Ti 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2Ti 2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

2Ki 5:13  And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? 
2Ki 5:14  Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 

The servants in this part of the story also represent the spirit of God that is helping Naaman or leading him into all truth (Joh 14:26) to gain a right perspective in regard to what is being asked of him, and what is being asked of him is to “Wash, and be clean” and it really is not, as he says a “great thing” what is being asked of him, reminding us of (Rom 8:18, Lev 26:40-42, Mic 6:8). When we humble ourselves and obey God’s commands [Jordan ^{H3383 ‘descent’ from root H3381 ‘go down/come down/sink/be prostrated}] we will receive of his holy spirit (Act 5:32, Heb 5:8) and be washed and cleansed, but God is the one who must do the dragging and converting which is what this story of Naaman is a shadow of and written for our sakes upon whom the end of the ages are come (1Co 10:11).

Joh 14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 

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

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

Mic 6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?  

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

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

It is after Naaman is convicted of what the servant says to him that he went down and “dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.” The spirit that Christ is forming in us is that of a little child (Mar 10:15, Heb 12:25) in the sense that a little child is teachable and humble as Naaman demonstrated by humbling himself in going down and dipping himself in the Jordan seven times. The seven times dipping is the same principle as the seven sneezes that are needed to drive the evil spirits out of the child that was dead but raised to life by the prophet Elisha (2Ki 4:35).

Mar 10:15  Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: [“Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God.“] 

2Ki 4:35  Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 

2Ki 5:15  And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. 
2Ki 5:16  But he said, As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.
2Ki 5:17  And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.

Naaman sounds like Nebuchadnezzar when he says what he said after the fiery furnace experience of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: “Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.” 

Naaman is convicted, but in type and shadow he is not a mature son, and the proof of that is expressed by his not freely receiving this gift of healing but wants rather to pay something back to Elisha: “I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.” Elisha, a man of God, simply tells him, “As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.” (Mat 10:8)

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

Then Naaman’s request to take back with him “two mules’ burden of earth” to “henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD” is also written for our sakes to remind us of what God’s word does for us today: Our citizenship is in heaven (Php 3:20 – CEV, CLV) and taking this earth from Israel to Syria on a beast of burden is symbolic of how we are in the world [earth] and not of it (Joh 17:16) and able as such to worship God in spirit and truth (Jer 22:29, Psa 107:20, 1Pe 5:7, Joh 4:24). The earth symbolizes the spiritual plot of land that we sojourn in while on this earth called Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Eph 2:6, Gal 4:26).

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

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

1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

The gift of being healed and liberated from idolatry and false worship is the true reward that cannot compare to any gift in the earth (Psa 50:10), “For thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD” (Act 3:6).

Psa 50:10  For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

Act 3:6  Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

2Ki 5:18  In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing.
2Ki 5:19  And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.

Naaman confesses his fault of bowing himself in the house of Rimmon, a Syrian deity, after his master who is worshiping there leans on his hand “In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon.” This confession of Naaman comes after he is cleansed of his leprosy and is now convicted of his wrong behavior that he is giving an account of to Elisha (Rom 2:4). His master ‘leaning on his hand’ is symbolic of how Babylon wants to rule over us and does so until we are healed and confess our idolatrous ways which we embraced in Babylon. The end result of his confession to Elisha are these words from the prophet “And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.” God’s peace comes to us when we are abased and confess our faults (Pro 16:6-7, Pro 3:3-4).

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? 

Pro 16:6  By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. 
Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. 

Pro 3:3  Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 
Pro 3:4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

2Ki 5:20  But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.

Gehazi’s doublemindedness comes out with this opening statement, “Behold, my master hath spared^H2820 Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.” Out of his own mouth he is being judged here, saying he knows that this was an act of mercy on the part of the prophet “in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. Yet in the next breath he says, because of avarice and greed in his heart, “I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.“

spared^{H2820 [H8804 = Qal]} to withhold, restrain, hold back, keep in check, refrain 

Gehazi carries out these lust-filled actions thinking no one can see him, when in truth nothing is hidden from the Lord with whom we have to do (Heb 4:13, Act 5:1-5, Act 5:9-10).

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. 

Act 5:1  But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
Act 5:2  And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Act 5:3  But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 
Act 5:4  Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Act 5:5  And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

Act 5:9  Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. 
Act 5:10  Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

2Ki 5:21  So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? 
2Ki 5:22  And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.
2Ki 5:23  And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him. 

In the book of James we’re told, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust [“I will run after him, and take somewhat of him” (2Ki 5:20)], and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived [“My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.“], it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. [“And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him“] (Jas 1:13-15).

Naaman is none the wiser regarding the lies of Gehazi who has orchestrated all these deceitful actions to his fleshly benefit. His master did not send him as he declared. It was his own lust that drew him after Naaman’s gift intended for Elisha. Gehazi receives “two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments” from Naaman that two servants bear before him. Gehazi does not bear the burden of repentance that these two talents of silver and changes of raiment signify. He just wants the reward now in this life without seeing the need to bear his burden, which is typical of believing in a substitutionary death of Christ (Jud 1:11, Col 1:24).

Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

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: 

2Ki 5:24  And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. 
2Ki 5:25  But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither. 
2Ki 5:26  And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? 
2Ki 5:27  The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

Gehazi ‘used the system’ to his advantage like Babylon does to make riches off of others, making merchandise in this instance of Naaman, and using his servants to do all the heavy lifting to this end: “And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed“. The tower[H6076  = stronghold] represents the pride of Gehazi which we know always comes before a fall (Pro 16:18-19).

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

Gehazi, still being plagued with a lying spirit, tells Elisha when asked where he had been, “Thy servant went no whither.” Then Elisha, a prophet of God who is able to be given to know his servants whereabouts (Amo 3:7), says this: “And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?” ‘Is this the time to receive gifts’ is the question Elisha asks him, and the answer is ‘no, not at this time’, telling us there is a time to receive gifts under the right circumstances (1Co 9:11) and there is a time to not receive them (Ecc 3:1-11) as was the case with Gehazi (2Ki 5:26) who not only had “gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward” (Jud 1:11), but had done so with a lying spirit on top of everything else that he had done wrong (Gen 14:23, 2Th 3:7-9).

Gen 14:23  That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

2Th 3:7  For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; 
2Th 3:8  Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
2Th 3:9  Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.

Elisha pronounces upon Gehazi the punishment that he deserved for sowing to his flesh as he did: “The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.” This leprosy represents death, just as was pronounced on Ananias and Sapphira for their deceitfulness (Act 5:1-10).

The lesson for God’s elect is that our heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and must die and be put off daily (Jer 17:9) in order to be cleansed of our leprous condition known as ‘being in flesh’, which is wretched in the sight of God but able to be subdued and worked with through Jesus Christ our savior (Rom 8:7-9, Rom 7:24-25).

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

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 serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

[Study Aired August 16, 2021]

Jdg 18:1  In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. 
Jdg 18:2  And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. 
Jdg 18:3  When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? 
Jdg 18:4  And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. 
Jdg 18:5  And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. 
Jdg 18:6  And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go. 
Jdg 18:7  Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. 
Jdg 18:8  And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? 
Jdg 18:9  And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. 
Jdg 18:10  When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. 
Jdg 18:11  And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. 
Jdg 18:12  And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim. 
Jdg 18:13  And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. 
Jdg 18:14  Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. 
Jdg 18:15  And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. 

The theme which runs through the Book of Judges is that because there was no king in Israel at that time, everybody did what was right in his own eyes. Being without a King means being ruled by the flesh. In the previous review, we mentioned, using 1 Samuel 8:10-17, that when Christ ascends on the throne of our hearts, this is what happens to us:

1Sa 8:10  And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.
1Sa 8:11  And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
1Sa 8:12  And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
1Sa 8:13  And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
1Sa 8:14  And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
1Sa 8:15  And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
1Sa 8:16  And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
1Sa 8:17  He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.

Verse 11 means that when Christ becomes King or sits in the throne of our heart, then it shows that we have been appointed or elected by Christ before the foundations of this world. Being his horsemen and running before his chariots means we shall go before the Lord to prepare the way of the Lord which is to give the knowledge of salvation to his people.

Luk 1:76  And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
Luk 1:77  To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Luk 1:78  Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
Luk 1:79  To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Verse 12 of 1 Samuel 8 shows us that we shall be appointed as captains over thousands, which signifies that we shall be rulers of the world. We shall ‘reap his harvest’ refers to us being His instruments to bring salvation to all humanity. Making our Lord ‘instruments of war’ is the same as we being His battle axe.

Jer 51:20  Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

Verse 13 which says we shall be His cooks and bakers suggests that we shall do our Lord’s will and finish the work He gave us to do, as shown by the following statement of the Lord:

Joh 4:32  But Jesus told them, “I have food that you don’t know anything about.”
Joh 4:33  His disciples started asking each other, “Has someone brought him something to eat?”
Joh 4:34  Jesus said: My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do.

Verse 14-17 means that we shall be our Lord’s servant and work in His vineyard.

On a negative note, these same verses in 1 Samuel 8:10-17 reflect the conditions we find ourselves in when we do not have Christ as King in our hearts, but are therefore ruled by the flesh. The first verse in Chapter 18 of Judges sets the tone for our miserable condition without a king in Babylon as follows:

Jdg 18:1  In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.

Where there is no king in our hearts, we go astray. We become oppressed by the flesh that rules us, and we end up becoming slaves to sin.

Gal 4:25  Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. (ESV)

Verse 1 here tells us that where we do not have Christ as King in our hearts, we do not have an inheritance. We enter Babylon looking for our inheritance, as did the people of Dan, but end up having no inheritance. The question is, “What is our inheritance in Christ?”

1Pe 1:4  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The Lord Jesus is our inheritance.

Psa 16:5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
Psa 16:6  The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

Our inheritance is shown to us clearly by the promises we are given if we overcome. All these promises refer to Christ as shown below:

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Both the tree of life and the paradise of God refer to Christ.

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

Christ is both the hidden manna and the white stone. So possessing our inheritance is actually coming to be found in Christ. We, like the Danites, were also looking for our inheritance, which is Christ, but where the flesh rules as king in our lives, there is no way of us coming into our inheritance, which is knowing Christ or being found in Christ.

Our heritage for belonging to the tribe of Dan according to Jacob’s blessing of his son Dan is as follows:

Gen 49:16  Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
Gen 49:17  Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

It is Christ who has been given the authority to judge His people. So this is to confirm to us that our heritage is Christ. If we are found in Him, then we, too, shall rule with Him.

Act 10:42  And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

Psa 98:9  Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

It is Christ who, like a serpent, had thrown the horse and the rider into the sea when the Israelites were being chased by the Egyptians when they left Egypt. The horse and the rider here represent the worldliness in us which is part of our sea of flesh. It is only Christ who like a serpent can bite a horse’s heel to make both the horse and its rider fall backwards. In other words, it is Christ who destroys the worldliness in our lives.

Exo 15:1  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Jdg 18:2  And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. 

We, the elect, are the five able men chosen from the tribe of Dan to search out our inheritance, which is coming to know Christ. The number five means grace through faith. So it is through the chastening grace of our Lord and His faith operating within us that we are called and chosen to pursue our inheritance.

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

The five men from the tribe of Dan came from Zorah and Eshtaol to pursue their inheritance. According to Strong, Zorah means is a type of wasp called a hornet. In the scriptures, there are only two places that the word “hornet” were used and it was in relation to the defeat of the enemies of Israel as follows:

Deu 7:20  Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

Jos 24:12  And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

The name “Eshtaol” means to enquire, pray or request. So what we are being told is that it is by grace through faith that we are called and chosen to answer to the Lord’s request for us to defeat our enemies or the old man.

The five men were commanded to go and explore the land for their inheritance. To explore the land is to search out the word of God to know of our inheritance. This was Paul’s request to God for the Ephesian church to be given the ability to explore the land of their inheritance:

Eph 1:15  Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Eph 1:16  Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
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.

From these verses, it becomes clear that being given eyes to see and ears to hear is what enable us to explore the land of our inheritance which is Christ.

As we are told in the scriptures, we are carnal when we start our journey in Christ.

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

Being carnal means that there was no king (Christ) sitting on the throne of our hearts in the early part of our walk with Christ, and so our steps lead us to the house of Micah or Babylon where we are introduced to another Jesus with a different inheritance agenda.

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

Jdg 18:3  When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? 
Jdg 18:4  And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. 

In the house of Micah or Babylon, we identify with what our fleshly leaders say since we were like them – ruled by the flesh.

1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world (we) heareth them.
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.

In Babylon, our relationship with Christ is driven by making ends meet as stated by the Levite that Micah has hired him. Our relationship with Christ becomes a business. We, like Balaam, ran greedily after reward.

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

Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

Jdg 18:5  And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. 
Jdg 18:6  And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go. 

When we are under the influence of the flesh in Babylon, we do not have the ability to know whether whatever we are doing is under the counsel of God. Instead of asking God directly, we depend on our “priests” in Babylon to tell us what we should do as we see the five men enquiring from the Levite about their journey. Our priests in Babylon act as intermediaries between us and God which is what the doctrine of Nicolaitans is all about. The Nicolaitans doctrine regard the priests as being above the congregation, who are called the laity. It is an extension of the Levitical priesthood order in the Old Testament which we practiced in Babylon. In the Levitical priesthood order, the priests act as intermediaries to the congregation. However, as Peter declared, we are all a royal priesthood and are required to appear before God in the inner sanctuary.

Rev 2:6  But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Rev 2:15  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

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:
1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

We are not saying that depending on God’s children for guidance is wrong. As we are aware, in the multitude of counsel, there is safety. What we are talking about here is our dependence on a “man of God” who then acts as an intermediary between God and man instead of our High Priest, Christ.

Pro 11:14  Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Jdg 18:7  Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

According to Strong, Laish means a lion whose destructive blows have been crushed.

H3919
לַיִשׁ
layish
lah’-yish

From H3888 in the sense of crushing; a lion (from his destructive blows): – (old) lion.

On a positive note, this verse tells us about the characteristics of those who have an inheritance. Firstly, they have overcome the flesh who is powered by the old lion (the devil). This is done through the crushing of the destructive works of the devil (lion) in our lives (meaning of Laish). This is emphasized by the fact that the people at Laish lived far away from the Zidonians or Sidonians. These people were inhabitants of Sidon (Deut 3:9) and the Israelites were required to drive them out of the land but failed to do so.

Jos 13:6  All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephothmaim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.

So these Zidonians represent the enemies within (the old man that we have to subdue or drive out). Being far from them means that one of the characteristics of the elect is that they have subdued the old man and therefore are not influenced by the dictates of the flesh.

Secondly, they live in security (Meaning of ‘dwelling careless’ according to Strong) as they are protected by the high walls of Jerusalem. The high walls represent God’s thoughts and ways which transcend human understanding which serves as our protection.

Rev 21:10  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Rev 21:12  And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

Isa 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The meaning of the word ‘quiet’ in verse 7 means ‘rest’ according to Strong’s dictionary. So the third point is that they have found rest in Christ and have therefore ceased from their own strivings.

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

According to Strong, “there is no magistrate” means there is nothing to dispossess or impoverish them. So the fourth point about those who have found their inheritance is that they lack nothing in their spiritual development.

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

On a negative note, these people living in Laish represent the way we lived in Babylon. We thought we had no need of anything, but we did not know that we were an easy prey for the enemy.

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

The people having no relationship with anyone, including the Sidonians who were living closer, shows us the independence or divisions of various groups in Babylon. This divisions attest to the fact that we had indeed failed while in Babylon and therefore were an easy target for the enemy.

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

Jdg 18:8  And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? 
Jdg 18:9  And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. 
Jdg 18:10  When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. 

These verses suggest that those of us whom God is helping to see the joy that is set before us (our inheritance) should encourage our brothers and sisters to also see this glory to be revealed. All those ahead of us have talked about this glory to be revealed, which does not compare with our current suffering.

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

Isa 60:18  Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. 
Isa 60:19  The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 
Isa 60:20  Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Isa 60:21  Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 
Isa 60:22  A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.

Peter, John and James caught a glimpse of the glory to be revealed when they were with Jesus at the mount of the transfiguration. We also, are seeing this glory as our eyes are being opened and our ears are hearing.

Mat 17:1  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 
Mat 17:2  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 
Mat 17:3  And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 
Mat 17:4  And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 

Apostle John talks about his experience as follows:

1Jn 1:1  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 
1Jn 1:2  (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 
1Jn 1:3  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Paul also had this to say:

2Co 12:1  I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 
2Co 12:2  I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 
2Co 12:3  And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 
2Co 12:4  and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 

Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ has gone ahead of us to tell us of His experience and how we should conduct ourselves to take possession of our inheritance.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

Jdg 18:11  And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. 

The six hundred men represent the elect in every generation who are appointed by the Lord with weapons of war to wage war against the flesh in order to possess their inheritance. The weapons of war are the whole armor of God that Paul told us about in Ephesians chapter 6 as follows:

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 
Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Jdg 18:12  And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim. 

The six hundred men lodged at Kirjathjearim in Judah. According to Strong’s Dictionary, Kirjathjearim means a city of forest. One characteristic of a forest is that one can easily get lost. In addition, forests are filled with wild beasts that can tear us apart. So here we are talking about our journey here on earth.

1Co 15:32  If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

So what we are being told is that in seeking for our inheritance, we can easily lose track of following the footprint of our Lord Jesus in this forest of wild beasts. The scriptures reminded us of a young man named Demas who looked very promising in inheriting the promise during the early part of Paul’s ministry but ended up following after the world.

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

These things are written for our admonition so that we may war a good warfare.

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

Jdg 18:13  And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. 
Jdg 18:14  Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. 
Jdg 18:15  And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. 

As we indicated earlier, the early part of our walk with Christ is characterized by carnality. We are therefore led straight to Babylon (Micah’s house) as we find Babylon very attractive because she speaks in a language we understand. In modern language, we say that going astray is in our genes.

1Jn 4:5  They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 

‘The world listens to them’ refers to us at a certain point in our walk with Christ.

Remember that all the six hundred men turned to the house of Micah. This means that the elect from all generations must go into Babylonian captivity before they are delivered. This experience of evil is to humble us and give our Lord the occasion to come into our lives to judge us.

Jer 9:7  Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people? 
Jer 9:8  Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him. 
Jer 9:9  Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? 

Mal 3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. 
Mal 3:4  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. 

May the Lord deliver us from all that pertains to our Babylonian captivity in our lives as we seek to possess our inheritance. Amen!!

[The next study in this series is here

The Parables of the “Marriage Supper” and the “Great Supper”

[Study Aired February 25, 2020]

In the last study we saw that the parable of the wedding feast is about how the body of Christ is to present ourselves as we come together. We are to present ourselves with humility and act as a child believing what God is saying. The parable of the “Great Supper” will expand on that same theme. Here are the parables of the “Marriage Supper” and the “Great Supper”.

Luk 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
Luk 14:8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
Luk 14:9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
Luk 14:10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
Luk 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Luk 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
Luk 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
Luk 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
Luk 14:15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
Luk 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
Luk 14:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
Luk 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
Luk 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
Luk 14:22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
Luk 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luk 14:24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

As we learned last week, the “Wedding Supper” means the coming together of the body of Christ. Likewise, the dinner or supper means the same.

Let’s see what we can learn from this parable.

Luk 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
Luk 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
Luk 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

When we make a “dinner or a supper” we are preparing a spiritual meal.

Deu 8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.
Deu 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Deu 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

1Co 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
Deu 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Christ says we are not to call our friends, brothers, kinsmen and our neighbors to this dinner. Why can we not call on them? Which friends is Christ referencing?

1Co 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
1Co 5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
1Co 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2Ti 3:6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
2Ti 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Here are two other translations of this section of the parable to help us see what is being said a little clearer.

Luk 14:12 (BBE) And he said to the master of the house, When you give a feast, do not send for your friends and your brothers and your family or your neighbours who have wealth, for they may give a feast for you, and so you will get a reward.

Luk 14:12 (GNB) Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors—for they will invite you back, and in this way you will be paid for what you did.

We do not desire the rewards of mankind. We seek the rewards of God.

2Jn 1:4 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
2Jn 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
2Jn 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
2Jn 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
2Jn 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

Joh 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Joh 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Joh 4:36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages [rewards], and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
Joh 4:37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Rev 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Continuing with the parable here is the next section.

Luk 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
Luk 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

Why are we to invite the poor, maimed, lame and blind?

Isa 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Isa 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
Isa 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isa 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

How are we recompensed?

Isa 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

Psa 41:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

When are we recompensed?

Luk 14:14b …for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

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.

Now let’s finish the parable keeping in mind all we have been shown so far.

Luk 14:15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Joh 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

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

Luk 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man [Jesus Christ] made a great supper, and bade many:

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Luk 14:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

Psa 116:16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Luk 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

Heb 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Heb 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Heb 4:7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Heb 4:8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Luk 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

Isa 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Isa 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
Isa 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isa 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Luk 14:22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
Luk 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Isa 11:16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Isa 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

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

Joh 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Luk 14:24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

I will end with these verses from 1John 3.

1Jn 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1Jn 3:17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

[Study Aired February 18, 2020]

Today’s study will dive into the meaning of the parables in Luke chapters 14-17. Just to remind us where we left off the last few weeks here is Luke 14:1-6

Luk 14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.
Luk 14:2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.
Luk 14:3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
Luk 14:4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;
Luk 14:5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?
Luk 14:6 And they could not answer him again to these things.

Christ is continually challenging the Pharisees and the lawyers. Speaking to them in parables, He hides the truth. They think they understand, but as we will see, there is hidden wisdom throughout these parables. We will start with the parable of the wedding feast.

Luk 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
Luk 14:8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
Luk 14:9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
Luk 14:10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
Luk 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

This parable was originally penned in Proverbs.

Pro 25:6 Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men:
Pro 25:7 For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen.

(Douay-Rheims Bible) “For it is better that it should be said to thee: Come up hither; than that thou shouldst be humbled before the prince.”

The main theme of this parable is to be humbled so you are not put to shame.

For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Let’s look to see what else we can learn from this parable. Keep in mind that these parables are all about the kingdom of God and where is this kingdom?

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

Here are the first two verses of the parable of the wedding feast.

Luk 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden [called], when he marked how they [the Pharisees and lawyers] chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
Luk 14:8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

This parable is concerned with the actions we take during a wedding. We need to understand the meaning of who is being called and what wedding is taking place in the parable. Also, who does the honorable man represent?

First let’s see who are the called?

Mat 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Luk 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The called are sinners. Christ was watching the actions of the lawyers and Pharisees who were attending this supper. This is what Christ has said about them and their actions.

Mat 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Mat 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Mat 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Mat 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
Mat 23:7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
Mat 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

Their pride has caused them to think to highly of themselves. Remember, this is happening in the kingdom of God within you. Ask yourself this. Is Christ talking to me?

2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

We have established who are called now let’s look at what the wedding represents.

Isa 62:4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah [“my delight is in her”], and thy land Beulah [to marry]: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
Isa 62:5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him [Jesus Christ]: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife [the Body of Christ] hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

The wedding is the body’s marriage to Christ. A wedding is the joining of a man and a woman and they become one.

Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

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

Spiritually speaking, the wedding represents the body of Christ taking on the mind of Christ. We do this by coming together decently and in order.

1Co 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

1Co 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.

Now who is the honorable?

1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
1Co 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
1Co 12:19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
1Co 12:20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
1Co 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
1Co 12:22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
1Co 12:23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
1Co 12:24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
1Co 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
1Co 12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
1Co 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
1Co 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
1Co 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
1Co 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

1Ti 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

2Co 1:24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

The honorable are Christ and His Christ.

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him [Jesus Christ]: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife [the Body of Christ] hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Here is the second half of the parable of the wedding.

Luk 14:9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
Luk 14:10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
Luk 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The lowest and highest rooms are states of mind.

Pro 11:2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.

Pro 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

Mar 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

Rom 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

When you first go and sit in the highest room, you are showing your pride. Instead go into the lowest room; meaning you are as humble as a little child.

Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

Who is the friend in this parable?

Jas 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Luk 12:4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Pro 22:11 He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.

Finally, what is the meaning of the phrase “thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat”

Joh 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:55 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

1Co 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

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.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Here is the parable again. As we read it keep in mind what the scriptures have shown us.

Luk 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
Luk 14 8 When thou art bidden [called] of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
Luk 14:9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
Luk 14:10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
Luk 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Luk 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Rev 19:7-9 marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife (the Body of Christ)….Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Pro 11:2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.

lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

1Co 12:12-31 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.….which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour…..or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

1Ti 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

Mat 18:3…humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Luk 12:4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

1Co 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

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.

In conclusion, as we come together as the body of Christ, there is a proper order that needs to be followed. We must humble ourselves and give honor where honor is due.

Next week we will investigate the parable of the Great Banquet.

Luk 14:12-24 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Isa 45:14-25 Part 1 - Every Knee Shall Bow and Every Tongue Shall Confess - Discussion

1 file(s) 14.04 MB

Download

Isa 45:14-25 Part 1- Every Knee Shall Bow and Every Tongue Shall Confess

[Study Aired on September 1, 2019]

Isa 45:14  Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
Isa 45:15  Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
Isa 45:16  They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
Isa 45:17  But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
Isa 45:18  For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD ; and there is none else.
Isa 45:19  I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
Isa 45:20  Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
Isa 45:21  Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
Isa 45:22  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Isa 45:23  I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Isa 45:24  Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
Isa 45:25  In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

It is very easy to see and rejoice in the outward fulfillment of this first verse of our study today:

Isa 45:14  Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God. 

Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sabeans were the great nations of Isaiah's day, and they symbolize the strength of our flesh. Babylon and Syria, also symbols of the strength of our flesh, have already been prophesied against earlier in this prophecy.  Chapter 14 is called "a parable against the king of Babylon":

Isa 14:3  And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
Isa 14:4  That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

Chapter 17 is a prophecy against Syria and its capital, Damascus:

Isa 17:1  THE burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

The point being made is that all these nations are the enemies of the Lord's kingdom, Israel. They one and all are destined to be subdued by the Lord's kingdom. They are all prophesied to be subdued by "the Israel of God".

Zec 8:22  Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.
Zec 8:23  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

It is true that all of this will take place outwardly at the Lord's appointed time.  However, the outward nations will not bow down to any of us if those very nations have not first bowed down inwardly to Christ within us "in this present time" (Rom 8:18).

Let us keep the perspective Christ had and the perspective He gives to us. It is Christ Himself who informs us that His kingdom, His ‘Israel’, is "within [us]":

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

"Comes not with observation" is not meant to be understood as never being a physical kingdom ruling over the kingdoms of this world. No, not at all:

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

The words..."He was demanded of the Pharisees" tell us that Christ knew these men had no interest in the things of the spirit, and He was not about to try to give them the holy things of the temple of which they have no right to partake:

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

Am I telling you that all these enemies of Israel... "Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature" are within us? Yes, of course they are.  If "the kingdom of God is within you", then it follows that the enemies of that kingdom are the false doctrines which are also within us, working with the passions of our flesh to destroy the kingdom of God.

If we are granted to hear the voice of the shepherd, then we will subdue our enemies within us and place them into the service of the Lord to the point that every knee will bow and every tongue “will confess that Jesus is Lord…”

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

…Which is a quotation from our next verse:

Isa 45:23  I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

"Swearing", which was permitted and required under the law of Moses, is changed to "confess" in the New Testament.

Isa 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Rom 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 
Rom 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Php 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 14:11-12 makes clear that every knee bowing and every tongue confessing has to do with 'every one of us giving account of ourselves to God'. In other words, we are all to be judged. That is the "one event... to all" mentioned in:

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

Judgment has already begun at the house of God (1Pe 4:17), but judgment has not begun upon this world. When that time of judgment is accomplished and we are granted to take part in the resurrection to life, then and only then, are we even qualified to have the physical 'Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Sabeans come over and fall down to us and make supplication to  us saying, "Surely God is in you: and there is none else..."’

Until that time, until “the resurrection of life” (Joh 5:28-29), these great strong nations are just symbols of our flesh, which is subdued and put into Christ’s service within us. Let’s read it again:

Isa 45:14  Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.

The Lord Himself is just naturally unknown to all of Israel's enemies both within and without:

Isa 45:15  Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.

What this tells us about ourselves is that when we are deceived, we are totally unaware of our deception. We are not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and we are blinded and deceived by the Lord Himself (Eze 14:9 and Mat 13:11), and the adversary would have us believe that it is impossible to know the Truth:

Joh 18:33  Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
Joh 18:34  Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?
Joh 18:35  Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?
Joh 18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Joh 18:37  Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Joh 18:38  Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

Pilate is our own flesh, judging and condemning our new man, Christ in us. Our flesh, our old man, does not believe it is possible to "know the Truth". Is it possible to "know the Truth"? Let God be true and every man a liar.

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue [Greek: abide] in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Christ is the Truth:

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

Christ did not say 'I know the way, I know the Truth, and I know the life'. He said, "I AM the Truth". Those who do know the Truth can discern the Truth, and in doing so they also can discern the voice and words which are not The Truth:

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

When Christ begins to purge His temple, His kingdom has begun to come to us and is beginning to take control of everything within His temple, "which temple [we] are" (1Co 3:15-16). As Christ told Pilate, when His kingdom comes, His servants will fight for Him. Therefore when He comes to reside within us “the… [subdued] Egyptians… Ethiopians and… Sabeans” within us “come over to us” and begin to fight for His throne within us. So while His kingdom is not of this age, its ambassadors are of this age, and every one of His ambassadors are being tried and tested to prove whether they are fit to be rulers in His coming kingdom which will rule over the kingdoms of this world with a rod of iron:

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

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

Many in the world will have us to believe that "divers temptations" excludes our own shameful sins and injustices. Nothing is further from the Truth. "Divers temptations" especially includes those shameful sins which humble and humiliate and crush us to powder. When Christ crushes our old man, He then harnesses all the energy of our sinful old man and puts that energy to work in His service. The apostle Paul is a perfect example of how the Lord does this:

1Co 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co 15:10  But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

‘The Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Sabeans’ have been subdued, conquered and overcome, and are now in the Lord’s service within us. Only the humble who feel they are not even worthy of lifting their eyes to the Lord will be honored with the highest seats at the marriage supper of the lamb:

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

All of scripture is about these “two men”. Our very worst enemy is our own self-righteous old man who credits himself with his own righteousness as this Pharisee who took pride in his service to God. We are all this vain Pharisee before we are made to see ourselves as this humble publican. It is our old man inwardly, a Babylonian self-righteous Pharisee, who becomes the Egyptian, the Ethiopian and the Sabean who will be subdued to Christ within us. The new man who increases day by day is Christ within us as he overcomes and subdues all the enemies of “the kingdom of God… the Israel of God” within us.

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

That is the inward application of our next verse:

Isa 45:16  They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. 

We have all manufactured our own idols of our hearts and lived to please those false lying doctrines until the day we were brought to our wits’ end and we were "confounded" and humbled before the Lord and before the Truth of His word.

Isa 45:17  But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. 

It is "the Israel of God" within us which is being "saved in the Lord with an everlasting [olam] salvation", and that salvation will remove all shame for "ad olam ad", as the Hebrew reads. Let's examine this phrase 'ad olam ad'.

There are actually three separate Hebrew words though it appears to be just two words, 'ad' and 'olam'. But the first 'ad' is H5704 and the second 'ad' is H5703. ‘Ad olam ad’ does not translate to “world without end”, and we will see why that is.

Here is Strong's definitions for the first 'ad' H5704:

H5704
עַד
‛ad
ad
Properly the same as H5703 (used as a preposition, adverb or conjugation; especially with a preposition); as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with): - against, and, as, at, before, by (that), even (to), for (-asmuch as), [hither-] to, + how long, into, as long (much) as, (so) that, till, toward, until, when, while, (+ as) yet.