[Study Aired October 4, 2020]

Isa 65:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
Isa 65:14  Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
Isa 65:15  And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
Isa 65:16  That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
Isa 65:17  For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isa 65:18  But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

Our study today begins with the word, ‘Therefore’. For that reason we will begin by simply reading the last five verses of last week’s study so we can understand the grounds for what is being revealed to us.

Here are those five verses:

Isa 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Isa 65:10  And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
Isa 65:11  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
Isa 65:12  Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

It is not at all over-simplifying the message of all scripture to say that the entire Bible, and every story in the Bible, regardless of the subject and regardless of the numbers of persons involved in any story, whether it is Joseph and his brothers, or Israel and Syria, or Israel and Assyria and Babylon; it is not over simplifying the message of the scriptures at all to say that all scripture concerns nothing more than two men. Those two men are “our old man” and our “new man”, and those two men are always at war with each other. Here is how the scriptures frame these two warring parties:

Gen 25:22  And the children struggled together within her [Rebecca, Isaac’s wife]; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Those “two nations” are indeed “two nations”. They are not ‘one nation’, although they do come out of one womb, and that ‘one womb’ is “the first man Adam”. The first Adam in “every man” was “made to be taken and destroyed”, because he has a “natural… carnal mind” which must be destroyed if the new man is to be birthed. This is how Christ speaks of these two men:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die [our carnal minded old man], it abideth alone : but if it die [if it is destroyed], it bringeth forth much fruit [If our rebellious, carnal minded old man dies then it is through that dying process that our new man is born].
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.

Only one of these two men can “inherit the kingdom of God”. Therefore the natural first man, our “old man” must begin to be “put off” and be destroyed and begin to die before “the new man” can begin to be born. But the ‘birth’ of our “new man” is a process which continues within us until we draw our last physical breath. Only then will be “bear the heavenly” body in the fulness of our “new man”:

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. [A “spiritual body” can pass through a locked door and appear as a natural body. A “natural body” cannot do that. (Luk 24:39)]
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy [our old man]: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly [our new man].
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. [There is no such thing as “a spiritual physical body” as so many teach]

“The old man [and] the new man; the first man [and] the second man”, these are the two men with whom all scripture is concerned.

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

‘Putting off the  old man, and putting on the new man’ are both in the aorist tense, and are taking place daily within our new man. ‘Corrupt according to deceitful lust and being renewed in the spirit of your mind’ are both in the present tense as the dying process of our old man is being worked out.

Our ‘old man’ is also called “the son of the bondwoman” and this is what we know of his fate:

Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

We were “in time past… children of the prince of the power of the air… children of disobedience” but no more (Eph 2:2-3).

The spiritual significance of the number six is, that which is not completed within mankind:

Here is a link to the study of the Number Six

The spiritual significance of the number three is the process of judgment:

Numbers in Scripture – Three, the Process of Spiritual Completion Through Judgment

The Number Three in Scripture

It is not a coincidence that mankind was created on the sixth day along with all the other beasts:

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.
Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

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.

In Genesis we are told that man is to have dominion over ‘the fish, the fowl the cattle, and over all the earth”, but in Ecclesiastes 3 we are told that man has no preeminence over a beast.

This apparent contradiction evaporates when we discover that the words “Let us make man in our image” is better translated as:

Gen 1:26 And saying is the Elohim, “Make will We humanity in Our image, and according to Our likeness, and sway shall they over the fish of the sea, and over the flyer of the heavens, and over the beast, and over all land life, and over every moving animal moving on the land.
Gen 1:27 And creating is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them.

Every verb in those two verses is in the Hebrew Qal stem, which is the equivalent of the Greek aorist tense. What that means is that God did not “make man in His image”. The fact is that He shaped man in dust and iniquity and conceived Adam in sin as we clearly informed:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

But did we not just read:

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Add this next verse to Gen 1:31 to get “the sum of [His] word” concerning what was created in those six days:

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

“All that in them is” would include the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the crooked deceitful serpent and thorns and briers. Indeed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a “very good” tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The “crooked serpent” was a “very good… crooked, lying, murderous” serpent. Adam and Eve themselves were “very good… flesh and blood… corruption”:

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.

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

The serpent did not become a liar after Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They ate of that tree because the serpent beguiled them and lied to them. That is what a “very good” serpent does. He is “very good” at what he was created to do. He did not become a “crooked serpent” after he lied to Eve. The Lord’s hand formed that “crooked serpent”:

Job 26:13  By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

What does all of this tell us about that which is “very good”? The law of Moses is said to be “good”, and yet we are told it “is not for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient”:

1Ti 1:8  But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10  For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
1Ti 1:11  According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

The “lawful use of the law” of Moses must be applied in our lives “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God”, and in answer to the question… “What does all of this tell us about that which is ‘very good’?” this is what “the glorious gospel of the blessed God” tells us about that which is “very good”:

2Co 3:10  For even that which was made glorious [the law of Moses] had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

Let’s look at that verse along with the verses surrounding it so we can get its full impact:

2Co 3:7  But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, [“The law {of Moses} is good” (1Ti 1:12)] was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
2Co 3:8  How shall not the ministration of the spirit [“The law of Christ” (Gal 6:2 and Mat 5-7)] be rather glorious?
2Co 3:9  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
2Co 3:10  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
2Co 3:11  For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

Based upon what we have just read, it is not adding to or taking from the Word of God to say, “That which was ‘very good’ was not good by reason of that which excels.” In other words ‘the good is actually the enemy of excellence’, to the point that “the milk of the Word” has become the enemy of going on to perfection.

To make this point I will quote from the end of Hebrews 5 and the beginning of Hebrews 6 without the verses nor the chapter breaks:

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. [The judgment which is now on the house of God and the great white throne judgment, the salvation of all]
And this will we do, if God permit.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

The phrase “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ…” connects what was said about being spiritual babes to the “milk of the Word” doctrines which are all listed here, and the phrase “For it is impossible… to renew them again to repentance…” connects what has just been stated about those spiritual babes with the warning that “it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.” In other words, those who insist on remaining only on the milk of the Word are actually crucifying Christ afresh and putting Him to an open shame, and are simply unwilling to receive a crown of life and a coat of many colors because they instinctively realize those gifts will separate them from those who want only ‘the milk of the Word’. A coat of many colors and a crown of life will separate us from our brothers, and a “coat of many colors” which will cause us to be “hated of [our] brothers”:

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

The Lord has demonstrated this Truth to all of us when He dragged us out of Babylon and then He has demonstrated it over and over again when He causes those who were our equal, those who were our guides and our intimate acquaintances, those who ate bread with us and with whom we have over the years taken sweet counsel, and with whom for years we had gone up the house of God to suddenly forsake us, turn against us and magnify themselves against us.

These verses are addressed to you and to me:

Psa 41:9  Even a man desiring my welfare, I trusted in him, eating of my bread; this one has lifted up his heel against me.

Psa 55:12  For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:
Psa 55:13  But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
Psa 55:14  We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

All these Words of Christ will never pass away. They will be experienced by the saints of every generation:

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

When Christ says, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled,” “these things” includes “the end [of the age”] (vs 14), as well as “the abomination that makes desolate spoken of by Daniel the prophet” (vs 15). This demonstrates the ‘is, was, and will be’ nature of the Word of God. It will always have an application to those living at the time it was penned, as well as every subsequent generation… “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away”. Any and all exceptions to this rule are made very clear in scripture. Things like being of the “blessed and holy… few” who are given to have a part in the first resurrection, and “the rest of the dead” who are not given that privilege (Rev 20:6). Those who are in the first resurrection are clearly told “the second death… shall not hurt [them] and has no power over [them] (Rev 2:10-11 and 20:6).

There is no way to apply these words to those who are in the lake of fire because the devil himself is being purified in that ‘fire’:

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

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.

But when the apostle Peter writes:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts [our old man], made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14  Having eyes full of [spiritual] adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe 2:15  Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

Those who are given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God (Mat 13:10-15) will always remember these words of the apostle Paul, and will give every word here in 2 Peter a primarily personal application, while at the same time acknowledging that the scriptures also have a secondary past application as well as an apocalyptic end-time application:

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course [Greek: aion, age] of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ [‘quickened’ Greek, aorist tense, ‘being given life’], (by grace ye are saved;)

Rev 1:18  I am he that liveth [Is], and was [Was] dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore [Will be], Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Those who are granted to remember that “we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others”, will never forget to personally apply these words of the apostle Peter…

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14  Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe 2:15  Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

Knowing the meaning of “My words shall never pass away” we will always apply these words of Peter to our own old man whom we know very well we have served for so very long.

If we read scripture from any other perspective it becomes nothing more than a history book, with absolutely no personal application. However, if we see every story in scripture as a struggle between these two men and if we understand that these two nations are typically at war within our own heavens constantly struggling the one against the other then:

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

There are “two nations” within every man. One is the first to be given the hegemony over our heavens. Those “two nations” share a common ancestor, and yet they have nothing else in common. That ‘common ancestor’ is “the first man Adam”, and just as his actions involuntarily negatively affected all men, so also “the last Adam’s” actions will positively, involuntarily affect all men of all time. In other words, God did not at all “make men in His image”; rather the Truth of the scriptures is that He is in the process of making man in His image in two phases. Those two phases of His creation are “the first man Adam”, and “the last Adam”:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Our study today concerns itself with the contrasts that exist between these two men who have nothing in common but the judgments of their Creator.

Our last study ended with the Lord revealing to us the marred condition of our old man:

Isa 65:11  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
Isa 65:12  Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

Being “numbered to the sword” is being numbered to destruction, which is indeed the fate of our old man.

Our study today contrasts the cursed fruit of the ways of our rebellious old man with the blessings of the fruit of having Christ and His mind living within us:

Isa 65:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:

It is our old  man who while spiritually starving to death, and spiritually dying of thirst, and being shamefully naked, actually thinks he is rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing:

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.
Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

As the converted Nebuchadnezzar, a type of our new man, confessed after seven years of humiliation at the hands of the Lord:

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 [our old man] he is able to abase.

Such is how the Lord has chosen to work with His creatures. It is only through much humiliation and tribulation that any of us will enter into the kingdom of God. It is only through being brought to see our miserable, starved, thirsty and shamefully naked condition that the Lord drags us to Himself, as He tells us over and over again throughout the scriptures:

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.

Job 27:14  If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

Just as Isaiah is doing in this 65^th chapter, the Lord, throughout scripture, contrasts the fate of our old man with the fate of our new man:

Psa 37:18  The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.
Psa 37:19  They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

Isaiah continues with this contrast between the rewards for the humility and obedience of our new man in “this present time” to the shameful, poverty-stricken fruits of the pride and rebellion of our old man against his own Creator and Maker:

Isa 65:14  Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.

“My servants shall rejoice… My servants shall sing for joy of heart”, does not mean we will do so because we will know nothing but physical blessings and physical joy in “this present time”. Do not allow yourself to be taken in by the insidious false doctrine of a “substitutionary atonement”. That particular lie is believed by literally millions of Christians. That false doctrine teaches that Christ came to this earth to die for you, which is true, of course. However, just as he did in the Garden of Eden, the serpent states a truth and then he twists that same truth into a lie which simply cannot be detected by those who live on nothing but smooth, sweet milk of the Word. Christ did not come and die for us so we could avoid persecution and the hatred of all men. These are His own words:

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Does that sound like Christ thought His death on the cross would somehow miraculously deliver us from sore trials in “this present time”? Just a few verses later, in this same chapter, Christ tells us in very clear language that He did not die for us so we would not have to die, rather He died for us so He could come in His Father’s spirit and give us the strength to die with Him for “His body’s sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24-27).

This is what Christ has to say about the function of His death for us and what we can expect if we are granted to believe in Him and His doctrines:

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

There it is in very clear language. Christ expects us to die with Him. He did not die for us so we could avoid death. The exact opposite is The Truth.

This is how the apostle Paul expresses how these words of our Lord affected his life:

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

These “earthen vessels” (2Co 4:7) are the curse of corruption which cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50), which is the subject of our next two verses:

Isa 65:15  And ye [you and I, our old man] shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen [our new man with a “new name”, Rev 2:17 and 3:12]: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
Isa 65:16  That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.

“Swearing by the God of Truth” has been changed by our Lord to simply stating the Truth, which ‘Truth’ is that we will be the first to be saved, and in time “all in Adam shall be made alive in Christ”:

Mat 5:33  Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
Mat 5:34  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:
Mat 5:35  Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36  Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Mat 5:37  But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

All the blessings of the kingdom are ours at this very moment in down-payment earnest form. Nevertheless “the redemption of the purchased possession” is the fullness of our promised reward and all of that is yet before us if we are granted to endure “much tribulation” to the end:

Isa 65:17  For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isa 65:18  But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

This “new heavens and new earth” are being created within us at this very moment through “much tribulation”, and “Jerusalem” is the “new name” of verse 15:

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.

Rev 3:12  He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name. (ASV)

If indeed we are Christ, as He declares (Mat 25:40 and Act 22:8), and if indeed “His inheritance is in the saints” as we are informed in…

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

…Then our new name is His new name, and that name is “New Jerusalem”, a name befitting our “new man”.

This is what life is like in the New Jerusalem:

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John [Aaron, Steve, and all of us] saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

In “This present time” we rejoice in the glory that is to be revealed in us:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

As “the manifested sons of God” the best is yet to come, minus all suffering, and according to our Lord “it is near even at the doors” (Mat 24:33).

That is our study for today, and here are the verses for our next study where we will learn the meaning of “the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed”:

Isa 65:19  And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
Isa 65:20  There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
Isa 65:21  And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
Isa 65:22  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Isa 65:23  They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
Isa 65:24  And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Isa 65:25  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

Isa 49:18-26 Kings Shall bow Down to Thee with Their Face Toward the Earth - Discussion

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Isa 49:18-26 Kings Shall Bow Down to Thee with Their Face Toward the Earth

Isa 49:18  Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.
Isa 49:19  For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
Isa 49:20  The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
Isa 49:21  Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?
Isa 49:22  Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
Isa 49:23  And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Isa 49:24  Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
Isa 49:25  But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
Isa 49:26  And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

This prophecy is the word of the Lord to each of us as His elect. Its primary application is within us. It is the new man and his knowledge of Christ and his Father who is taken captive by our “mighty… old man”. Our new man is “the prey and lawful captive” of our carnal-minded “old man” and his “father the devil” (Joh 8:44). Throughout this prophecy of Isaiah, the Lord is telling us as His elect that in spite of our weak, earthly composition and our sinful and rebellious nature, and the fact that we have turned our backs on Him, He will not do the same to those whom He has placed in spiritual “mount Sion” and whom He has chosen to be His “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

As always, we need to be reminded that these words are, at this time, only for those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear the things of the spirit:

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Isaiah foretold this spiritual condition, which Christ tells us is the same spirit which to this very day afflicts the multitudes who come to Him:

Isa 6:10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 

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

Being blind and deaf is our natural, dark, lost condition to which the Lord has first appointed us all, as we were told in the last five verses of our previous study:

Isa 49:13  Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. 
Isa 49:14  But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
Isa 49:15  Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. 
Isa 49:16  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Isa 49:17  Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

The Lord has given us “exceeding great and precious promises” to such an extent that Paul declares:

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

Peter says this of what we have been given already:

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

There are many such “great and precious promises” to which Peter refers. Here is but one example:

Isa 43:4  Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. 
Isa 43:5  Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
Isa 43:6  I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
Isa 43:7  Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Isa 43:8  Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. [Mat 13:10-15]

In Matthew 13 Christ had just told the multitudes who had come to Him a parable, which is known as ‘the parable of the sower’. Here is that parable:

Mat 13:1  The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
Mat 13:2  And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Mat 13:3  And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 
Mat 13:4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Mat 13:5  Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
Mat 13:6  And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
Mat 13:7  And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 
Mat 13:8  But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The disciples then ask Christ why He is teaching in parables the multitudes who come to Him, and He gives them an amazing answer:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them [the multitude of verse 2] in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 

[Isa 43:8  Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.]

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.

The parables are given, “Lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Christ Himself is telling us He speaks to the multitudes who come to Him in parables so they will “Not understand… and [will] not perceive”.

The parables are serving their purpose until this very day, because any Sunday school teacher will tell you, “Christ spoke in parables to make His meaning clear to the agrarian people to whom He spoke.”

This is the exact opposite of the reason Christ gives us for why He spoke to the multitudes in parables. However, He did explain their meaning to His elect disciples:

Mat 13:18  Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Mat 13:23  But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

We are indeed blessed to see and hear things which the “many prophets and righteous men… desired to see… and to hear… and have not heard them”:

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.

In his first epistle, Peter also agrees with Paul that all these blessings come to us only through “much tribulation” and through “fiery trials”:

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

Our last study ended with the Lord causing us to feel rejected by the Lord just before He blesses us beyond our wildest dreams. It is a picture of the beginning of the death of our fleshly, earthly old man, followed by being resurrected into a new life as a new man with new promises and new blessings. Our study today continues with those “great and precious promises” of which we are now, in Christ and in earnest, the recipients.

Isa 49:18  Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.
Isa 49:19  For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
Isa 49:20  The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

‘After you have lost the other' refers to the death and destruction of the children of our old man, “the kingdom of this world”, which is destroyed within us at “the brightness of His coming”. That blessed event is also called “war in [our] heavens” as the scriptures reveal:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth [G2722, Greek: katecho, ‘restrains’] that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [G2722, Greek: katecho, ‘restrains’] will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

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

The next chapter of the revelation of Jesus Christ sets the stage for the day when “the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ:

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 
Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Every heresy which attempts to infect the body of Christ provokes this spiritual warfare within His body, and we, as “soldiers” of Christ, must engage in that inward war within the heavens of our hearts and minds. Having come out of Babylon we are said to have “lost” all the doctrines of the kingdom of Babylon. Those false doctrines are the tares sown in our heavens by what Christ called “an enemy”:

Mat 13:24  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

This is speaking of “the kingdom of heaven”. It is Christ and His Christ who have “sown good seed in His field”. This parable is not about the kingdom of Babylon. The kingdom of Babylon is a field of nothing but tares. The whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water has been taken away from that harlot system:

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

Just as ‘Adam’ is both an evil “old man… the first man Adam”, before he begins to be destroyed by the brightness of the coming of Christ’ (2Th 2:8) and “made again another vessel” (Jer 18:4), so it is with ‘Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children’ and ‘Jerusalem above which is the mother of us all’:

Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

“Jerusalem which is above… which is the Mother of us all” is “all [who are] in Christ” and does not yet include “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, and those whose judgment is in “the lake of fire/second death” (Rev 20:14-15).

Yet the Lord Himself has ordained that “there must be heresies among [us]”:

1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

These “heresies among [us]” are the children and doctrines of the enemy who comes at the appointed time “while men slept”. They come with the spirit of “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children” to sow those tares in and among the good seed and among the truths of the kingdom of God within us, as the second parable of a sower in Matthew 13 demonstrates:

Mat 13:24  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

The presence of these ‘tares’ among us are not at first apparent to any of us. Indeed, it is not until “the time of the harvest” that it becomes obvious to all who have eyes that see and ears that hear that there is no spiritual fruit at all upon these tares:

Mat 13:26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

While we all just naturally want to root out and pull up the tares immediately, that is not the mind of our Lord, and so we must live by His words and acknowledge that He has decreed “there must be heresies among [us] that they which are approved may be made manifest among [us]” as we have already noted:

1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Christ’s explanation of the parable of the tares ties that parable into our study today here in Isaiah 49 which refers to the ‘children’ we are given after we lose all the ‘children’ we had while we were in the Babylonian harlot system. Notice closely how Christ explains this second parable of the ‘sower’ and the meaning He gives us of the good seed sown by Christ and His Christ, as contrasted with the seed sown in the Lord’s field by an enemy.

Here us that second parable of a sower in its entirety:

Mat 13:24  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 
Mat 13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 
Mat 13:28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

This is what Christ is telling us is the meaning of 'children' in this second parable of the sower:

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; 

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

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world [Greek G165: aion, eon, age]; and the reapers are the angels.
Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world [Greek G165: aion, eon, age]. 
Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Who are these “men [who] slept” and gave the enemy the opportunity to sow the tares among the good seed the Lord had sown in His field? The Lord Himself tells us who they are:

Mat 25:1  Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Mat 25:3  They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Mat 25:4  But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat 25:5  While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

I am chief of sinners, and I have been caught napping every time we have discovered heresies among us. We “all slumber and sleep”, but those who have “oil in their vessels” are those of us who know the voice of the True Shepherd even in the middle of the night, meaning in the middle of the false doctrines and lies
which ‘midnight’ and ‘lamps without oil’ symbolize.:

Mat 25:6  And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Mat 25:7  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Mat 25:8  And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
Mat 25:9  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
Mat 25:10  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 
Mat 25:11  Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Mat 25:12  But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 
Mat 25:13  Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Is it not “foolish” to fall asleep when we are expecting the bridegroom at any moment? Of course, it is! It is especially humiliating when we do so twice:

Mar 14:32  And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
Mar 14:33  And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
Mar 14:34  And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
Mar 14:35  And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
Mar 14:36  And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
Mar 14:37  And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? 
Mar 14:38  Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. 
Mar 14:39  And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.
Mar 14:40  And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
Mar 14:41  And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Mar 14:42  Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.

That is the same message of the parable of the ten virgins. We all let our Lord down by giving in to the need of our flesh to seek rest from our trials. The five wise virgins are ‘five’ because we are all “saved by grace through faith”, just as the five foolish virgins will also be saved. Both groups are what they are by the Lord’s sovereign decree and not because of anything they of themselves have done. Nevertheless, the five wise virgins are given to attend the marriage while the five foolish ones are told “I know you not”.

If we are not given to know the True Shepherd’s voice, it is because we have no oil in our lamps, because “the dream is one”, and the oil and the Shepherd’s voice are both the Word of God, His doctrines.

As we have demonstrated, His doctrines are His children and the doctrines of the enemy are the enemy’s children whom we have all been at our appointed time:

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

If and when we are given to come out of Babylon, we lose the doctrines and the children of Babylon. As that begins taking place within us, we are given far more understanding of the true mind of Christ and His doctrines as we lose the doctrines of the enemy:

Isa 49:21  Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?

As we saw in the two parables of the two sowers, in the first parable the seed being sown by the sower is explained by none other than Christ Himself as “the Word”:

Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Mat 13:23  But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Does anyone question that the sower in both parables is “the Son of man”?

Mat 13:37  He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 

But Christ Himself tells us:

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

God Himself has ordained that His elect speak for Him, and for the sake of any doubters about that point, it is again none less than the Lord who makes that point perfectly clear:

Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

The fact there are 40,000 different, conflicting Christian denominations does not change the fact that those who know the voice of the True Shepherd are all of one mind and one judgment:

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

Losing all those 40,000 children is the very point of this part of our study today. While the ‘seed’ sown by “the Son of Man” is explained as symbolizing “the Word” in the first parable of the sower in Matthew 13, that very same seed is explained as representing “the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children  of the wicked one; [and] the enemy that sowed them is the devil…”

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world [Greek G165: aion, eon, age]; and the reapers are the angels.

As Joseph told the Pharaoh, “the dream is one” and “the children of the kingdom [and] the children of the wicked one” are both the doctrines of their respective ‘fathers’, “the Son of Man” being the Father of the children of the kingdom, and “the devil” being the father of “the children of the wicked one”.

This gives us the knowledge we need to understand the last few verses of this 49th chapter of Isaiah:

Isa 49:22  Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
Isa 49:23  And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

The “two hundred thousand, thousand” lies and false doctrines will be destroyed, and all those who subscribed to those false lying doctrines will bow down before the feet of those who know the Lord and His Christ:

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 
Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

These words accord with the two parables of the sower which demonstrate that “the children of the kingdom” are those who “keep the word of [Christ’s] patience”. While all the “children of the wicked one” were his “prey” now being taken from “the wicked one”, who is “the devil”, and are now through the agency of “the Lord’s Christ”, His “firstfruits… very elect”, being given to “the children of the kingdom who will also become the agency of their deliverance, just as they have been the agency of all “who have believed on [Christ] through their words” until this very day (Joh 17:20):

Isa 49:24  Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
Isa 49:25  But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
Isa 49:26  And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

Inwardly these words must be fulfilled within the lives of each of God’s elect in “this present time”. Dispensationally, these words will be fulfilled in “all flesh… [in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death] and all flesh shall know that… the Lord is [our] Saviour and [our] redeemer the mighty One of Jacob”.

We are “the prey… and lawful captives of the mighty… wicked one… the devil” who are being “delivered… in this present time” to show to others the mercy we have been shown in “this present time”:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

While we wait upon the Lord to be used in that way, we are the Lord’s special “jewels”, and we are under His protection as “the apple of His eye”.

Psa 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
Psa 17:9 From the wicked that oppress me, My deadly enemies, that compass me about.

Zec 2:8 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which plundered you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

At the appointed time everyone will know who loved and obeyed the Lord and who actually spat upon Him and His commandments:

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 and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

That is the message the Lord is giving us in this 49th chapter of Isaiah.

Here now are the verses for our next study which will be in Isaiah 50:

Isa 50:1  Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
Isa 50:2  Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.
Isa 50:3  I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
Isa 50:4  The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.
Isa 50:5  The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

Isa 23:13-18 Her Merchandise...Shall Be for Them That Dwell Before The Lord

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Isa 23:13-18 Her Merchandise...  Shall Be For Them That Dwell Before The LORD, To Eat Sufficiently, and For Durable Clothing.

Isa 23:13  Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.
Isa 23:14  Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
Isa 23:15  And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
Isa 23:16  Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
Isa 23:17  And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
Isa 23:18  And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

We are continuing our study of the burden of Tyre, which is another way of saying Babylon, and 'Babylon' is Bible-speak for the religions of mankind which are all living in spiritual fornication and in opposition to the doctrines of Christ (Rev 17:-18).  All the religions of this world will be put down when the Lord's elect are given dominion over the kingdoms of this world immediately following the manifestation of the sons of God at the time of the resurrection of the dead in Christ. (Rom 8:18-23, Rev 11:15, Rev 20:1-4)

Isaiah 14 is "a parable against Babylon", and here again in Isaiah 23, in this burden of Tyre, we are again being assured "the LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth"['s religions].

Isa 23:9  The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.

I will read the next two verses to bring us to where we stopped in our last study:

Isa 23:10  Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
Isa 23:11  He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.

So we should have absolutely no doubt that it is "the Lord of hosts" who has purposed the fall of Tyre (Babylon) "to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth". As always, we must apply these words proceeding out of the mouth of God to ourselves and the kingdom of our own old man, first and foremost, acknowledging that it is we ourselves, the man of sin, the son of perdition, whom we worship above all others:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

While the whole of Tyre and Babylon are looking outward toward the Middle East for a physical temple to be built and for the man of sin to set himself up in that outward temple, the few who know what Christ meant when He told us, "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit" know where the true temple of God really is and where the 'man of sin' truly resides:

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

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The expulsion of this 'man of sin [from] the temple of God' is the 'laying waste' of Tyre in this chapter concerning "the burden of Tyre".

Isa 23:1  The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

Now notice who the Lord uses to destroy Tyre in the very next verse:

Isa 23:13  Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.

Babylon is in "the land of the Chaldeans", and it is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, whom the Lord uses as His servant to destroy Tyre, a type of Babylon itself.  Notice what we are told of Babylon also: "and he brought it to ruin."

Isa 23:14  Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.

Tyre is the 'strength' of Tarshish, and we find that Tyre within us will have "no house, no entering in" any longer. We are commanded to "come out of her that [we] partake not of her sins and that [we] receive not of her plagues" (Rev 18:4).  When we are given to see the Truth, Christ and His doctrines, at that point the strength of Tyre and Babylon and all of their daughters, like Zidon and Tarshish are very soon "laid waste" and burned up by the fire that is His words of Truth. That is the meaning of these words:

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.

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

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

While we are in Babylon we are blinded by God to our own carnal-minded deceived condition. We think "[we] have seen the fire", when the Truth is that the Lord Himself has simply sent us "strong delusion".

Isa 44:16  He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
Isa 44:17  And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

This "strong delusion" is described as the healing of a deadly wound which we are given "by a sword".

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

This "all the world" is the same as "the kings of the earth... and the inhabitants of the earth [who] have been made drunk with the wine of [the] fornication" [of the great whore].

Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

We actually come to Christ, listen to His Words, and then, through the influence of the idols of Tyre and Babylon, we tell Christ that His words simply are not necessary to achieve salvation. Peter did just that:

Mar 8:31  And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mar 8:32  And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
Mar 8:33  But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

Our "idols" today are "idols of [our] hearts" (Eze 14:1-9). We think they are comforting doctrines. They tell us we should never have to suffer because Christ suffered for us. They tell us we will be raptured away to heaven, and we will avoid all the trials which Christ endured. They tell us that because Christ suffered for us we do not need to suffer with Him. However, it is all a lie, and it serves only to heal the deadly wound which the sword of the word of God had inflicted upon our old man. When the spirit to which Peter succumbed comes to us, we, too, succumb to that spirit and return to being the spiritual harlot we once were. That is the message of our next few verses:

Isa 23:15  And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
Isa 23:16  Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
Isa 23:17  And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

"Tyre shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth". Is this not exactly what we are told about "Babylon the great, the mother of  harlots" in the book of Revelation?

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Why does the Lord see fit to tell you and me about what He is doing and will do with Tyre and Babylon? How does the knowledge of what the Lord is doing with Tyre and Babylon edify His body? Did not Christ tells us:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life. (ASV)

"The flesh profits nothing" does not say, "The flesh has no function in the plan of God." Nothing is further from the Truth. It is the death of "the flesh", the death of our carnal-minded old man, which is the "corn of wheat" which serves as the catalyst which must "fall into the earth and die" before we can begin to be "transformed [and] conformed" into the new man with a new mind, "the mind of Christ":

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.

So the death of the "corn of wheat" is a necessary and an integral part of the birth of "the Christ... the new man" within us. But this "corn of wheat" is healed of a "deadly wound by a sword" before it dies to never again be raised up:

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat [Greek: thronos, throne], and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
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?

Tyre's return to her harlotry is just another way of telling us that we all return to our own vomit and our wallow in the mire. The book of Revelation calls this experience the healing of a deadly wound by a sword.

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

This all sounds so dire and so foolish, and yet there is one event to all men (Ecc 9:2), and it is all predestined to be fulfilled in the life of every man. The details of each life differ, but the event is the same "one event to all":

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

Christ tells us that we are all sinners in need of a Savior:

Luk 13:1  There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2  And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
Luk 13:3  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4  Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

What we are being told by Christ here in Luke, and in the burden of Tyre here in Isaiah 23, is that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" and must be destroyed before the new man can come up out of that destruction. We see this transformation take place in nature through the life cycle of a butterfly that begins as a worm getting about on its belly like a serpent, but through the death of that worm it's being transformed into a beautiful butterfly which is capable of rising up into the heavens. Truly "the invisible things of God are clearly seen being understood by the things which are made" (Rom 1:20).

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

Returning to being a harlot is just a way of telling us that we come out of one church just to go into another harlot church, all the while serving God as we want to serve Him. Our actions are not because we mean to be carnal and rebellious, rather it is because we were gifted from birth with "the law of sin in [our] members" (Rom 7:17-23). After being subject to that law of sin in our members for the predestined time, we are, through Christ, delivered from that wretched body of death, and we are miraculously transformed into a "new man... by the renewing of [our] mind".

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

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.

Paul does not shy away from telling us that we have been "predestinate[d] (Eph 1:11) to be conformed to the image of His Son, that [we] might be the firstborn among many brothers."  If we are the predestined "firstborn among many brothers", then it follows that "many brothers" are predestined to be born in Christ after "the firstborn".

Just how many will, in the end, be "in Christ", and how will that later harvest of souls take place? Paul is also bold to answer those questions with these words:

1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Those are really simple and straightforward words; "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive". The manner in which "all die", that is the same manner in which "all... shall be... made alive", and death will then be destroyed because no one will then be dead. This doctrine accords with these words of Christ which we just quoted to show the function flesh plays in the work He is doing with "all men":

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.
Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Joh 12:27  Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Joh 12:28  Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
Joh 12:29  The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
Joh 12:30  Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
Joh 12:31  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Joh 12:32  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Joh 12:33  This he said, signifying what death he should die.

Christ, the only man who has ever lived who never sinned, still had to "fall into the ground and die" before He could be perfected and "bring forth much fruit" in the form of life for "all men".

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

What we are learning is that our carnal-minded, rebellious flesh, is a first and very integral part of the making of mankind into "the image of His Son":

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

We will understand the mind of the Lord only if we acknowledge that before we are "conformed to the image of His Son", we are first a "man of sin", made into "the image of jealousy", and we place ourselves "in the temple of God, setting [our]self forth as God".

That is the spiritual meaning of this prophecy of Ezekiel 8:

Eze 8:1  And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
Eze 8:2  Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.
Eze 8:3  And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.
Eze 8:4  And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.
Eze 8:5  Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

Historically this "image of jealously' is believed to be the altar which King Ahaz had Urijah the priest to build to replace the altar which God had told Moses to be careful to build 'according to the pattern he had been given in the mount'.

Exo 25:40  And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

2Ki 16:10  And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
2Ki 16:11  And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.
2Ki 16:12  And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.

King Ahaz and Urijah had so little fear of God that they were both willing to disobey His commandments to do what they wanted to do. Their own ways meant more to them than God's ways, and that spirit is expressed in these words in the New Testament:

2Th 2:4  he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. (ASV)

Ahaz threw his lot in with the king of Assyria. He had taken the Lord's gold out of the Lord's temple and had sent it to the king of Assyria as a bribe.

2Ki 16:7  So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.
2Ki 16:8  And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.

As a type of us, King Ahaz had chosen fornication with Babylon over dying to the flesh. It is all predestined and has to be experienced, and it must be repented of before we can reap the benefits of dying to our old man and His rebellious kingdom.

This experience of returning to our own ways was prophesied in these words concerning Tyre in the last verse of our study today:

Isa 23:18  And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

Tyre and Babylon are types of the time we spend in service to all the fornication and false doctrines of the the great whore who is the harlot religions of this world. In time all those false doctrines become nothing more than "wood, hay, and stubble" to be burned up by the fiery truth of the Word of God. After being deceived and brought to repentance, all of that experience of evil becomes "bread for us", as we use that experience to wage spiritual warfare in our heavens, dying daily to the lies of Babylon and to the giants in our land. As Caleb and Joshua told the fearful nation of Israel:

Num 14:8  If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

As the apostle Paul tells us, in Christ we are not ignorant of the devices of the adversary, and we can now use his own devices against him. Instead of valuing the things of this life, we can now 'seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness' knowing the suffering of this age is not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us'.

Christ gave us this parable to show us how the materialistic spirit of wealthy prosperous Tyre, appeals to the beast we all are:

Luk 12:16  And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
Luk 12:17  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
Luk 12:18  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Luk 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Luk 12:20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luk 12:21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

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

The materialistic, immoral appeal of the temptations of Tyre and Babylon are the armor of the adversary, which serve the adversary in keeping us convinced we cannot do battle against him, just as the armor of God serves us in waging our wars against the adversary in the heavens.

These verses in Job describe the hopelessness of doing battle with the adversary in our own strength:

Job 41:24  His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
Job 41:25  When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.
Job 41:26  The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
Job 41:27  He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
Job 41:28  The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
Job 41:29  Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
Job 41:30  Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.

That is the power of Tyre and Babylon over the flesh and the carnal mind of our old man. It is spiritually impossible for any man, of himself to overcome the beast within us all:

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?

Paul's own personal experience caused him to echo this same refrain, but Paul supplies us with the answer of "who is able to make war with [the beast]":

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.

In the next chapter we are given these very positive, affirming words:

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

Truly Tyre's hire will be turned to "holiness to the Lord... bread for us, and for durable clothing" for us.

Isa 23:18  And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will learn how the destruction of Tyre and Babylon, "the city of confusion", is actually the destruction of this entire earth and "the things that are seen". The destruction of Tyre and Babylon is the necessary step we all must take to bring us into the Lord's judgments in our 'earth':

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.

Wow! What a radical and blasphemous doctrine from the perspective of spiritual Tyre and Babylon! Those words fly in the face of the false doctrine of eternal torment which tells us that God's judgments will confine the vast majority of His creation to endless flames of merciless torment.

Here are our verses for next week's study of the judgment of the whole earth:

Isa 24:1  Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Isa 24:2  And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
Isa 24:3  The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
Isa 24:4  The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
Isa 24:5  The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Isa 24:6  Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
Isa 24:7  The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
Isa 24:8  The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
Isa 24:9  They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
Isa 24:10  The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Isa 24:11  There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
Isa 24:12  In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

Isa 22:15-25 The Lord Will Carry You Away With A Mighty Captivity...There Shall You Die

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Isa 22:15-25 The Lord Will Carry You Away With A Mighty Captivity...There Shall You Die

Isa 22:15  Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,
Isa 22:16  What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?
Isa 22:17  Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.
Isa 22:18  He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house.
Isa 22:19  And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.
Isa 22:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
Isa 22:21  And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Isa 22:23  And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
Isa 22:24  And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
Isa 22:25  In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

I hope we are beginning to see the truth of these words:

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

If we are given to judge ourselves, then Shebna becomes more than a historical person who has been placed over the affairs of the king's house. If we can judge ourselves, we will see ourselves as the man who has been given the Lord's goods, and we can see that we are simply using our Lord's name to magnify and glorify ourselves. So we read:

Isa 22:15  Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,
Isa 22:16  What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

"The kingdom of God is within [us]", and we are all stewards of that kingdom (Luk 17:20-21). That kingdom is growing daily, both inwardly as our old man dies and the new man grows within us, and outwardly as the "144,000... firstfruits unto God and the Lamb" are being accrued in each and every generation since Christ. However, that kingdom within us does not come first in a perfected state.

The "kingdom of God" of Luke 17:20-21 is called "the kingdom of heaven" in:

Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

If we have been given to "know the things that are freely given to us of God", then we will know that those things freely given us are not just the blessing of being a good steward and being seated with Christ in His Father's throne, but we also realize we must first be "the first man", Adam, hateful, envious and murderous, Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Goliath and the Philistines, and yes, even Judas,  before we will be granted the privilege of becoming the new man, the last man, Adam, and "through much tribulation [be] seated with Christ in the heavens" (Eph 2:6).

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

"Neither CAN he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" means that all the things of which we are speaking in these studies are unintelligible and "foolishness unto [the natural man]". Here in the very next chapter are those "things [which are] freely given to us of God". Paul makes us to know what the "things that are freely given to us of God" are in 1Corinthians 3.

Since "the things which are freely given to us of God... are foolishness unto [our natural man]", and the wisdom of our natural man is foolishness with God, therefore:

1Co 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
1Co 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1Co 3:20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23  And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

If "Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world [and] death" are ours, then Shebna is also a type of our own old man who really wants to immortalize himself in any way possible, even if it is just with an expensive "sepulchre on high" - an extravagant and prominent grave site.

But "the spirit which is of God" has no interest in preserving the memory of the accomplishments of "the first man, Adam" because "the wisdom of this world is foolishness" to "the spirit which is of God", knowing that God will only call and choose the very people whom this world despises:

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:

It is so for one grand reason:

1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Because we are Shebna, and because we despise our own spiritual husband and prefer our own ways over His, we are promised:

Isa 22:17  Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.

Have you ever been captive to a merciless taskmaster? Has God ever given you over to Satan for the destruction of your flesh because of your own physical or spiritual fornication? Few indeed are able to see their own slavery to their own merciless taskmaster even as they look him in the eyes every morning. This is our attitude until that sinful beast, our own merciless taskmaster, is revealed to us by the brightness of the coming of Christ with His mind within us:

Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Those words express the spirit of all the 'Shebnas' in Jerusalem, meaning all of us, just before the King of Babylon breached the walls of Jerusalem and took the entire apostate royal family away as captives to Babylon, along with the entire apostate city of Jerusalem.

Isa 22:18  He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house.
Isa 22:19  And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

These words are ours because we have one and all denied our Lord and rejected His ways in our own lives at our own time. Here is what the destruction of Shebna and the king's house typifies as part of "the things freely given to us of God":

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? ["Know ye not that you are the temple of God..." 1Co 3:16]
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Claiming Abraham as our Father, or claiming to be a Christian, does not impress our Creator who demands obedience to everything He says:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Another way of speaking of a house which was built upon the sand is these words:

Isa 22:18  He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house.
Isa 22:19  And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

The destruction of Shebna, the king's treasurer, in time includes the destruction of the king himself, and it is all a type of the destruction of the kingdom of our own old man of sin within every one of us and within every person who is dragged to Christ. It is only through that fiery destruction of the entire kingdom of our rebellious, stubborn, carnal-minded old man that the kingdom of "the new man... the last man Adam", begins to grow and bring forth fruit:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat [our old man] fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

The house of Shebna, the apostate treasurer, and the apostate king are told: "[The Lord] will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die..." Now notice the very next verse reveals to all with eyes that can see "the things freely given to us of God" the wonderful fruit of the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying:

Isa 22:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
Isa 22:21  And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

"Your government" is the government of the apostate treasurer, Shebna, and the government of an apostate king, the son of King Hezekiah:

Isa 39:5  Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
Isa 39:6  Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.
Isa 39:7  And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Isa 39:8  Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

The Lord's words take time to bring about their fruit, but they never fail to do so at His appointed time. It may seem to us to take much too long, but the truth is that everything happens at the appointed time, and in the Lord's own time the government of both the kingdoms of this world and the government of the realm of the spirit will all be given over into the hands of Christ and His Christ.

Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Isa 22:23  And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
Isa 22:24  And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

Eliakim is a picture of Christ, "a glorious throne to His father's [King David's] house", and He is being "fasten[ed]... as a nail in a sure place", just as Shebna thought he was (vs 25).

These verses referring to "the key of the house of David" are all speaking specifically of God's elect who are being prepared to judge this world and then to judge all men in Gehenna fire. We know this is true because Christ makes this same promise to the overcomers of the church in Philadelphia:

Rev 3:7  And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
Rev 3:8  I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

It is Christ who is promised the throne of His father, David.

Luk 1:32  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

Therefore, "the key of the house of David" is actually "the keys of the kingdom of heaven":

Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The false doctrine of the Catholic Church is that these words apply only to Peter. I will only remind you that the Greek word translated 'Peter' is 'petros', meaning "a stone" or a piece of a rock, whereas the Greek word translated as 'rock' is 'petra' meaning a massive rock.

Joh 1:42  And he [Andrew, Peter's brother] brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

In other words, Christ was informing Peter that he and the other apostles were a part of Himself, and that He Himself would build His own church upon Himself, just as the sum of God's word demonstrates:

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter [Greek:  petros], and upon this rock [Greek: petra] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

So upon whom will all vessels  hang, and upon whom exactly does the glory of the house of King David hang? Upon whose shoulder is the key to the house of David laid? To whom exactly is it given to open and none can shut and to shut and none can open as we just read?

Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Isa 22:23  And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
Isa 22:24  And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

Here is the answer to all those questions. Here are all those who are pictured by Eliakim as the Christ of Christ:

Mat 18:15  Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Mat 18:17  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Mat 18:18  Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye [the church] shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mat 18:19  Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 18:20  For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

There we have it! It is "the church", or "two or three gathered together in my name", who make up "the house of David", and it is among them that Christ is in the midst. "The glory of... the house of David" is the glory of "the kingdom of God", and that "kingdom... is within [His disciples]":

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

It is Christ who opens and no man shuts and shuts and no man opens, and it is Christ upon whose shoulder the key to the house of David is laid. If we are His, then we are Him, and it is we, His church, His body, His flesh and His bones, who are given this key, and it is we who open and no man shuts and who shut and no man opens because we are plainly told "As He is, so are we in this world":

Mat 18:18  Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mat 18:19  Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 18:20  For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

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

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

There it is! It is none less than "Jesus of Nazareth" who tells us 'the least of these... whom you persecute [is] Jesus of Nazareth'. If the kingdom of God is within us and Christ the King is within us and His words are within us, what then, is "the key of the house of David", and what are "the keys to the kingdom of God"?

Because "the key of the house of David" and "the keys to the kingdom of God" both open and shut things in heaven and on earth, it is once again manifested that "the dream is one", and the key and the keys are one and the same.

Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

That 'key' and those 'keys' are Christ, Who is the Word (Joh 1:1). Christ is the king of the kingdom, so like Eliakim and like Shebna before him, those who are given that 'key' and those who possess the 'keys' are those who have been given the power of Christ, the King of the kingdom. It is they, and they alone, who have His Words within their hearts and minds.  They will also have those Words, those "keys to the kingdom", in their hearts and in their mouths as the fire which will proceed from their mouths and will kill their enemies:

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4  These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth [Zec 4].
Rev 11:5  And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

"The keys to the kingdom of God" therefore simply verify what  has already been revealed to have been opened in heaven and what has already been revealed to have been loosed on earth, as the CLV properly translates both Matthew 16 and Matthew 18:

Mat 16:19 I will be giving you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever you should be binding on the earth shall be those things having been bound in the heavens, and whatsoever you should be loosing on the earth, shall be those having been loosed in the heavens.

Mat 18:18 Verily, I am saying to you, Whatsoever you should be binding on the earth shall be those things having been bound in the heavens, and whatsoever you should be loosing on the earth shall be those loose in heaven.

Shebna pictures our old man, and he has already been pronounced as having been bound on the earth and unfit and incapable of inheriting the kingdom of heaven:

Isa 22:25 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall;
and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Shebna, like the "man of sin" within us who thinks he is God" and who thinks he is "fastened in a sure place", is a type of the kingdom of our carnal-minded rebellious flesh which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, [and] which will "be cut down and fall":

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

The phrase "in that day" appears four times in this twenty-second chapter of Isaiah. Here are those four times:

Isa 22:8  And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

Isa 22:12  And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

Isa 22:20  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:

Isa 22:25  In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

In every case "that day" is the day of the judgment which is now upon the house of God and upon the kingdom of our old man, who sits in the house of God claiming to be God:

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Both Shebna and Haman are Old Testament pictures of the house and kingdom of our old man which must be judged "in that day", in the day of judgment, which is even now upon the house of God. The nail that thought it was fastened in a sure place "in that day" is being removed and cut down and is falling, and all those who were hanging onto Shebna or Haman are being cut off because the "flesh and blood [of our old man] cannot inherit the kingdom of God":

Est 9:10  The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.
Est 9:11  On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace [who were hanging on Haman] was brought before the king.
Est 9:12  And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.

Isa 22:25  In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

That is our study for today, and next week, if the Lord wills, we will begin Isaiah 23 concerning the judgment of Tyre:

Isa 23:1  The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
Isa 23:2  Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
Isa 23:3  And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
Isa 23:4  Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.
Isa 23:5  As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
Isa 23:6  Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.

Isa 22:1-8 Your Slain Men Are Not Slain With The Sword, Part 2 - Discussion

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Isa 22:1-8 Your Slain Men Are Not Slain With The Sword - Part 2

Isa 22:1  The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?
Isa 22:2  Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
Isa 22:3  All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.
Isa 22:4  Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
Isa 22:5  For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.
Isa 22:6  And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
Isa 22:7  And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
Isa 22:8  And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

This is the second part of our study of the first 8 verses of this 22nd chapter of Isaiah. It is a burden against Jerusalem. It is one of the nine burdens against the nations. We have already seen that Judah, Jerusalem and Israel are included in these nine burdens because God's own special people apostatize and play the harlot against their own Husband and Savior. We are the Lord's own people, and it is we who have done all these things. Therefore, because we act no differently than the nations around us, we too, must suffer His wrath and be judged as the heathen are judged.

These words are and always have been true:

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

Our last study was concerned with the fact that God has always warned us well in advance of the consequences of being disobedient to our spiritual husband. We all live unfaithful lives for years before we are judged for our infidelity. Time after time we are given space for repentance, but we refuse to do so, and instead we 'return to our own vomit and to our wallow in the mire' which is our life at that time.

Pro 26:11  As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Having already been chastened severely, symbolized by our sister, northern Israel, being carried away captive, we still continue in our own unfaithful ways with total abandon, knowing that judgment is at the door. The Lord's judgments continue in our lives. This judgment is symbolized by the fall of our neighboring nations. Yet even as we experience the Lord's wrath being poured out upon our unfaithfulness, we are still "a joyous city", an adulterous harlot who tells herself:

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.

This all takes place inwardly first. But how is it possible for us to see the coming wrath of God and still say within ourselves, "I... shall see no sorrow"? The answer is that we actually think that because we are God's elect, He will not pour out His wrath upon us. We actually believe that all we need do is to proclaim our Husband's name and proclaim our special relationship with Him when we need to be delivered from the evil  fruit of our evil ways. But like Israel when "the elders of Israel" brought the ark of the Lord out on the field of battle, thinking they could force the Lord's hand, it did not work. In the New Testament this is called 'turning the grace of God into lasciviousness.'

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is we who are "ungoldly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness..."

Here is a story that shows us how we to can be "a city of joy" even as we look judgment in the face. This is a story about the corrupt nation of Israel who thought they could live as they wanted and still call on God to deliver them from His wrath. Good parents who know how to properly discipline their children do not allow  those children to use them and abuse them, and the Lord, as a loving heavenly Father, will not tolerate us treating Him as a hip-pocket God or a genie who we can call on when we get ourselves into trouble because of our disobedience, and still expect Him to do our bidding with no concern about having to reap the fruits of our evil ways. This is a story about you and me and how we have all thought we could continue in sin that grace may abound (Rom 6:1).

1Sa 4:1  And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.
1Sa 4:2  And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.
1Sa 4:3  And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.
1Sa 4:4  So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, [the adulterous priests of God; 1Sa 2:22] were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
1Sa 4:5  And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
1Sa 4:6  And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp.
1Sa 4:7  And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.
1Sa 4:8  Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
1Sa 4:9  Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
1Sa 4:10  And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
1Sa 4:11  And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

Why was the Lord not with Israel as He had been before?

1Sa 2:22  Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

You and I are Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who have played the harlot against our Lord. It is we who have attempted to force the Lord's hand. This is a story about how you and I have acted toward our Lord. If Israel had been a moral, obedient, God-fearing nation, the effect of bringing the ark into the camp and the shouting of the people would have been the same as the shouting at Jericho, when the walls of Jericho fell at the shout of the people of Israel.  When we are obedient in the face of persecution, we are like Gideon's three hundred men shouting "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon", and the battle would be the Lord's. But Israel here typifies the rebellious, immoral, disobedient and unfaithful kingdom of our old man. Israel here is 'Babylon the great, the mother of harlots.' Israel is not a God-fearing nation as the two unfaithful and immoral sons of Eli who are leading the charge show us, and as a result the kingdom of our old man is defenseless against his enemies:

Isa 22:2  Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
Isa 22:3  All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.

These are spiritual words, and the reason "[our] men are not slain with the [physical] sword, is that they are spiritually dead to begin with. We have forgotten these Truths:

Deu 20:1  When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

As David told Goliath:

1Sa 17:47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.

And as the Lord tells us:

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. [Greek: 'the heavens']

"The archers" are a Biblical symbol for those who either have the Word of God, or are those being used of God to fulfill the Lord's prophetical judgments upon us. When we are rebellious and disobedient, the Words of God are against us and will fight against us because of our own wickedness:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jer 2:20  For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot [of Revelation 17-18].

We make a huge mistake thinking that because we are God's elect He will not pour out His wrath upon us. When we make that mistake and begin saying things like "we need not fear God", "all we need is to be in awe of God", and "we really ought not use the words like 'punish'; a much better word to use would be 'chasten',  the word 'punish' just sounds much too harsh", we are doing exactly what Israel did by thinking they need not fear the Lord's wrath, because the worst that could happen to God's elect would be the loss of a few thousand men in battle. However, even that would not happen if we just proclaim that we are his special people, never bother to repent from the heart for our sins against him, and just bring the Lord's ark along with us and expect him to honor us while we are wallowing in the mire of our own sins.

2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

This is a story about us, not someone else, and it is we who must endure the Lord's wrath upon all these Babylonian thoughts which exalt themselves against the true knowledge of God which tells us to fear God, who, after He has killed us, can then cast us into Gehenna fire to punish us for our sins:

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell [Greek: Gehenna, type of the lake of fire]; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

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.

This is the wrath of God upon our unrighteousness and ungodliness when we do not fear Him and decide to despise His statutes and His judgments. It behooves us to fear His punishments upon us and remain obedient to our marriage covenant. Only then can our new man proclaim that we "are not appointed to wrath, but to salvation" and that "God has from the beginning chosen [us] unto salvation/"

1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

I have been asked many times, "How long does God's wrath work in our lives?" The Biblical answer is that it is always right here to be "revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men" (Rom 1:18). It is with us every day burning up our old man and simultaneously strengthening and renewing the new man within us. The wrath of God is as active in our lives only as it is needed. King David is a perfect example of how God's wrath operates in the lives of His elect.

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

We also experience this as a body. None of us is an island to himself, and we all need the trials and the tribulations of our own brothers and sisters placed upon us by their struggles to come to know the mind of Christ.

1Co 12:26  And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

What is the lesson for us in enduring the apostasy of Jerusalem within us, and within each other? This is our lesson if we can receive it:

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish [via the burning wrath of God], yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

In an exchange, I was blessed to learn where the apostle Paul got the idea of "our light affliction [being] but for a moment". This is where the apostle Paul got those very words:

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

It always seems like an eternity when we are enduring the Lord's wrath, but it is really "our light affliction... but for a moment", and it works for us... everlasting kindness... a far more exceeding weight of glory". What a wise and loving heavenly Father we have to bear with us for so long! This is the truth about how all of our sufferings compare to the blessings that await us if we are given to endure to the end.

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

Just how long does "a little wrath... the cup of the Lord" last? This is what we are told:

1Co 11:23  For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
1Co 11:24  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
1Co 11:25  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
1Co 11:26  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

That broken bread is the Christ's body, and that cup we are to drink is His blood in the New Testament, which "New Testament" includes these verses of Revelation 14.

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

As we saw earlier in this study we are "blessed [to] read, hear and keep the things which are written in this book, including the things mentioned in these verses here in Revelation 14. God's wrath is poured out upon those who have drunk of "the wine of the wrath of [the] fornication" of the great harlot, Babylon, and her fornication is connected with those who worship the image of the beast and receive his mark. But what we did not mention above is how the holy spirit summarizes the preceding verses. What is the result of the worshiping of the beast and receiving of the mark of his name? What is the result of being tormented day and night by the fiery words of God? Revelation 14:8-11 is what all men must endure for this reason:

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Which is just another way of saying:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth [Including Rev 14:8-12], and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein [Including Rev 14:8-12]: for the time is at hand.

Remember the word of the Lord by Jeremiah concerning those who contend that the saints need not drink of the wine of the wrath of the great harlot at the Lord's hand:

Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
Jer 25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

But as we saw earlier, we do not just live by the things written in the book of Revelation. Before there ever was a book of Revelation Christ told us:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Which would certainly include our next verses here in Isaiah 22:

Isa 22:4  Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
Isa 22:5  For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.

These words are not all that different from:

Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

There are many symbols signifying the means the Lord uses to torment the kingdom of our old man as we 'keep the things written in this book'. However, the reason for our fiery trials and the reason for the wrath of God, in both the Old and the New Testaments, is the same:

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

So the Lord uses that very "unrighteousness of men" as the occasion He is seeking (Jdg 14:4) for using the rod of His indignation against our unrighteousness and ungodliness, and He uses unrighteous men to punish His own people, as our last three verses demonstrate:

Isa 22:6  And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
Isa 22:7  And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
Isa 22:8  And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

These "chariots, and... horsemen [in our] choicest valleys" symbolize the wrath of God upon the apostate kingdom of our old man. The Lord used the king of Babylon as the rod of His anger and His indignation against His people:

Isa 10:5  O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

All of this, and all of these nations which come up against the kingdom of God, do so "within [us]" (Luk 17:20-21). There is great conflict within our heavens when the Lord is judging the kingdom of our old man. Because of the Lord's love of the new man within us, He is intent upon the destruction of the kingdom of our still rebellious old man who, instead of looking to the invisible God for his protection, "looks in that day to the armour of the house of the forest".

Now what does "you did look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest" mean? One thing is certain, considering the fact that this is a burden against Jerusalem, it does not mean that we look to God for our protection against those He is sending to punish us.

The phrase "the house of the forest" appears six times in the Old Testament, and in every case it refers to the house King Solomon built for himself. Here are just three of those six entries which will help us to see that Jerusalem and Judah typify us in our apostate state. As an unfaithful harlot, when we are in trouble we always first look to our own ways instead of looking to the Lord and to His invisible strength for help.

1Ki 7:2  He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits [150 feet or 45.72 meters], and the breadth thereof fifty cubits [75 feet or 22.86 meters], and the height thereof thirty cubits [45 feet or 13.716 meters]. upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.

1Ki 10:17  And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

1Ki 10:21  And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

Looking to "the armour of the house of the forest" is to lean on our own strength and on our own understanding. We are told not to lean to our own understanding, and we are also told that if we do depend on our own strength instead of Him, He will bring down our strength:

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Amo 3:11  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.

To what end? Why is the Lord intent on destroying the kingdom of our old man and all his works of the flesh? The answer is that as He does that, He is simultaneously building up our new man.

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

As He pours out His wrath on our old man, He can at the same time say "this is my son in whom I am well pleased" about our new man, "His Christ". Our only qualification for our service to Christ is to acknowledge our worthlessness of ourselves, to see ourselves as 'chief of sinners' and as the corruption that is all flesh and blood.

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.

Jas 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor [in spirit] of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

We come to see all of this only through being crushed to powder by the Lord's wrath against all our unrighteousness and ungodliness. In time we are brought to see that, just as the Lord included his elect in the first three plagues of Egypt, He then made a difference between His elect and the rest of the world.

Exo 8:20  And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
Exo 8:21  Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.
Exo 8:22  And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
Exo 8:23  And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.

Paul puts this same message in these words:

1Th 5:7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

The book of Revelation gives us this same message. After "he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads" (Rev 13:16), we are then "[given] the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, [and only then are we given to] stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God" (Rev 15:2). We receive this blessing through being the first to be judged and to endure the Lord's wrath upon our rebellious sinful ways and succumbing to that mark, name and number of the beast. At that point we are separated from those who are still not granted that repentance. Only those who go through the revelation of Jesus Christ first are granted to "stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire". That "fire" is the wrath of God upon all that can be consumed within us.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

This is a "sign in [our] heavens", and now we are no longer appointed to wrath, and we are standing on this "sea of glass mingled with fire". All of which is the keeping of this promise:

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

We are not hurt of the second death because we were the first to be crucified with Christ, and we are not appointed to wrath but to salvation because we are the first to fulfill the seven last plagues of the Lord's wrath. No man enters the temple of God until he has fulfilled the seven plagues of the seven angels:

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

We will stop our study here for today with this encouraging reminder of what the Lord is doing for us:

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

All we read about the destruction of the kingdom of our old man is simultaneously building up the kingdom of our new man, "Christ in you the hope of glory."

2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will learn more of the blessing of witnessing the perishing of our outward, old man in these verses:

Isa 22:9  Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
Isa 22:10  And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.
Isa 22:11  Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.
Isa 22:12  And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
Isa 22:13  And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
Isa 22:14  And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Isa 21:11-17 They Fled From The Grievousness of War

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Isa 21:11-17 They Fled From The Grievousness of War

Isa 21:11  The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
Isa 21:12  The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.
Isa 21:13  The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
Isa 21:14  The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.
Isa 21:15  For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.
Isa 21:16  For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
Isa 21:17  And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.

We have two "burdens" here. The burden of Dumah, and the burden of Arabia. Both are the historical enemies of the Lord's people, even though both are also "the seed of Abraham". Both Dumah and Arabia were conquered, along with Israel, by the king of Babylon. In the first ten verses of this chapter we saw that Babylon, the Assyrians, who are "the rod of [the Lord's] indignation", must also be judged and be punished for her sins. Now we are learning what happens when Babylon falls, and what happens to all of Israel's enemies who are conquered by Babylon. Those nations who oppose the Lord's people and yet they are also "the seed of Abraham", are symbolized in these verses by Dumah and Arabia.

In our last study we saw that the holy spirit inspired the apostle John, in the book of Revelation, to twice record these words concerning the fall of the great harlot:

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

As we learned, those words were first recorded here in Isaiah 21:

Isa 21:9  And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.

It is obvious that the "foul spirits" of the book of Revelation are the same as "the graven images" of Isaiah 21. Both are symbols of all the false doctrines of "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth" (Rev 17:5). All three references, Isaiah 21 and Revelation 14 and Revelation 18, speak of the wrath of God which is being poured out upon this great spiritual harlot.

The Lord's wrath is occasioned by the fornication of His own wife. Her 'fornication' is likened to "the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird", and it is no less an authority than our Lord Himself who informs us that these unclean "birds", which​ "catch away the Word", are "the wicked one" with all of his lies and false doctrines, to whom His wife has given  her ears, and has given "habitation" in her heart, while turning her back on her covenant with Him and His doctrines.

Christ explains the meaning of the prophecy of the judgment of Babylon in the parable of the sower in:

Mat 13:4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

In verse 19 He tells us what "the fowls" of verse 4 symbolize:

Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

The fall of this great harlot is first revealed to us through the literal fall of the physical city of Babylon which had became the capital of the Assyrian Empire in the days of Isaiah.

These are the words of the "watchman" in the last two verses we covered in our last study:

Isa 21:9  And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
Isa 21:10  O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

The fall of Babylon, however, both here and in Revelation 18,​ does not take place in a vacuum. As we saw earlier in this same chapter, Isaiah was made to walk naked before Israel to depict the fall of those whom Israel had trusted to save them from His judgments. Isaiah was made to walk bare foot and naked to demonstrate that her lovers, her allies, Egypt and Ethiopia, whom she had hoped would help to save her, would both be "led away" as captives before the king of Assyria.

Isa 20:1  In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
Isa 20:2  At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
Isa 20:3  And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
Isa 20:4  So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
Isa 20:5  And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
Isa 20:6  And the inhabitant of this isle [God's own people, Judah and Jerusalem] shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?

Isaiah, as a type of us, lived by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God concerning all the Lord was doing with Israel and her heathen lovers. It was he who first experienced the shame of the fall of Israel's allies, Ethiopia and Egypt. Then the very next thing we were shown was that Isaiah also felt the agony of the fall of Babylon:

Isa 21:2  A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
Isa 21:3  Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
Isa 21:4  My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.

Why did the Lord require His prophets to experience the humiliation of Israel's enemies? The obvious answer is that He did so to demonstrate that Israel had become her own enemy. Israel had refused the love of her own husband and was now as estranged from her own husband as were the heathen Babylonians. In doing this,​ she had become the very harlot whose name would later be used as the symbol of the whore she had become. It is Judah and Jerusalem; it is Israel, the type of the Lord's own people, His own "seven churches" who have become 'Babylon, the great whore' of Revelation 17-18.

It is the seven churches of Revelation 2-3 who have turned their backs on their own husband, Christ, and have lost their first love (Rev 2:4).

It is these seven churches who house the very throne of Satan; they cast a stumbling block before the Lord's own people, and through all their false doctrines they are spiritually feeding God's flock "things offered unto idols,​ and they are committing spiritual fornication in doing so. It is the Lord's own churches that "hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans" and are bearing rule over the Lord's flock (Rev 2:13-15).

It is the Lord's own unfaithful wife who allows the doctrines of Jezebel to seduce His people to serve her false gods and to experience "the depths of Satan" (Rev 2:20-24).

It is the Lord's own unfaithful, apostate people who "have a name that they live and are [in reality spiritually] dead" (Rev 3:1).

It is Christ's own apostate wife who "sayest, [of herself] I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; [when the Truth is that she] knowest not that [she is] wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Rev 3:17).

Are not those the very words of the "adulterous woman" of:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

In the first chapter of his prophecy,​ Isaiah tells us that Jerusalem is the Old Testament type of this very same "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of abominations of the earth" (Rev 17:1-5). It is God's own people, His own apostate church​,​ which has become the harlot of Revelation 17-18:

Isa 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

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

These are the very words used to describe "that great city... Babylon the Great the mother of harlots":

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Isaiah 1 tells us that "the great city... where also our Lord was crucified... is... become an harlot... as Sodom".

All of that being true, the fall of Jerusalem and her allies in Isaiah's day is a physical type and shadow of the spiritual fall of Babylon the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

The fall of physical Babylon many years after this prophecy is just a later type of the original prophecy of the bruising of the serpent's head, just as so many men down through the years typified Christ, as "the seed of the woman".

Gen 3:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Abel's death typifies the undeserved death of Christ (the seed of the woman). The attempt by Pharaoh to destroy all Hebrew male babies, including Moses, typifies the attempt by "the seed of the serpent" to destroy "the seed of the woman". King Saul's attempt to destroy David is just another later version of this same ongoing message, and so it is with this story of the attempt by the leaders and people of Jerusalem to destroy those prophets who wanted to be obedient to the Lord in the Old Testament. This theme carries over into the New Testament in the story of Herod's destruction of all the male infants two years old and younger in Bethlehem in his attempt to destroy the seed of the woman.

Jerusalem in the Old Testament and Babylon the great in the New Testament book of Revelation, are both types of God's people who are popular in this world simply because they are of this world and therefore the world loves them:

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Joh 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

The religions of this world, Babylon the Great, will tolerate her own harlot daughters, be they Jewish or Muslim, long before they will tolerate those who insist on following in the steps of our Lord:

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

What is the example Christ left for us which caused Him so much suffering? The two things for which Christ was most often condemned were the fact that He did not observe days, months, times and years as commanded by the law of Moses, and He professed to be the Son of God. The weekly sabbath was the most prominent and most often observed of the Jewish holy days, and Christ went out of His way to "[break] the Sabbath". He refused to prepare His meals for the Sabbath in advance as Moses had commanded (Exo 16:5), and He told the man at the pool of Bethesda to "pick up [his] bed" contrary to the law (Exo 20:10 and Jer 17:21). That is the example He set for us:

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 5:8  Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
Joh 5:9  And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
Joh 5:10  The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

Christ never once denied that He had broken the sabbath. Instead he appealed to David who had done that "which was not lawful for him", and He appealed to the priests who "profane the Sabbath and are guiltless", even though neither He nor any of His disciples were priests of the tribe of Levi. That is the example Christ left for us, and those are the actions, along with professing to be the Son of God, which got him crucified:

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.

When we refuse to go along with our religious leaders and we place being faithful to the example of Christ above the traditions of men,​ then we,​ too,​ will be "persecuted [by the Lord's own people just as Isaiah and Jeremiah] were before [us]":

Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Look at what happened to Jeremiah for being faithful to the Lord's Words:

Jer 38:6  Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.

God's elect are hated by His own people more than they are by the avowed enemies of the Lord's people. It will be those who claim Christ who will persecute His elect. That is what Christ Himself has already told us would be the case:

Zec 13:6  And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

Mat 10:36  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

So when we read of all the 'burden[s]' of Isaiah:

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

Isa 15:1  The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;

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

Isa 19:1  The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

Isa 21:1  The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

Isa 21:11  The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

Isa 21:13  The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.

Isa 22:1  The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?

Isa 23:1  The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

All of these burdens are for us, and these burdens must first be revealed within us.

So when we read:

Isa 21:11  The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
Isa 21:12  The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.

Dumah is Edumea, and Edumean is Edom. Edom is Esau, Israel's twin brother who sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage, and therefore he symbolizes our flesh which does not value the things of the spirit. He does not value the things of promise. But every symbol of our flesh, the first man, Adam, Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, King Saul, and even Judas, the betrayer of our Lord, will "each in his own order... enquire... return [and] come" to the Lord:

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

Rom 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

The 'Dedanim' are the descendants of Dedan,​ the grandson of Abraham by his wife Katurah, whom he married after the death of Sarah.

Gen 25:2  And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.
Gen 25:3  And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.
Gen 25:4  And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
Gen 25:5  And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.
Gen 25:6  But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

The descendants of Ishmael, and all the other descendants of Abraham's children by Keturah and "the concubines", one and all symbolize our own rejected flesh. Our flesh will be rejected,​ and yet we ourselves will be saved, "yet so as by fire" (1Co 3:13-16). The kingdom of our old man will be judged by the Lord, and when we are judged by "the swords", by the words of God, we will return to the Lord. Before that day arrives, however,​ we all 'flee from [His] swords, from [His] drawn sword, and from [His] bent bow, and from the grievousness of war [against Him and His Words]. It is we who must "live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God". The Dedanim, and the inhabitants of the land of Tema, a son of Esau, are both types of our own religious, apostate "seed of Abraham", within us, who attempt to help us as we flee from the Lord's swords, and His drawn bow, but no one will escape the Lord's wrath "in that day".

Isa 21:13  The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
Isa 21:14  The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.
Isa 21:15  For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.

Nebuchanezzar was a heathen king who​m​ the Lord calls "My servant Nebuchadnezzar", because he was used of the Lord to punish the Lord's own whoring wife:

Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

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

It is the Lord Himself who has given "the beasts of the field", our own flesh, the task of serving Babylon. These words concerning "the burden upon Arabia" are Christ's words in the Old Testament telling us the same thing He tells us in the New Testament:

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

Isa 21:16  For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
Isa 21:17  And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.

"Within a year, according to the years of an hireling... all the glory of Kedar shall fail" means that the fulfillment of this prophecy is imminent. It is the same message Christ gives us when he tells us:

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

​The reason we are reading this admonition here in Isaiah​ 21, is that we all attempt to save "the children of Kedar" within us. We go ahead and give His water and His food to those who are fleeing from the Lord's servant, Babylon. We want Ishmael within us to be spared (Gen 17:18). Outwardly we attempt to drag our friends and family out of Babylon, and when we do that His sword, His words, the very words we are using to attempt to quench their thirst and fill their bellies, will be trampled underfoot, and they will turn and rend us just as we trampled upon the Truth when we first heard it before we were dragged to the Lord by the sword of His Word.

However, in time He has determined that we will all, each in his own order (1Co 15:23), be judged by the fire of His Words, and when that day arrives we will "learn righteousness":

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.

Next week we will see just how blind we once were, all the while thinking we could see clearly.

Isa 22:1  The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?
Isa 22:2  Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
Isa 22:3  All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.
Isa 22:4  Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
Isa 22:5  For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.
Isa 22:6  And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
Isa 22:7  And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
Isa 22:8  And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 55 Discussion

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Isa 13:1-11 The Day o​f The Lord Shall Come As Destruction From The Almighty

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
Isa 13:2  Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
Isa 13:3  I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
Isa 13:4  The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
Isa 13:5  They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Isa 13:7  Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
Isa 13:8  And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Isa 13:10  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
Isa 13:11  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

The verses of this chapter will reveal that the judgment of Babylon within us is also the day of the Lord within us. This chapter begins with:

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

Isaiah 13:1 is the first of nine times the phrase, "the burden of..." is found in this book of Isaiah:

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

Isa 15:1  The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence.

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

Isa 19:1  The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

Isa 21:1  The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.

Isa 21:11  The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

Isa 22:1  The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?

Isa 23:1  The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.

Isa 30:6  The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

Each and every 'burden' is a pronouncement of judgment upon the subject of that 'burden'. What I hope will strike us all is that this "day of the Lord, [which] shall come as destruction from the Almighty" (Isa 13:6), is especially associated with this "burden of Babylon". As we will see, this particular 'burden' spiritually is called a "great whore" which is placed as a very great burden indeed upon a scarlet colored beast in Revelation 17:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit [as a burden] upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: [And who is this burden on this scarlet colored beast?]
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

That is right! This burdensome woman is called "Mystery, Babylon the Great", and she is said to be "the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." She is not called 'mystery Sodom' or 'mystery Samaria', she is called "mystery Babylon the great".

This "the burden of Babylon" is, of course, very heavy and very hard to carry. In historical terms this chapter of Isaiah is simply the prophecy of the destruction of the kingdom of Babylon when Belshazzar saw the hand  writing out his fate on the wall of  his palace. That very same night he was killed, and the kingdom was given to Darius the Mede as recorded in Daniel:

Dan 5:25  And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
Dan 5:26  This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
Dan 5:27  TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Dan 5:28  PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Dan 5:29  Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Dan 5:30  In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
Dan 5:31  And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

It is important for our spiritual understanding to know that Babylon was God's servant whom He sent to punish His own people who had gone to the Assyrians and then the Babylonians seeking protection instead of looking to their own God who had brought them up out of Egypt through the death of the firstborn of Egypt and through the drying up of the Red Sea, and had given them dominion over all the land of Canaan.

Notice what God Himself calls Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, whom God used to destroy the kingdom of Judah and carry them off into 70 years of Babylonian captivity. This is how God speaks of Babylon:

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

Spiritual Babylon serves the same purpose for God's people today that physical Babylon served for God's physical people, Israel, back in the time of ancient Israel. That purpose was and is to offer God's people love and solace in the times of distress which are sent from the Lord to prove us and to demonstrate our lascivious and wicked ways and our inability to trust in our rightful spiritual husband.

This is what Israel did in times of trouble:

2Ki 15:20  And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.

2Ki 16:8  And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.

2Ki 18:14  And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

2Ki 18:16  At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Physical Babylon was an unbearable burden to both Israel and Judah. The Chaldean Assyrians carried off Israel into captivity just prior to the Babylonian Chaldeans who carried off Judah into physical captivity. Being taken captive is truly a 'burden' which cannot be borne:

2Ki 24:10  At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
2Ki 24:11  And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.
2Ki 24:12  And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
2Ki 24:13  And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
2Ki 24:14  And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

2Ki 24:20  For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

It is through the anger of the Lord that we, too, are made to be the captives of the unbearable "burden of Babylon". As the historical physical nation the Lord used to punish his unfaithful, harlot wife, who was physical Israel, Babylon is represented by its king, Nebuchadnezzar. But Babylon becomes "Mystery Babylon", a spiritual harlot who is a unbearable burden on God's spiritual Israel:

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit [as a burden] upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: [And who is this burden on this scarlet colored beast?]
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Ancient Israel came out of Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of God:

Ezr 1:1  Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Ezr 1:2  Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Ezr 1:3  Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
Ezr 1:4  And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

But at the Lord's appointed time even the king of Babylon must be judged and destroyed. The Lord has devised a way to destroy those whom He used to punish His own people, and that is what He does to Babylon:

Isa 13:2  Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

This is God Himself lifting up a banner to which He is calling the nations to judge and to destroy Babylon. It is He alone who rules in the kingdoms of men:

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.

As always spiritual progress is by God's design foreshadowed by physical historical events. The Lord Himself raises up and puts down outward historical nations, and He also raises up nations within us, and at His predestined date He destroys those nations within us and calls us to come out of those nations and into the kingdom of God. What that means is that it is on His schedule that we come out of spiritual Babylon and into "Jerusalem above":

Isa 13:3  I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.

The Hebrew word translated 'sanctified' simply means to set apart for a special purpose, whether that purpose is physical or spiritual, whether that purpose is for good or for evil. In this case, God has sanctified, or set apart, the enemies of Babylon for the special purpose of destroying Babylon in the same way He had previously set aside the Chaldean Assyrians to destroy Israel and later the Chaldean Babylonians to destroy and carry away captive wicked, rebellious and unfaithful Judah and Jerusalem.

Here is what we read earlier about how God used the Chaldeans to punish His own wicked, unfaithful people:

Isa 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Isa 10:6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Isa 10:7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

God is the moving force who is sending the Assyrian Chaldeans to punish His people. To accomplish His purpose it is He who put it "in His heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few." In the same manner the last part of Isaiah 13:3 is not telling us that the enemies of Babylon "rejoice in [the] highness" of the God of Israel. Quite the contrary. What we are being told is that those whom God uses to destroy Babylon within us, and those He will use to destroy the physical Babylon, which symbolizes the world's great religions, the "great whore" who sits upon and rules over the kingdoms of this world, will rejoice "in His highness", the highness of His purpose. They will rejoice in unwittingly doing what He is sending them to accomplish for His own purpose and plan, "after the counsel of His own will", just as Joseph's brothers rejoiced in sending Joseph as a slave into Egypt, as God intended to be done:

Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

So it is with those nations God sends to destroy Babylon.

Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

So it was with the Assyrian Chaldeans:

Isa 10:7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

When the day arrives for the "ten nations" to destroy the great harlot, it will be God Himself mustering the host though, like Joseph's brothers, they will be completely unaware they are doing His bidding.

Isa 13:4  The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.

"The Lord of hosts musters the host of the battle." That statement is true within us, and it is true without (the outside of) us in the kingdoms of this world. We can of ourselves do nothing, and while the "great men" of this world would never admit it, the truth is that their every move has been written in God's book of every 'great man's' life and in the life of every man great or small before any of those days were. When God's time arrives for any event to happen, then it will take place. Our Creator wants us to "know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men". But the Lord's hand is far more involved in the affairs of mankind than simply deciding who will rule in the kingdom of men. He also wants us to know that it is He who is also working every event within our lives and also all things in the lives of all men:

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

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

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

Jer 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

When "the Lord of hosts musters the host of the battle" he 'musters' whomsoever he wills from wherever He wills. When our nation made the fateful decision to invade and occupy the nation of Iraq, I heard from many people who said, "I'm just happy all of the bombing and violence is taking place over there and not over here." We always feel we can sin against our Lord and at the same time distance ourselves from the fruit of our ways to which our Lord tells us:

Isa 13:5  They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

This all sounds so very dire to our carnal mind, which has no stomach for the messy unpleasant work of the cross and the judgment of God, and indeed 'the day of the Lord' is a dire day for our flesh and for this outward world and all of its nations simply because of this immutable truth:

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

History has proven that all physical life is temporal and fleeting, and therefore physical life is not really lasting abundant life. Only spiritual life in "a spiritual body" is lasting, abundant and therefore true lasting life. It is because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God that any man who has not been given faith in the things of the spirit will feel that there is nothing positive about the scriptures, simply because our flesh and blood does not want to be judged and destroyed. Such a thought is foolish and repugnant to our flesh.

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

As with all things, "the day of the Lord" has both and inward and an outward time of fulfillment, as well as a dispensational end-time fulfillment. "The day of the Lord" is the day of judgment whether it is taking place spiritually within us, physically without us as outward nations historically rise up and are judged and fall, or the destruction of all nations both when they are subdued to the physical rule of God's elect "for a thousand years" or the destruction of all flesh in the lake of fire.

This phrase "the day of the Lord" is repeated 26 times in scripture:

Isa 2:12  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Isa 34:8  For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

Jer 46:10  For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

Lam 2:22  Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

Eze 13:5  Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

Eze 30:3  For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.

Joe 1:15  Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Joe 3:14  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

Amo 5:18  Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

Amo 5:20  Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Oba 1:15  For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

Zep 1:7  Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
Zep 1:8  And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

Zep 1:14  The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

Zep 1:18  Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Zep 2:2  Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon you.
Zep 2:3  Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.

Zec 14:1  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Paul also speaks of 'the day of the Lord Jesus' in which it is made more clear that this 'day of the Lord' is the time of our judgment.

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

2Co 1:14  As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

In every case, "the day of the Lord comes as destruction from the Almighty" to the already dying nations of this world and the dying kingdom of our old man. Therefore the day of the Lord is as crucial to our salvation as the birth pangs of a physical birth are in the birth of a child, because there is no true life except "through death":

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.

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

The new man is nourished by the day of the Lord and is given the faith that is essential to having any appreciation of "the things of the spirit". However, the natural man receives not the things of the spirit, and:

Isa 13:7  Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
Isa 13:8  And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

Here is the New Testament spiritual way of saying the same thing these verses are saying in terms which are understood by the natural man within us:

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day [of the Lord] shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

The day which will declare and reveal of what sort our works are, and that day is "the day of the Lord". The burning up of all of our "wood, hay and stubble" is the work of 'the day of the Lord' in the life of each and every man of all time.

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Isa 13:10  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

"The sun shall be darkened... and the moon shall not cause her light to shine." This is the basis for all the other prophecies of a time in our lives when the truth is simply not made available to us. This is a time when there is no light to be seen from either the sun or the moon. This is a time when we are not learning anything of Christ from neither Christ and His Christ, nor from His unfaithful wife.

Here are the other later prophecies warning us of this time of trouble:

Joe 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

It is in this darkened state, in the day of our judgment, that we begin to be judged and we begin to "learn righteousness":

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Isa 13:11  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

"I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible" is the humbling fruit of the wrath and fierce anger of the day of the Lord. We were given this same message concerning this same "day of the Lord" back in Isaiah chapter 2:

Isa 2:11  The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
Isa 2:12  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

Remember, this chapter concerns the judgment of Babylon:

Isa 13:1  The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

In this chapter alone "the day of the Lord" is mentioned twice; first in verse 6:

Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Then again in verse 9:

Isa 13:9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Babylon must be spiritually judged within us today just as it was judged and destroyed historically and physically. But let's never lose sight of the benefits of the spiritual judgments of God and of "the things of the spirit".

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.

Next week, Lord willing, we will cover these verses of the last half of this chapter on the severity of the judgment of Babylon:

Isa 13:12  I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Isa 13:13  Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
Isa 13:14  And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
Isa 13:15  Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
Isa 13:16  Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
Isa 13:17  Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
Isa 13:18  Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
Isa 13:19  And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isa 13:20  It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
Isa 13:21  But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
Isa 13:22  And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 42 Discussion

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Isa 9:5-7 Of The Increase of His Government and Peace There Shall Be No End

Isa 9:5  For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

As always we want to make the connections which the scriptures themselves make. In this case the first word of today's study connects our verses for today with last week's verses. So let's put them all together and see what we are being told:

Isa 9:2  The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
Isa 9:3  Thou hast multiplied the nation, and [...] increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
Isa 9:4  For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of [the battle of] Midian.
Isa 9:5  For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

That is our message with all the verses put together. What we are being told is that "great light has [been] seen [only by] the people who [have been made to know they] walked in darkness. Only upon those who 'dwell in the shadow of death has this light shined', and it has brought them great joy "according to the joy in harvest and as men rejoicing when they divide the spoil" of a great battle.  It is through this great battle, that the "yoke... the staff and the rod of [our] oppressor... has been broken" by the Lord Himself. It is broken by a spiritual battle which is typified by symbolic "burning and fuel of fire", as opposed to the "confused noise, and garments rolled in blood", which typify a physical battle of literal warriors. This great battle is capable of being waged "with burning and fuel of fire [because] unto us a child is born... and the government shall be on His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

Christ has made it clear that it is of utmost importance that we realize that the light of God comes only to those who have been brought to know they are blind and in deep darkness. He makes that very clear by telling us, and the man who was born blind and whom He had healed of that blindness, these words:

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye [realized you] were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Now, through the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul, Christ tells all of us:

Act 26:16   ...rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
Act 26:17  Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
Act 26:18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power [the lies] of Satan unto [the truths of] God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

To those who have been given to realize they were born blind, Christ has multiplied His kingdom, and He increases the joy of all those who have received His kingdom within them. We are told that the joy we have in Him and in His kingdom within us is the joy that is experienced in the harvest and in taking the spoils of a great battle against a great oppressor. That oppressor is the great darkness we are given to understand we are in while we are living in and by the false doctrines of the great harlot and her many daughter harlots, who have long ago let it be known they fear and want to please men more than God.

Both 'the harvest' and 'the battle' are Biblical types of the day of our judgment and the destruction of the kingdom of our rebellious, dying man of sin, our old man:

Rev 14:15  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Rev 14:16  And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

Rev 16:14  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

Only after "the battle of that great day" is engaged does our 'earth' (Jer 22:29) begin to be harvested.

A different kind of battle

Isa 9:5  For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

"The battle of that great day of God Almighty" will be different from all other physical battles. Here is the difference in the form of the weapons of our warfare and the weapons of those who "war after the flesh":

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) ["with {spiritual} burning and fuel of {spiritual} fire"]
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;

Paul repeats this message in:

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

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" describes the type of battle which "is [not] with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but [is] with burning and fuel of fire." Ours is a spiritual battle conducted "with burning and fuel of fire". The fuel which feeds that "burning... fire" is all the "wood, hay, and stubble", which are the sinful pulls of our dying flesh, along with all the false doctrines of the "beast [which] comes up out of the earth [with] two horns like a lamb, and [speaking] as a dragon" and demanding that we worship the beast which "came up out of the sea".  The fire which consumes all of our "wood, hay and stubble" is the exact same fire with which Christ baptizes us (Mat 3:11). It is the exact same fire which is in the mouths of God's elect witnesses (Rev 11:3-5). It is also the same fire which will be in the mouths of "the righteous" whose words are the fire of the lake of fire (Isa 33:14-15). That "fire" is the word of God (Jer 5:14):

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

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.

Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

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.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
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 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man [Greek: anthropos - mankind]; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Speaking specifically of "every man", we are told "...he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire". The fiery word of God burns up the wood, hay and stubble of the kingdom of our old man, and through that destruction "every man... shall be saved... by fire". That explains the word "For" connecting the "battle... with burning and fuel of fire" and with our next verse. Let's keep them together so we can make that connection.

Here again is verse 5:

Isa 9:5  For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

And here is verse 6 beginning with the connecting word, "For":

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The word 'For' connects a battle fought "with burning and fuel of fire" to the birth of a child upon whose shoulders all government shall rest. That this is a prophecy of Christ and His doctrine is clear because "his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

So what does the coming of Christ have to do with a "battle [being waged] with burning and fuel of fire"? The coming of Christ to this earth has everything to do with a battle being waged "with burning and fuel fire" for this reason, which reason is given to us by the man who was sent by God to prepare the way for the coming of the "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." These are the words of John the baptist describing for us how Christ will perform the work His Father sent Him to accomplish:

Mat 3:11  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.

Christ tells us he came into this world for judgment, and that judgment is our baptism with the holy spirit and with fire, just as Isaiah has already informed us:

Isa 4:4  When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

"The holy spirit and... fire" are one and the same because:

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.

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.

It is the Word of God which baptizes all who know Christ. That is the 'fire' which will 'purge... Jerusalem'. It is the fire which is the Word of God which will cause the loss suffered by the kingdom of our old man, and in the process of that destruction that same  "fire" will save "every man" (1Co 3:13-15).

Let's take very close note of the various names given to our Lord: "...His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

"Wonderful, Counselor" tells us that Christ knows how to deal with and work with His people, and He is giving His Christ to be His own 'wonderful counsellors' by giving them to know Him and His Words:

Isa 28:27  For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
Isa 28:28  Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
Isa 28:29  This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

While we are the first to point out that "to us there is one God, the Father" (1Co 8:6), and that Christ is the first of God's creation (Rev 3:14), let  us never be guilty of denying that Christ is also "the Mighty God", as Isaiah tells us here and as Christ called Himself and as He also called us:

Joh 10:24  Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Joh 10:25  Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
Joh 10:26  But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Joh 10:30  I and my Father are one.
Joh 10:31  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Joh 10:32  Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
Joh 10:33  The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
Joh 10:34  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Joh 10:36  Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

Is Christ "the mighty God"?

Those are Christ's own words. He defended His sonship in the same way He defends our own sonship. "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods." So Jesus is indeed 'God', and this is how He tells us His Father wants us to think of Him:

Joh 5:22  For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
Joh 5:23  That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Do you want to please the Father? If indeed you want to please the Father, then "honor the Son, even as you honor the Father". Do not hesitate to call the Son "the everlasting Father", or for that matter, do not hesitate to call Christ "the Almighty". Here is what Christ told Abraham:

Gen 17:1  And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

The prophet Baalam, who King Balak, the king of Moab, hired to curse Israel, saw "the Almighty" God:

Num 24:4  He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

Most Christians believe that "the Lord" and "the Almighty" in the Old Testament speak of the Father instead of Christ. But is that what Christ tells us? No, it is not. This is what Christ does tell us:

Joh 1:18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

But didn't some in the Old Testament at least hear the voice of the Father? What is the doctrine of Christ concerning that question? This is the doctrine of Christ:

Joh 5:37  And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

That is the doctrine of Christ because He knows He was the One who had spoken to and appeared to so many people in the Old Testament, including all the elders of Israel who came up out of Egypt.

Deu 5:24  And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.

And that is why Christ tells us this:

Luk 10:22  All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

No one knows "who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him." Can you and I see the Father? Only if we "honor the Son" as [we] honor the Father:

Joh 14:8  Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Joh 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Christ tells us plainly in Revelation that He is "the Almighty".

Rev 1:8  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Rev 1:18  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Just to be completely clear, we can believe that Christ is the Lord of the Old Testament, He is the Everlasting Father, the Almighty God, and still we can confess that we believe with the apostle Paul:

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

We can agree with this statement of Paul and also agree that Christ is "the Almighty God" because we know that Christ is the Almighty over all but the throne of His Father, as is revealed to us in the story of Joseph being made king over all Egypt. Joseph had all power over all Egypt and was superior to all in Egypt. "Only in the throne" was Pharaoh greater than Joseph.

Gen 41:38  And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
Gen 41:39  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Gen 41:40  Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Gen 41:41  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

Is Christ "the Everlasting Father"

It is generally understood that Christ, as "the Son of God", is also our elder brother, since we, too, are called "the sons of God".

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

But Isaiah clearly tells us that one of Christ's names is "the Everlasting Father". So is there a second scriptural witness that calls Christ the Father of His children? It just so happens there is such a statement, in a "line upon line, and precept upon precept" manner in scripture for those who have the eyes to see it.

This is what we are told of who is our father:

Rom 4:12  And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

Rom 4:16  Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Then who does Abraham symbolize in these verses? There is no room for doubt because it is the same person whom Isaiah tells us is to be called "the Everlasting Father". This is who gave Abraham his faith, and this is "who is the [True] Father of us all".

Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ's [children], then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

We are even told that we, in Christ, are "counted for a generation":

Psa 22:30  A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
Psa 22:31  They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

Abraham is just the type and shadow of Christ because "the law is not of faith".

Gal 3:12  And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

Christ is the true "Father of us all", and He is also "a Son... [whose] name shall be called... the Everlasting Father."

The greatness of His government over His kingdom will never end

Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

It is clearly established that those who are Christ's in this age will sit with Him in His Father's throne and will rule both this world, and then afterwards they will also rule angels in the lake of fire:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Christ promised this honor to all His apostles:

Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

This is all repeated as a promise to "he that overcometh" in Revelation 2.

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.

But there is a widely accepted misunderstanding of what Isaiah 9:7 actually teaches us. Several Christian denominations use the phrase, "Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end" to mean there is no end to the growth of His kingdom. I personally believed that doctrine while in an organization which taught that the universe was limitless for the very purpose of fulfilling that verse of scripture. The doctrine was that everyone who was saved would, in time be made a Christ over his own planet and would be sent to die for the sins of the inhabitants of his particular planet. This scenario was to be repeated over and over for all eternity, because the scriptures teach "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end".

There is one problem with this doctrine. The fact is that the Hebrew word translated as 'increase' in the KJV is marbeh^H4766, and this Hebrew word appears only one other time in the scripture, which is:

Isa 33:23  Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great^H4766 spoil divided; the lame take the prey.

This doctrine of an ever-increasing kingdom denies that there will ever be an end to "the last enemy... death", since death would necessarily continue forever if "increase of His government" means limitless or for all eternity.

'Marbeh', according the Strong's, is from the Hebrew word rabah^H7235.

H4766
מַרְבֶה
marbeh
mar-beh'
From H7235; properly increasing; as noun, greatness, or (adverbially) greatly: - great, increase.

When we look up the word 'rabah', this is what Strong's tells us:

H7235
רָבָה
râbâh
raw-baw'
A primitive root; to increase (in whatever respect): - [bring in] abundance (X -antly), + archer [by mistake for H7232], be in authority, bring up, X continue, enlarge, excel, exceeding (-ly), be full of, (be, make) great (-er, -ly), X -ness), grow up, heap, increase, be long, (be, give, have, make, use) many (a time), (any, be, give, give the, have) more (in number), (ask, be, be so, gather, over, take, yield) much (greater, more), (make to) multiply, nourish, plenty (-eous), X process [of time], sore, store, thoroughly, very.

Here is an example of how the word 'rabah' is properly translated as 'increase':

Lev 25:15  According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
Lev 25:16  According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase [H7235, 'rabah'] the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.

Pro 28:8  He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth [H7235, 'rabah'] his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.

According to Leviticus 25, the value of the purchase of a piece of property depended upon how many years remained until the jubile. The value would be increased in proportion to the years remaining until the jubile. But it could not be increased without limit, or forever, as this false doctrine teaches.

Proverbs 28 states that our substance can be increased by usury and unjust gain, but in spite of how it may seem in today's world, unjust gain does have its limits, as we are just about to discover as a nation and as a planet. Sin and death do not go on forever. If that were the meaning of Isa 9:7, then these verses would be lies:

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

So 'marbeh' can properly be translated as 'increase', but neither 'marbeh' nor 'rabah' are ever to be understood as unending increase for all eternity.

"Then cometh the end." There is an end of the aions! The day will come when they have fulfilled their preordained purpose, and they and death will come to "the end". For death to ever be destroyed and for God to ever become "all in all", the aions (eons) must come to their prophesied consummation, and the number of those "in Adam" who will be redeemed from death must be filled up, and "come [to] the end". There would be no need for a former resurrection followed by a millennial kingdom if "of the increase of His government... there shall be no end" means that death never ends and that flesh is never destroyed. There would be no need for a "short season" of the rebellion of all the nations "in the four quarters of the earth [to be] devoured [by] fire... from heaven", followed by a great white throne judgment in the redemptive lake of fire, if there were no end to the increase of His government.

A much better translation of the Hebrew word 'marbeh' would be 'greatness', instead of 'increase', and then Isa 9:7 would accord with the sum of God's Word concerning the unending greatness of His government and His peace.

Then Isa 9:7 would read:

Isa 9:7  Of the greatness of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

His kingdom is "henceforth even for ever [Hebrew: olawm - age], not for eternity.

Lord willing, next week we will discover how that when God first begins dragging us to Himself, we do not just naturally turn to Him, as is revealed in these verses for next week's study:

Isa 9:8  The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
Isa 9:9  And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
Isa 9:10  The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
Isa 9:11  Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;
Isa 9:12  The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 9:13  For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.

[The study given at the Mobile, Al conference five years ago ties in with this study (thank you, Gale!). You can reference that study here.]

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 37 Discussion

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Isa 8:1​-4 Samaria [Israel] Shall Be Taken Away Before The King o​f Assyria

Isa 8:1  Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz.
Isa 8:2  And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
Isa 8:3  And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz.
Isa 8:4  For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

Remembering that the king of Assyria is a Chaldean king, and is therefore the same as the king of Babylon, and understanding that Babylon symbolizes all religions sitting upon all the kingdoms of this world, in deception and in opposition to the Words of God (Rev 12: 9 and 17:15), we will continue our study of the long process of the fiery judgment which is now upon us as the Lord's house (Luk 20:9 and 1Pe 4:17).

Chapter seven closed with this thrice repeated warning concerning "that day", the day of the judgment of the kingdom of God within us,​ which is in need of being cleansed and is now being judged:

Isa 7:23  And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver coins, shall be for briers and thorns.
Isa 7:24  [Men] shall come there with arrows and with bow, because all the land shall be briers and thorns.
Isa 7:25  And all the hills that were dug with the mattock, thou shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep. (ACV)

Chapter 8 continues that same message of warning but with these words:

Isa 8:1  Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz.
Isa 8:2  And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.

Here is how the LITV renders these two verses of scripture:

Isa 8:1  And Jehovah said to me, Take a big tablet and write in it with a man's pen: Make haste to plunder! Hurry to the spoil!
Isa 8:2  And I took faithful witnesses to record for me, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.

In its outward, literal application this is a prophecy of the coming invasion of Judah and Jerusalem by the king of Babylon. In chapter 7 the prophecy tells us that a child will be born whose name is to be Immanuel, and the prophecy is that "before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings."

Isa 7:13  And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
Isa 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isa 7:15  Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Isa 7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

It is true that the prophecy of Immanuel in chapter 7 concerns Samaria in league with Damascus, but Samaria is the capital of the northern king​dom of Israel and is therefore still addressed to the Lord's own people. Lord willing, it is addressed to you and me.

In this chapter 8 is the prophecy of the fall of Judah and Jerusalem. It is still the prophecy of our own judgment, which is reiterated with a witnessed recording of a prophecy which says "Make hast to plunder! Hurry to the spoil!"​

But chapter 8 concerning Mahershalalhashbaz is not a separate prophecy from the prophecy of Immanuel in chapter seven. These two prophecies are actually one prophecy which uses two separate symbols, just as Pharaoh's two dreams used two separate symbols which we are told were actually one dream with one prophetic message.

In the same manner in this second prophecy of the Lord's judgment of His people​,​ Isaiah is instructed by the Lord to gather witnesses and record a second prophecy of the same impending judgment and destruction of Damascus and Samaria, followed by the judgment and destruction of Judah and Jerusalem.

Then we are told:

Isa 8:3  And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz.
Isa 8:4  For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

Is not this the exact same message we were given in the prophecy of the birth of Immanuel and the judgment of Israel?​

Isa 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isa 7:15  Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Isa 7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest [Damascus and Samaria] shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Outwardly this 7th chapter is addressed to King Ahaz, the king of the southern kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. Ahaz was not counted as a 'good king', and he therefore typifies our own God-condemning Job, and our own self-righteous, self-justifying King Saul.

Other than that, what is the difference between Isaiah 7:16 concerning the immaturity of Immanuel and this verse in Isaiah 8 concerning Mahershalalhashbaz?

Let's compare these two verses side by side:

Isa 7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest [Damascus and Samaria] shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Isa 8:4 For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

The answer is, there is no difference, because both prophecies are the same prophecy, just as Pharaoh's two dreams were one dream:

Gen 41:1  And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.
Gen 41:2  And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.
Gen 41:3  And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.
Gen 41:4  And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.
Gen 41:5  And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.
Gen 41:6  And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.
Gen 41:7  And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.
Gen 41:8  And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

What do these two very different dreams mean?

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

Pharaoh's two dreams had just one message, and the two prophecies of Isaiah 7 and 8 are also just one message foretelling our own judgment.

Who does Isaiah symbolize? Who does Isaiah's wife, "the prophetess",​ symbolize? Why are we told that Isaiah "went in unto the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son?" Why are we told the name of Isaiah's son?

We will jump ahead a few verses and get the answer to this last question here in this same chapter:

Isa 8:18  Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

That is the reason we are given for why we are told the names of Isaiah's sons names. So Mahershalalhashbaz is a sign of "Make haste to plunder! Hurry to the spoil!" Mahershalalhashbaz, along with all of Isaiah's children, "are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in mount Zion." Mount Zion, of course, is simply the highest, most prominent point in Jerusalem and was also known​ as "the city of David", ancient Israel's most prominent king. There is, as we will see, great spiritual significance in Isaiah's revelation of the function of his children in spiritual 'Israel' and in mount Zion.

Isaiah, as the Lord's prophet,​ is speaking for and represents Christ Himself, and Isaiah's wife therefore symbolizes Christ's wife. Therefore their children are the spiritual symbols of the children of Christ and His wife the church. Speaking plainly, Isaiah's children typify the witness of each of us as Christ's Christ, His elect,​ who speak for Him in this age.

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

Eph 5:22  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 

Now let's go back to the meaning of the name 'Mahershalalhashbaz'.

Here is how Strong's renders the meaning of this name:

H4122
מַהֵר שָׁלָל חָשׁ בַּז
mahêr shâlâl châsh baz
mah-hare' shaw-lawl' khawsh baz
From H4118 and H7998 and H2363 and H957; hasting (as he (the enemy) to the) booty, swift (to the) prey; Maher-Shalal Chash-Baz; the symbolical name of the son of Isaiah: - Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
Total KJV occurrences: 2

We have seen that:

Isa 8:18  Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

What does this verse have to do with us? Notice for whom these prophecies are directed​. Isaiah's children "are for signs and wonders [only] in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwells in Mount Zion".

What does all of that mean? Where is spiritual 'Zion'? According to the scriptures, who do Isaiah's sons symbolize? What are the signs and wonders Isaiah's sons will declare in Israel? Here is the Biblical spiritual answer to all of these questions:

Heb 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he [Christ] is not ashamed to call them [you and me] brethren,
Heb 2:12  Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Heb 2:13  And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

Those symbolized by Isaiah's sons are to "declare thy name unto [their] brothers in the midst of the church, and... sing praise unto [Him]".

In Hebrews 12 we are given more details about these symbolic children which God has given Isaiah, as a type of Christ's children, His Christ:

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

What do these verses have to do with Isaiah's sons? Notice these words: "Ye are come to mount Sion." Now remember what we were just told about Isaiah's sons:

Isa 8:18  Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

Now we know who Isaiah's sons symbolize. Now we understand that the signs and wonders they proclaim are only for those who dwell with the Lord in mount Zion. They are, in this age, only for "the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven".

And​ where are we at this very moment?

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

Every prophet of the Old Testament speaks only the words they have been given to speak by Christ. They are all speaking for Christ who we are told is "the Word".

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

In the sense that Isaiah is speaking for Christ,​ he is a type of Christ. So Isaiah's children typify the children of Christ. Therefore it is Christ's children who are for signs and wonders in Israel,​ and it is only the Lord's Israel who will be given eyes that see and ears that hear those "signs and wonders" because we are told, "I will declare thy name unto my brothers in the midst of the church... the children which God has given me.​"

What are the signs and wonders to be declared to the Lord's Israel?

Psa 22:27  All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
Psa 22:28  For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations.

Who is given the charge of this proclamation?

Psa 22:30  A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
Psa 22:31  They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

This is confirmed by Peter:

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

Who are these who are "accounted to the Lord for a generation"?

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

All these verses confirm what we just read about the children God gave to Isaiah, and who it is who "should show forth the praises of Him who has called [us]".

Heb 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he [Christ] is not ashamed to call them [you and me] brethren,
Heb 2:12  Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Heb 2:13  And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

The greatest sign or wonder or demonstration of the power of God that will ever be shown in any generation of mankind will be to know and to hear those who "show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light​."

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

The apostle Paul explains this to us:

1Co 2:4  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

How few are those who are given to realize that "the demonstration [of the "signs and wonders in Israel"] of the spirit and of power" is the word spoken by Isaiah's symbolic children of "the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory? Who knew that the Isaiah's children symbolize those who would "sing praise unto thee... [and] declare [His] name unto [their] brothers in the midst of the church"?

Heb 2:12  Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Heb 2:13  And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

That is why we:

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 

As "the general assembly and church of the firstborn" we are commissioned to proclaim both the judgment of Israel and Damascus, those more outward enemies of the Lord's people who are far easier to recognize than all the self-​righteous, inward sins and rebellions within the Lord'​s own people. The prophecy of Mahershalalhashbaz actually misleads us into thinking that our judgment has been postponed, when in reality it is at hand:

Isa 8:1  Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz.
Isa 8:2  And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
Isa 8:3  And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz.
Isa 8:4  For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

"​The riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria", and we have been granted to hear the wonderful gospel of the death and resurrection of the Son of God for our sins, and yet we will still have to be made to see that we ourselves are but "carnal babes in Christ" who are yet only capable of receiving the milk of the word and not strong meat because we are "yet carnal" (1Co 3:1-4).

And that is exactly what we will see, Lord willing in our next study into the depth of the thorough purging process of our judgment:

Isa 8:5  The LORD spake also unto me again, saying,
Isa 8:6  Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;
Isa 8:7  Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:
Isa 8:8  And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
Isa 8:9  Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
Isa 8:10  Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

Ours is a long and thorough judgment​, but when it is accomplished we will rejoice in the wisdom of our Judge:

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.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 34 Discussion

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Isa 7:18 The Lord Shall Hiss For The Fly a​nd For The Bee

Isa 7:18  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 

We are continuing our study into how God goes about bringing us into judgment. As we have seen,​ God knew from the beginning the vessel of clay in His hand was "marred" (Jer 18:4). "The Potter" did not make a mistake when He marred "the vessel of clay". It was done by His design, because He had already called us in the crucified and risen Christ "before the world began":

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.

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

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

Every verb in Jer 18:4 has the Hebrew 'qual stem', which is the equivalent of the Greek aorist tense. What that means is that verse is actually telling us 'The vessel of clay He is making is being marred in the hand of the Potter: so He is making it again another vessel as seems good to the Potter to be making it'.

Another way of saying it, 'The marred vessel of clay is just the first step in the work God is performing in all mankind who are all being 'called in Christ before the world began'.

The next time anyone tells you God did not make Adam as a "marred... vessel of clay", ask them how we can be told we were "called... in Christ Jesus before the world began" if God did not know exactly what Adam and Eve would do even before there were any of the days He had written in their books:

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

God has written in the books of all men that they must first be "marred in the Potter's hand" so they could and would need a sacrifice for their sins. Part of that marred condition is that all mankind, spiritually speaking, must be carried away into captivity into spiritual 'Babylon', which is symbolized here in Isaiah as "the king of Assyria".

This is what we saw in our last study that the Lord is doing as He begins our judgment via His work of "the king of Assyria" within our lives:

Isa 7:17  The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.

We have demonstrated that Assyria and Babylon are both the same Chaldean people, and those people in scripture symbolize "Babylon the great", the religions of this world, one and all "the enemies of the cross of Christ":

Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

And this is what He is doing with His symbolic, spiritual "King of Assyria":

Isa 7:18  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

Here we have the Truth. Just as we are told that it was the Lord who gave to Satan the job of destroying all the wealth Job had acquired, including all ten of his children, here also we are told that it is the Lord Himself who will "hiss [Hebrew: whistle] for the fly in Egypt and the bee in Assyria, by which He specifically tells us He means "even the king of Assyria".

The Lord shall Hiss

This is what Strong's tells us is meant by this Hebrew word 'sharaq', translated as 'hiss' in this 18th verse:

H8319
שָׁרַק
shâraq
shaw-rak'
A primitive root; properly to be shrill, that is, to whistle or hiss (as a call or in scorn): - hiss.
Total KJV occurrences: 12

Here are the twelve times this word appears in the Old Testament. As is made clear, it is consistently translated as 'hiss', but it is defined as "a shrill" and can be properly be translated either as a whistle to call someone to do something or as "a shrill" scorning sound, as in this example:

Jer 19:8  And I will make this [harlot] city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
Jer 19:9  And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.

Here are the twelve entries for this word in the Old Testament demonstrating that it is used both as a whistling call and as "a shrill" sound of scorn:

H8319
שׁרק
shâraq
Total KJV Occurrences: 12
hiss, 12
1Ki_9:8, Job_27:23, Isa_5:26, Isa_7:18, Jer_19:8, Jer_49:17, Jer_50:13, Lam_2:15-16 (2), Eze_27:36, Zep_2:15, Zec_10:8

Here in Isa 7:18 the Lord is whistling for the flies and bees to come and destroy His unfaithful, adulterous people, but notice how this Hebrew word 'sharaq' is used in a positive sense as it concerns the Lord's redeemed:

Zec 10:6  And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.
Zec 10:7  And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
Zec 10:8  I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.

This Hebrew word 'sharaq', translated consistently as 'hiss', is simply God's way of telling us that it is He who calls forth both the good and the evil in our lives. It is not adding to the Word of God at all to say the Lord 'hissed' for Satan when He called  Satan to destroy Job's family and all His possessions, and then again He sent Satan once again to strike him with boils from head to toe.

This 18th verse of Isaiah 7 is just another way of giving us the same message we are given in Job one and two. The work the Lord sends Satan to accomplish is also described as flies and bees being sent to destroy us. When the Lord begins to deal with the brute beast, which He Himself "made to be taken and destroyed" (2Pe 2:12), He sends flies and bees into our lives to destroy the kingdom of our old man within us. Again, this all takes "a long time" (Luk 20:9), but it has to begin, and it has to be completed.

So what do  flies and bees do to us? Let's take them in the order they are mentioned and see what these two insects spiritually symbolize and what they do to us.

Flies

What did flies do to Egypt? Here in Isa 7:18 the Lord's people are acting as if they are Egyptians, so that is exactly how the Lord deals with us at this point in our "experience of evil... [our] one event" (Ecc 1:13 CVL, and Ecc 9:2 KJV):

Psa 78:45  He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

Psa 105:31  He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts.

The plagues upon Egypt devoured and destroyed Egypt, and that is what God is doing to the brute beast we all first are:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Flies are a symbol of​ the destruction of our old man and his "brute beast" kingdom within us.

Bees

So what does the Lord do within us with His symbolic spiritual 'bees'?

The word translated 'bee' here is:

H1682
דְּבֹרָה    דְּבוֹרָה
debôrâh    debôrâh
deb-o-raw', deb-o-raw'
From H1696 (in the sense of orderly motion); the bee (from its systematic instincts): - bee.
Total KJV occurrences: 4

This particular Hebrew word appears only three other times in the Old Testament:

H1682
דּברה / דּבורה
debôrâh / debôrâh
Total KJV Occurrences: 4
bees, 3
Deu_1:44, Jdg_14:8, Psa_118:12
bee, 1
Isa_7:18

The first time it appears is in Deuteronomy 1:44. This story demonstrates how we are to understand that God's symbolic bees typify how Israel's enemies destroyed them while they were yet in the wilderness:

Deu 1:44  And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.

The entry in Judges 14 is the story of the bees that made honey in the carcass of the lion Samson had killed, but in Psa 118:12 bees again symbolize our outward enemies who would physically destroy us, as well as the inward false doctrines of the kingdom of the adversary which must, in time, be destroyed by the brightness of the coming of Christ within us.

Psa 118:10  All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. 
Psa 118:11  They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
Psa 118:12  They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

The name 'Deborah' is spelled slightly differently and has its own assigned Strong's number, but it means the same - a bee:

H1683
דְּבֹרָה    דְּבוֹרָה
debôrâh    debôrâh
deb-o-raw', deb-o-raw'
The same as H1682; Deborah, the name of two Hebrewesses: - Deborah.
Total KJV occurrences: 10

The Lord used Deborah as 'bees' in their positive application to destroy the kingdom of Jabin, the Cannanite, and Sisera, the captain of his armies:

Jdg 4:7  And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.

Here is a verse which demonstrates how the Lord sends 'bees' to destroy his enemies, as well as the fact that the destruction of our old man is a long drawn-out process, sometimes taking many years:

Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Here is what these spiritual 'hornets' accomplished:

Jos 5:1  And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

Jos 2:9  And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
Jos 2:10  For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 
Jos 2:11  And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

That is the fulfilling of:

Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

So flies and bees in their negative application are the lies of the adversary which destroy our relationship with Christ. But in their positive application flies and bees are sent as a type of His Word to destroy the kingdom and the lying doctrines of our old man. The Lord destroys the kingdom and doctrines of our old man with flies and bees. Therefore, if the Lord is merciful in this age, He brings us to see and believe that it is foolish to continue in our sins and to be ruled over by those nations within us whose only future is their own destruction.

Hosea's prophecy

Hosea speaks of these flies and bees in these verses which prophecy of Israel's destruction at the hand of the king of Assyria:

Hos 11:5  He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.
Hos 11:6  And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

God has a plan for all mankind, and that plan includes all men spiritually going into spiritual Babylon after we come out of spiritual Egypt. Once we come to know Christ, even if it is as but a wilderness, immature "carnal... babe in Christ" knowledge of Christ, we still cannot ever "return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be [our] king, because [we will] refuse to return" to our Deliverer who brought us up out of Egypt. So we all go into Babylon, which is in Assyria, and we live many years there in the darkness and deceit of that great city. It is there in 'that great city', the Lord's adulterous wife, where we kill our Lord and His prophets thinking we do God a service:

Luk 13:33  Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. [Babylon, Rev 17]

Joh 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Joh 16:3  And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Isaiah's commission is our commission

All of this is part of the commission Isaiah was given from the Lord. It is back in chapter 6 that Isaiah is given his commission to give Judah and Jerusalem, "where... our Lord was crucified", the words of their impending judgment. That commission was via a vision of the Lord's throne and a seraphim placing 'a live coal from the altar' (the altar symbolizes the cross) to purge his sins and take away his iniquity:

Isa 6:5  Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Isa 6:6  Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
Isa 6:7  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

That the seraphim handles the "live coal... with the tongs" is simply the Lord's way of telling us that this seraphim has already learned that the coals on the altar, symbolizing the fiery experience of daily dying to the downward pulls of our flesh, are very hot "live coals", and for that reason they must be handled "with the tongs". In other words, this seraphim, who symbolizes God's elect, has already experienced the fiery heat of 'a live coal from the altar'.

This book of Isaiah is 'signified', just as the book of Revelation is signified (Rev 1:1). Spirits are not literally affected by physical flames, so we are given the symbol of a live coal to let us know that the Lord has already by this time, in type and shadow, put Isaiah, himself the symbol of God's elect, through the necessary fiery trials which must precede any man who is being qualified to be there at God's throne and to be given a commission to bring this  message of judgment and repentance to others.

This vision of Isaiah being at the throne of God and having His sins purged away by a fiery coal from the altar is a very condensed summary of our own fiery trials which bring us to a point in our lives when the fiery Word of God begins to cleanse and to purge sin from our own hearts. The fiery word of God is placed upon Isaiah's lips to tell us that this same 'fire' is essential to change us into a new man with a new "pure [and] clean heart", because it is 'out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks':

Psa 24:3  Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
Psa 24:4  He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
Psa 24:5  He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Mat 12:34  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

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.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Paul had read and was very familiar with Isaiah six and seven. He knew from the scriptures that fire purges away sins. Nowhere in the Word of God, in either the Old or New Testaments, are we told that fire serves simply to inflict never-ending torment with no purpose or positive outcome. The primary scriptural function of the spiritual symbol of 'fire' is to 'take away our iniquities, and purge our sins' (Isa 6:7 and 1Co 3:15). The false satanic doctrine of eternal torment in literal, physical flames is not 'the voice of the True Shepherd'. "The king of Assyria" is merely a part of the fiery words of God which are sent against the false doctrines of the Lord's unfaithful people to bring the harlot known as Judah and Jerusalem, symbolizing all of us, to the point of being redeemed by Christ and His fiery words (1Co 3:13-15).

This is what scriptural 'fire' produces:

Zec 10:6  And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.
Zec 10:7  And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
Zec 10:8  I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.

The Lord's flies and His bees are both His means of deceiving us, and then this same symbol also typifies His 'fire', His words in the mouth of His witnesses, which He has designed for the very purpose of burning up and destroying our rebellious adulterous works of our old man and His kingdom:

Jer 5:3  O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

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.

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.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

The kingdom of our adulterous old man is given no quarter at all simply because:

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

All of this is what we must all first endure as our own sins are purged and our iniquity is taken away. This is what we must live and experience before we are sent by Christ to speak these words to those to whom the Lord sends us. Our own eyes must first be shut off from seeing the Truth, and our own ears must be 'made heavy', and our hearts must be 'made fat', before we can have our own inward cities "wasted and without inhabitant".

Fire on our lips can only take away our iniquity and purge our sins if our heart is being cleansed so our mouth can begin to "speak good things". Only then are we prepared to be sent to share our experience with others. God does not send immature, self-righteous, self-centered, petulant, "carnal... babes in Christ" whose lips have never been touched with a live coal from the altar to warn others of His judgments which are coming "upon the whole whole earth".

A thorough judgment takes a long time

Notice that Isaiah tells us that this is a long and drawn-out experience of evil which will humble us and destroy the kingdom of our beastly old man:

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

Isa 6:8  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Isa 6:9  And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Isa 6:10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Isa 6:11  Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
Isa 6:12  And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
Isa 6:13  But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

Isa 28:22  Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Amo 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

The Lord's secret which He has revealed to his prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Christ Himself, Paul and Peter, and John and all of "His servants the prophets" is that the natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit, which "things of the spirit" are the fiery Words of the Lord (Jer 5:14; Joh 6:63 and 1Co 2:13-14).

As we will see, the fulfilling of Isa 6 and 7 in our own lives will require the living out of the rest of the entire prophecy of Isaiah because:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God takes "a long time" according to Christ:

Luk 20:9  Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

This entire prophecy has proceeded out of the mouth of God and is therefore merely a part of "every word that [has] proceeded out of the mouth of God. The "all things" of these next two verses also includes all these prophecies of Isaiah:

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Isaiah parallels Revelation

This prophecy of Isaiah gives us many of the details of "the everlasting gospel" of the three angels of Revelation 14. These angels are 'three' because they reveal the long drawn-out process of the fiery judgments the Lord is working within us (Luk 20:9). "The [vision truly] is one" (Gen 41:25-26).

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [What is all of this?]
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

How few are given to notice that the first thing this angel who has "the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people", [says] with a loud voice, is to Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and we must worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.

It should be obvious to all who have the mind of Christ and who know His voice, that the declaration of God's judgment is a primary and integral part of "the everlasting gospel". The second and third angels simply declare the process of the Lord's judgments and His wrath against the great harlot, Babylon, and the kingdom of the beast on which she sits and rules as her own kingdom.  It is through the channel of this unfaithful, promiscuous woman, also known as "the king of Assyria, [that we are all brought to] drink of the wrath of God, [and to learn that this] is the patience and faith of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." If we are to "keep the things written therein" (Rev 1:3), then we must keep Rev 14:6-12. This is all based upon Isaiah's revelation that God's own people, "Judah and Jerusalem... is become an harlot" (Isa 1:1 and 1:21)

These prophecies have a universal application

How many men are deceived by the false doctr​ines and sorceries of this great harlot and "worship the beast and his image"? How many men must "drink of the wine of the wrath of God"? Upon whom must "the King of Assyria... the rod of [God's] indignation" come? What do the scriptures reveal about the king of Assyria?

Isa 10:5  O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Isa 10:6  I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

This is the Old Testament foundation for these New Testament words:

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

How many men 'worship the beast'? Against whom is the Lord's wrath directed? The answer cannot be clearer:

Rev 13:15  And he [the second beast which comes up out of the earth] had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. [The 'second beast' is also called the false prophet, the king of Assyria, Babylon the great and Babylon's leaders. In other words, he symbolizes the leaders of all of the world's religions]
Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

Those are very clear, all-inclusive words concerning what really is "the faith of the saints". That the saints of God, His elect, "drink of the wine of the wrath of God" is again confirmed with the words we just read concerning what really constitutes "the patience of the saints", and those words tell us who are those who are truly "keep[ing] the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus".

Those who have the patience and faith of Jesus are those who are given to enter the temple of God in heaven, as Isaiah did when the seraphim touched his lips with the live coal from the altar.

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

So there again "is the patience of the saints [and] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus". 'Entering into the temple' after fulfilling the seven vials full of the wrath of God upon the kingdom of our old man, and having our own lips touched with a live coal from the altar, are the same fiery experience.

Now we ​are ​all equipped to know that anyone who tells us that these dire prophecies concerning the wrath of God in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew​ 24 or the book of Revelation have no application to the elect of God are those who do not have "the patience of the saints". Anyone who tells you that these prophecies of the wrath of God have no personal application to the elect of God are those who are not "keeping the commandments of God, and who [do not have] the faith of Jesus." That is the significance of:

Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

In our study today, and in the rest of our studies in the prophecy of Isaiah, we are being told more specifically, chapter by chapter, of the details of our fiery judgment, which judgment we are told is "the everlasting gospel":

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

The "hour of His judgment... is now on the house of God" (1Pe 4:17), and the verse we covered today is the beginning of that process:

Isa 7:18  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

The counter-intuitive wisdom of God is what keeps the blessing of this glorious everlasting gospel hidden from the whole world. A very few are given eyes that see and ears that hear that their judgment is at hand. Most will not, in this age, see or hear of their impending "hour of visitation" (Luk 19:44).

In our next study we will learn more of the effect of these flies and bees upon the unfaithful city of God's people.