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Isa 59:8-14 The Way of Peace They Know Not

[Study Aired May 10, 2020]

Isa 59:8  The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
Isa 59:9  Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
Isa 59:10  We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
Isa 59:11  We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
Isa 59:12  For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
Isa 59:13  In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
Isa 59:14  And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

As this very prophecy has informed us, the scriptures are not even intended to be understood by the masses of Christianity, much less the uncalled world. The scriptures are deliberately written ‘line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little, that they may go and fall backward and be snared and be taken.’

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isa 28:11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Isa 28:12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Isa 28:13  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

The scriptures themselves tell us they are not intended to be understood by babes in Christ. They are written in a way that keeps their wisdom hidden from all but “them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts”. That was exactly what Christ said in answer to the question from His disciples who wanted to know why He spoke only in parables to the multitudes who came to Him.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away  even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

One way that goal is accomplished is with the use of the plural third person. Using the plural third person causes all self-righteous, carnal babes in Christ to place the admonitions of scripture outside of themselves. “That they might go and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken” is always applied to “That evil sinner somewhere over there, or some hedonistic heathen. It never applies to me while I am a carnal babe 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?

But they “that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts” can look behind themselves and see that they themselves are the “carnal… babes in Christ”, and that every admonition of scripture is  being given to them personally and their own old man, encouraging them (us) to “grow up into [our head], Christ”:

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

It is of utmost importance that we all know we are not to become complacent with knowing the milk doctrines, including the milk doctrine of the salvation of all. There are those who believe that the doctrine of the salvation of all is strong meat. That was what I thought for several years. When I first learned the Greek word aion is defined as ‘an age’, and that aion, or its adjective aionios, is the Greek word from which the English words forever, forever and ever, eternal, eternity, everlasting, and world are all translated, it seemed at that time, back in the early 1970’s, as a very large, spiritual, 16 ounce, T-bone steak. It was nothing more than the Truth of the milk doctrine of “eternal judgment”, the last of the six milk doctrines of Hebrews six:

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

The Christ we thought we knew was a Christ who would think nothing of tormenting most of mankind in flames of literal fire for all eternity. That ‘Jesus’ was what Paul referred to as “another Jesus”.

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.

We have all been in our own pre-ordained time “carnal… babes in Christ”. At that time in our walk we believed in “another Jesus”. We must all want to get past being a spiritual babe in Christ if we want to get past ‘falling backward, being broken snared, and taken’:

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:13  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

The only way to get past being satisfied with the milk of the Lord’s Word is to “grow up into Christ” and acknowledge that all of His words speak to each of us  in our own time, including these words of our study today:

Isa 59:8  The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
Isa 59:9  Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

The knowledge of the milk doctrine of universal salvation, absent the doctrine of the chastening grace of the judgments of God, will keep us from going beyond the first principles of the oracles of God, and we will remain spiritual “carnal… babes in Christ… such as have need of milk and not of strong meat”, and we will continue thinking that the doctrine of universal salvation is that big 16 ounce T-bone steak, when it is really nothing more than the milk of the Word.

Heb 5:11  Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
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.

Notice how here in Isaiah 59:8-9 the holy spirit goes from the third person – “There is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths” – to the first person. “Therefore, judgment is far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.” The third person, ‘they’, the first person, the ‘us’ and the ‘we’, are all one and the same. All the Lord’s admonitions are speaking only to those who “are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts”. They are addressed only to those to whom the Lord, through fiery trials in this age, has given ‘eyes that can see and ears that can hear… the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven’ (Mat 13:9-15). While it is true the Lord uses Satan as “the god of this world” to blind the eyes of the world from His plan and purpose… from understanding ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven’, He clearly tells us that it is He who has blinded their eyes, and that it is all being done “after the counsel of His own will”.

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

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

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:

Continuing the Lord’s admonition to us:

Isa 59:10  We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
Isa 59:11  We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

Only those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear can see and hear these words of admonition from the Lord addressed to ”us [who have all] groped for the wall like the blind… as if we had no eyes”. Only the Lord’s servants realize just how blind they are without the mind of Christ, and the scriptures make that very clear:

Isa 42:19  Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’S servant?

These verses are not encouragement to stay blind and deaf, and they are not saying we are to remain in that state. They are telling us that all these admonitions have a personal application to each of the Lord’s messengers He is in the process of purifying and perfecting.

Isa 59:12  For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
Isa 59:13  In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
Isa 59:14  And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

Every one of the Lord’s servants and every one of His messengers know in a very personal way the total darkness that is the blindness the Lord places upon each of us, even as we thought we had already seen the light of the Truth. Coming out of Egypt appears, at the time, to be our very salvation, and it is indeed a joyous thing to discover that we will neither be tormented for all eternity nor will we be annihilated. It is very comforting to discover that are we baptized into the death of Christ and raised with Him in newness of life.

However, these are milk doctrines which are like honey in our mouths.

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

We are then told these “milk” doctrines also called “the first principles of the oracles of God”. These milk doctrines are listed for us in the first two verses of the very next chapter:

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

These “first principles of the oracles of God”, these “milk” doctrines, are specifically designed to nourish spiritual “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?

Babes very often are totally unaware of their limitations. I tell the story of my 3-year old son watching my brother and I drive steel fence posts into the ground with a 16-pound sledge hammer. After watching us for a few minutes, he asked if I would let him use the hammer, and just for our amusement I consented. My brother and I got a good chuckle when my three-year old struggled just to get that 16-pound hammer off the ground. That story is very instructive of us as the story of James and John requesting to be seated at Christ’s right and left hand in His kingdom demonstrates for us.

Let’s look briefly at that account and at what happened shortly thereafter:

Mar 10:35  And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
Mar 10:36  And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?
Mar 10:37  They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.
Mar 10:38  But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
Mar 10:39  And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:
Mar 10:40  But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.

No, we of ourselves cannot drink of the cup that [Christ] drank, neither can we of ourselves be baptized with His baptism. James and John were not yet even converted. The very fact they fled from Him, at the time of His apprehension by the Jewish mob, demonstrated just how unprepared they were to drink of His cup or be baptized with His baptism:

Mat 26:47  And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.
Mat 26:48  Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
Mat 26:49  And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.
Mat 26:50  And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
Mat 26:51  And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.
Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Mat 26:53  Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Mat 26:54  But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
Mat 26:55  In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
Mat 26:56  But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

Peter is like all of us. Not one of us of ourselves can resist the urge to preserve our soulish life. But we are also James and John who think they are capable of drinking of Christ’s cup and partaking of His baptism. This is a time of great trial, and we will fall seven times before we learn that of ourselves we can do nothing without being in Christ and Christ being in us. Christ was nothing of Himself, and we are nothing without Him:

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

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 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

The fear of disobeying the Lord is born of a deep realization of the Lord’s omnipotence and the fact that He really is working and performing in us what He has appointed for us and is working all things after the counsel of His own will:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

Eph 2:8  For by [“chastening”] grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Accepting and believing these truths is strong meat which we as babes simply cannot receive. This is what Christ said to His own disciples after spending 3½ years with them:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Like Christ’s apostles, we are first spiritual “carnal… babes in Christ, and as such we are yet to learn that “the grace of God… chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly lives in this present age”.

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

The physical and spiritually immoral darkness, the absolutely insane judgments of our secular leaders, and the hypocrisy of the outward world is merely a reflection of the spiritual hypocrisy within the Lord’s servants while we are “yet carnal”, blind and deaf and without judgment.

Isa 59:12  For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;

Like a family without a spiritual home surrounded with the spiritual walls of the New Jerusalem, we were open to being invaded and occupied by “every wind of doctrine” and every false doctrine of the adversary. That is exactly what happened to every one of us. We come to Christ seeking forgiveness for our sins, but the Lord gave us over to spiritual Pharisees who immediately turned us into twofold more the children of Gehenna than themselves. Then we become the self-righteous Pharisee who seeks the souls of others to make them as self-righteous as we are:

Mat 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

This insanity of being so rebellious and at the same time self-righteous is expressed in these spiritual words:

Eze 38:4  And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

Amos uses the same language to describe how the Lord makes us to err from His ways and hardens our hearts from His fear (Isa 63:17).

Amo 4:1  Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan [David said the “bulls of Bashan have beset me” – Psa 22:12] that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

[Psa 22:12  Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
Psa 22:13  They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

Psa 35:16  With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.]

Amo 4:2  The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
Amo 4:3  And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.
Amo 4:4  Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
Amo 4:5  And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

We are brought to conviction of our blatant sins, and then like Job and his “miserable comforters” we succumb to the even more insidious sin of self-righteousness. When we become so ‘righteous’ that we literally contend with, reprove and condemn God, our judgment is inevitable and certain.

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

But we simply must be brought to see that these words are addressed to us:

Isa 59:13  In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

If we have ever believed and taught anyone that God would either torment or annihilate His creatures, we have ‘lied against the Lord’ (vs 13). If we have ever believed He was a three-headed, God we have lied against Him, and we have departed from Him. There is neither time nor space to list all the egregious false doctrines and words of falsehood to which we have all subscribed and uttered from the heart.

Isa 59:14  And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

How can “equity… enter” while we believe such monstrous doctrines as eternal torment, annihilation, and substitutionary atonement which gives us all a get-out-of-jail-free card. There is no justice in either eternal torment or annihilation, and there is no justice in the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, which by-passes the doctrine of being judged according to our works.

Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Does that sound like the doctrine of substitutionary atonement?

Truly, while in bondage to the doctrines of Babylon, “judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands far off because Truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter our hearts and minds with such unjust false doctrines occupying the Lord’s temple.

With so many lies and false doctrines dominating our hearts and minds, every one of them contradicting the doctrine of Christ, which teaches us to love our neighbor and our enemies, it is easy to understand why this last verse of our study today corresponds with the first verse of our study today which tells us that of ourselves “the way of peace they know not”:

Isa 59:8  The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

It is becoming clearer every day that the scriptures, like the cloud at the Red Sea, are designed to keep this world in the darkness it is already in, while simultaneously shining like the sun in its full strength upon the Truths of the Lord’s words for those whom He is dragging to Himself in this age.

I just listened to a video entitled “Who Is the Beast of Revelation 13?” I was intrigued because this minister began by quoting this verse in his opening prayer:

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

He closed his opening prayer asking the Lord to ‘help us all to read, hear and keep the things written in this book’, so he had me hooked until it soon became abundantly clear that this minister believed that the beast of Revelation 13 will be ‘a very handsome… charismatic… son of Satan who will bring peace to the middle east and to the world just before Christ returns to crush the kingdom of this end time beast’.

As with all Babylonian ministers, the words “for the time is at hand” simply are not there in Revelation 1:3. This minister read that verse but did not see or hear those words. To that minister the entire prophecy of the book of Revelation is only for the generation which happens to be alive at the time just prior to the first resurrection and the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ. He spoke often of the anti-Christ, and again made him out to be only an end time personality who is the same as the end time beast of Revelation 13.

Truly, our last two verses apply to each of us when we were where this minister and all of His kind are:

Isa 59:13  In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
Isa 59:14  And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

That is our study for today. Here are our verses for our next study, and as we will see, the Lord continues to assure us that if we are His elect, He will never leave us.

Isa 59:15  Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
Isa 59:16  And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
Isa 59:17  For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.
Isa 59:18  According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
Isa 59:19  So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
Isa 59:20  And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
Isa 59:21  As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

(Key verses: Genesis 49:16-18)

In the final section of the book of Genesis, we see Jacob living in Egypt for seventeen years until his death at the age of one hundred forty-seven years (Gen 47:28). Prior to his death he called his twelve sons together to tell them “which shall befall [them] in the last days”:

Gen 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Gen 49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

The theme of “the last days” provides important indicators to our own spiritual progress and maturity, especially for those who can see that the “ends of the world are come” on them (Isa 2:2; Mat 24:1-35; Act 2:14-21; 2Ti 3:1; Heb 1:2). What Jacob said to these sons “happened to them for ensamples, and are written for our admonition” (1Co 10:11). In previous discussions we focused on Jacob’s last words to Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun and Issachar. In this discussion, Dan is the focus, and here are the final words of Jacob to him:

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.
Gen 49:18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

“Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel”

Here is the background to the birth of this son of Jacob:

Gen 30:1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
Gen 30:2 And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
Gen 30:3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.
Gen 30:4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.
Gen 30:5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.
Gen 30:6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan [Hebrew: dân = ruler/judge].

Dan was Jacob’s fifth son born and the first offspring from Rachel’s handmaid, Bilhah. The Hebrew meaning of the name “Dan” links with God’s judgment. In this regard, it is also interesting to note that the tribe of Dan was positioned on the north side of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and they were also part of the ten northern tribes when the kingdom of Israel split after the death of Solomon. We know that the north is also generally associated with God’s judgment in the scriptures (Lev 1:11; Job 37:22; Isa 14:31; Isa 41:25; Jer 1:14; Jer 4:6; Jer 6:1; Jer 10:22; Jer 25:9; Eze 1:4; Eze 48:1):

Num 2:25a The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north side [of the tabernacle] by their armies…

Because of this position of the tribe of Dan with the tribes of Naftali and Asher at the north of the tabernacle, it follows that these tribes were the last of the twelve tribes of Israel to journey or to enter into battle in the forty years in the wilderness. The tribe of Dan is specifically mentioned as being “hindmost” or “at the rear”:

Num 2:31 (KJV) All they that were numbered in the camp of Dan were an hundred thousand and fifty and seven thousand and six hundred. They shall go hindmost with their standards.

Num 2:31 (YLT) All those numbered of the camp of Dan are a hundred thousand, and seven and fifty thousand, and six hundred; at the rear they journey, by their standards.

Dan associates with judgment, and we know that judgment links with a harvest which occurs after a lengthy growth process has taken place where even the seeds of the evil one have had time to mature and reveal their function in our lives:

Mat 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
Mat 13:37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Mat 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world [Greek: aiōn = age]; and the reapers are the angels.
Mat 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world [Greek: aiōn = age].

As the tribe of Dan was “hindmost” or “at the rear”, this tribe helps us to see that it is only in our “last days” when we can appreciate God’s judgment through His symbolic seven plagues, as only then it is actually fulfilled:

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

Dan was the first son born of a concubine, but was given full status of sonship by Jacob in these words to him. Dan’s position did not affect his inheritance, even as all in Adam will be conformed to the image of the Son of God through judgment (1Co 15:22-28):

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

“Dan shall be a serpent by the way…”

In our time of spiritual immaturity, we cannot see God’s church as an integrated unit, as at this stage we accept divisions and compare ourselves with others in the household of God (1Co 3:1-9; 2Co 10:12). This spirit was also in the tribe of Dan who were not satisfied with the territory initially allotted to them:

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.

When we cannot see Christ as the Head of the body having all things under control, our whole perspective of His body and the operation of that body is also twisted. Then we usually do what is right in our own eyes and judge things from that perverted point of view. This is the theme of the book of Judges and that period of physical Israel’s history, for our learning:

Jdg 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

The period of the rule of the judges in physical Israel’s history is very significant to understand our own perverted sense of righteousness – “that which was right in his own eyes”:

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

The tribe of Dan wanted more land, and their eyes were looking over the fence, so to speak:

Jdg 18:2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah [the birthplace of Samson], and from Eshtaol [Samson was buried here], 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 know the number five spiritually indicates grace through faith in our lives, and here we see five men being sent out by this tribe to spy – pointing to their time of unbelief which is the negative spiritual application of the number five (Eph 2:8-10). In this time of insecurity and unbelief about our own spiritual gifts and ministry in the body of Christ, we are ‘spying’ on other’s gifts and ministries, being busybodies and not satisfied with our own “bread” which God have given us, as the apostle Paul also found in the church at Thessalonica:

2Th 3:11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
2Th 3:12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

Within this time of searching and spying, the tribe of Dan found an unprotected city called Laish (also called Leshem) as the inhabitants of this city were “careless…quiet and secure” as “there was no magistrate (judge) in the land”:

Jdg 18:7 Then the five men [of the tribe of Dan] 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.

These inhabitants of Laish lived “after the manner of the Zidonians”, which was a city focused on self-interest and physical prosperity. Earthly things and entanglement in worldly affairs naturally have a tendency to attract the flesh and cause a state of lukewarmness and carelessness about spiritual things, of which we are warned about in the scriptures (1Co 11:28-34; 1Ti 4:16; 1Ti 6:6-11; Rev 3:14-22):

Amo 6:1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

The tribe of Dan was naturally attracted to this city of Laish and saw the opportunity to conquer it. In this they operated like “an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.” The tribe of Dan, with their carnal aspirations and hunger for more land at this stage, appointed six hundred men with weapons of war:

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.

This is significant, as we know the number six is the number of man and his beastly efforts to establish what he deems important (Gen 1:24-31). This haughty human spirit of pride can also be picked up in the Danites as they also renamed the city of Laish (or Leshem) after their own name (1Jn 2:16):

Jos 19:47 And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father.

Physical man is a deluded creature who believes he has a free will and that his works of flesh can establish a name for himself in the earth – and even in the heaven. This is the nature of mankind since the creation, as God Himself causes this worldly spirit to operate in mankind for a period of time (Jer 18:4; Rom 8:20; 1Jn 2:16; Eze 14:9; 2Th 2:11). In this time we cannot help but be convinced that we can build our own heavenly towers with our own ways and methods – spiritual slime and bricks:

Gen 11:3 And they [the people who congregated in Babel after the global flood] said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
Gen 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

This tribe of Dan was very noticeable in the scriptures in their desire to worship graven images as they also appointed their own priests, even hiring a Levite who was not from the line of Aaron:

Jdg 18:19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?

Jdg 18:29  And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.
Jdg 18:30  And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

Another witness to this self-glorification within this tribe of Dan is mentioned earlier in scripture when Israel was still in the wilderness and the following event took place:

Lev 24:10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;
Lev 24:11 And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)
Lev 24:12 And they put him in ward [under guard/type of imprisonment], that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them.
Lev 24:13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 24:14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
Lev 24:15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.
Lev 24:16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.

It was a son in the tribe of Dan who openly blasphemed the name of the Lord and was stoned to death. We do blaspheme and curse God openly by claiming preeminence in the knowledge of His Word but failing to do His Word or apply that knowledge in our own lives and the lives of others (1Ti 6:1-6; Tit 2:3-5; Jas 1-26):

Rom 2:23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Rom 2:24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

When the kingdom of Israel split under the rule of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, the tribe of Dan was one of the ten tribes who joined Jeroboam to form the northern kingdom of Israel. It was actually in the city of Dan where Jeroboam put one of the two golden calves for the purpose of worship (1Ki 12:26-31). Birds of a feather flock together, the saying goes, as Jeroboam was also insecure and self-absorbed as he wanted to prevent those under his rule from traveling to the temple in Jerusalem to sacrifice and worship there, as prescribed by God. This finds application in us when we worship our own image (our ideas and false sense of importance) which is the highest form of delusion in our mature beastly state:

Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.

“Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan”

Moses expressed these words about this tribe of Dan before the entrance in Canaan:

Deu 33:22 And of Dan he [Moses] said, Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.

We know that the lion is also the sign of the tribe of Judah, as Judah and his tribe grew from being a lion’s whelp to be an old lion. This tribe of Judah was the leading tribe in journey and battles in Israel and positioned first on the east side of the tabernacle in the wilderness (Gen 49:8-9; Jdg 1:1-2) As Judah was the appointed leader in this sense, so was the tribe of Dan appointed to bring up the rear of the people of Israel in their wanderings in the wilderness. This symbol of a lion’s whelp, which is connected here to the Danites, spiritually points out their immaturity in leadership. It is within our spiritually immature state that we actually also project ourselves to importance and rulership over others, like all worldly authorities are given to do (Mat 20:25-28). This type of leadership is also found among God’s people when He takes away the love for His Word and its authority in our lives:

Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2 The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3 The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
Isa 3:4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

The tribe of Dan, in its immature state, leaps from Bashan. Bashan was a fruitful district on the east side of the river Jordan, which is spiritually very significant. The tribe of Dan was blessed with strength and could conquer other nations as the scriptures already pointed out. This was also seen in the life of Samson, one of the judges of Israel. Samson was used as a judge in Israel, and he was indeed from the tribe of Dan. He was a life-long Nazarite, which again brings this immature spiritual state to the fore. God in His mercy will bring all babes in Christ to maturity by destroying our inward Philistines, even our many wonderful fruits of the flesh. This is what the story of this Danite Samson brings to us – God designs occasions through which He also brings the immaturity in us to an end:

Jdg 14:1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

It was purposeful for God, who alone can create and use evil, to bring forth good as God “sought an occasion against the Philistines” to remove the dominion which the Philistines had over Israel (Gen 1:31; Gen 50:20):

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

The immature spirit in the tribe of Dan was also seen when Israel had to fight against Jabin, the Canaanite king under a female judge, Deborah. The tribes of Dan, Reuben and Asher were absent in the war, and they could not see God’s purposes in all of these things. This is what Deborah had to say about these tribes:

Jdg 5:16 Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
Jdg 5:17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.

All authorities, the good ones and the weak or evil ones, are appointed by God for His purposes (Dan 4:25; Rom 13:1). We know that female leadership in a house, a church or a country, is not reflecting the true relationship in the Godhead between Father and Jesus (Gen 2:21-24; 1Co 11:3; Eph 5:21-33; 1Pe 3:1-6). When God goes to such measures, it is to expose our own hearts in the process as we do not know the deceitfulness and wickedness of our hearts (Deu 8:2):

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

Jacob’s final word to Dan included this hope:  “I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.”

We all must go through much tribulation to receive God’s salvation, even through blaspheming against God through the spirit of the world with all its lusts and pride in us (Act 14:22). The obsession with their own name and image in these Danites is what we are admonished about, as their name is actually omitted from the twelve tribes in the spiritual city of God in the book of Revelation! However, these self-absorbed Danites in us “shall fall, and never rise up again”, even as spiritual Babylon will fall at the appointed time (Rev 18:1-24):

Amo 8:14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

When our old name is blotted out, we are given a new name. The new name comes through the doctrine of Christ which will be engraved on the heart of each person in Adam. Even as Aholiab, who was also from the tribe of Dan, was used by God to work in blue, purple and scarlet, and fine linen with the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness:

Exo 38:22  And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses.
Exo 38:23  And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen.

With the building of the temple of Solomon, the king of Tyre, Huram, also advised Solomon of another skillful man, whose name was Hiram or Huram Abi, who was a descendant with the same craft within the tribe of Naphtali, although he was the son “of a woman of the daughters of Dan” (1Ki 7:13-14):

2Ch 2:13 And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father’s,
2Ch 2:14 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.

All of these colors, and even the fine linen, speak of God’s righteousness and salvation through His temple in heaven, even as we enter through the veils at the doors of the tabernacle with the cherubims woven in them, which all symbolizes His elect (Gen 3:24; Joh 10:1-18; 1Ti 3:15; Heb 10:19-20; Rev 3:12):

2Ch 3:14 And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

Dan and his tribe typify our road from being the last to be the first, if we can give a truthful account that we lived by all the words of God (Mat 4:4; Mat 20:1-16; Rom 5:8; 1Co 15:22-28; 1Ti 1:15). The tribe of Dan shows this “strange work” of judgment through which God humbles us through His chastening grace (Isa 28:16-21; Jer 2:19; 1Co 11:31-34; Tit 2:11-12; Rev 21:8):

Deu 8:5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
Deu 8:6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the www.iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:
The Keys to The Kingdom – Part 5
Why Are They Blessed?
Numbers in Scripture
Job 42:9-17 “So The LORD Blessed The Latter End of Job More Than His Beginning”
Fear Not
The Spiritual Significance of The Nazarite Vow

Dear Mike,

I hope this letter finds you well.

I was speaking to a sister on the weekend, and I was telling her about a nutritional supplement I just started. I made a joke that I won’t tell her what it is yet just in case it kills me.

Then I said, I sure hope I won’t die today, because then I won’t be in the first resurrection. She said of course you will be as long as you endure until the end. I said based on my understanding I am unskilled in the word. She said that you believe that you will be saved by works, and that does not sound right. She said I will just end up being worried about my future. I want to be in the first resurrection, but much maturation needs to take place before that can happen. I am also not worried about it. I based my understanding on this article.

http:// www. iswasandwillbe. com/ New_ converts_ in_ first_ resurrection. php

Please correct me if I am wrong. I thought I was just recognizing the fact that I just discovered these truths four months ago.

Sincerely,

M___

Hi M____,

Thank you for your question.

Your assessment of your situation is in complete accord with the scriptures. That e-mail you reference gives the scriptures 1Co 3:1-4 and Heb 5:1.

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?

Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
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.

Here is one more verse that adds great weight to the doctrine that “carnal… babes” will not be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”:

Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

The words “to them that give suck” are all translated from the one Greek word G2337, and would better be translated with the single English word ‘suckling’.

The ACV is a much better translation of this particular verse than is the KJV.

Here is the ACV:

Mat 24:19 And woe to those who have in the womb and to those who suckle in those days.

Those who are “in the womb and… suckle in those days” are spiritually the same as “carnal… babes in Christ” who “[are] not skillful in the word of righteousness” and certainly are not “overcome[rs]” who have been “saved yet so as by fire”.

So simply believing in Christ does not qualify us for rulership. We are specifically told that we must also be overcomers, saved by fire, and we must first “fulfill… the seven plagues of the seven angels”. Our opinions of who will and who will not be in that blessed and holy first resurrection are of no consequence, but these scriptures are the opinion of our Lord, and His opinion is of great consequence:

1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

No babe in Christ has endured any fire and indeed is not capable of doing so until he is past being a “suckling”.

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.

Babes in Christ are not yet capable being overcomers. They must get past those milk doctrines and “go on unto perfection” (Heb 6:1-2).

Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

So there it is. “No man [is] able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels [are] fulfilled” in that man’s life. That obviously excludes “carnal… babes in Christ [ and] sucklings” who are still on “the milk of the world”.

I hope this clears it up for you. You can be well aware of all of these scriptures and not be the least bit involved in thinking that you are saved by your works.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Mr Vinson,

Hope this finds you well. I haven’t wrote in a long time, all things are very good here. Been really busy here for a long time, but never too busy to study the word. I have a quick question, if you have some time.

When I get into exodus, there are a couple paragraphs that I try to figure out what are we talking about, and how does this apply to my spiritual life.

Exo 4:24 and it came to pass by the way to the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.
Exo 4:25 then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband thou to me.
Exo 4:26 so he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband, because of the circumcision.

First, why would the Lord want to kill Moses, after commissioning him to bring the children of Israel, out of Egypt?

Second, why do Moses’s gentile sons need to be circumcised?

Third, what is the spiritual application of Zipporah doing the physical act of circumcision and not moses?

Any help with this is always a blessing.

Bless you and your family,

D____

Hi D____,
It is so good to hear from you and see that you are still meditating upon “the things of the spirit”. I hope this letter finds you and your family all in good health, both physically and spiritually.
Thank you for your questions about the spiritual significance of Moses wife Zipporah circumcising her own son.
To answer your question I must point out a couple of unwarranted assumptions.
First, it is not Moses who the Lord is threatening to kill, but the uncircumcised son of Moses. God is sending Moses to deliver His circumcised people, and here is Moses with an uncircumcised son. God could not permit that to be so.
Next, you call Moses’s son a Gentile, but He is really a Levite, because his father is a Levite. Gentiles have always been permitted to marry into the nation of Israel, as long as they accepted the sign of circumcision.

Gen 34:14 And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that [ were] a reproach unto us:
Gen 34:15 But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we [ be], that every male of you be circumcised;
Gen 34:16 Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
Gen 34:17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.

It was only the father who could agree to giving his daughter to another. So Jacob had agreed to this arrangement, but Jacob’s son’s were lying to these men by agreeing to do the right thing when they had no intention of following through. Nevertheless, it was always possible to marry into Israel by agreeing to be circumcised.
Now to answer your question as to what this has to do with your and my spiritual life, it is clear that we all attempt at first to please God without being completely circumcised, and Zipporah, as the woman in this story, symbolizes the ever present church, as the very force which opposes our complete circumcision. The fact that this happened when Moses was on his way back to Egypt to deliver his people Israel, demonstrates that this is an experience which is common to us all at the beginning of our own calling into the service of our Lord. We are all “yet carnal… babes in Christ” even after being given to know Christ, and even being given spiritual gifts.

1Co 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
1Co 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Moses was enriched in Christ, had the testimony of the miracles God had shown him at the burning bush and came behind in no gift. Nevertheless, these next verses all applied to Moses and to all of us at the beginning of our Christian walk.

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?

Four times in four verses Paul explains that we are “yet carnal… (as) babes in Christ”.
I hope this helps you to see that Moses’s uncircumcised son is merely an Old Testament type of our own carnality which always asks ‘What is permissible?’ instead of ‘What is commendable?’ even while being called into our Lord’s service. To this very day our flesh considers Christ, our spiritual husband, to be “a bloody man because of the circumcision” which seems too demanding of the flesh.
Instead of allowing the church world [ Zipporah] to influence us to remain uncircumcised, this ought to be our attitude.

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,

You are in my prayers, to be granted to follow the exhortation of this and every word of scripture.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Hello Mike,

Only recently have I been “being” given “eyes to see and ears to hear” to the Glory of God! I am reading the study notes from The Types and Shadows of the New Testament. I’m presently reading the healing of the blind man in John 9. I believe God has opened my eyes to a Truth, and I was just wondering if you have seen this. It seems the parents of the once blind man typify those of us that refuse to go on into maturity.

Joh 9:22 These things said his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
Joh 9:23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

Is that the way you see it? I thank God that he has brought me out of her! Please pray that God will continue to open my eyes to his wonderful Truths.

God bless and thank you.

J____

Wow! God really is opening your eyes. I could not agree more, and no, I had not seen that before. But I have no doubt that what you have been shown is true because of this verse:

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.

We are being judged now, and we are the ‘christ’ of Christ:

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?

Act 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Now look at the prayer of those who were hiding from the Jews while Peter was in prison:

Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

The word ‘christ’ means anointed. God’s elect are Christ’s anointed. And for anyone to claims to be chosen out of Babylon as God’s anointed and “chosen… few” is today felt by ‘historical orthodox Christianity’ to be worthy of stoning in a spiritual sense. In fact, that is exactly what we are told is done to these people.

God’s elect are typified as “two witnesses.” Two is the number of witness. (Read the study notes and listen to the audio on the subject of the spiritual significance of the number ‘two.’)

Now what happens to these ‘two witnesses’ once they have “finished their testimony” to someone who rejects that testimony:

Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies [ shall lie] in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

In the commentary on Revelation, which we are going through now verse by verse [Ed: 2008], we will scripturally prove to you that this is a book of signs and symbols. We will also prove scripturally that you are to “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book… for the time is at hand.”

So whatever is happening to God’s witnesses has been happening to God’s witnesses for the past two thousand years.

Now you and I, as His witnesses, do not physically spit fire out of our mouths as that ridiculous piece of fiction called ‘Left Behind’ portrayed. Here is scriptural proof of what ‘fire in your mouth’ really means:

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

There is your “fire proceeding out of their mouth.” No one is physically killed in verse five:

Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

And no one is physically killed in verse 7:

Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

The “beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit” is those who withstand God’s witnesses who “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book:”

Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

This angel has just identified himself as the ‘two witnesses” the “manchild which is to rule all nations with a rod of iron,” the “four beasts and the four and twenty elders,” the “one hundred and forty and four thousand” the “kind of firstfruits” “the bride the Lamb’s wife” the “New Jerusalem” and any other title which is attached to those who will be ruling and reigning with Christ. They are all “thy brethren… which keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”

Now the beast which ascends out of the bottomless pit doesn’t physically kill God’s witnesses any more than God’s witness physically “kill… any man that [will] hurt them.” The ‘killing’ in verse seven is just as figurative and symbolic and “signified” as the ‘killing’ in verse five. The ‘killing in both cases is “in heaven.” (Read the paper What and Where Is Heaven?) Heaven is where God dwells. And God dwells in His people. So all of the warring and conflict taking place in this book is in the hearts and minds of God’s people.

God’s witnesses “after the first and second admonition” consider their detractors to be dead.

Tit 3:10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

This is a very unpopular verse of scripture and is seldom ever quoted “in the streets of that great city”. But it too, “is for our admonition.” This verse is the “killed” of verse five. But the rejection of the admonition of God’s witnesses is the “kill them” which “the beast which comes up out of the bottomless pit” perpetrates upon God’s witnesses. No one physically dies in either case. But Paul Crouch and Benny Hinn and the entire orthodox Christian church considers God’s elect as “dead in the streets of that great city wherein our Lord was crucified.” Christ was crucified by His own people, “those Jews which believed on Him [who were] of their father the devil.”

Very few people indeed realize that the people who wanted Christ dead were the exact same people who ate of His loaves and fishes and who proclaimed him “the kingdom of our father David…”

Mar 11:10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.

They were “those Jews which believed on Him… [who were] of their father the devil.”

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue [Greek: μένω, meno – 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.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye [Jews which believe on Me] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Those who withstand God’s Truth “cannot hear His Word.” Let us all beg God that we can all say “I am your fellowservant and of those who keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book” just as Christ told us to do:

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Luk 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

Luk 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

Joh 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying [“of the prophecy of this book”], he shall never see death.

There are seventy other examples of this word ‘keep’ which demonstrate that we are to “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book” as we would ‘guard’ our very lives. We keep God’s word when we observe and do it:

Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe [Greek: τηρέω, tereo – keep], that observe [Greek: τηρέω, tereo keep] and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

Thank you for your insight. I hope that you too, have been edified as I have been.

Mike