Dan 4:1-18  The Most High Rules in the Kingdom of Men

[Study Aired November 29, 2021]

Dan 4:1  Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 
Dan 4:2  I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. 
Dan 4:3  How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. 
Dan 4:4  I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: 
Dan 4:5  I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. 
Dan 4:6  Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. 
Dan 4:7  Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. 
Dan 4:8  But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying, 
Dan 4:9  O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. 
Dan 4:10  Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. 
Dan 4:11  The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: 
Dan 4:12  The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. 
Dan 4:13  I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; 
Dan 4:14  He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: 
Dan 4:15  Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: 
Dan 4:16  Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. 
Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. 
Dan 4:18  This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation: but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. 

Last week’s study of Daniel chapter 3 focused on who we are and how, through our fiery trials represented by the furnace, those called and chosen are not given to worshiping the image created by Nebuchadnezzar which represents our old man or the beast within.

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

Today’s study is about a dream Nebuchadnezzar had and what this dream spiritually signifies. This dream shows us who we are as a beast and the need for us to go through judgment to learn righteousness.

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

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

Dan 4:1  Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 

This verse shows us that what we are going to read in this chapter is addressed to all the people of the world, that is, all humanity. We must understand that what Nebuchadnezzar was going to unveil in the dream he had affects all humanity. However, as we are aware, it is only the elect who can understand the implication of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream on their lives. This is because it is not given to all humanity to understand the word of God in this age except those elected by God who are privileged to do so.

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

Dan 4:2  I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. 
Dan 4:3  How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. 

As we shall see later, the signs and wonders God has wrought in the life of Nebuchadnezzar, of which he was telling the whole world, relates to the revelation of who he was and how the Lord dealt with him. Our Lord showing us who we are and coming to deal with our old man is the wonderful work that is spoken of by Nebuchadnezzar in these verses. The Psalmist also talks about this wonderful work of the Lord as follows:

Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 
Psa 107:32  Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

The details of this wondrous work of the Lord are as follows:

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. 
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

This wonderful work of the Lord starts with us going down to the sea and doing business in great waters. Going down to the sea and doing business in great waters means being ruled by the flesh and conforming to the standards of this world. This gives the Lord the occasion to come and judge us by raising a storm which causes us to come to our wits’ end. In our desperation, we cry to our Lord to deliver us just like Paul cried:

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.

Our Lord comes in to calm the storm and bring us to our safe haven. That is to say that through this experience, we learn righteousness and become the sons of God. That is the wonderful work of the Lord or the signs and wonders of His work that Nebuchadnezzar is bringing to our attention so we can praise the Lord!!

Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. 

The rest of Daniel chapter 4 deals with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream which unveils who we are as we go through Babylon and the steps the Lord takes to deliver us.

Dan 4:4  I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: 
Dan 4:5  I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. 

We thought we were at rest and basking in our own self-righteousness in Babylon just like Nebuchadnezzar, when Christ came into our lives and ‘all hell broke loose’. As we are aware, our Lord Jesus coming into our lives is not for peace but a sword. That is exactly what happened to Nebuchadnezzar.

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

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

Dan 4:6  Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. 
Dan 4:7  Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. 

The wise men of Babylon are the magicians, astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers. These men represent the leaders of the various religious organizations of the world whose delicacies have made rich the merchants of the earth (the church leaders) and have caused all the people of the world to drink of the wine of their fornication.

Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

These wise men are not given to know the truth and therefore do not have the mind of Christ. As a result, they cannot interpret the dream of Nebuchadnezzar which is given to those whose eyes are being opened and their ears hearing what the spirit of the Lord is saying.

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 
Joh 8:44  Ye 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. 

This is what the Lord says of these scribes and Pharisees of today who represents the wise men of Babylon:

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

Dan 4:8  But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying,
Dan 4:9  O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof.

In verse 8, the last person to come before the king to attempt interpreting the dream was Daniel. Daniel represents the elect and, as indicated, the wise men who came earlier stand for Babylon. As we know, the flesh always comes first before the spirit. We had to be in Babylon first before we were given to worship God in spirit.

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

We, the elect, are the ones who are given to know the mind of Christ just like Daniel and therefore, we can interpret the dream of the king or the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is a parable that those who have not been given the mind of Christ cannot understand or interpret.

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 13:16  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.

As we continue in Him, the secret things of the Lord will be made known to us.

Luk 8:17  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.

Jer 33:2  Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; 
Jer 33:3  Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Dan 4:10  Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. 
Dan 4:11  The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: 

According to the word of God, a tree represents man. A good tree therefore signifies the elect, and a bad tree stands for all humanity who are not given to know Christ in this life.

Mar 8:24  And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

Psa 37:35  I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

Mat 7:18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Psa 52:8  But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

Psa 92:12  The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

All humanity, including the elect, starts as bad trees. Those predestined to become the sons of God in this life, however, are transformed to become good trees later in life. The characteristics of the tree in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream qualifies it as a bad tree as described in verse 10 and 11. In verse 10, it is stated that the height was great. Also in verse 11, it is shown that the height of the tree reaches heaven.

Eze 31:3  Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and forest shade, and of towering height, its top among the clouds. 

Eze 31:10  “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height, 

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

What we are being told is that the height of the tree here symbolizes the pride of man. We become proud because we think we control our own destiny and that it is through our effort that we have become righteous. This is the self-righteousness, which is iniquity, spoken of by Ezekiel.

Eze 33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Verse 11 also states that the tree grew and became strong. As we age in life without Christ, the old man within us also becomes more entrenched in wickedness and therefore we end up being worse off than when we started.

2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Again, in verse 11, it is stated that the tree was visible in all parts of the world. This visibility of the tree refers to the worshiping of the beast by all humanity, which is becoming more and more obvious as we see the increase in wickedness in all humanity as we go from bad to worse.

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

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Dan 4:12  The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.

We must remember that this dream is about Nebuchadnezzar who represents who we were when we were in Babylon. This verse compares to the following scripture:

Mat 13:31  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 
Mat 13:32  Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

Matthew chapter 13 verses 31 and 32 can be interpreted to mean that we all take the grain of mustard seed which is the word of God and turn it into images of men or false doctrines which strengthens the devil’s (fowls of the heaven) influence or hold on us as it empowers the old man or the beast within.

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

That is what happens to us in Babylon. We become worse off than when we started. Daniel 4:12 talks about our deplorable state in Babylon.

Dan 4:13  I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; 

According to Strong, the word ‘watcher’ means an angel or a messenger. So, the holy one and the watcher represent our Lord Jesus and His Christ. It is the Lord Jesus, the Chief messenger, who came to announce to us that we, His elect, must be judged for our sins. In other words, we must be cut down as a tree. We, as His Christ, are also carrying the same message that to learn righteousness, one must be cut down or judged.

1Pe 4:17  For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Dan 4:14  He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: 

In our marred state in Babylon, our Lord comes into our lives to judge us. This judgment is signified by the hewing down of the tree, the cutting off of its branches, the shaking of its leaves and the scattering of its fruit. We are the tree that is being cut down.

Eze 17:24  And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.

The end result of cutting down this tree is that the beasts get away from it. This is another way of saying that the beast or the old man within us is put to death. The fowls getting away from the tree branches is to let us know that we are no longer under the dictates of the devil. In other words, the devil is no longer our father.

Mat 3:10  And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 

Joh 8:44  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

It is when this cutting down of us as trees is accomplished that we learn righteousness.  We can therefore live righteously because the beast within us is dying, and the devil is no longer our father.

Isa 26:8  In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. 
Isa 26:9  My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

The import of this dream Nebuchadnezzar had is the same as Ezekiel’s prophecy to Pharoah, king of Egypt.

Eze 31:1  And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 31:2  Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? 
Eze 31:3  Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. 
Eze 31:4  The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. 
Eze 31:5  Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. 
Eze 31:6  All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. 
Eze 31:7  Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. 
Eze 31:8  The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. 
Eze 31:9  I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him. 
Eze 31:10  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; 
Eze 31:11  I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
Eze 31:12  And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
Eze 31:13  Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:

We can see that it is our pride that causes us to be cut down. While in Nebuchadnezzar’s case, we were not told who was going to do the cutting down, in this case, Ezekiel said that judgment would be meted out by strangers and the terrible of the nations. This is referring to one of the four sore judgments of the Lord – the noisome beast. The end result is that it leads to the destruction of the old man.

Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? 

Dan 4:15  Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: 

On a positive note, the tree stump that is left is the elect. When we are judged (cut down) by the Lord, we are not destroyed completely. It is our old man or the beast within that is destroyed, and we are left as a tree stump to grow again at the scent of water which is the word of God. In verse 15, being wet with the dew of heaven means receiving the word of God.

Job 14:7  “For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. 
Job 14:8  Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil, 
Job 14:9  yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant. (ESV)

Isa 6:11  Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 
Isa 6:12  and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 
Isa 6:13  And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump. (ESV)

The tree stump being bound with iron and brass means that we are dragged by the Lord to Himself. In verse 15, it is also mentioned that the stump must be left in the tender grass of the field so that it will be wet by the dew of heaven. This is to suggest that our Lord will plant us in the church of the first born or the New Jerusalem so that we can be beneficiaries of what every joint supplies, which is the word of God. Remember that grass of the field positively represents the elect.

Zec 10:1  Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

The last statement of verse 15 is that the tree stump’s portion should be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. This signifies that we, as our Lord’s elect, are being sent as sheep in the midst of wolves. In other words, we shall suffer persecution and be hated by all men.

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 
Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 
Mat 10:18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 

Mat 24:9  Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

The physical implication of verse 15 was that Nebuchadnezzar would not be destroyed totally but would become like the beast of the fields so that he would appreciate the fact that he is a beast just like all of us. The next verse explains this point.

Dan 4:16  Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.

The period for Nebuchadnezzar to come to the realization that he is a beast was seven years, which signifies the complete period of time that we come to realize during our time in Babylon that we are beasts. Coming to know that we are beasts is the beginning of the process of the Lord to make us His sons.

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

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

According to Strong, the word “watchers” here means holy angels. The watchers and the holy ones are all the same. They represent the elect. This whole issue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is to bring to our attention the fact that our Lord is at the center of all that takes place in our lives, both good and evil. The Lord giving the kingdom to whomsoever he will means that we play no part in our salvation. As a matter of fact, it is God who has chosen us before the foundations of the world. We did not choose ourselves.

Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
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? 
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

The Lord setting the kingdom up being ruled over by the basest of men means that He chooses the stupid things of this world to confound the wise and the prudent to the effect that no flesh shall glory in His presence.

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Dan 4:18  This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation: but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee.

As we have said earlier, it is those who have been given eyes to see and ears to hear who have the mind of Christ and are therefore given to know the interpretation of the mysteries concerning the kingdom of Heaven which is signified by Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

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 13:16  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.

Hi Mike,

Hope you are doing well, I’ve been trying to understand something and really could use your help.

In Daniel 2, we read of Daniel interpreting the king’s dream:

Dan 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay
Dan 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

Now I understand Nebuchadnezzer is a type and shadow of our carnal old man, but why is his kingdom “divided” and what is this “mingling with the seed of men” that Daniel speaks about?

I searched around your site but didn’t see where you addressed these questions directly.

Thanks,​ Mike,​ for helping me with this.​ Wishing you well.

Your brother,

C​____​

Hi C____,

Thank you for your question. You ask:

In Daniel 2, we read of Daniel interpreting the king’s dream:

Dan 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay
Dan 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

Now I understand Nebuchadnezzer is a type and shadow of our carnal old man, but why is his kingdom “divided” and what is this “mingling with the seed of men” that Daniel speaks about?” (End Quote)

The short answer to your question about iron being mixed with clay is that the iron, in this case, symbolizes spiritually the Word of God which will “break in pieces and subdue all things”, and the clay spiritually is the lies of mankind which are being mixed with the Truth of the Word of God by all the religions of this world, and abused by this world to subdue all men.  But the two do not mix and will not endure.

Dan 2:40  And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

Before we get into the spiritual significance of this dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, we must remember that the word of God, like the pillar of fire at the Red Sea, is light to the Lord’s people, and at the same time it is darkness to His enemies. That Pillar of fire is Christ and His words, which this world cannot receive or understand:

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

In other words, the Word of God always has both a positive and a negative application. It is all positive to our new man, while at the same time, it is the death and destruction of our rebellious old man.

That principle applies to every part of this dream, including Nebuchadnezzar himself, as well as the ‘feet’, the ‘ten toes’ and the ‘iron’ and ‘clay’. Nebuchadnezzar begins as a type of our old man, but in the end, after spending seven years eating literal grass like an ox, he repents of his self-righteous pride, and then he typifies our new man who acknowledges that he is indeed nothing more than a beast:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Dan 4:34  And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
Dan 4:35  And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
Dan 4:36  At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellers and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.
Dan 4:37  Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

“I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me” typifies our own resurrection from the dead which we are living now in “earnest” as a pledge of “the redemption of the purchased possession”, which is given to all who are blessed to have a part in the “wedding supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19 – also known as “the first resurrection”:

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.

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.

Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [Greek: pledge, down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction and humiliation in chapter four typifies his and our own humiliation and the destruction of the kingdom of our old man, which is built upon spiritual “iron mixed with miry clay”.

Mankind, in and of Himself, “has no preeminence above a beast”. In other words, mankind in and of himself is nothing more than “miry clay”.

Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

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

His Creator has plans for mankind which He does not have for beasts, and our Creator died for us as part of that creation process as He continues to “make man in His image”. The Lord ceasing from His works typifies our ceasing from our own sinful works, as we are by His hand, being “conformed to the image of His Son”:

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

Spiritually, the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream symbolizes all who are in Adam. Physically and dispensationally the body parts below the head are not Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, but are kingdoms which will come after his kingdom:

Dan 2:38  And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine [Nebuchadnezzar’s] hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
Dan 2:39  And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
Dan 2:40  And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

The kingdom that conquered the kingdom of Babylon was the Persian empire of Cyrus the great, and his kingdom was in turn conquered by the Greek empire of Alexander the great, whose kingdom was divided among his four generals, and eventually those kingdoms were overshadowed or conquered by the Roman empire, which would become the fourth world-ruling empire.

This “iron” Roman Empire, and the end time kingdom of “iron mixed with miry clay”, are the negative application of ‘iron’. Here is the positive application of “iron [which] breaks in pieces and subdues all things”:

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

“The sword of His mouth” and the “rod of iron” are both types of “the word of His mouth” with which He will “break in pieces and subdue all things” to Himself:

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

Rev 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

The “fire burning with brimstone” of “the lake of fire” is the same as “the sword… which… proceeds out of His mouth”, and both are His fiery words with which He will “rule the nations with a rod of iron”:

Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

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

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Deu 33:2  And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.

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.

Clearly the Word of God is symbolized in scripture as both ‘iron’ and ‘fire’. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream the symbolism of ‘iron’ is mixed with the symbolism of ‘miry clay’, and we are told:

 Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

You asked: “…what is this “mingling with the seed of men” that Daniel speaks about?” (End Quote). I have shown that the inward application is the mingling of the Words of God with the lies of mankind, so clearly demonstrated in the fact that so-called Christians the world over observe pagan holidays and call them Christian holidays in direct contradiction to all of these verses of scripture:

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

Yet leading Christian ministers will get on international television and tell those in their charge, “We know these days have pagan origins, but we have ‘Christianized’ them”. In other words, “We are going to follow the ways of the pagans and ‘do so unto the Lord [our] God’. We don’t care what the Lord says about how we should worship Him.”

These words of warning from the holy spirit in the New Testament are water off a duck’s back to the average so-called ‘Christian’:

Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

The pressures of society and family to conform to “the traditions of men” are far more feared by most Christians than are these words of God. The name of God is mixed with pagan doctrines of Santa Claus and the Ishtar bunny. That is about as clear a spiritual example of mixing spiritual iron with spiritual clay as one can have. It lasts just exactly as long as it is preordained to last, and then it will be destroyed by the ‘stone cut out of the mountain without hands’, just another symbol for Christ and His ‘iron… fiery’ Word.

Col 2:6  As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Col 2:7  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. The “Christ” Paul speaks of here did not “observe days, months, times or years” [Gal 4:10]:

Mat 12:1  At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mat 12:2  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3  But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4  How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6  But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7  But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Joh 5:16  And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
Joh 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 
Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Christ broke the most sacred day of the law of Moses, and that is the Christ Paul refers to when he tells us:

Col 2:6  As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

If the Lord gives us the strength to “so walk in Him”, then we, too, “shall be hated of all men”, because like Him we are far more concerned with being obedient to our Lord and His Father than we are to a society which observes pagan holidays and keeps the traditions of men in direct rebellion against Him and His ‘iron’ words which will “break in pieces and subdue” every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God:

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

Being “hated of all men for [Christ’s] name’s sake” is the destruction of the entire image of Daniel 2. It is the progressive death of our old man as the ‘stone cut out without hands’ gradually grows and becomes the kingdom of God within us, as it destroys all the nations within us which exalt themselves above the knowledge of God:

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;
2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

“The good seed [of the parable of the wheat and the tares] are the children of the kingdom” who speak the words of truth of the kingdom of God:

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;

“The children of the wicked” are all the adherents to all the religions which exalt themselves above the knowledge of God.

The outward dispensational fulfillment of all these verses will be fulfilled in us only “when [our] obedience is fulfilled [and we have] endured to the end… being hated of all men [in] this present time.” Outwardly and physically “they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men” was being done by Nebuchadnezzar who, along with the Assyrians whom he led, were the pioneers in transplanting vast number of immigrant populations to destroy any sense of patriotism in those they conquered:

2Ki 17:23  Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
2Ki 17:24  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, Israelite nor Gentile, male nor female, bond nor free, and there is certainly no ethnic nor color of skin differences. In Christ we can trust each other not to kill, commit adultery, nor steal from each other. However, it is foolish indeed to expect any of those virtues from “the seed of men, the seed of the wicked one”. In the same manner, it is foolish to “mingle… the seed of men”, and then expect them to just get along and love each other when Christ has not yet set up His kingdom within the hearts of every one of them.

I hope this has answered your question. If you still have a question, let me hear from you.

I am including the links to the two-part studies on the metal ‘iron’. I encourage you to read all the studies on all the metals of scripture. The positive and negative applications of all the metals, numbers, colors, and beasts have all been spiritually explained in great detail over the years. As you are given the time to do so, please check them all out.

Metals – Iron, Part 1

Spiritual Significance of Metals – Iron, Part 2

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Audio Links

Awesome Hands - part 139 Discussion

1 file(s) 5.47 MB

Download

Awesome Hands – Part 139

"The Iron Furnace"

August 12, 2018

With the Awesome hands series, we find ourselves in chapter 4 of Deuteronomy. In this chapter we find both the seriousness of the relationship we have with the Lord and what it means that the Lord will have us to be His children.

Being that this is a chapter with a lot of verses, let’s get right into it.

Deu 4:1  Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
Deu 4:2  Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

If you somewhat reverse the order of the things mentioned in these first two verses, you will find another succinct way of understanding how it is we can obey the Lord day to day.

“Keep my commandments by not adding to or diminishing my word so that you can possess the land by hearkening to the statues and judgments contained in my commandments.”

Adding to and taking away from the word of God is important. Moses is a perfect example of taking away or adding to the word of God in his actions of listening to the people instead of what the Lord has told Moses to do.

Moses was to speak to the rock to bring forth water, but he struck it instead. However, the Lord had also told Moses to strike the rock at one point to bring forth water. So, this proves that the Lord wants us to diligently listen to His commandments.

Just because we have read in the old testament to hate our enemies doesn’t mean we can hunt them down and kill them. The new testament tells us otherwise. Likewise, as we see with Moses, just because we have done something before and the Lord caused that to happen, does not mean we can continue to do that thing if the commandments of the Lord have changed on the matter. We will cover this in more detail throughout this study.

Deu 4:3  Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
Deu 4:4  But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.

Again, this is confirmation that obeying the Lord is the path to life. Serving other gods, namely serving ourselves, or giving others glory for what the Lord is doing in their lives, is a fast ticket to spiritual death.

Deu 4:5  Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
Deu 4:6  Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
Deu 4:7  For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
Deu 4:8  And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

We all have people in our lives who seem to have it together. Some have those in our lives who have money, fame, wealth, many friends, etc. Others have those in their lives that we would want beside us no matter what “life” throws at us.

The statutes and judgments, which the Lord gives us to “keep and do” in the land, allow others – the nations -  to HEAR these statutes and attribute us as a “great nation who is wise and understanding”.

I don’t know about all of you, but I have yet to hear the nation of my “mom and dad” or friends to tell me how wise and understanding I am in the Lord. It seems just the opposite most times.

So, what is Moses telling us will happen when we keep the commandments of the Lord which He has taught to Israel?

Basically, when the going gets rough and trials happen upon those “nations” of family members, friends and loved ones around us, we are remembered to be the ones who seem to have it together no matter the trials placed in our lives. We become as the Rock because our faith is in the faithfulness of the Lord and His words.

Knowing this we are warned via Moses via the Lord using him in Deuteronomy to warn us from being forgetful hearers. We need to especially remember the “big” events that cause us to first hear and see the words of our first live. In the case of the Israelites, it is:

Deu 4:9  Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;
Deu 4:10  Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
Deu 4:11  And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
Deu 4:12  And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
Deu 4:13  And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
Deu 4:14  And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
Deu 4:15  Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
Deu 4:16  Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Deu 4:17  The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
Deu 4:18  The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
Deu 4:19  And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

Again, we are warned to listen to and diligently follow the commandments of the Lord for our benefit.

When we do not listen diligently, even when we have been able to act and think differently in the past with the Lord, we must do what we know to do, and we must do it now!

When we first were dragged to the Lord, our “list of rules” was certainly “easier” to follow and keep. When we are first babes in Christ, we are given few stripes because we are “expected” little due to being given little in our understanding.

Luk 12:47  And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48  But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Luk 12:49  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
Luk 12:50  But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

The Lord always wants us to remember our time in the fire. However, when we are first dragged to the Lord, we are in an “iron furnace” because that is the beginning of our walk with the Lord.

Deu 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
Deu 4:21  Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:
Deu 4:22  But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
Deu 4:23  Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
Deu 4:24  For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

We are all familiar with Deu 4:24 since it used so much in our fellowship. Notice though that in five short verses we go from the “iron furnace” to a “consuming fire”.

The Lord takes us from slavery in Egypt and all the trials happening there, the iron furnace, to the consuming fire that is God, and the ONE caution we are given by Moses whom did not hearken diligently to the Lord concerning His commandment to SPEAK to the rock is:

“Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.”

That is a very succinct way of telling us NOT to love ourselves or put ourselves above the first and greatest commandment nor the second which alike unto it.

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

You might be thinking that it says no such thing and is only speaking about graven images, but where do graven images originate? They come from the hearts and minds of men, especially from our own corrupt carnal minds. With the mind of Christ we can avoid this pitfall.

Now seed is very important to the Lord. He tells us that LIFE comes through DEATH, and it is very important to realize this simple fact of life.

A corn of wheat must fall and die to bring forth “much fruit”, and much fruit is life in others, and this is what we are talking about in this chapter. Since God is a consuming fire, and the fire purges all, how does life come from death via fire?

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

When we have seed/children, we need to teach His commandments to them. However, we are talking about spiritual children more so than physical, even though physical children are very much included in this group of children since they are under our care.

Deu 4:25  When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
Deu 4:26  I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
Deu 4:27  And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
Deu 4:28  And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

Moses is confident that by going into the promised land and remaining there a long time, we WILL bare corrupt fruit of ourselves. Think on this and be forewarned. It is in our nature as humans to become complacent and lazy in our service to the Lord.

However, knowing this ahead of time also lets us know there is a way out of it, and it is the very first word of Jesus’ ministry; “repent” according to the gospel of Matthew.

Mat 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Repentance is the key to always knowing there is a way out of the darkness of falling from the Light of the Lord. There is always day after the night.

Deu 4:29  But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Deu 4:30  When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
Deu 4:31  (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

Moses would have us to be encouraged to turn from our evil ways and ask the Lord for forgiveness so that we can continue moving on from it in our lives. In fact, Moses asks us to think about any time in history that “any god” has ever offered such a refuge.

Deu 4:32  For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
Deu 4:33  Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
Deu 4:34  Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
Deu 4:35  Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
Deu 4:36  Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

When you examine these verses from a spiritual standpoint, even Moses did not understand fully what he was being used to write and record for Christians today.

God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs and by wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes.

and...

Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire

Moses, of course, is speaking about the times the Israelites “heard the voice of the Lord” or “saw Him” in a burning bush or in the thundering and lightnings on the mount, but these spiritual events have happened to us all.

We are literally called from all corners of the earth from every nation on this planet, but those things are much truer in the Spirit.

Deu 4:37  And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
Deu 4:38  To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
Deu 4:39  Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

We should consider in our hearts today and evermore that the Lord is working it all. He is working it all both in the heavens and in the earth below. So, whatever trial we are in, we are in it with the Lord.

After all, He is the VERY FIRE we are being burned up in so He is there with us the entire time we are being consumed. It’s not only that He is causing fire to burn us up, but He IS THAT FIRE.

We are TOUCHED by God.

Being in such an intimate relationship with the Lord requires us to listen to Him.

Deu 4:40  Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.

See, when we keep the commandments of the Lord, our children, too, see this and benefit from it. Even when they themselves fall, they know how to get back up because we have taught them that process with our words and with our actions.

This allows us to PROLONG our days on the earth.

I use to think this meant we would be given more time on this earth as represented in MORE DAYS, but what we are really being told spiritually is that we are able to REDEEM THE DAY with this knowledge.

So, whatever the amount of days we are given, those days become much more valuable because we are using them to spend time in the fire with the Lord instead of wasting them with things which only go to the grave and no further.

Ultimately, we move from the iron furnace to the heavenly fiery furnace of the Lord.

By way of review:

Base metals all are refined from out of the dust of the earth, but they are not very valuable because they are so common. And yet none of the precious metals would be considered precious to us without the fact that we have so much and so many of these common, base metals. For this very same reason God’s “jewels” are ‘jewels’ because they are precious and few in comparison to such an abundance of these base or common metals. Here is how God expresses this thought:

Rom 11:3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
Rom 11:4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Rom 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous [jewels] and the wicked [base metals], between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

All the common and base metals are refined through the furnace of fire, just as are all of the precious metals. That refining process begins while we are yet in Egypt:

Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Deu 4:20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

Israel’s calling was at the expense of the rest of the world.

Lev 20:26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.

God’s elect are chosen at the expense of physical Israel:

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their [Israel’s] unbelief:

Our election is based upon the rejection of the multitudes of Christians. We would not be elect without the rejected firstborn flesh. And they will not be brought to God except through God’s elect:

Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

The same is true for Christ. Through what was Christ raised from the dead:

Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for [Greek – dia – through] our offences, and was raised again for [Greek – dia – through] our justification.

Christ’s death was “through our offences.” Christ’s resurrection from the dead was “through our justification,” through God’s rejection of the common base metal called “sinful flesh” which we all are in the beginning of our experience.

Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

What is flesh? It misses the mark. It is “sinful.”

Iron is found in the promised land, flowing with immature, but “sincere… milk and honey”.

Deu 8:9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

Exo 3:17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

1Pe 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

But as it is with all immature “babes in Christ,” babies do not consider themselves to be immature.

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:

And yet these Corinthians were just immature babes:

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?

‘Carnal’ is as common and as base as it comes. But ‘carnal’ is not just others, carnal is common to all men.

Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:[base metals]

So this next verse is not some one else. This next verse proceeds out of the mouth of God and is each of us in our common base metal, part of our walk:

Rev 3:15 I know thy [he that hath and ear to hear] works, that thou [that hath an ear to hear] art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
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.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

What are iron’s unique properties?

There are, no doubt, others but the two most obvious are its hardness and its tendency to rust and corrode.

Deu 28:48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

Jer 6:28 They [are] all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: [they are] brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

Dan 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

So ‘iron’ symbolizes our trials and tests needed to break our hard hearts and bring us eventually into submission. That is why Egypt is called an iron furnace:

Deu 4:20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

There will be no merciless, hard iron tools of man’s works, used in the construction of God’s house:

1Ki 6:7 And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. [Christ builds His own temple. Our works are “tools of iron”].

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.

Iron’s positive application in scripture

But iron will be used in its construction. Iron is unyielding as it holds the house of God together. It breaks in pieces all the false doctrines that come against it.

1Ch 22:3 And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight;

Iron is used “without weight” in the construction of God’s house:

1Ch 22:14 Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.

There is much work in building God’s house. God’s house is full of workers in every material including much iron. But the Lord’s house cannot be built until the giants in the land have been subdued, until we have entered into our rest from our works:

1Ch 22:15 Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work.
1Ch 22:16 Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with thee.
1Ch 22:17 David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, [saying],
1Ch 22:18 Is not the LORD your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath given the inhabitants of the land into mine hand; and the land is subdued before the LORD, and before his people.
1Ch 22:19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.

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.

God’s house also has an abundance of gold, silver, and precious stones:

1Ch 29:2 Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for [things to be made] of gold, and the silver for [things] of silver, and the brass for [things] of brass, the iron for [things] of iron, and wood for [things] of wood; onyx stones, and [stones] to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.

Iron – Tribulation – Is By Far The Most Common of All Metals

But it takes far more of the common, base metals and stones for God’s house, than the gold, silver, and precious stones. Both are demanded, but the one is precious, the other is common or base. Hard, unyielding, trying iron, is far more abundant than any other metal.

1Ch 29:7 And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron.

Here is what this signifies:

1Sa 26:21 Then said [King} Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.
1Sa 26:22 And David answered and said, Behold the king’s spear! and let one of the young men come over and fetch it.
1Sa 26:23 The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’S anointed.
1Sa 26:24 And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the LORD, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation.
1Sa 26:25 Then Saul said to David, Blessed [be] thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

Notice, David did not take King Saul up on his offer to “return my son David.” King Saul signifies Babylon. Babylon is “The lord’s anointed, against whom we are not to stretch forth our hand” even as they bring us “much tribulation:”

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

We are not “return” to our oppressors:

Hos 11:5 He [Israel] shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return [to God].

The son of a Gentile, foreshadowing God’s calling of the Gentiles, is chosen to work on God’s Temple. He is skillful in working with all the metals, including iron.

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.

A reminder

These materials and all that is constructed of these materials represent the works and the doctrines with which the common people and the Levites were never to come in contact, except as God called and chose them to do so. many were called to supply the materials, but few were chosen to work on the temple.

2Ch 2:2 And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.

2Ch 2:7 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.

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

Iron and brass are used to “mend the house of the Lord”

2Ch 24:12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the LORD, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the LORD.

God’s elect are likened to iron:

Pro 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

God’s elect are called the daughter of Zion:

Mic 4:13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.

God’s Word Is Likened Unto Iron

Isa 10:34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

Isa 11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Jer 1:9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

How does God describe “my words in thy mouth?”

Jer 1:17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
Jer 1:18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
Jer 1:19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

God’s elect will rule with “a rod of iron”:

Psa 2:9 Thou [Christ] shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

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

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

Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

The ‘sharp sword’ and the ‘rod of iron’ are one and the same thing. Both are the “words which proceed out of the mouth of God,” by which all men shall eventually live.

Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Compare:

Isa 11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

“The sword of the spirit, the word of God, the rod of His mouth, and the breath of His lips,” are all one and the same, Word of God.

In Conclusion

Iron, like all of the base metals, as well as the precious metals, must be smelted in the furnace of fire. Iron is less valuable than copper, but more useful that tin or lead. Iron, in it’s negative application, is the hardest and yet the most easily corrupted of all of the base metals.

But iron in its positive application breaks all the false doctrines of Babylon in pieces and destroys them. The word of God purifies our lives, rooting out what needs to be gone and breaking it to pieces.

Our next base metal is our last base metal. It is not nearly as common as iron, but it is still common. We will deal with the spiritual significance of copper in our next study.

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/metals_iron-part-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=metals_iron-part-1 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=3437

Audio Links

Base Metals in Scripture – Iron

Introduction

Base metals all are refined from out of the dust of the earth, but they are not very valuable because they are so common. Yet none of the precious metals would be considered precious to us without the fact that we have so much and so many of these base metals. For this very same reason, God’s “jewels” are ‘jewels’ because there is such an abundance of base metals:

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous [jewels] and the wicked [base metals], between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

This same message is conveyed in the New Testament in different words:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

Our election is based upon the rejection of the multitudes. Through what was Christ raised from the dead:

Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for [Greek: dia – through] our offences, and was raised again for [Greek: dia – through] our justification.

Christ’s resurrection from the dead was “through our justification,” through God’s rejection of the common base metal called “sinful flesh.”

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Iron

The base metal of our focus this week is the metal iron. Iron is first mentioned, appropriately enough, in giving the genealogy of Cain:

Gen 4:17  And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
Gen 4:18  And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.
Gen 4:19  And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one [was] Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
Gen 4:20  And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and [of such as have] cattle.
Gen 4:21  And his brother’s name [was] Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
Gen 4:22  And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain [was] Naamah.
Gen 4:23  And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
Gen 4:24  If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

That is Cain’s line from beginning to end. Cain is the base metals copper and iron. He builds cities and dwells in tents. He makes music and instructs those who work with base metals. His genealogy ends with a murder.

Iron is referred to as an instrument of death

Num 35:16  And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

Iron is Associated With the Giants and the Gentilesi The Land

Deu 3:11  For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof [13 feet, 6 inches], and four cubits [6 feet] the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
Jos 17:16  And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel.
Jos 17:18  But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.

Jdg 1:19  And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out [the inhabitants of] the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

Jdg 4:1  And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.
Jdg 4:2  And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host [was] Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
Jdg 4:3  And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
1Sa 17:7  And the staff of his spear [Goliath’s spear] was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

Like Lead and Tin, Iron Typifies the Very Beginning of God’s Work in His People

Deu 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as [ye are] this day.

Iron is Found in the Promised Land Flowing With Immature, “Sincere Milk” and Honey

Deu 8:9  A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

Just as it is with all immature “babes in Christ:”

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:

Yet these Corinthians were just immature babes:

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?

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: [base metals]

Iron is Associated With the Works of the Flesh and is not to be Used in the Service of God

Deu 27:5  And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.

Jos 8:31  As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.

Base Metals are in the Lord’s Treasury

Jos 6:19  But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, [are] consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.

Jos 6:24  And they burnt the city with fire, and all that [was] therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.

Iron is God’s Instrument for our Destruction of the Things of the Flesh

Deu 28:48  Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

Base Metals Contrasted With Precious Metals Gold And Silver

Lev 26:3  If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
Lev 26:4  Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
Lev 26:5  And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
Lev 26:6  And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make [you] afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
Lev 26:7  And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
Lev 26:8  And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
Lev 26:9  For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
Lev 26:10  And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new.
Lev 26:11  And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
Lev 26:12  And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
Lev 26:13  I [am] the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.

These are good works, and according to 1 Corinthians 3, good works are precious metals:

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

The holy spirit takes ten verses to describe the benefits of obedience. Look at how many verses are needed to tell us of the curses of disobedience:

Copper and Iron

Lev 26:14  But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
Lev 26:15  And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, [but] that ye break my covenant:
Lev 26:16  I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
Lev 26:17  And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
Lev 26:18  And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

Deu 28:23  And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
Lev 26:21  And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
Lev 26:22  I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your [high] ways shall be desolate.
Lev 26:23  And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
Lev 26:24  Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
Lev 26:25  And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of [my] covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
Lev 26:26  [And] when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver [you] your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
Lev 26:27  And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
Lev 26:28  Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
Lev 26:29  And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
Lev 26:30  And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
Lev 26:31  And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
Lev 26:32  And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
Lev 26:33  And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
Lev 26:34  Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
Lev 26:35  As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
Lev 26:36  And upon them that are left [alive] of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
Lev 26:37  And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
Lev 26:38  And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
Lev 26:39  And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
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.
Lev 26:43  The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
Lev 26:44  And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.

You and I are the ‘land.’ It take our destruction of our old man for the ‘land to enjoy her sabbaths.’ It take being in Christ and Christ in us for the ‘land’ to rest from the works of the flesh which pollute the ‘land.’

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 [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
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.

Conclusion

This has all focused on the negative application of this metal iron. It is the hardest of the base metals and is used to demonstrate the immaturity of babes in Christ. Iron is the metal most associated with that immature stage of our walk, is rejected, and cannot be accepted by God. Iron is the works of the flesh:

Deu 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as [ye are] this day.
Deu 27:5  And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.

In our next study on metals we will finish iron’s negative application and then look at how this, too, has a positive application in God’s Word.

T___ wrote:
In listening to the Dallas conference video the first talk a verse stuck out at me.
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Now I like this analogy: God gives us for the sea. I know from Revelation that the sea is all of mankind, God tells us that directly. Taking what Christ said, “I will make you fisher’s of men”. Anyway, God creates all the fish of the sea just as he calls whom he will to the church/ Christ. Then just as men draw in a fish, so God draws each of us right?
 
Also in reading Pro 19, it is speaking about talking with perverse lips or hastening our feet, and it hit me that the church world are the people this is talking about.  They speak perverse things, a lying tongue, false doctrines because 1. it’s not given to them to understand and 2. the hunger for God’s word isn’t given them. Then in thinking of an example of this, Proverbs18 came to light. In professing these false doctrines they become talebearers, professing doctrines they do not know or understand (have never looked into) bearing witness of ‘gossip’ they have heard from their pastors.
I realize these are pretty basic biblical concepts, but it always refreshing when these little nuggets are given, and I always feel like sharing them with everyone.
T____

Hi T____,
I am happy that you are listening to the audios of the conference talks.
That is exactly right. It is God who drags us to Himself just like Peter and the apostles drug the net full of fish to the shore. We cannot come any other way:

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

Thank you also for sharing with me the revelations which the Lord has given you. I must confess that I had never made the connection between “I will make you fishers of men” and the ‘sea.’ Yes, it is indeed elementary. But “iron sharpens iron,” and we all learn from each other. I feel so blessed to be the recipient of so many revelations via this web page. It is not just from letters like yours, but it is also from the questions which I am forced to consider and answer every day. I have to depend on Christ every day and for His Words to give scriptural answers. There are those who believe that we can give answers from what they call a “word of knowledge” or “the proceeding word.” Both are nothing more than “thinking above what is written,” and it is condemned by both Christ and Paul:

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.
1Co 4:6  And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think [ of men] above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

Leave out the ‘of men.’ It is not in the Greek. Neither Paul or Apollos would ever have attempted what is so very common today. Many, if not most, ministers are more than willing to think and speak “above what is written,” and to attach the words ‘Thus saith the Lord” to what they are saying. And it is these very same people who point the finger at those who are faithful to God’s words and accuse them of thinking that they “know it all and are never wrong.” I personally am being corrected every day of my life, but this does not mean that the written word of God is not to be trusted as our bar against which we “try the spirits” which are doctrines, to see whether they be of God.” 
So if indeed we want to know what is the Truth of God’s spiritual mind we must “acknowledge that the things…[ written] are the commandments of the Lord.”

1Co 14:37  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual , let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
1Co 14:38  But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

“If any man [ or woman] think himself to be a prophet or spiritual” then that person will happily “acknowledge that the written word is as Christ told us “spirit and life.” It is not the conflicting so called ‘words of knowledge’ or ‘the proceeding word’ which contradicts the written words of either Christ or His apostles.

1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ , and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
1Ti 6:4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

“From such withdraw yourself.” Now there are some words which are indeed hated by those with ‘words of knowledge’ and ‘the proceeding word.’ Both are words from their own hearts which despise “the wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ” and of His apostles. Without God’s written words, we can neither “try the spirits” nor have any idea from whom we should “withdraw ourselves.” We are a ship without a rudder adrift in a sea of people who preach love and practice hatred toward God’s Word and all those who will not compromise that Word. All who refuse to compromise God’s Word will indeed be “hated of all men…”

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

Christ’s ‘name’ and His ‘voice’ are both His Word.

Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know 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

Thanks again for sharing your epiphanies with me.
Stay in touch.
Mike>