[Study Aired October 30, 2022]

Jer 51:49  As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
Jer 51:50  Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
Jer 51:51  We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’S house.
Jer 51:52  Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
Jer 51:53  Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
Jer 51:54  A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
Jer 51:55  Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:
Jer 51:56  Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.
Jer 51:57  And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
Jer 51:58  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
Jer 51:59  The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.
Jer 51:60  So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.
Jer 51:61  And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;
Jer 51:62  Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.
Jer 51:63  And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:
Jer 51:64  And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

This is the Lord’s perspective of those who die at Babylon:

Rev 18:24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

That is not a word-for-word quote, but it certainly accords with the first verse of our study:

Jer 51:49  As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

Both verses make it clear beyond any doubt that this is not speaking of a literal city at which “the slain of all the earth… fall”.

Mystery Babylon is signified by “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, and the same universal accusation is made by our Lord of His unfaithful wife, ‘Jerusalem’:

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

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.
Luk 13:34  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Many prophets have been stoned and killed outside physical Jerusalem, but “it cannot be that a prophet perish out of [spiritual apostate] Jerusalem”, also known as ‘Mystery Babylon the great’ where we are also told the saints are killed:

Rev 18:21  And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

Rev 18:24  And in her [Babylon signifying apostate Jerusalem] was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

“It cannot be that a prophet die outside Jerusalem” (Luk 13:33) is not a contradiction of, “in [Babylon the great] was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” All who have the mind of Christ can see clearly that these are two types and shadows of the same rebellious man-made system of religious worship which has for centuries dominated all mankind. No one slain on earth is outside of the religions of this world, because even atheism and hedonism are religions of men which the Lord and His Christ are in the process of destroying within His elect, at this very moment. When the appointed time arrives, the Lord’s ‘Christ’, those “few elect”, will then be used by the Lord to destroy the religions of mankind outwardly.

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen [G1588: eklektos, elect].

That will be done in short order when “the kingdom of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”:

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

Isaiah informs us of the fact that the Lord wrote Israel, His unfaithful wife, a bill of divorcement:

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.

Isaiah 50:1 is addressed to Jerusalem “which now is and is in the bondage with her children”:

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.

Just as Abraham sent away the ‘bondwoman’ wife who was the mother of “the son of the bondwoman”, Christ also put away Israel and gave her a “bill of divorcement” because she, too, was in the bondage of sin and self-righteous rebellion against Him.

Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
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.

Freedom from the bondage of sin is what characterizes the Mother of the son of the freewoman:

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

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

We are all at first the children of the bondwoman, but if we are granted to come out of her, then we begin to grow into the son of the freewoman, and that is who our next verse concerns:

Jer 51:50  Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

The ‘Jerusalem’ we want to “come into [our] mind” is “Jerusalem above, the mother of us all”. It is not physical “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, as so many of the ministers of Mystery Babylon would have us believe. It is just such a false doctrine as that which lying doctrines have brought us all into the idol worship of all the false doctrines of Mystery Babylon the Great.

“Remember the Lord afar off” tells us that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners:

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

Nevertheless, the Lord is married to His elect, and He will drag them out from that unfaithful divorced wife, and He will judge that great harlot and all of her idols and all of her false lying doctrines:

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

Our next verses are another admonition to simply acknowledge our iniquity and self-righteousness (Eze 33:13):

Jer 51:51  We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers [false, lying doctrines] are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’S house.
Jer 51:52  Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

The battle between the ten horns on the beast and the great harlot, Mystery Babylon, has already begun within the Lord’s elect. The ten horns have the same significance as the ten toes of the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream because it is in the days of both the ten toes and the ten horns that the God of heaven will set up His kingdom, which will never be removed:

Dan 2:42  And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
Dan 2:43  And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Dan 2:44  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Dan 2:45  Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Here is this very same message in its New Testament form. The clay in the feet and toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image signifies the great harlot, the “earth, earth, earth” of Jeremiah 22:29. The iron which breaks her in pieces is the ten horns on the beast who “hate the whore”, here in Revelation 17. The stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, which breaks in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, and becomes a kingdom that fills the earth, is the Lamb and His faithful anointed who shall overcome the ten horns on the beast:

Rev 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Rev 17:13  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

The significance of the horns being ‘ten’ is that they signify all carnal nations. Revelation 17:14 is just confirmation of these words from chapter 11:

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

“His Christ” are the “called and chosen, and faithful [who] are with Him” when He appears to fight with and overcome the ten kings who dare challenge “our Lord and His Christ”.

Rev 17:13  These [ten horns on the beast] have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

It is a foolhardy decision, but it is the same foolish carnal mind we all have. It is the same mind which Zedekiah displayed when ignoring Jeremiah’s admonition to submit himself and his kingdom to the judgment the Lord had sent via King Nebuchadnezzar. Submission to judgment is a very important part of receiving life in this present time:

Jer 21:9  He that abideth in this city [Mystery Babylon the great] shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.

Jer 38:2  Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city [Mystery Babylon the great] shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.

Jer 38:17  Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:

We must submit to the Lord’s judgments and “acknowledge our iniquities” and be the first to die to our old man in this life if we are to be saved in this age and be given a part in that “blessed and holy” “first resurrection” (Rev 20:6).

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

To deny that we must fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels is to “remain in this city” and “die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence” in the second death.

King Nebuchadnezzar signifies the ten horns of the beast of Revelation 17, who will hate the great harlot and will expose her naked hypocrisy and devour her and burn her with fire:

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.

King Nebuchadnezzar burned the unfaithful harlot, Jerusalem (Isa 1:21) with literal fire.

Jer 39:8  And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.

Jer 52:12  Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
Jer 52:13  And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:

The rebellious vengeful ten toes and ten horns of the secular flesh of mankind will make the hypocritical religious systems of this world spiritually desolate and naked by exposing their hypocrisy to the whole world, and they will use her flesh, signifying her own words, to make her desolate and naked. Just as Christ called His doctrines “my flesh”, so are the doctrines of Mystery Babylon “her flesh”:

Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57  As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. [By My Words]

The ten toes and ten horns are the flesh of mankind who have before eaten and lived by the doctrines of this great religious whore, and now they begin to “eat her flesh, and burn her with ‘fire’”. It will be the fire of her own words, the words of Christ, which she has hypocritically quoted but refuses to obey:

Mat 23:1  Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: [Signifying the great unfaithful harlot]
Mat 23:3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. [They appear as an angel of light, with “two horns like a lamb”, but they speak “as a dragon”].
Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Mat 23:5  But all their [good] works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Mat 23:6  And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
Mat 23:7  And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

Mystery Babylon displays the same rebellious carnal mind by opposing those the Lord sends to spoil her of all her riches:

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

Jer 51:53  Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

Even a hypocritical whore will fight to preserve her life, but she is at a great psychological disadvantage because her naked hypocrisy is being exposed to the whole world as she is being made desolate and naked, being eaten, and burned with the ‘fire’ of the heavy burdens she has laid upon the beast who has now turned on her:

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.

Jer 51:54  A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: [The religious world]

The beast that comes up out of the earth is nothing more than a man-made religious version of the beast that comes up out of the sea.

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.

The second beast feigns fidelity to righteousness, and in the case of historical Christianity, to the words of our Lord, but this second beast merely appears to be “a lamb with two horns” when the doctrines of this beast are in fact the doctrines of the great red dragon:

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.

The ten horns on the beast are the strength of this first beast and they are far more powerful and destructive than the deceptive “two horns like a lamb” which characterize the second beast which comes up out of the earth.

The second beast which comes up out of the earth identifies very well with the first beast, much more than it identifies with the doctrines of Christ. This beast identifies with the false doctrines of man’s fabled free will, as well as the unforgiving false doctrine of eternal torment.

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.

This second beast which comes up out of the earth signifies the great harlot of chapters 17-18. She eats her own meat and wears her own apparel and has no use for the meat or apparel of her true husband:

Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
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.

Here is the spiritual significance of this phrase “he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon”:

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

Hypocrisy is characteristic of every harlot. Harlots do not see themselves as hypocrites. They take pride in their supposed honesty and deny their immorality and its destructive fruits:

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

Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the world, also does many good works which she thinks will cancel out any shortcomings she may have:

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 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.

The religions of this world, which held us all in captivity to their doctrines, think their dominance will never end, but that’s only because they cannot even see how ‘fight for God and country’ contradicts the words of Christ who tells us to love our enemies:

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

The religions of this world cannot see that they did not choose to follow Christ, and they cannot choose to accept Christ unless He drags them to Himself:

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

Joh 15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Man-made religion cannot see, and will not agree with the Lord, that He Himself creates both the good and the evil that is in this world:

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

In commenting on this verse, the great ‘Christian’ scholar, John Gill, makes this statement:

“…nor did or does God make men wicked; he made man upright, and he has made himself wicked; and, being so, God may justly appoint him to damnation for his wickedness, in doing which he glorifies his justice.” (End Quote)

I pray we are all given to:

Rom 3:4  God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

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

Carnal-minded Christians, who believe in the false doctrine of free will, do not believe that God is “working all things [including their will] after the counsel of His own will”.

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

It is blasphemous to an orthodox Christian to simply agree with these verses of scripture:

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

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?

“The preparations of the heart” are the beginnings of having a thought. No one who is sold on the false doctrine of mankind having a fabled will, free from the influence of God’s “own will”, can accept either of those verses, and indeed they do not believe any of those words of scripture even as they call themselves by Christ’s name:

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

We could go on all day listing the doctrines of the scriptures which contradict the doctrines of man made religion claiming to be based on scripture. That is why “the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water” (Isa 4:1) has been taken away from the self-righteous religions of mankind, and that is why the Lord “will do judgment upon the graven images [falsehoods and errors – vs 17-18] of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her” (Verse 47).

Jer 51:55  Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:

Right now, this great harlot still has great influence and a “great voice” in this world, as she has always had. In modern times this great harlot even has satellites which enable her ‘voice’ to be even greater as she preaches and teaches her lies all around the world. These satellites are used by her harlot daughters giving her “the great voice” she has enjoyed for so long as the master of the beast which she has long dominated. However, the time of her threshing has come, and it is time to gather the tares together in bundles to be burned:

Jer 51:33  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

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.

Jer 51:56  Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.

“Her mighty men” are all the eloquent and powerful orators and ministers who have such a strong hold on the beast. The hypocrisy of the leaders of this great harlot are expressed with these words:

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

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 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.

That is just how drunk on her power this great whore is. This drunkenness precedes the judgment of this great harlot just as it did with Belshazzar the night he was judged:

Dan 5:1  Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
Dan 5:2  Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
Dan 5:3  Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
Dan 5:4  They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
Dan 5:5  In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Dan 5:6  Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

It is happening again as the Lord judges the great harlot both within and without:

Jer 51:57  And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. [Not come up in the first resurrection]
Jer 51:58  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.

This is the fire in which her people shall labor and be weary:

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.

Just as the Lord’s words are ‘fire’ in the mouths of His prophets (Jer 5:14), so the words of this harlot, words by which she does not live, will be fire in the mouths of the secular ‘ten toes and ten horns’ of the beast:

Mat 23:1  Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

Jer 51:59  The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.
Jer 51:60  So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.
Jer 51:61  And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;
Jer 51:62  Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.

That is the future and the fate of the religions of this world. It seems as impossible at this moment as a flood in a world that had never seen rain, but it will come to pass. It seems as impossible as a nation of slaves spoiling their masters and then crossing the Red Sea on dry land, but it will come to pass, and the religions of this world will be attacked and spoiled by the very people they once influenced and controlled. That rebellion against the great whore by the ten horns on the beast will serve to prepare the hearts of mankind to be instructed and ruled over by the Lord’s elect for “a thousand years” (Rev 20:1-6).

Jer 51:63  And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:
Jer 51:64  And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

The destruction of all the idols of our hearts in this present time prefigures the outward destruction of the religions of this world. That destruction within each of us was a painful but very rewarding “experience of evil” which has and is humbling us in this present time.

The kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ will also be an experience of evil insomuch as the elect will rule this world with a rod of iron. That time under the guidance of the Lord’s elect will produce the most physically prosperous time of outward prosperity this earth has ever experienced. Yet we know that the Lord has predestined the nations to rebel against Him and His elect:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

This is the occasion the Lord is seeking to destroy death via the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death.

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.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

It all sounds so negative to our carnal minded flesh. Nevertheless, it all sounds so very loving, kind, and wonderful to the new man.

Jer 36:1-16 When They Heard All The Words, They Were Afraid

[Study Aired April 17, 2022]

Jer 36:1  And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 36:2  Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.
Jer 36:3  It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
Jer 36:4  Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.
Jer 36:5  And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:
Jer 36:6  Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.
Jer 36:7  It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.
Jer 36:8  And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’S house.
Jer 36:9  And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.
Jer 36:10  Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD’S house, in the ears of all the people.
Jer 36:11  When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,
Jer 36:12  Then he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
Jer 36:13  Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
Jer 36:14  Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.
Jer 36:15  And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.
Jer 36:16  Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.

To give this 36^th chapter and the preceding 35^th chapter the impact the holy spirit intends them to have, we must remember that these two chapters are set in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, at least eleven years earlier that the events of chapter 34, which took in the reign of King Zedekiah and concerned the giving of liberty to their Hebrew slaves to procure the Lord’s favor against the king of Babylon.  As soon as the siege was lifted, the people of Judah and Jerusalem broke their covenant with the Lord to let their Hebrew slaves go free. These two chapters contrast the fidelity of the Rechabites to the covenant they made with their patriarch, Jonadab, to live the life of a stranger and pilgrim while living in the promised land, and to drink no wine, their fidelity is being contrasted with the infidelity of Israel in breaking their covenant with their God to set their Hebrew servants free.

Chapters 35 and 36 are inserted into the story of Judah and Jerusalem being under siege from Babylon in the days of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah to demonstrate to us just how fickle and unfaithful we are to our covenant with the Lord. We all seek His favor while under siege by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, whom the Lord uses for the very purpose of showing us our infidelity to Him and the covenant we make with Him. Judah and Jerusalem agreed to set their Hebrew servants free as commanded by Moses, and when the Lord sent the King of Egypt to help Zedekiah the King of Judah, the siege was lifted and the people of Judah and Jerusalem immediately forgot their covenant with the Lord and put their Hebrew servants back under their bondage. In doing so, they were perverting the covenant they had with the Lord into their own self-righteousness and to the agreement they had made with the king of Egypt.

This 36^th chapter of Jeremiah is set in the 4^th year of King Jehoiakim, and it is also designed to show us just how little we think of the Lord’s judgments, and how little we believe that we will be made to give an accounting of our self-righteous rebellion against the Lord and His prophets.

This is how little King Jehoiakim thought of the words of the Lord given to him and his people by the certified prophet of the Lord. It is all being reviewed before the people of Judah and Jerusalem in the middle of the siege of King Nebuchadnezzar who Jeremiah had prophesied to come against Jerusalem eleven years earlier:

Jer 36:1  And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 36:2  Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.

Jeremiah’s prophecy commenced in the 13^th year of Josiah’s 31-year reign:

2Ki 22:1  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

Jer 1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
Jer 1:2  To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

Both Jehoiakim and Zedekiah were sons of Josiah, and they both reigned for eleven years with an eight-month reign of Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin, also known as Jechoniah, separating their two eleven-year reigns. The events of this chapter being in “the fourth year of Jehoiakim” means there were seven more years remaining of the eleven-year reign of Jehoiakim, followed by the eight months of Jehoiachin’s reign, followed by nine years into the eleven-year reign of Zedekiah when King Zedekiah and Judah covenanted with the Lord to release their Hebrew slaves. Therefore, the events of this chapter which took place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, were at least 16 years and 8 months earlier than the time of the siege under King Zedekiah. The warning of the Lord’s impending judgment is the same now as it was then. Instead of repentance there was anger against the Lord for His judgments:

Pro 19:19  A man of great wrath [each of us] shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.
Pro 19:20  Hear counsel, and receive instruction [We are so instructed because we do not do so], that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.

Jehoiakim had been besieged and was taken captive to Babylon, yet there was no change of heart in the king or in the people. As soon as the siege was lifted, they forsook the covenant they had made with the Lord:

Jer 34:8  This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
Jer 34:9  That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
Jer 34:10  Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.
Jer 34:11  But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

It is all being done for our benefit and our admonition and to let us know how stubborn we just naturally are and how longsuffering the Lord is with us:

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

This is exactly what will eventually be done by the Lord as He Himself reveals to us in these incredibly comforting words:

Jer 33:1  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, [Under King Zedekiah]
Jer 33:2  Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;
Jer 33:3  Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

What we just naturally “knowest not” is that all the Lord’s chastening and scourging in our lives is the fiery trials which He has determined are essential to our deliverance from our unfaithful, rebellious and self-righteous ways.

Jer 33:4  For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
Jer 33:5  They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, [the ‘men’ whose doctrines operate as the soldiers of our old man] whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.
Jer 33:6  Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
Jer 33:7  And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
Jer 33:8  And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.
Jer 33:9  And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.

Those words of the Lord to King Zedekiah back in chapter 33 give us the comfort and encouragement we must have to endure the fiery trials that bring us to our wits’ end before the Lord will bring us to our desired haven of rest in Him (Psa 107:21-31).

Before the Lord can give us His rest, we must first be hated of all men and of the leaders of the Lord’s own people, and be brought to our wits’ end, as was Jeremiah:

Jer 12:6  For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.

Jer 20:7  O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
Jer 20:8  For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Jer 20:9  Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

Just as the Lord was so hated by the leaders of “Jewry” that He could not go up to Jerusalem for a season, so it was with Jeremiah. Nevertheless the Lord’s Word was not ‘shut up’:

Jer 36:4  Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.
Jer 36:5  And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:

We are not told why Jeremiah could not go to the house of the Lord in the days of King Jehoiakim, but it was not because he was in prison as he was under King Zedekiah. We know this is so because we are told later in this same chapter:

Jer 36:26  But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.

Nevertheless, we are told that Jeremiah was “shut up [and could] not go into the house of the Lord” at that time, but nothing can restrain the Lord’s words.

Paul himself was in prison when he wrote these words:

2Ti 2:9  Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

Jer 36:6  Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.
Jer 36:7  It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.

The most unpopular thing on this earth is the wrath of God. The lack of appreciation for the wrath of God comes from the marred condition of our “vessel of clay” and its corruptible composition.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made [Hebrew: is making] of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made [Hebrew: is making] it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

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

The plan and purpose of God is not depending on anything we do on our own. The will of God does not depend upon, nor does He struggle against, our fabled “free will”. A will that is free from the sovereign hand of God is a mere illusion of our minds. Such an illusion the scriptures call “strong delusion”:

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.

The Lord’s words will not be silenced:

Jer 36:8  And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’S house.
Jer 36:9  And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.

Here is this ninth verse in the Proper Names Bible:

Jer 36:9 and it came to pass in the fifth year of (Jehovah establishes – Jehoiakim) the son of (sustained by Jehovah – Josiah) king of (praised – Judah), in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the lord to all the people in (founded in peace – Jerusalem), and to all the people that came from the cities of (praised – Judah) unto (founded in peace – Jerusalem).

I am reading the meaning of each of these names because the exact opposite of their intended definition is what is actually taking place at this time of the Lord’s judgment upon His people. Jehoiakim at this time is not being ‘established by the Lord’. Instead, he is being dethroned by the Lord and is carried away captive to Babylon. Judah at this stage, is doing nothing for which to be ‘praised’, and Jerusalem is certainly not at ‘peace’. Both are being besieged by the king of Babylon.

King Josiah himself was sustained by the Lord until he was no longer ‘sustained by Jehovah’. Instead, He died in battle because “he hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God”, which is what we are told:

2Ch 35:20  After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
2Ch 35:21  But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
2Ch 35:22  Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
2Ch 35:23  And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.
2Ch 35:24  His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
2Ch 35:25  And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

King Josiah, whose name means ‘established by Jehovah’, had not inquired of the Lord before going to battle against the king of Egypt, and the Lord refused to establish Josiah’s presumptuous ways.

It is instructive that this happened after King Josiah “had prepared the temple”. He had become self-confident and failed to enquire of the Lord before going to battle against the King of Egypt.

2Ch 35:20  After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

This ‘fast’ proclaimed by King Jehoiakim, at which Baruch was to read the words from the mouth of Jeremiah, is not the day of Atonement, which is the tenth day of the seventh month. This is an additional fast which Jehoiakim called in an attempt to earn the Lord’s favor absent of any acknowledgment of Jeremiah as the Lord’s certified prophet. King Jehoiakim was not calling on the people to acknowledge their transgression. This fast was called without any repentance for their disobedience and their self-righteous idols of their hearts. This is all written for our admonition to tell us we cannot just lean to our own understanding, ignore the Lord’s words by His prophets, and continue in our sins and expect the Lord to answer our cries for His help in our time of trouble. It was at this point the Lord had Baruch, via “the mouth of Jeremiah”, give His people a piece of His mind concerning their presumptuous, self-righteous, rebellious and adulterous ways:

Jer 36:10  Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD’S house, in the ears of all the people.

“All the people” means all the people who were there to hear the words Baruch read from the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet. It was enough people to share what they had heard with their families and friends who were not there. It was enough that it all got back to the king, and it was enough to be considered as a witness against the whole nation.

Jer 36:11  When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,
Jer 36:12  Then he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.

These are the same ‘princes’ who rescued Jeremiah from the priests and from the prophets back in chapter 26 which is set at the same time during the reign of King Jehoiakim:

Jer 26:11  Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.
Jer 26:12  Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.
Jer 26:13  Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
Jer 26:14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
Jer 26:15  But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.
Jer 26:16  Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.

All of this occurred fifteen or sixteen years before the siege of Jerusalem under King Zedekiah. It is all being rehearsed in chapters 35 and 36 to show us just how quickly we all just naturally do what is convenient, rather than what is the principled thing to do. It is so easy under certain circumstances for all of us to conveniently forget and ignore our own covenant with the Lord and do what is the easiest most physically profitable thing to do. Judah and Jerusalem hypocritically went back on their covenant to give liberty to their Hebrew servants after the Lord lifted the Babylonian siege, and the Lord is informing us of what happens when we do that to Him:

Jer 36:13  Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
Jer 36:14  Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.

The Lord patiently warns us time and again of the fruit of our ways and of His chastening wrath against our rebellious, self-righteous old man. He is so patient that when He lifts His siege against us, we tend to think He will never deal with or punish us for our infidelity. These are His own words:

Mat 24:45  Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Mat 24:46  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Mat 24:47  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
Mat 24:48  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
Mat 24:49  And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
Mat 24:50  The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51  And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Lord inspired Peter to give us the same message in these words:

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

That is the essence of all the warnings the Lord gave Israel and Samaria, and Judah and Jerusalem for many decades before He took them out of their inheritance. That is the message of the words of Jeremiah to the leaders and the people of His day, and that is the exact same message for us today:

Jer 36:15  And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.
Jer 36:16  Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king [Jehoiakim] of all these words.

Here is how the Lord begins this prophecy of Jeremiah concerning you and me, His own, blinded, and apostate people:

Jer 1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: [Remember for a future study that Jeremiah is from Anathoth in Benjamin]
Jer 1:2  To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
Jer 1:3  It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
Jer 1:4  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Jer 1:6  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
Jer 1:7  But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Jer 1:8  Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Jer 1:9  Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Jer 1:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Jer 1:12  Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
Jer 1:13  And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.
Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Jer 1:15  For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
Jer 1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. [False doctrines]
Jer 1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
Jer 1:18  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. [Inwardly and outwardly]
Jer 1:19  And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

This promise is repeated in the epistle to the Romans:

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.

This is what we are told about our old man in the next chapter of Jeremiah:

Jer 2:26  As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,

‘Ashamed when [we] are found’ refers to being afraid of being exposed for our lying false doctrines which demonstrate our infidelity to our Lord and His doctrines, and having our self-righteous hypocrisy exposed for all to see.

We are all at first believers in the lies of their own hearts. We all first justify our weakness and our hypocrisy.

Chapter 35, contrasting the faithfulness of the Rechabites against the infidelity of Judah and Jerusalem, and chapter 36, revealing the rebellion of our old man against the impending judgments of the Lord, are inserted at this point in the reign of King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, to remind us of the character and composition of these “corruptible… vessels of clay” (Jer 18:4, 1Co 15:50).

That hypocritical, self-righteous spirit of rebellion is within every one of us, and that is what we have now rejected. We are still rejecting that spirit daily only because we have been granted faith that the day is coming when all those lies which were within us will be revealed for what they are. It is faith in the Truth that today is our present day of judgment which strengthens us to endure to the end of this age in great anticipation of the incomparable rewards of being faithful to the Lord and His doctrines.

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 [all men of all time] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of 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?

Here is just how critical faith in the Lord’s word is to our salvation:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. [Our gift from God]

I thank and praise the Lord for the faith He has placed within each of you and in me. I am persuaded that He will keep each of us faithful until the end of our struggles and that He will finish the work He has begun in these vessels of clay.

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

Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light [The Truth, which is]: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

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.

The princes who saved Jeremiah are like Jonathan, the son of King Saul, a prince who helped to save David. The Lord hides us from evil until the storm passes, and He has placed His assets in the right position to preserve us and keep us safe even in the most adverse circumstances. Our faith will be tried, and it is that ‘trial of [our] faith” which makes it so precious to our Lord:

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

May all the ‘princes’ within each of us be afraid of the sure judgments of our Lord:

Jer 36:16  Now it came to pass, when they [the princes] had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.

Next week we will see that Jehoiakim, the symbol of the man of sin within us, does not fear the Word of the Lord, which assures us of His impending judgments upon our rebellious kingdom within and without.

Jer 29:15-32  They… Have Spoken Lying Words In My Name

[Study Aired January 23, 2022

Jer 29:15  Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;
Jer 29:16  Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;
Jer 29:17  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
Jer 29:18  And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:
Jer 29:19  Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:20  Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:
Jer 29:21  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;
Jer 29:22  And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;
Jer 29:23  Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:24  Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
Jer 29:25  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
Jer 29:26  The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.
Jer 29:27  Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you?
Jer 29:28  For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
Jer 29:29  And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.
Jer 29:30  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 29:31  Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:
Jer 29:32  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.

This section of scripture is addressed to “The king that sits upon the throne of David and… all the people that dwelleth in this city [Jerusalem], and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity.”

The king sitting on the throne of David at the time of this writing was the evil king, Zedekiah. Zedekiah was placed upon the throne of David by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. In this particular case “the king that sitteth upon the throne of David” signifies our old man who is sitting on the throne of David in our hearts and minds before he is dethroned and destroyed by the brightness of the truth of Christ when we are finally given eyes that see and ears that hear. “The throne of David” is the throne of Christ, and this is the fate of this evil king within us who is usurping the Lord’s throne which is in our hearts and minds:

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, [We are made to realize that we are in bed with the great whore.] and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; [Our man of sin is revealed only after we acknowledge we are in bed with the great whore.]
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. [sitting on the throne of David]
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: katecho, hold back] 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: katecho, hold back]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: [that they need not go into Babylon nor fulfill the seven last plagues]
2Th 2:12  That they all [the “old man” in “every man”] might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

“That ye be not… troubled… by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us… that the day of Christ is at hand” is speaking of the first resurrection, the redemption of the purchased possession and not just the earnest of the spirit of that promise.  What has happened within this fellowship is not new. The same perverse spirit was alive and well when this epistle was written. There were already those who were teaching that the kingdom of God within was itself the first resurrection.

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

The Greek word ‘katecho’ in 2Thessalonians 2:6-7 is the same word translated as ‘hold’ in this verse:

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [G2722: katecho, to restrain] the truth in unrighteousness;

The “man of sin” who occupies Christ’s throne in our hearts and minds ‘restrains’ and holds back the Truth in unrighteousness and in many self-righteous, false, lying doctrines such as “the day of Christ is at hand”. The kingdom of God certainly is at hand within, but the day when “the Lord and His Christ” will rule the kingdoms of this world has not yet arrived, and we are with patience waiting for it:

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

That is why this 29^th chapter of Jeremiah also addresses all the false prophets in both Babylon and in Jerusalem which were then under the yoke of the king of Babylon. This is the chapter of Jeremiah which informs us that we cannot come out of Babylon until seventy years are fulfilled, just as we are told in the book of Revelation that we cannot come out of Babylon until the seven plagues of the seven angels are being fulfilled. Here are these two prophecies side by side:

Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

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.

Now let’s carefully notice the tenses in these two verses.  The Hebrew first:

Jer 29:10  For thus saith^{H559 [H8804, Qal Stem]} the LORD^H3068, That after^H6310 seventy^H7657 years^H8141 be accomplished^{H4390 [H8800, Qal Stem]} at Babylon^H894 I will visit^{H6485 [H8799, Qal Stem]} you, and perform^{H6965 [H8689, Hiphil]} my good^H2896 word^H1697 toward you, in causing you to return^{H7725 [H8687, Hiphil]} to this place^H4725.

The first three verbs are not in the future tense as it seems to appear, but they are all in the Qal Stem, which is the Hebrew equivalent of the aorist tense. The last two verbs are Hiphil, and Hiphil is simply the causative of the Qal Stem.

Here is the TVM definition of Hiphil:

H8818
Hiphil

1. a) Hiphil usually expresses the “causative” action of Qal -See [H8851]

So, everything said in Jeremiah 29:10 is an ongoing process being caused by the Lord Himself.  The same is true in the Greek aorist tense as it concerns Revelation 15:8:

Rev 15:8  And^G2532 the temple^G3485 was filled^{G1072 [G5681, aorist tense]} with smoke^G2586 from^G1537 the glory^G1391 of God^G2316, and^G2532 from^G1537 his^G846 power^G1411; and^G2532 no man^G3762 was able^{G1410 [G5711, imperfect tense]} to enter^{G1525 [G5629, aorist tense]} into^G1519 the temple^G3485, till^G891 the seven^G2033 plagues^G4127 of the seven^G2033 angels^G32 were fulfilled^{G5055 [G5686, aorist tense].}

The first verb and the last two verbs are in the aorist tense. The “no man was able” is in the imperfect tense because it is speaking of what is taking place within the verbs which are in the aorist tense. In other words, what we are being told is that ‘the temple is being filled with smoke from the glory of God… and no man is able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels are being fulfilled.’

Indeed, our salvation is a process, and we are all “waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God” at the future time of “the redemption of the purchased possession”, which we possess now only as a sure “promise” of God in “the earnest of the spirit”:

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

So where is Babylon mentioned in Revelation 15:8? It is mentioned in the statement that “no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” It is in the very next chapter we are informed that the very last of those “seven last plagues”, which must be fulfilled in our own lives before we can ‘enter into the temple’ in heavenly Jerusalem, is the judgment of “great Babylon” within each of us:

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth [Psa 107:27 – “wits’ end”], so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

That “voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne” that says “it is done” is all said in the aorist tense, which means it is the same as saying ‘No man could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels are being fulfilled.’

Rev 16:17  And^G2532 the seventh^G1442 angel^G32 poured out^{G1632 [G5656, aorist tense]} his^G846 vial^G5357 into^G1519 the air^G109; and^G2532 there came^{G1831 [G5627, aorist tense]} a great^G3173 voice^G5456 out of^G575 the temple^G3485 of heaven^G3772, from^G575 the throne^G2362, saying^{G3004 [G5723, present tense],} It is done^{G1096 [G5754, perfect tense].}

The first two verbs are in the aorist tense and the last two, the present tense and the perfect tense, are being expressed within the context of what is taking place within the aorist tense.

The seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials of the book of Revelation flesh out the meaning of ‘being brought to our wits’ end’ before we can enter into our desired haven, which ‘’haven” is our heavenly temple of Revelation 15:

Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end [an “earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth” (Rev 16:18)].
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven [“The temple” (Rev 15:8)].
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Notice the events which must occur in this very order. “Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble…” We cannot cry to the Lord until we are brought into great trouble, “a great earthquake… the stormy winds which lift up the waves” of life which brings us to our “wits’ end”.

Only ‘then does the Lord calm the storms of our lives and make the waves still’, and only “Then are [we] glad and the Lord brings us to our desired haven, which is our rest in Him (Heb 4:1-4) and in knowing that “all things work together for [our] good” if we are indeed “the called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28).

Being brought to our old man’s wits’ end is called a “wonderful work of God”. As Revelation 16 demonstrates, we do not see it as such at first. While we are rooted and grounded in Babylon, we all blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail. We just naturally do so because of what the hail is doing to all the lies which dominate our heavens at that time of judgment in our lives:

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

The hail and the waters are both the truths of the Word of God. They both symbolize the doctrines of Christ which oppose, burn up and destroy all the lies of the adversary, which are so cherished by our self-righteous old man:

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.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, the ‘hail’ and the ‘fire’ both accomplish the same thing. They both destroy all the lies to which our old man is so attached.

Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Rev 21:6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Jeremiah typifies all who are faithful to the Lord’s words today. The Lord’s true prophets “do the things [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.

Christ, along with His doctrine, is the ‘Rock’ upon which we must build our spiritual house.

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

We build that ‘house’ by remaining faithful to His Words in all things. No prophet of Christ ever asks for money but gives to others what has been freely given to him:

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

No true prophet of Christ ever sets dates:

Mat 25:13  Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

No true prophet of Christ will ever take up a sword to defend himself:

Mat 26:52  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

A true prophet of Christ does not talk around loving your enemies and attempt to parse foreign enemies from domestic enemies. A true prophet of God loves all men of all time.

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

A true prophet of God follows in the footsteps 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:

Our Lord “broke the sabbath” (Mat 12:1-8 and Joh 5:18). He did not appear on the first day of the feast of Tabernacles, therefore He did not keep the holy days properly (Joh 7:8-9).

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

Christ did not disagree with the Pharisees. He agreed with them that He, like David, ate “that which was not lawful for him to eat”. He agreed with the Pharisees that He, like the priests, “profaned the sabbath”. What was His defense…? “In this place is one greater than the temple… [and] the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.” That is another way in which Christ was “like unto [Moses]”. He was a reformer, and the settled establishment hated Him and His “time of reformation”:

Heb 9:10  Which stood [the tabernacle of Moses, verse 6] only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Paul followed in Christ’s steps and admonished the Galatians and the Colossians against keeping days, months, times and years… the traditions of men (Gal 4:9-10 and Col 2:8).

Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements [G4747: stoicheion], whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments [G4747: stoicheion, traditions of men] of the world, and not after Christ.

Jeremiah, as a type of our Lord and His Christ, has been proven beyond any doubt to be a true spokesman for the Lord. Not only has he led an exemplary life, but every prophecy he has ever made over many years has come to pass, and this is what all who claim to be God’s people should know about those who claim to speak for God:

Deu 18:20  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
Deu 18:21  And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
Deu 18:22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Deu 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
Deu 13:2  And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

If a prophesy does come to pass, if that prophet is telling you to worship ‘another Jesus’ do not listen to that prophet.

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with [G430: anechomai, hold oneself up against] him.

Knowing that the Lord always has and always will make good on His Word, Jeremiah admonishes his own people:

Jer 29:15  Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;
Jer 29:16  Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;
Jer 29:17  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

This is the second time the Lord inspired Jeremiah to use this phrase, “vile figs”. The first time is:

Jer 24:1  The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
Jer 24:2  One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

The Lord in His patience and His mercy and for our benefit is given to repeating Himself. Here is what He says about these “vile figs” in chapter 24:

Jer 24:3  Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
Jer 24:4  Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 24:5  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good [Rom 8:28].
Jer 24:6  For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
Jer 24:7  And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

These ‘good figs’ which are carried away into Babylon “for their good” are those who “love God and are the called according to His purpose”. Of themselves they are no better than the evil figs. They are “given a heart to know [the Lord]”.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
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.
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Just like Jeremiah, “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God [and] are the called according to His purpose.”

“We know” that all things work together for good to them who love God…” but knowing that fact necessitates the Lord also knows who does not love God and who are not “the called according to His purpose, to be “the firstborn among many brothers”.

“We know” that the Lord has all our days “written in [His] book… before the world began.” He knows in advance who will be His “firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (Psa 139:16, 2Ti 1:9, Tit 1:2, Rev 14:4). For any of that to be true, then He also knows in advance those who are not His in this age. Those who are not His in this age include these “evil figs”, and this is what He is doing with all who are not given to come back out of Babylon to rebuild His temple:

Jer 24:8  And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
Jer 24:9  And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
Jer 24:10  And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

“The hundred and forty and four thousand… firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” must “wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb” just like the “great multitude which no man can number” (Revelation 14). So also must “the good figs” endure much of the same punishments as the evil figs. The only difference is that God has determined in advance that the good figs would endure their judgment first.

In chapter 24 we are simply told that if we will simply accept the Lord’s chastening grace and acknowledge our trespasses and our self-righteous iniquity and repent, then the Lord will show us His mercy and drag us back to Himself in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). There is no mention of false prophets in chapter 24.

Chapter 28 deals with the false prophet, Hananiah, who tells the people he is speaking for the Lord while denying the words of the Lord by Jeremiah. In this 29^th chapter it is revealed that there are false prophets even among those who were carried away captives into Babylon. Let’s begin at verse 15 again:

Jer 29:15  Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;
Jer 29:16  Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;
Jer 29:17  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
Jer 29:18  And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:

Compare these words concerning the “vile figs” with what is said of these same “bad figs” of chapter 24:

Jer 24:8  And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
Jer 24:9  And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
Jer 24:10  And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

It is almost the exact same admonition, and He again admonishes us for having ears that cannot hear and eyes that cannot see:

Jer 29:19  Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:20  Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:
Jer 29:21  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;
Jer 29:22  And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;
Jer 29:23  Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.

Nebuchadnezzar “roasted” both of these false prophets, Zedekiah and Ahab, in the fire for “speaking lying words in [the Lord’s] name”. The physical adultery of these false prophets typifies their and our infidelity to the Lord’s words:

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver [the Truth], which I had given thee [the doctrines of Christ], and madest to thyself images of men [false doctrines, lying words], and didst commit whoredom with them,

Inwardly and outwardly we must contend with false prophets and false doctrines which hate the Truth given to our new man. These false prophets and these false doctrines become our very personal enemies, the stumbling block of our self-righteous iniquity, whose bitterness toward the “fair jewels” of the Truth within us, leads those lying spirits to seek to have the Truths within us incarcerated and  bound up in such a way that Christ within us cannot be seen nor heard.

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [G2722: katecho, hold back, restrain] the truth in unrighteousness;

The apostle Paul was just such a person who, as Saul of Tarsus, was zealous for the law of Moses and wanted to incarcerate and destroy any who preached the doctrines of Christ. Saul of Tarsus wanted to hold back the Truth.

Act 22:4  And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
Act 22:5  As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.

Such is that very same spirit which was in Shemaiah the Nehelamite hundreds of years before Saul of Tarsus began his campaign against the disciples of Christ:

Jer 29:24  Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
Jer 29:25  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
Jer 29:26  The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.
Jer 29:27  Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you?
Jer 29:28  For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
Jer 29:29  And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.
Jer 29:30  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 29:31  Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:
Jer 29:32  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.

In the Old Testament true prophets were known by whether their prophecies came to pass. This prophecy concerning Shemaiah was one more proof of Jeremiah’s prophetic credentials. In the New Testament true prophets are known by whether they are faithful to “that which has been written”:

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us ye might learn not to think above that which is written, so that ye may not be puffed up, one over the one against the other. (ACV)

“That which is written” is what Paul called “the demonstration of the spirit and of power”:

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:

Christ words are spirit:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you [“that which is written” (1Co 4:6)], they are spirit, and they are life.

The “demonstration of the spirit” simply shows that we are “not thinking above that which is written” (1Co 4:6). The “demonstration of the spirit and power” is the God-given strength to stand true to Christ and His doctrines with no fear of what men might think or do.

It is not given to New Testament prophets to prophesy as Jeremiah did of the imminent death of false prophets who withstand our words of Truth. Instead, this is what New Testament prophets are instructed as it relates to those who withstand us:

1Co 4:5  Therefore do not judge anything before time, until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make public the deliberations of the hearts. And then praise will come to each man from God.
1Co 4:6  Now these things, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us ye might learn not to think above that which is written, so that ye may not be puffed up, one over the one against the other. (ACV)

The fact is that neither Christ nor Paul ever thought above that which is written, inasmuch as Christ and His reformation was prophesied in the Old Testament:

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Deu 18:16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Deu 18:20  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
Deu 18:21  And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
Deu 18:22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

“I will put My words in His mouth” is not saying “I will have Him to repeat what I have given to you, Moses.” Yet twice Moses is inspired to tell us that the Messiah would be “Like unto me”. What does that mean? How was Christ “like unto [Moses]”? The answer is that both came to bring men into a covenant with God. Moses brought the old covenant to the physical nation of Israel. Christ brought the New Testament, the new covenant, to the same people, and when they rejected Him He then went to the Gentiles and declared that being the seed of Abraham, being a Jew and being circumcised was now all of the spirit, in the heart:

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

This same rule of the spirit applies to all the false prophets of our day. We do not prophesy of imminent death for each of the “many false prophets [who] have gone out into the world”:

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

The prophets of the New Testament simply repeat “that which is written”, and it is “that which is written” which “heaps coals of fire upon their heads”:

Rom 12:20  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

The prophets of the New Covenant simply “try the spirits to see whether they are of God”. If they are not of God, then the ‘death’ of modern false prophets who speak in the Lord’s name when their words contradict our Lord’s Words and His doctrines, comes to them as it has come to our own old man whose works were “tried in the fire” of “that which is written”:

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.

“Every man” includes both those who are being judged in “this present time” as well as those who are ‘in danger of Gehenna fire’, which is ‘the lake of fire’. It is also called ‘the second death’:

Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell [Greek: Gehenna] fire.

Mar 3:29  But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation [“the resurrection of damnation” (Joh 5:29 Greek: krisis, judgment)]:

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

Those who are partakers of this new covenant are also instructed on how they are to know who is speaking the words of the Lord and who is not speaking for the Lord:

1Jn 4:2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

The “many false prophets [who] have gone out into the world” will often tell you the antichrist is a man who will arise on this earth only in the last generation before the thousand-year reign of Christ. The Truth is that “even now there are many antichrists”, and there have been “many antichrists” since the days of the original twelve apostles:

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,  even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

The God’s Word translation make verse 19 more understandable:

1Jn 2:18  Children, it’s the end of time. You’ve heard that an antichrist is coming. Certainly, many antichrists are already here. That’s how we know it’s the end of time.
1Jn 2:19  They left us. However, they were never really part of us. If they had been, they would have stayed with us. But by leaving they made it clear that none of them were part of us. (GW)

The false prophets who “have gone out into the world” almost all confess that Jesus was a real historic person who lived in a body of flesh and bones. So, what does John mean when He tells us that “every spirit that confesses that Jesus is come in the flesh is of God”? He tells us in the very next verse that He means Jesus is “even now” living His life in us:

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. [Because they are not faithful to “that which is written”]
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

1^st John 4:6 displays the spirit that was in Jeremiah. Jeremiah knew that he was faithful to what the Lord told him to speak to the people, and he dared to stand on his calling. The apostle John never shied away from using the first-person pronouns ‘we’ and ‘us’ when referring to the Lord’s true prophets:

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

Just agreeing with the apostle John will bring you to be hated of all men just as our Lord was who also “spoke… with authority” and not as the ecumenical false prophets of His day:

Mat 7:28  And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Mat 7:29  For [G1063: ‘gar’, because] he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

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.

Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

Joh 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

Being hated of all men for Christ’s name’s sake is a good place to be. We are not the litmus test of truth in and of ourselves. We are the litmus test of truth because we “try the spirits [by] that which is written”.

Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Here are the verses for next week’s study:

Jer 30:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 30:2  Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
Jer 30:3  For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
Jer 30:4  And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
Jer 30:5  For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
Jer 30:6  Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
Jer 30:7  Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Jer 30:8  For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
Jer 30:9  But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
Jer 30:10  Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer 30:11  For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
Jer 30:12  For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.

Jer 20:1-18  I Will Make Thee a Terror to Thyself

[Study Aired October 10, 2021]

Jer 20:1  Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
Jer 20:2  Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
Jer 20:3  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
Jer 20:4  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
Jer 20:5  Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
Jer 20:6  And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
Jer 20:7  O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
Jer 20:8  For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Jer 20:9  Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Jer 20:10  For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
Jer 20:11  But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
Jer 20:12  But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.
Jer 20:13  Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
Jer 20:14  Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Jer 20:15  Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
Jer 20:16  And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;
Jer 20:17  Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
Jer 20:18  Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

In this chapter of Jeremiah, we will see that both Pashur, and Jeremiah experience “fear on every side”, and, Lord willing, we will come to see why this must be.

When we know we are being disobedient and we continue in that disobedience, it is a time of great torment in our lives. We know the Lord’s judgments are inevitable, and there is “terror on every side”. As Jeremiah told us earlier:

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 [it’s “fire and brimstone” (Rev 14:10)], that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Our own wickedness, as we will see, makes us a terror to ourselves.

When I was in the third grade in Canton, Ohio, I hated school and would do anything to get to stay home. We lived close to the school and walked the few blocks to school. One day it had rained, and my brother and I deliberately fell down in a mud puddle and went back home and lied to my mother and told her we had accidentally fallen in the mud puddle. Of course, she saw right through that lie and gave us both a paddling and sent us back to school in our muddy clothes with a note to the teacher explaining what we had done. The worst part was Mom assuring us we would get a whipping again when Dad got home from work that night. Dad’s whippings were always much worse than mom’s, and as much as I hated school, I dreaded going home after school for fear of what I knew was coming my way. It was pure torment and I had brought it on myself. That was not an isolated incident. I was simply not capable of doing what I knew I was supposed to do.

That childish story is exactly what it is like to know you are being disobedient to the Lord. We know the Lord’s judgment lies ahead, and we are tormented with that knowledge, just as Joseph’s brothers were tormented with the knowledge of what they had done to their brother:

Gen 42:15  Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
Gen 42:16  Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
Gen 42:17  And he put them all together into ward three days.
Gen 42:18  And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
Gen 42:19  If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
Gen 42:20  But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
Gen 42:21  And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Gen 42:22  And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
Gen 42:23  And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
Gen 42:24  And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

“They knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.” That story typifies us being “tormented in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” spoken of in:

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:

To whom are these words addressed? Verse 12 tells us to whom the Lord is speaking here:

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

The words here in Revelation and the words in Jeremiah are all addressed in “this present time” only to those who have been given eyes that see and ears that hear, and who know that it is they who must “read, hear, and keep those things written therein”:

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

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

Up until this 20^th chapter, Jeremiah has been prophesying of the impending judgment of Judah and Jerusalem without being overtly persecuted. Christ Himself for a while was permitted to preach the good news of the coming kingdom of God unimpeded at the beginning of His ministry:

Mat 4:23  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Mat 4:24  And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
Mat 4:25  And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from  beyond Jordan.

The time has now come that the powers that be have had enough of being told about the Lord’s impending judgment upon them for their stubborn rebellious infidelity against Him and His Words. Both Jeremiah and Pashur are within us. Inwardly we just become “weary in well doing” (2Th 3:13), and in our weakness we give in to the ever-present “cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches” and the rebellion of our flesh to the words of Christ. We tire of being told:

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.

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.

That ‘enemy’ is Pashur within us, warring against Jeremiah within us.

The name ‘Pashur’ means ‘liberation’, and that is exactly what our self-righteous flesh tells us it is giving us when we succumb to it and become weary of being obedient to the Lord’s words:

2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

Pashur typifies our own flesh which becomes weary in well doing. I did not say that Pashur became weary in well doing. What I am saying is that he typifies our own flesh and even the flesh of Jeremiah who is also a type of us. We all experience times when we tire of having to live out “the patience and faith of the saints”:

Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever [the time required to burn out our old man]: 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.

Jeremiah himself is overcome and is in bondage at the hands of Pashur. This, too, is a work of the Lord:

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.

We must be brought to our wits’ end before we cry out to the Lord:

Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

The Lord brings Jeremiah to his wits’ end:

Jer 20:1  Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
Jer 20:2  Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.

This struggle between Jeremiah and Pashur typifies the inward struggle within each of us between the flesh and the spirit:

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.

Here is Strong’s definition of the Hebrew word translated as ‘smote’:

H5221
נָכָה
nâkâh
naw-kaw’
A primitive root; to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively): – beat, cast forth, clap, give [wounds], X go forward, X indeed, kill, make [slaughter], murderer, punish, slaughter, slay (-er, -ing), smite (-r, -ing), strike, be stricken, (give) stripes, X surely, wound.

This is the same Hebrew word used to tell us what a man of similar social standing as Pashur did to Micaiah when Micaiah revealed that the Lord had put “a lying spirit in the mouth of all” of King Ahab’s prophets:

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

As a “living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1) you and I experience this kind of retribution in an ongoing, recurring fashion every time the Lord sends a divisive spirit into our fellowship which suddenly disagrees with the Biblical doctrine of submitting to the consensus of a multitude of counselors.

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

Pro 15:22  Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

Pro 24:6  For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

The only reason any of us are not overcome of the deceptions of the adversary is that the Lord simply hasn’t written it in our book to be deceived.

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Here is how Strong’s defines the Hebrew word which is translated ‘stocks’ in Jeremiah 20:2-3:

H4115
מַהְפֶּכֶת
mahpeketh
mah-peh’-keth
From H2015; a wrench, that is, the stocks: – prison, stocks.

This word is used in conjunction with the Hebrew word for ‘house’ in:

2Ch 16:10  Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison [H4115: stocks, prison] house [H1004: ‘bayith’]; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

The Hebrew word translated ‘house’ is:

H1004
בַּיִת
bayith
bah’-yith
Probably from H1129 abbreviated; a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.): – court, daughter, door, + dungeon, family, + forth of, X great as would contain, hangings. home[born], [winter]house (-hold), inside(-ward), palace, place, + prison, + steward, + tablet, temple, web, + within (-out).

Being put in stocks appears to be the same thing that was done to the apostle Paul and his fellow laborer, Silas, when they were imprisoned in Philippi:

Act 16:23  And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
Act 16:24  Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

Being imprisoned takes away our liberty. The liberty you and I have been given is the liberty to believe and do the things the Lord has commanded us to do (Luk 6:46). The adversary wants nothing more than to neutralize Christ and His message. That is what being in ‘stocks’ accomplishes for the time we are bound by these ‘stocks’. Our own weaknesses and passions serve as our stocks when they reveal our half-hearted service to the Lord. The adversary wants us to believe that we can serve God and still claim to be His servant.

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

We convince ourselves that we are free to serve the Lord and we are in good shape spiritually and physically, even as we deny Christ out of our fear of losing our standing with the world in this age:

Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:  be zealous therefore, and repent.

It is humiliating when the Lord must use the rulers of this world to reprimand His elect, but if we are His, then that is exactly what He will do as is demonstrated at least three times in scriptures when Abraham denied his own wife before Pharaoh and Abimelech, and when his son Isaac did the exact same thing before Abimelech:

Gen 12:19  Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I [Pharaoh] might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.

Gen 20:2  And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

Gen 20:9  Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

Gen 26:9  And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
Gen 26:10  And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

These things happened to Abraham and Isaac, and they were written for our admonition:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: ‘tupos’, “types of us” (vs 6)]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

The Lord will do what it takes to show us what is still within us. If we are His, He will give us an earthquake to deliver us from our sinful ‘stocks’ and drag us to Himself:

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

We simply are not equipped of our own flesh to deliver ourselves from our own hypocrisy:

Rom 2:21  Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Rom 2:22  Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Rom 2:23  Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Rom 2:24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Our ‘stocks’ are often our own old man whose doom is certain (1Co 15:50) as Jeremiah tells Pashur. Pashur is a type of our own self-righteous old man:

Jer 20:3  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.

This is how Strong’s defines Jeremiah’s new name for Pashur:

– From H4032 and H5439 with the preposition inserted
Original: מגור מסּביב
– Transliteration: Magowr mic-Cabiyb
– Phonetic: maw-gore’ mis-saw-beeb’
– Definition: Magor-missabib = terror on every side

The name given Pashur the priest by Jeremiah when Pashur smote him and put him in the stocks for prophesying against the idolatry of Jerusalem.

– Origin: from H4032 and H5439 with the preposition inserted
– TWOT entry: None
– Part(s) of speech: Proper Name Masculine

Jer 20:4  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
Jer 20:5  Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
Jer 20:6  And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.

Jeremiah had already made this prophesy in a more general sense in:

Jer 6:25  Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side [Hebrew: ‘magor min sabib’]

It is very instructive to note that the word for fear in this verse is:

H4032
מָגוּר    מָגוֹר
mâgôr    mâgûr
maw-gore’, maw-goor’
From H1481 in the sense of fearing; a fright (objectively or subjectively): – fear, terror. Compare H4036.
Total KJV occurrences: 8

The words for “is on every side is “min sabiyb”. There is no Hebrew for the word ‘is’. That word is added in the King James Version. When this statement is turned into a name it becomes ‘Magormissabib’, “fear on every side”, Jeremiah’s new name for Pashur, an Old Testament type of our tormented, tortured old man.

Like Joseph’s brothers, and like me in my third grade lies, we become a terror to ourselves, because we are afraid of the judgment we know is in our future. It is sheer terror, and we are powerless to deliver ourselves from the terror we have brought upon ourselves. The name of our old man is Magormissabib, ‘terror on every side’, and the Lord will give our old man no quarter.

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

Now we must carefully consider the change of tone in Jeremiah’s next words:

Jer 20:7  O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
Jer 20:8  For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Jer 20:9  Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Jer 20:10  For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side [Hebrew: ‘magor min sabib’]. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

Here we have Jeremiah himself experiencing the “fear on every side”, the exact same Hebrew words used as Pashur’s new name… ‘Magor-mi-Sabib’. However, now Jeremiah is applying these same words to himself because all who knew him are now saying… “Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him”.

Jeremiah, who typifies our new man, is “the eighth [who] is of the seven and goes into perdition. It is through that perdition that our new man is given “the redemption of the purchased possession”.

Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Unlike Pashur, Jeremiah is given life through the fiery trial of experiencing “fear on every side”.

Jer 20:11  But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
Jer 20:12  But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.
Jer 20:13  Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

So, Jeremiah is given to know that he will be delivered from those who seek to “take [their] revenge on [him]”. He is also given to know that it will only be through “fear on every side”. Jeremiah is made to face the fact that he, of himself, is no better than Pashur, who hates Jeremiah, and would prefer to see Jeremiah dead. It becomes such a fiery trial that Jeremiah becomes ‘weary in well doing’. Jeremiah typifies each of us as a self-righteous ‘Job’ whose trials were so heavy and unbearable that he begins to reprove and contend with his Maker, using many of the same words Job used. Immediately after rejoicing in the knowledge that his trials were all for his good (Rom 8:28), Jeremiah gave this lament.

Jer 20:14  Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Jer 20:15  Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
Jer 20:16  And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;
Jer 20:17  Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
Jer 20:18  Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Compare these words of Jeremiah, with these words of Job:

Job 3:1  After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
Job 3:2  And Job spake, and said,
Job 3:3  Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
Job 3:4  Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Job 3:5  Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
Job 3:6  As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
Job 3:7  Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
Job 3:8  Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
Job 3:9  Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
Job 3:10  Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Job 3:11  Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

Those are two very similar laments, both coming from men who have known the Lord and who are weary of bearing up under His ways.

Why are we twice told:

Gal 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

2Th 3:13  But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

The reason we are twice admonished “be not weary in well doing” is because that is exactly what we just naturally do. Just like Jeremiah, the Lord sends an evil spirit to tell us that life would be so much easier if we would just stop speaking the Truths of His Word:

Jer 20:8  For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.

We need to all be aware of the adversary’s devices. Notice that it is immediately after being assured of the Lord’s faithfulness that Jeremiah’s tone changes and he despairs of all the weight the Lord has placed upon him. The adversary knows that we are most vulnerable when we have just experienced a time of victory and we feel we can take a break from always being diligent, sober, and vigilant.

That was what happened to Job whom the Lord had hedged from any severe trials for a time. When he least expected it, the Lord showed Job what was still in him.

King David stayed behind when he should have been in the battle. He had just defeated both Syria and Ammon and it was when he felt secure enough to let others do his fighting for him that he was seduced by the adversary and committed adultery with the wife of one of his captains.

Elijah had just called down fire from heaven to burn up his sacrifice in the presence of all the prophets of Baal who he then destroyed with the sword when he fled to a cave to hide from Jezebel.

We are all most vulnerable when we think we stand secure:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Our own trials come upon us after a time of success when we think we are secure and we let down our guard. The Lord has ordained it to be so.

We feed the Lord’s flock even as we “look to ourselves” and we warn the Lord’s flock of what we see as the warnings of scripture themselves. Nevertheless, the Lord has determined “there must be heresies among you”:

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

Jeremiah tells us that Pashur “prophesied lies”, and therefore Pashur was prophesying heresies.

Jer 20:6  And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.

The apostle Paul truthfully prophesied that grievous wolves would arise from our very midst. It happened to the apostles, and it was written for our admonition:

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

Job, Jeremiah, the apostle Paul, and the apostle John in the book of Revelation are all telling us the same thing. That message is that the 144,000 elect who will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years, as well as the “great multitude which no man can number”, and who do not rule and reign with Christ, must both “come up through much tribulation and wash their robes white in the blood of the lamb.”

Notice how much we have in common with those who will be “hurt of the second death”:

Rev 7:1  And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Rev 7:2  And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

This same group of 144,000 are later called “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
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.

These “firstfruits… [must] groan and travail in pain together” with all the rest of mankind, who are all “bearing the heat of the day”. However “the lord of the vineyard… the good man of the house” has determined in advance that the ‘groaning [of] this present time produces the Lord’s judgments within those few who are paid first in earnest (Eph 1:14 in “this present time” (Eph 2:6), whereas all others must wait to get their ‘penny’, their days wages, life eternal, until after the firstfruits are rewarded in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. It is they, and they alone, who “live and reign with Christ a thousand years” on this earth, before the rest of mankind will be given life eternal:

Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
Mat 20:9  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny [eternal life].
Mat 20:10  But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny [eternal life].
Mat 20:11  And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Mat 20:12  Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Mat 20:13  But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
Mat 20:14  Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
Mat 20:15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called [to work in the Lord’s vineyard], but few chosen [to be paid first].

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.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

“We who have the firstfruits of the spirit… groan within ourselves, waiting for… the redemption of our body”. The Truth of the Word of God is that we are intended to endure the very same fiery words that will save all men. Only by those words will we develop “the patience of the saints and the faith of Jesus Christ”:

Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity [of “every thought”]: he that killeth with the sword [of the Word of God] must be killed with the sword [of the Word of God]. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

This “patience and faith of the saints” is elaborated upon in the very next chapter, and this is what going into captivity and being killed with the sword entails:

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. [That is the very definition of ‘Magor min Sabib’, “fear on every side”]

What is the product of this “magor-min- sabib”, this “torment with fire and brimstone… day and night in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb”???

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

Why must the Lord’s “very elect” endure “morgamissabib”? Why must the Lord’s elect endure “fear on every side”? The reason we must do so is for the same reason our Lord had to do so, because we, too, are “saviors” who must “fill up in [our] bodies that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ for His body’s sake which is the church”.

To what end must we do so? We must do so to the same end that our Lord had to do so because “as He is so are we in this world”:

Heb 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

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.

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

The scapegoat and the second bird are both as integral to the process of salvation as is “the Lord’s goat” and “the first bird”, and we are that scapegoat, and we are that second bird who bear with Christ “all their iniquities”, and fill up in our bodies that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, for His body’s sake, which is the church”:

Lev 16:22  And the [scape]goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

Lev 14:53  But he shall let go the living [second] bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.

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

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.

That is our study, and these are the verses for our next study:

Jer 21:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
Jer 21:2  Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
Jer 21:3  Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
Jer 21:4  Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
Jer 21:5  And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
Jer 21:6  And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
Jer 21:7  And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
Jer 21:8  And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
Jer 21:9  He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
Jer 21:10  For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
Jer 21:11  And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Jer 21:12  O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Jer 21:13  Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
Jer 21:14  But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.

Jer 1:10 Part 3 – I Have Set Thee Over The Nations

The Curses of Leviticus 26:14-46

[Study Aired December 6, 2020]

In our last study we saw that there are always many more verses of scripture which deal with our judgment in this age than the verses detailing our blessings for being obedient to the Lord’s words.

We saw that Jeremiah being set over the nations typifies what the Lord is doing within each of us. We learned that we must be set over the nations within us before we will be given to “rule on the earth… with a rod of iron” (Rev 1:1-3, 15:7-8, 2:26-67).

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

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.

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.

All the verbs in the first two verses of Revelation 1, the verbs… He ‘gave’ this revelation, to ‘shew’ him things that must ‘come to pass’, ‘sent’, signified, ‘bare record’ and ‘he saw’…are all in the aorist tense signifying that those verbs are in the process of being fulfilled within us. All the verbs in the next verse, verse 3, are in the present tense. ‘Read’, ‘hear’ and ‘keep the things written’ are all in the present tense because “the time is at hand” for judgment to presently, right this very moment “begin… at the house of God”:

1Pe 4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
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?

The ‘suffering’ of the seven last plagues and the ‘judgment beginning at the house of God’ are one and the same thing. Both are the work of God judging the nations within us – all our weaknesses and all our faults, all of our appetites and all of our passions. Only after the Lord has judged us within and has burned out all that will burn up, will we be qualified to judge the outward world with a rod of iron at “the redemption of the purchased possession… the blessed and holy… first resurrection.”

‘Reading… hearing… and keeping the words of this prophecy’ means that we must begin fulfilling the seal, trumpets and seven last plagues before we can begin entering the temple of God as mentioned in:

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.

All the verbs I have emboldened in these two verses are in the aorist tense, which tells us they are in the process of being fulfilled within each of us. If the seven plagues had to be fulfilled before any of us could begin to enter into Christ, then the judgment which is now upon the house of God could never even begin, and none of us would be here today because:

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Is the phrase “to die” in the future tense? If, as it appears, it is in the future tense, then “we are of all men most miserable” and judgment can never “begin at the house of God”, because the seven last plagues are that ‘judgment’ which produces the death of our old man. If our death must be completed before our judgment can begin, then we are all doomed. However, if the phrase “once to die” is in the aorist tense, then it is speaking of a process which is presently taking place in ‘the temple’ and ‘the body’ of Christ in every generation since Christ. If Hebrews 9:27 is speaking of the process of dying to our old man as we are entering into the temple of God, then it is possible for all of us to presently be entering into the temple through the judgment which is now upon the house of God. If “once to die” is better translated as “once to be dying” and to begin entering into the temple of God, even as the seven plagues of the seven angels are being poured out upon us, then we are not doomed, and instead we are “through death”, through the daily dying of our old man (1Co 15:31), being delivered from death unto life.

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present [aorist tense] 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 [aorist tense] of the same; that through death he might destroy [aorist tense] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Let’s see what the tense of the phrase “once to die” is here in Hebrews 9:27:

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed^{G606 [G5736]} unto men once to die^{G599 [G5629]}, but after this the judgment:

There are two verbal phrases in this verse, both of which I have emboldened. The first phrase… “it is appointed” is in the present tense, but the second phrase, “to die”, is not in the future tense as it appears in our English. It is in the aorist tense, telling us that this ‘dying’ is a matter of “dying daily” (1Co 15:31), being crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20) daily and daily presenting our bodies as “a living sacrifice unto God” (Rom 12:1) and daily “fill[ing] up in [our] bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake which is the church” (Col 1:14).

I was pleasantly shocked to discover the meaning of the two words translated “but after” in the phrase “but after this the judgment”.

Here is Strong’s definition of this Greek word:

G1161
δέ
de
deh
A primary particle (adversative or continuative); but, and, etc.: – also, and, but, moreover, now [often unexpressed in English].
Total KJV occurrences: 2841

Here is the breakdown of how the 2841 appearances of this Greek word ‘de’ is translated in the King James Version which I am combining with the information from Brown-Driver-Briggs, Thayer and Strong’s:

Total KJV Occurrences: 2184
• and, 1066
Mat_1:2(2); Mat_1:3(3); Mat_1:4(3); Mat_1:5(3); Mat_1:6(2); Mat_1:7(3); Mat_1:8(3); Mat_1:9(3); Mat_1:10(3); Mat_1:11; Mat_1:12(2); Mat_1:13(3); Mat_1:14(3); Mat_1:15(3);Mat_1:16; Mat_1:21; Mat_2:5; Mat_2:8; Mat_2:13; Mat_2:21; Mat_3:4(2); Mat_3:10; Mat_3:15; Mat_4:18; Mat_4:20; Mat_4:22; Mat_5:1; Mat_8:5; Mat_8:21; Mat_8:30; Mat_8:33; Mat_9:28; Mat_11:7; Mat_12:11; Mat_12:25; Mat_14:8; Mat_14:15; Mat_14:17; Mat_14:19; Mat_14:21; Mat_14:23; Mat_14:25; Mat_14:28; Mat_14:29; Mat_14:31; Mat_15:16; Mat_15:27; Mat_15:34; Mat_15:36; Mat_15:38; Mat_16:7; Mat_16:14(2); Mat_16:16; Mat_17:2; Mat_17:8; Mat_17:11; Mat_17:20; Mat_17:22; Mat_17:24; Mat_19:4; Mat_19:13; Mat_19:17; Mat_19:28; Mat_20:21; Mat_20:31; Mat_21:6; Mat_21:8; Mat_21:9; Mat_21:11; Mat_21:15; Mat_21:24; Mat_22:19; Mat_22:27; Mat_24:2; Mat_24:3; Mat_26:15; Mat_26:18; Mat_26:23; Mat_26:26; Mat_26:50; Mat_26:57; Mat_26:67; Mat_26:71; Mat_26:73; Mat_27:4; Mat_27:6; Mat_27:7; Mat_27:11(2); Mat_27:16; Mat_27:20; Mat_27:23; Mat_27:26; Mat_27:32; Mat_27:35; Mat_27:39; Mat_27:46; Mat_27:55; Mat_27:61; Mat_28:4; Mat_28:5; Mat_28:9(2); Mar_1:6; Mar_1:28; Mar_1:32; Mar_1:41; Mar_3:32; Mar_4:10; Mar_4:34; Mar_4:36; Mar_4:37; Mar_5:14; Mar_5:34; Mar_6:15; Mar_6:24(2); Mar_6:27; Mar_7:20; Mar_7:28; Mar_8:5; Mar_8:9; Mar_8:20; Mar_8:28(2); Mar_9:9; Mar_9:12; Mar_9:21; Mar_9:38; Mar_10:3; Mar_10:4; Mar_10:13; Mar_10:18; Mar_10:20; Mar_10:22; Mar_10:24; Mar_10:26; Mar_10:27; Mar_10:29; Mar_10:32; Mar_10:36; Mar_10:39(2); Mar_10:50; Mar_10:52; Mar_11:4; Mar_11:6; Mar_11:8(2); Mar_11:29; Mar_12:14; Mar_12:16(2); Mar_12:29; Mar_13:5; Mar_14:4; Mar_14:6; Mar_14:11; Mar_14:19; Mar_14:20; Mar_14:44; Mar_14:46; Mar_14:47; Mar_14:52; Mar_14:55; Mar_14:62; Mar_14:64; Mar_14:70; Mar_15:2; Mar_15:4; Mar_15:7; Mar_15:12; Mar_15:13; Mar_15:14; Mar_15:15; Mar_15:16; Mar_15:25; Mar_15:33; Mar_15:36; Mar_15:37; Mar_15:39; Mar_15:44; Mar_15:47; Mar_16:6; Mar_16:20; Luk_1:6; Luk_1:8; Luk_1:11; Luk_1:22; Luk_1:24; Luk_1:26; Luk_1:29; Luk_1:38; Luk_1:39; Luk_1:56; Luk_1:64; Luk_1:80; Luk_2:1; Luk_2:4; Luk_2:6; Luk_2:17; Luk_2:40; Luk_2:47; Luk_3:1; Luk_3:9; Luk_3:13; Luk_3:14; Luk_3:15; Luk_4:1; Luk_4:21; Luk_4:24; Luk_4:38(2); Luk_4:39; Luk_4:40; Luk_4:41; Luk_4:42; Luk_4:43; Luk_5:1; Luk_5:3; Luk_5:6; Luk_5:10; Luk_5:16; Luk_5:33; Luk_5:34; Luk_5:36; Luk_6:1; Luk_6:2; Luk_6:6; Luk_6:7; Luk_6:8; Luk_6:10; Luk_6:11; Luk_6:12; Luk_6:39; Luk_7:2; Luk_7:3; Luk_7:4; Luk_7:6; Luk_7:14; Luk_7:16; Luk_7:21; Luk_7:24; Luk_7:31; Luk_7:36; Luk_7:40; Luk_7:43; Luk_7:48; Luk_7:50; Luk_8:4; Luk_8:9; Luk_8:10; Luk_8:21; Luk_8:24; Luk_8:25(2); Luk_8:27; Luk_8:30(2); Luk_8:32; Luk_8:37; Luk_8:40; Luk_8:46; Luk_8:47; Luk_8:48; Luk_8:51; Luk_8:52; Luk_8:54; Luk_9:6; Luk_9:8(2); Luk_9:11; Luk_9:12; Luk_9:13; Luk_9:14; Luk_9:19; Luk_9:21; Luk_9:23; Luk_9:28; Luk_9:32; Luk_9:34; Luk_9:37; Luk_9:41; Luk_9:42(2); Luk_9:43; Luk_9:47; Luk_9:49; Luk_9:51; Luk_9:54; Luk_9:57; Luk_9:59; Luk_9:61; Luk_9:62; Luk_10:17; Luk_10:18; Luk_10:27; Luk_10:28; Luk_10:30; Luk_10:37; Luk_10:38; Luk_10:40; Luk_10:41; Luk_11:2; Luk_11:14; Luk_11:16; Luk_11:27; Luk_11:29; Luk_11:37(2); Luk_11:38; Luk_11:39; Luk_11:46; Luk_11:53; Luk_12:13; Luk_12:14; Luk_12:15; Luk_12:16; Luk_12:22; Luk_12:42; Luk_12:54; Luk_13:10; Luk_13:12; Luk_13:14; Luk_13:23; Luk_14:4; Luk_14:7; Luk_14:15; Luk_14:25; Luk_15:3; Luk_15:11; Luk_16:1; Luk_16:14; Luk_17:6; Luk_17:15; Luk_17:17; Luk_17:20; Luk_17:22; Luk_17:37; Luk_18:1; Luk_18:6; Luk_18:9; Luk_18:15; Luk_18:19; Luk_18:21; Luk_18:23; Luk_18:24; Luk_18:26; Luk_18:27; Luk_18:29; Luk_18:35; Luk_18:36; Luk_18:37; Luk_18:40(2); Luk_18:41; Luk_19:8; Luk_19:9; Luk_19:11; Luk_19:32; Luk_19:33; Luk_19:34; Luk_19:36; Luk_19:37; Luk_20:3; Luk_20:5; Luk_20:17; Luk_20:25; Luk_20:31; Luk_20:40; Luk_20:41; Luk_21:1; Luk_21:2; Luk_21:7; Luk_21:8; Luk_21:37(2); Luk_22:9; Luk_22:10; Luk_22:13; Luk_22:24; Luk_22:25; Luk_22:31; Luk_22:33; Luk_22:34; Luk_22:35; Luk_22:38(2); Luk_22:39; Luk_22:40; Luk_22:43; Luk_22:44; Luk_22:47; Luk_22:51; Luk_22:54; Luk_22:55; Luk_22:57; Luk_22:58; Luk_22:60; Luk_22:67; Luk_22:70; Luk_22:71; Luk_23:2; Luk_23:3(2); Luk_23:5; Luk_23:8; Luk_23:10; Luk_23:11; Luk_23:12;

now, 161
Mat_1:18, Mat_1:22, Mat_2:1, Mat_4:12, Mat_8:18, Mat_11:2 (2), Mat_21:18, Mat_22:25, Mat_24:32, Mat_26:6, Mat_26:17, Mat_26:20, Mat_26:48, Mat_26:69, Mat_27:15, Mat_27:45, Mat_27:54, Mat_27:62, Mat_28:11, Mar_1:14, Mar_13:11-12 (2), Mar_13:28, Mar_15:6, Mar_16:9, Luk_1:57, Luk_3:1, Luk_3:21, Luk_4:40, Luk_5:4, Luk_7:1, Luk_7:12, Luk_7:39, Luk_8:11, Luk_8:38, Luk_9:7, Luk_10:38, Luk_15:25, Luk_18:22, Luk_20:37, Luk_22:1, Luk_23:47, Joh_1:44, Joh_2:23, Joh_4:6, Joh_4:43, Joh_5:2, Joh_6:10, Joh_7:2, Joh_8:5, Joh_9:31, Joh_11:1, Joh_11:5, Joh_11:18, Joh_11:30, Joh_11:57, Joh_13:1, Joh_13:23, Joh_13:28, Joh_18:14, Joh_18:40, Joh_19:23, Joh_19:25, Joh_19:41, Act_2:6, Act_2:37, Act_3:1, Act_4:13, Act_5:24, Act_7:11, Act_8:14, Act_9:36, Act_10:17, Act_12:1, Act_12:18, Act_13:1, Act_13:13, Act_13:43, Act_16:6, Act_17:1, Act_17:16, Act_18:14, Act_21:3, Act_24:17, Act_27:9, Rom_1:13, Rom_3:19, Rom_4:4, Rom_4:23, Rom_6:8, Rom_7:20, Rom_8:9, Rom_11:12, Rom_15:5, Rom_15:13, Rom_15:30, Rom_15:33, Rom_16:17, Rom_16:25, 1Co_1:10, 1Co_2:12 (2), 1Co_3:8, 1Co_3:12, 1Co_4:18, 1Co_6:13, 1Co_7:1, 1Co_7:25, 1Co_8:1, 1Co_10:6, 1Co_10:11, 1Co_11:2, 1Co_11:17, 1Co_12:1, 1Co_12:4, 1Co_12:27, 1Co_15:12, 1Co_15:50, 1Co_16:1, 1Co_16:5, 1Co_16:10, 2Co_1:21, 2Co_2:14, 2Co_3:17, 2Co_5:5, 2Co_6:13, 2Co_9:10, 2Co_10:1, 2Co_13:7, Gal_3:16, Gal_3:20, Gal_4:28, Eph_3:19-20 (2), Eph_4:9, Phi_4:15, Phi_4:20, 1Th_3:11, 1Th_5:14, 2Th_2:1, 2Th_2:16, 2Th_3:6, 2Th_3:12, 2Th_3:16, 1Ti_1:5, 1Ti_1:17, 1Ti_4:1, 1Ti_5:5, 2Ti_3:8, Heb_7:4, Heb_8:1, Heb_8:13, Heb_9:6, Heb_10:18, Heb_10:38, Heb_11:1, Heb_12:11, Heb_13:20, Jam_2:11, Jud_1:24

then, 134
Mat_1:19, Mat_1:24, Mat_12:14, Mat_13:52, Mat_14:33, Mat_15:15, Mat_15:25, Mat_15:32, Mat_16:6, Mat_17:4, Mat_17:17, Mat_18:27, Mat_19:23, Mat_25:16, Mat_26:24-25 (2), Mat_28:16, Mar_10:21, Mar_14:63, Mar_15:14, Luk_1:34, Luk_3:12, Luk_7:6, Luk_8:19, Luk_8:24, Luk_8:33, Luk_8:35, Luk_9:1, Luk_9:12, Luk_9:16, Luk_9:46, Luk_11:45, Luk_12:20, Luk_12:28, Luk_12:41, Luk_13:7, Luk_13:18, Luk_13:23, Luk_14:12, Luk_14:16, Luk_15:1, Luk_16:3, Luk_16:27, Luk_17:1, Luk_18:28, Luk_18:31, Luk_19:16, Luk_20:9, Luk_20:13, Luk_20:27, Luk_20:39, Luk_20:45, Luk_22:3, Luk_22:7, Luk_22:52, Luk_22:54, Luk_22:70, Luk_23:4, Luk_23:9, Luk_23:34, Luk_24:12, Luk_24:25, Joh_1:38, Joh_9:26, Joh_13:25, Joh_21:20, Act_2:38, Act_3:6, Act_5:9-10 (2), Act_5:17, Act_5:25, Act_5:29, Act_5:34, Act_6:2, Act_6:9, Act_7:1, Act_7:14, Act_7:29, Act_7:32-33 (2), Act_7:42, Act_7:57, Act_8:5, Act_8:13, Act_8:24, Act_8:29, Act_8:35, Act_9:13, Act_9:19, Act_9:25, Act_9:39, Act_10:21, Act_10:34, Act_11:16, Act_11:22, Act_11:25, Act_11:29, Act_12:3, Act_12:15, Act_13:9, Act_13:16, Act_13:46, Act_14:13, Act_15:12, Act_16:1, Act_16:29, Act_17:18, Act_17:22, Act_18:9, Act_18:17, Act_19:4, Act_21:13 (2), Act_22:27, Act_23:17, Act_23:19, Act_24:10, Act_25:2, Act_25:10, Act_25:22, Act_26:1, Act_26:28, Act_26:32, Act_27:36, Rom_6:18, Rom_7:16-17 (2), Rom_8:8, Rom_12:6, Rom_13:3, Rom_15:1, 2Co_12:10, Gal_5:16

yet, 19
Mat_13:21, Rom_16:19, 1Co_2:6, 1Co_3:15 (2), 1Co_7:25, 1Co_12:20, 1Co_15:10, 2Co_6:10 (2), 2Co_9:3, 2Co_12:5, Phi_2:25, Col_1:21, Jam_2:11, Jam_4:2, 1Pe_1:8, 1Pe_4:16, Jud_1:9

moreover, 14
Mat_6:16, Mat_18:15, Act_11:12, Rom_5:20, Rom_8:30, 1Co_4:2, 1Co_15:1 (2), 2Co_1:23, 2Co_8:1, 1Ti_3:7, Heb_9:21, Heb_11:36, 2Pe_1:15

so, 13
Mat_8:31, Mat_13:27, Mat_18:31, Mat_20:8, Mat_20:34, Mat_27:66, Mat_28:15, Mar_8:8, Joh_8:7, Joh_20:4, Act_4:21, Act_7:15, 1Co_15:54

yea, 13
Luk_2:35, Act_3:24, Act_20:34, Rom_3:4, Rom_8:34, 1Co_9:16, 1Co_15:15, 2Co_5:16, 2Ti_3:12, Heb_11:36, 1Pe_5:5, 2Pe_1:13, 3Jo_1:12

also, 12
Mat_13:22, Mat_16:18, Mat_27:41, Luk_12:8, Luk_13:6, Act_15:35, Act_19:19, Rom_9:26-27 (2), Rom_11:23, 2Ti_2:22, 2Ti_3:1

nevertheless, 11
Luk_5:5, Act_27:11, Rom_15:15, 1Co_7:2, 1Co_7:28, 1Co_7:37, 2Co_3:16, Gal_2:20, Phi_1:24, Heb_12:11, 2Pe_3:13

or, 5
Luk_14:32, Joh_14:11, Gal_4:9, Rev_2:5, Rev_2:16

some, 5
Mat_13:8 (2), Mat_13:23 (2), Act_27:44

even, 3
Rom_3:22, Rom_9:30, Phi_2:8

wherefore, 2
Mat_6:30, Mat_18:8

furthermore, 1
2Co_2:12

howbeit, 1
Joh_6:23

partly, 1
Heb_10:33

therefore, 1
1Co_7:8

truly, 1
1Jo_1:3

This is not a complete list of how this Greek word ‘de’ is translated into the King James English, but it is very clear that the English word most often used to translate this Greek word is the word ‘and’, which connects and continues the thought of dying with judgment.

Further proof of the fact that “once to die” should reflect the aorist tense which the holy spirit gave it is the next Greek word which is translated into the English word ‘after’. Here is what Strong’s reveals about this Greek word:

G3326
μετά
meta
met-ah’
A primary preposition (often used adverbially); properly denoting accompaniment; “amid” (local or causal); modified variously according to the case (genitive case association, or accusative case succession) with which it is joined; occupying an intermediate position between G575 or G1537 and G1519 or G4314; less intimate than G1722, and less close than G4862): – after (-ward),X that he again, against, among, X and, + follow, hence, hereafter, in, of, (up-) on, + our, X and setting, since, (un-) to, + together, when, with (+ -out). Often used in composition, in substantially the same relations of participation or proximity, and transfer or sequence.

With this knowledge we can safely say that the holy spirit is telling us that “It is appointed unto man once to be dying accompanied by judgment… which is now beginning to be administered daily at the house of God”:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin [aorist tense] 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?

The plagues being poured out upon the kingdom of our old man are “the goodness of God which brings [us] to repentance” (Rom 2:4). It is these plagues which bring us “to our wits’ end” before we can be resurrected with Christ in newness of life:

Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro [Qal stem], and stagger [Qal stem] like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

It is the Lord’s wrath, His judgments upon our old man, which drags us to repentance:

Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment [of “the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God (Rev 15:1)] of God?
Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness [wrath… judgment] of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath [“The seven last plagues [which] fill up the wrath of God” [Rev 15:1] and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

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 [aorist tense] the wrath of God.

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave [aorist tense] 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 [aorist tense] with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter [aorist tense] into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [aorist tense].

Our old man would much rather be told that there will be “a place of safety” or “a rapture” out of the fiery judgments of God upon His house in this present time, but all the false doctrines of Babylon will not change the fact that the wrath of God is being fulfilled upon His house through His pouring out upon us His seven last plagues within our lives. Babylon within us must fall “daily” to “fill up the wrath of God” as the gospel of the scriptures require:

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.

The falling of Babylon is a major part of the judgment of God which is listed as the seventh of the seven last plagues which are being fulfilled within the lives of all who are being given the opportunity to begin being judged in this present age (Rom 8:18 and 1Pe 4:17).

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out [aorist tense] his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were [aorist tense] voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was [aorist tense] a great earthquake, such as was [aorist tense] not since men were [aorist tense] upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided [aorist tense] into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell [aorist tense]: and great Babylon came in remembrance [aorist tense] before God, to give [aorist tense] unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21  And there fell [present tense] upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed [aorist tense] God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was [present tense] exceeding great.

“There fell upon men a great hail” is present tense. “The plague thereof was exceeding great” is also present tense. Both are present tense because “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17).

A personal example of how I experienced verse 21 is that when I was first told the truth of “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”… back in 1972. That doctrine was itself a crushing “weight of a talent”, a 70-pound ball of hail upon me and the Babylonian, World Wide Church of God false doctrine of eternal death which was within me at that time. My immediate blasphemous reaction was… “That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! Anyone who knows anything about scripture knows that ‘the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever.’” Such pitiful ignorance! Such blasphemous self-righteousness! Every time we repeat and teach others our monstrous false doctrines, whether it is eternal torment or eternal death, we are blaspheming our own Creator and making Him into a monster who either torments or destroys the vast majority of His own creatures. Also, every time we tell others that we have never blasphemed God, when the Truth is that we must all come out of blasphemous Babylon, we are again blaspheming God by essentially telling others they need not fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels in their lives in spite of what the Lord Himself tells us:

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.

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

Rev 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

Those who know what ‘hail’ signifies know that it wipes away all our false doctrines:

Isa 28:17  Judgment [the seven plagues] also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters [the truth of God’s Word] shall overflow the hiding place.

Christ is that ‘temple’ and we are ‘Christ’ if we are in Him and He is in us:

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

All our false, lying doctrines have made us all blasphemers of Christ before we come to appreciate His goodness which judges us and drives us to “[our] wits’ end”. We are all first the servants of Babylon who hate the Christ of scripture before we are spiritually struck down and given our instructions of what we are to do in His service:

Act 9:6  And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

The first 14 verses of Deuteronomy 28 and the first 13 verses of Leviticus 26 enumerate for us the “great and precious promises” that are ours in Christ if we are given to obey and abide in His words. The last 54 verses of Deuteronomy 28, and the last 33 verses of Leviticus 26 tell us of what will inevitably befall us when judgment “begins at the house of God” and we begin to experience the “seven seals… seven trumpets, and the seven plagues of the seven angels [being] fulfilled” in our lives.

Because Leviticus 26 is shorter, and because Leviticus 26 uses the phrase “seven times”, I will read those last 33 verses to set the stage for the pouring out of the seven plagues upon us, which is what is being signified by all the punishments upon His rebellious house which are recorded in this prophecy of Jeremiah.

This is what Israel was told in advance of their apostasy. This is what we are told before we lose our first love, hold the doctrine of Balaam, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, commit fornication, eat things offered to idols, are spiritually dead, think we are rich and increased in spiritual knowledge, while in reality we are spiritually wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.

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:

The seals, trumpets and plagues are the “gold tried in the fire” of the next verses:

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.

This warning in Revelation is just the New Testament warning of these verses of Leviticus 26:

Lev 26:14  But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
Lev 26:15  And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
Lev 26:16  I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
Lev 26:17  And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
Lev 26:18  And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
Lev 26:21  And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
Lev 26:22  I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
Lev 26:23  And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
Lev 26:24  Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
Lev 26:25  And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
Lev 26:26  And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
Lev 26:27  And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
Lev 26:28  Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
Lev 26:29  And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
Lev 26:30  And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
Lev 26:31  And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
Lev 26:32  And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
Lev 26:33  And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
Lev 26:34  Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
Lev 26:35  As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
Lev 26:36  And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
Lev 26:37  And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
Lev 26:38  And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
Lev 26:39  And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
Lev 26:40  If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
Lev 26:41  And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
Lev 26:42  Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
Lev 26:43  The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
Lev 26:44  And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
Lev 26:45  But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.
Lev 26:46  These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

Revelation 16 is the New Testament account of the pouring out upon our lives of the seven bowls of the wrath of God which must be fulfilled within our lives if we are to enter into the temple of God in the kingdom of God in heaven.

Along with the last verse of chapter 15, here is what we must all endure which will bring each of us “to [our] wits’ end” before we are brought to our “desired haven… the kingdom of God within [which comes with]… the earnest of the spirit… [which is] “the holy spirit of promise” of… the redemption of the purchased possession”, the first resurrection at the beginning of a thousand-year reign with Christ over the outward, natural “kingdoms of this world [Greek: ‘kosmos’ the outward world] (Rev 2:26-27, 11:15, 20:1-6).

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.

Rev 16:1  And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Rev 16:2  And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
Rev 16:3  And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
Rev 16:4  And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
Rev 16:5  And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
Rev 16:6  For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Rev 16:7  And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
Rev 16:8  And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Rev 16:12  And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
Rev 16:13  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
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.
Rev 16:15  Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Rev 16:16  And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

Please note that none of these seven plagues are qualified as having to be administered in the order in which they are enumerated. All we are told is they must be fulfilled. The same is true of the Old Testament details of these plagues. All we are told is that when we inevitably fail to be obedient to His words, “All these curses [plagues] shall come upon thee and overtake thee.”

Deu 28:15  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Deu 28:16  Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. [the first plague… “the earth”]
Deu 28:17  Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:18  Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:19  Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out [The second plague upon “the sea”].
Deu 28:20  The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
Deu 28:21  The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

We must come to see and confess that we have lost our first love and that we are stricken with all the curses of the seven churches, including the self-righteousness of Laodicea:

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten [with the seven plagues]: be zealous therefore, and repent.

We are admonished here in Revelation 3 to “be zealous therefore and repent” of “say[ing], I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; [when the truth is that we] knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”:

What makes us think we are spiritually rich is all the false doctrines which have become part of us. They have become our spiritual children and the spiritual fruit of our union with a whore.

Burning all of this out of our lives is the spiritual meaning of:

Deu 28:41  Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.

The ‘captivity’ of our “sons and daughters” is to be carried off into Babylonian captivity. Like ancient Israel, our heart is in Babylon while we are yet with our first love. Our spiritual ‘children’ are our doctrines which must go into Babylonian captivity, and it is there in Babylon where we must begin to “come out of her” before we can begin to enter into the temple of God in heaven.

This is what the Lord told Israel before their captivity:

Isa 57:3  But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. [Rev 18:4]
Isa 57:4  Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,

This is what Isaiah tells us of our captors and of the false doctrines which hold us captive:

Isa 10:5  O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation [seven plagues, Rev 15:8].
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.

The Assyrians were to Israel what our churches of Babylon, with all our false doctrines, are to us. They enslave us, they devour us, they use us and abuse us, and “we love to have it so”.

Jer 5:31  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Hos 11:6  And the sword shall abide on his cities [Ephraim, Israel, us], and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

We see the word ‘because’ a lot in scripture, and many times it appears to be telling us that the Lord sends us into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity and puts us through the experiences of Job “because [we] refuse to return [to Him]…because of our own counsels”. Indeed, that is exactly what we just read but we must always remember that the sum of the Lord’s words reveals that “the Lord [is] seeking an occasion against [our uncircumcised flesh]”. That is what happened to Samson, and it is written for our admonition (1Co 10:11).

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained. (CLV)

‘At our own time’ our own uncircumcised flesh is given dominion over us who are to become the very body of Christ, and we “leave our first love” (Rev 2:4). Like Samson, the Lord works even our rebellious, carnal nature “after the counsel of His own will.”

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

Rev 2:4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

For that reason, we can all say with the apostle Paul, who was the former Christ-hating Saul of Tarsus:

1Ti 1:12  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
1Ti 1:13  Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
1Ti 1:14  And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

“I am… chief of sinners” is how each of us should feel toward ourselves because no one knows us as well as we know ourselves. Like Paul, you and I are in no position to look down on others as sinners because we, too, have sinned and committed many transgressions against the words of our Lord. Nevertheless, there is a reason we have been forgiven our sins and have been granted dominion over sin in our lives. It is the same as the reason Paul was forgiven his sins, as Paul explains in the very next verse:

1Ti 1:16  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me [us] first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Paul confirms that this reasoning applies to all of us and not just himself in the very next verse of Ephesians:

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

1^st Timothy 1:14 tells us that ‘grace works with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus’.

1Ti 1:14  And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

We are told that ‘grace chastens us to forsake ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and [to] live godly lives in this present age’:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: ‘paideuo’, chastens] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [G165: ‘aion’, age];

Of course love “is… obedience to His commandments”:

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

So “the grace of God that brings salvation” is not lascivious, greasy grace. It is rather ‘chastening grace’ which “chastens us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.”

The scriptures tell us:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

We must never give in to an attitude of complacency and reason that if God is sovereign, then we need not be diligent, vigilant or sober. That is the complacent, “luke-warm” spirit of the church of Laodicea. Such a mindset is as far from the instructions of scripture as can possibly be. Here is how Christ tells us to be:

Luk 16:8  And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

The Lord did not commend the unjust steward for being “unjust”. He even tells us in this very same parable that is not His point:

Luk 16:11  If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
Luk 16:12  And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?

What the Lord was commending was the unjust steward’s zealous, vigilant and diligent efforts to provide for his future needs.

Luk 16:8  And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Luk 16:9  And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

This is just the Lord’s way of telling those who are obedient to His words what He told us in:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

So, yes, we are to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Php 2:12). However, when and if we are granted to do so, we must be very careful and acknowledge the Truth of what we are told in the very next verse:

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

All things are done “after the counsel of His own will… to do… His good pleasure”. If the Lord desires anything then that is what He does:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

Therefore it is because of this “chastening” characteristic of the Lord’s grace that we see so many more verses which concern our chastening than there are those verses which concern our spiritual blessings for being obedient to the Lord in this present age.

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

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

That is the Lord’s choice for how He is going about “working all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11).

We have now laid the foundation to continue our studies in this chastening prophecy of Jeremiah. This prophecy, like every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God, has a personal application first and foremost to each of us. All the rebellions and chastening we will read of in this prophecy happened to ancient Israel and Judah as types of us.

1Co 10:6 Now these things became types of us, for us not to be lusters after evil things, (CLV)

These are the verses for our next study… our continued instructions concerning how the Lord is working with and is “chastening us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts… for our sakes” (Tit 2:11-12, 2Co 4:15):

Jer 1:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Jer 1:12  Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
Jer 1:13  And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.
Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Jer 1:15  For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
Jer 1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Jer 1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
Jer 1:18  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
Jer 1:19  And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Jer 1:1-10 I Have This Day Set Thee Over The Nations and Over The Kingdoms

[Study Aired November 22, 2020]

Jer 1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
Jer 1:2  To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
Jer 1:3  It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
Jer 1:4  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Jer 1:6  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
Jer 1:7  But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Jer 1:8  Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Jer 1:9  Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

The title of this study, taken from our tenth verse, is first true in “this present time” within if we are given that gift. If we are granted the “gift… in this present time” (Eph 2:8 and Rom 8:18) to rule over the nations that are within us, then, and only then, will we also be given to rule the outward physical nations of this world (Rev 2:27).

To demonstrate and display the Lord’s enduring mercy, the holy spirit has seen fit to tell us when each prophet gave his prophecy.  Doing this demonstrates that He is working all things after the counsel of His own will regardless of which king is on the throne and regardless of what we do. The reason for letting us know when the prophets prophesied is to let us know that both the good and the evil kings of Israel and Judah are all within our own flesh and are serving as nothing more than instruments in His hand to cause His glory to be declared throughout the world, just as He did with the wicked Pharaoh, who was oppressing His people:

Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

The Lord spoke to His people through the prophet Isaiah beginning in the reign of Uzziah and ending in the reign of Hezekiah:

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Let’s take note of the Lord’s longsuffering mercy. King Solomon’s reign was approximately 1,000 years before Christ. King Solomon was granted great wisdom, yet he apostatized and married hundreds of wives out of the nations around him. The reign of Uzziah was nine wicked Jewish kings later and approximately 200 years after King Solomon’s reign. Some were less wicked than others, but there were ‘none that did good, no not one.’

Psa 14:2  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
Psa 14:3  They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Jeremiah informs us that his prophecy begins “in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. What we are not told right here in Jeremiah is that one of the most evil kings ever to rule over Judah, King Manasseh, was the father of King Amon (2Ki 21:18). His reign was the longest of any king of Judah, spanning 55 years between the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah. Manasseh, according to both the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud, was the king who had the prophet Isaiah “sawn asunder”.

The so-called ‘faith chapter’, chapter 11 in the book of Hebrews, alludes to just such an event:

Heb 11:36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Heb 11:38  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Here is a short summary of King Manasseh’s reign:

2Ki 21:1  Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2Ki 21:2  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
2Ki 21:3  For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
2Ki 21:4  And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
2Ki 21:5  And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
2Ki 21:6  And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
2Ki 21:7  And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
2Ki 21:8  Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
2Ki 21:9  But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.

He is considered by many to be the most wicked of all the kings of Judah, and yet his rule endured 55 years, signifying the great mercy, grace and faith the Lord has shown toward us.

Both Manasseh and Amon, his son, were extremely evil kings. King Amon was assassinated by his own servants. It was the assassination of King Amon, after only two years on the throne, which occasioned the ascent of King Josiah to the throne of Judah. The story of King Amon’s ascension to the throne includes the great mercy the Lord extended to his father, wicked king Manasseh:

2Ki 21:16  Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
2Ki 21:17  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
2Ki 21:18  And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
2Ki 21:19  Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
2Ki 21:20  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did.
2Ki 21:21  And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:
2Ki 21:22  And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.
2Ki 21:23  And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house.
2Ki 21:24  And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

Jeremiah’s prophecy began in the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign. So, 55 years of King Manasseh, and two years of King Amon’s reign, plus 13 years into the reign of Josiah, gives us 70 years since the time the prophecy of Isaiah ends. That is as long as the Babylonian captivity and is a precursor to that event.

It is very instructive to note what very few know or acknowledge is that the Lord brought Judah’s most wicked king, King Manasseh, to repentance, typifying the great mercy being shed upon all of us. His sins are all we hear about him. I can remember how shocked and surprised I was when I first had my eyes opened to these words several years back:

2Ch 33:1  Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:
2Ch 33:2  But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
2Ch 33:3  For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
2Ch 33:4  Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
2Ch 33:5  And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
2Ch 33:6  And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
2Ch 33:7  And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
2Ch 33:8  Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.
2Ch 33:9  So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

However, the Lord dragged King Manasseh to repentance:

2Ch 33:10  And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.
2Ch 33:11  Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, [all his rebellious lying false doctrines] and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
2Ch 33:12  And when he was in affliction [in Babylon], he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
2Ch 33:13  And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.
2Ch 33:14  Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.
2Ch 33:15  And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
2Ch 33:16  And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, [In type he began to be crucified with Christ and to die daily in His service] and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
2Ch 33:17  Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.

Like their fathers before them, Judah wanted to serve God, but they wanted to do so on their own terms. Their terms permitted what the Lord did not permit. Their terms permitted them to fit in with the nations around them by keeping the traditions of those nations and claiming to do so to the Lord. This what our Lord thinks of such an arrangement:

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Mankind, typified by Judah, was of that same nature even after the crushing and repentance of King Manasseh:

2Ch 33:18  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.
2Ch 33:19  His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.
2Ch 33:20  So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

King Manasseh, like King Nebuchadnezzar many years later, led the Lord’s people into great evil. Yet the Lord, in His mercy, typifying and signifying His mercy towards each of us, saw fit to bring both these extremely wicked men to repentance before they died.

So the king who initiated so much apostasy within Judah, and the Gentile King who was used to punish the Lord’s people for their sins, both come to see themselves as the “chief of sinners”, and they both serve as “types of us” if we are granted repentance in “this present time” (Rom 8:18):

1Co 10:6 Now these things became types of us, for us not to be lusters after evil things, (CLV).

This all places Jeremiah’s prophecy about 640 years before Christ.

Jeremiah’s prophecy continued from the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign, through the reign of Jehoiakim “unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive into Babylon in the fifth month” of Zedekiah’s 11^th year.

It is interesting to note that most of the prophets are raised up by the Lord within the last 100 years of the Jewish nation. This fact typifies how “knowledge… [is] increased… in [our] last days”:

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

In giving such a witness to His people, and at the same time hardening their hearts, the Lord is giving Himself the occasion He is seeking to bring physical Israel to an end as a nation, both within us and outwardly. Judah and Jerusalem are now a type and a shadow of “Babylon the great the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth”:

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

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 “faithful city” becoming a murderous harlot in Isaiah 1:21 is “Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth… drunken with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”

Such is the atmosphere of the people who claim the Lord’s name in the time of this prophecy of Jeremiah, 70 years after the end of the prophecy of Isaiah.

Jer 1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
Jer 1:2  To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
Jer 1:3  It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

The fact this “carrying away of Jerusalem captive” was in “the eleventh year of Zedekiah” indicates the confusion and chaos of the Lord’s nation of that time (you can check out this link for the significance of the number eleven: The Number Eleven). The fact that it took place in “the fifth month” indicates that sending each of us off into Babylon as captives of that false lying system is actually a work of the Lord’s chastening grace (here is the link for the number five: The Number Five). It is while we are rebelling against Him and His ways, and while we are enslaved in Babylon, that we are made aware that the Lord’s grace “chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly lives in this present age.

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

This is how we are to be conduct our lives when we come out of Babylon:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [Greek: paideuō, ‘chastening’] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Our next verses demonstrate that the Lord knows whom He has chosen as His firstfruits “while we are yet sinners”:

Jer 1:4  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

These words are in complete accord with the scriptures which Jeremiah knew so well:

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.

Isa 46:9  Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Isa 46:10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

While we are admonished against laying our hands on a novice, because he will tend in his immaturity to become puffed up, nevertheless, when the holy spirit humbles some of us in our youth, then we are to acknowledge Christ in that person:

1Ti 3:2  A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:3  Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1Ti 3:4  One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5  (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
1Ti 3:6  Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
1Ti 3:7  Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

While instructing Timothy to be careful about ordaining a novice, this is what Paul tells us of Timothy himself in the very next chapter:

1Ti 4:12  Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

It should be obvious that being “a novice” has more to do with being new to the doctrines of Christ and being new to the Word, than it does with one’s age, because we are also told this about Timothy’s background and his history:

2Ti 1:5  When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
2Ti 1:6  Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

However, our flesh just naturally resists the Lord’s calling:

Jer 1:6  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
Jer 1:7  But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.

Moses’ flesh had this same reaction to the Lord’s calling, but for a different reason:

Exo 4:10  And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

To which the Lord responded:

Exo 4:11  And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

It was not the devil who makes us to be dumb, deaf, blind or seeing. In whatever condition we find ourselves, it is all a work of the Lord’s hand after the counsel of His own will:

Act 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

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

Truth is truth regardless of the messenger of that Truth. If the Lord lays His hand upon us, nothing we can do will stop Him from using us, because He is working all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). If we are “the called according to His purpose” then everything we experience, good or evil, will be made by our Lord to work together for our good (Rom 8:28). For that reason, we should…

Jer 1:8  Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Jer 1:9  Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

These words are true within, and they will be true outwardly as well if we are given a part in that “blessed and holy first resurrection. At “this present time” (Rom 8:18) the kingdom of God is within us only and so, too, are all the enemies of His kingdom which is within us.

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

Mar 7:21  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mar 7:22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Mar 7:23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

How are we to do war with the nations of the enemies of the Lord’s people within us?

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Our commission to “revenge all disobedience” will be given to us only after our own obedience has been fulfilled. In other words, it will not be in “this present time”, and it will only be given us if we are the first to do warfare with and overcome all the enemies of “the kingdom of God [which] is [at the] present time… within [us]”.

Here are those inward enemies, and here are the weapons of our warfare in this age:

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:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood” is not meant to be understood as denying that we are to “crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts [and] put off the old man”:

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

What we are being told is that if we fail to realize there is a spiritual realm which controls the natural realm, then we are vastly unaware of and vastly underestimating our enemy.

Paul listed four of our spiritual enemies:

1)  Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities…

This is the Greek word with its definition from which this English word ‘principalities’ is translated:

G746
ἀρχή
archē
ar-khay’
From G756; (properly abstract) a commencement, or (concrete) chief (in various applications of order, time, place or rank): – beginning, corner, (at the, the) first (estate), magistrate, power, principality, principle, rule.

Our “chief” enemy is not our flesh, as much as it is he whom our flesh unwittingly worships. When we worship ourselves and tell ourselves that we, with our free will, have chosen to love and obey the Lord, we are in spiritual reality worshipping “the dragon, that old serpent the devil and Satan”:

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 13:4  And they [“all men, small and great, rich and poor, free and bond”, Rev 13:16] 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?

Our flesh is indeed our enemy, but we need to acknowledge that it is only when we are deceived by “the god of this world” that our flesh continues to dominate our lives even as we think we are serving the Lord and doing many wonderful works in His name:

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

When the Lord turns us over to Satan for the destruction of our flesh, as the book of Job demonstrates, we are helpless against that “principality”.

2) Against powers:

This is the Greek word translated as ‘powers’:

G1849
ἐξουσία
exousia
ex-oo-see’-ah
From G1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, that is, (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence: – authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.

It is the Lord’s hand which has “formed the crooked serpent, the devil. He did not fall from perfection, and there is no “great controversy” between the Lord and the serpent He created to be “the destroyer”:

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

Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

In the book of Job, Satan did exactly what the Lord sent him to do to Job. He could do nothing more, and He could do nothing less:

Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

Both our flesh and its ‘god’…, “the god of this world”, were “made to be taken and destroyed”:

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

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;

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

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;

Satan’s power, against which we struggle, is given him of God. There is no power but of God:

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Our flesh is born under unbelief, under the power of our father the devil, under the Lord’s wrath:

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

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.

The false doctrine which teaches that Satan was created in spiritual perfection and that he chose to go bad, is a lie. The Truth is… “He was a murderer from the beginning” because the Lord’s own hand had formed him to be a “crooked serpent… the waster to destroy”.

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

Isa 54:16  Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

Satan is “the god of this world” only because the Lord has given Him that power, and “the powers that be are ordained of God”, even “the basest 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.

Luk 4:6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

3) Against the rulers of the darkness of this world,

We all begin life as unbelievers in total darkness with the wrath of God abiding upon us, as we saw earlier in:

Joh 3:35  The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

“He that believes not” is in darkness, and the great red dragon, that old serpent the devil, is the god of all unbelievers whether or not they acknowledge him as such. We are all in the bondage and in the darkness of this world by default. We are powerless against our darkened flesh, and only the Lord can deliver us from this hopeless position and our corrupt composition:

Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

4) Against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The word ‘places’ is in italics because it is not in the Greek. The Greek simply reads “…spiritual wickedness in the heavens”. The Greek word translated as “high places” in this verse is:

G2032
ἐπουράνιος
epouranios
ep-oo-ran’-ee-os
From G1909 and G3772; above the sky: – celestial, (in) heaven (-ly), high.

As we have seen, “the kingdom of God is within [us] to such an extent that we are told that we are being made to sit with Christ in the heavens:

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places [G2032, epouranios] in Christ Jesus:

Both the “raised us up together [and the] made us sit together” are in the aorist tense, meaning that a process is taking place which is purifying our heavens where we are being seated with Christ. It is few ‘Christians’ indeed who recognize that “the heavens” are in need of being purified as the scriptures teach with these words… “spiritual wickedness in high places”, and as we are plainly told in:

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [must be purified] with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

We are the “heaven itself” into which Christ is entering and purifying us as His heavenly tabernacle… His heavenly “temple of God”:

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

The battle before us is not a carnal battle, and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. All powers in heaven and on earth are the creations of our Lord for the purpose of working out His plan to “reconcile all things unto Himself.”

There is no “great controversy” between God and the devil. The devil, just as we are, is nothing more than “clay in the Potter’s hand”, doing exactly what ‘the Lord’s hand and His counsel determined before to be done.’

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Col 1:16  For by him [Christ, verse 18] 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 [Christ] should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

It is through “the Lord and His Christ” that Christ, who is both Lord and Christ, will bring about the “reconciling of all things unto Himself”, because it was Christ Himself who was sent into the world “that the world through Him might be saved”, and it is Christ Himself who 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.

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

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

It is with the goal of reconciling all of mankind to God that Jeremiah, as a type of who we are as “the Lord’s Christ”, is told:

Jer 1:9  Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
Jer 1:10  See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

The prophet Jeremiah did this in type and in shadow. We, as the Christ of Christ, do these things both inwardly, now “in this present time” (Rom 8:18), and we will do these things outwardly in the thousand-year reign and in the great white throne judgment reigning over all men of all time:

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 [Jer 1:10].

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.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

That is our study for today. Next week we will learn how urgent our testimony is to this world, both within and outwardly, through these words:

Jer 1:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Jer 1:12  Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
Jer 1:13  And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.
Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Jer 1:15  For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
Jer 1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Jer 1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

Isa 23:1-6 As At The Report of Egypt, So Shall They Be...At The Report of Tyre

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Isa 23:1-6  As At The Report of Egypt, So Shall They Be... At The Report 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.

In the physical realm, this is a prophecy of the destruction of Tyre by King Nebuchanezzar, and later the Tyre of the island about half a mile off the coast is destroyed by Alexander the Great. This prophecy had an outward fulfillment in the days of Ezekiel:

Eze 29:17  And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 29:18  Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:
Eze 29:19  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.
Eze 29:20  I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 29:21  In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Tyre is destroyed and Egypt's destruction immediately follows. When that happens, then the Lord "will cause the horn of [His] Israel to bud forth.

So the burden of Tyre is pronounced upon her here in Isaiah:

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.

Tyre works very closely with Zidon and with all her daughter cities of the world to increase her profits and her influence throughout the outward world as well as  the world within us. This prophecy is repeated in another form in Ezekiel 28. "The pride of life" is alive and well within Tyre, outwardly as well as within us:

Eze 28:1  The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Eze 28:2  Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Eze 28:3  Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
Eze 28:4  With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
Eze 28:5  By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
Eze 28:6  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
Eze 28:7  Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
Eze 28:8  They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
Eze 28:9  Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Eze 28:10  Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 28:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 28:12  Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Eze 28:16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Eze 28:18  Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Eze 28:19  All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Tyre's "traffic" (verse 5) and "the multitude of [her] merchandise"(verse 16) have made her rich "in the midst of the sea", but her riches cannot deter the judgments of God:

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.

Tyre is made rich "by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river." Her revenues come to her via "great waters the seed of Sihor." Ezekiel 28:2 tells us Tyre is situated "in the midst of the sea". What are we being told? What is the meaning of "great waters"? This is what we are being told about the extent of Tyre's influence:

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.

Lest we miss the point about the universal influence of this "great whore", the Lord tells us plainly:

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

So what is this 'Sihor', also called 'Shihor'? The name appropriately means 'dark'. This name appears three other times in scripture, and those verses will help us to see who is being referenced here in Isaiah:

Jos 13:3  From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:

1Ch 13:5  So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim.

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?

"...The waters of Sihor... in the way of Egypt, [and] Sihor, which is before Egypt", tell us that the waters of Sihor are the waters of Egypt, apparently the waters of the Nile which served to make "the way of Egypt" the envy of the world in her day. Spiritually speaking they are "dark" waters, and they are the same as "the way of Assyria".  Both are the opposite of the way and the waters of these "rivers":

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

Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

We all know what coming up out of Egypt typifies. Coming up out of the darkness and slavery of "the great waters, the seed of Sihor" in Egypt is just an earlier, less mature part in our book of coming out of Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans. Babylon is the symbol of a later, more mature form of the enslavement of the Lord's Israel to an even greater darkness and an even greater slavery to "the waters of Assyria... the rivers of Babylon" (Psa 137:1):

Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Hos 11:3  I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
Hos 11:4  I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
Hos 11:5  He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

Jeremiah parallels "the waters... of Egypt" with "the waters of the river... of Assyria", and 'Assyria' is the same as 'Babylon, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth'. Why does Jeremiah mention Egypt and Assyria in the same breath? The reason is that these are the two places where Israel served as slaves. Egypt comes first because it symbolizes our slavery to our flesh as "a child". Assyria and Babylon are later because it is within that great harlot that we are ensnared by all of her doctrines which appeal to our flesh and thereby enslave "the souls of men".

Ezekiel 28  could be a duplication of Isaiah 14  if we just replace the name 'Babylon' in Isaiah 14 with the name 'Tyre' in Ezekiel 28. Once again "the dream is one" (Gen 41:25-26), and Tyre is just another symbol of the grip that false religions have upon Adam. The religions of this world are spiritual whores who want to "eat [their] own bread and wear [their] own apparel, but [they want to be] called by [God's] name":

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

And this is what the Lord tells us about these "seven" daughters of the "great whore" which is the religions and false doctrines to which we have all been enslaved, and to which the religions of this world are still totally enslaved:

Isa 14:13  For thou [the king of Babylon] hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Now let's read Jeremiah 2:18 again, and this time let's notice what the very next verse tells us about the fruit of the waters of both Egypt and Assyria:

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
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.

Jeremiah asks us, "What have [we] to do in the way of Egypt, and in the way of Assyria?"  Then he answers his own question informing us of the fruits of drinking the water of Sihor and the waters of the river of Assyria:

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.

We have demonstrated the Biblical parallels between the king of Babylon in Isa 28 and the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 14. Both are symbols of our later slavery in captivity to the doctrines of "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of 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.

When Tyre is destroyed, she is ashamed and mourns the fact that she can no longer travail and bring forth any more children, young men, or virgins. Notice how the same thing is said of Babylon when she is suddenly unable to function as an influence throughout the world as she has for so long.

First, let's take note how Babylon is the habitation of all the false religious doctrines, which slander the name of a loving heavenly Father:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
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.
Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

Now let's notice how much our old man and the friends of our old man miss him when he is destroyed within us and when Babylon's grip upon mankind is destroyed:

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.
Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
Rev 18:12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
Rev 18:13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
Rev 18:14  And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
Rev 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16  And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17  For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
Rev 18:19  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Tyre and Babylon are both symbols of a religious spiritual harlot who "says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow" (Rev 18:7).

Her destruction by Nebuchadnezzar is the outward physical fulfillment of this "burden of Tyre", but the spiritual fulfillment of this event within us is our own judgment which will in time "cause the horn of [the Lord's spiritual] Israel to bud forth" and in time it will also give us "the opening of the mouth" to cause the whole world to know that Christ is the true king of "the kingdoms of this world":

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.

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

Utilizing "the dream is one" principle, we have seen that Tyre and Babylon are both symbols of the Lord's own apostate Israel, which in turn symbolizes the apostate Christian church. The similarities of actions of the two kings, the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14 and the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28, are as striking as the similarities of the actions of the corn and the cows in Pharaoh's dreams, where we learn of this Biblical principle of "the dream is one".

Let's take the time to take note of the revelation of this principle in:

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.

"The dream is one" is a Biblical principle which must apply throughout all scripture. The lean cows and the thin, blasted ears of corn are both symbols of who we are. They are symbols of the kingdom of our old man who devours us and is none the better for doing so. The well-fed cows and "the seven good ears" symbolize the mind of and doctrines of our new man who is destroyed by our old man, as we destroyed Christ before we were given to die with Him. Yet it is through that destruction of the Truth that we are judged and learn to die with Christ so we can then be saved from death.

This is how Christ explains this process:

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.

The seven lean years symbolize our starved, dying process, but the stored up grain symbolizes the life that comes out of that famine of the words of God. When the famine has run its course, then the corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, and life comes through that death just as the Lord's words teach us.

In Isaiah 14 we are given a "proverb against the king of Babylon". We are told his pomp is brought down to the grave because he said in his heart, "I will ascend into heaven... I will be like the most high." Then we are told, "Yet you shall be brought down to the grave, to the sides of the pit."

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

In Ezekiel 28 we are told "[your] heart is lifted up, and you said, I am God..."

Eze 28:2  Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

Then the king of Tyre is told the same thing as the king of Babylon:

Eze 28:8  They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
Eze 28:9  Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Eze 28:10  Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

Tyre is no more Babylon than corn is cows. Yet in both cases the two are "one dream", and in both cases the message is the same. The kingdom of our old man must be destroyed before the kingdom of our new man will come forth out of that death, just as Christ came forth out of the grave as a "corn of wheat [which had] fallen into the ground and died".

Neither of these chapters say a word about any spirit being such as Satan. Both chapters deal with "a man" whose "heart is lifted up" and who "say[s] in [his] heart, I am God." Both men are "brought down to the grave" and are destroyed as types of our old man who makes all those same claims while he, too, "sits in the temple of God" claiming to be God:

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 [our own old man] as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

It is an over simplification of scripture, but it is still true that from Genesis 1:1 to Rev 22:21 it is these two men who are in view. All scriptures actually concern themselves with nothing more than our old, "first man Adam", and our new man, "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.

With this understanding, let's now look at our last three verses for today's study:

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.

Here is how "the sea... bring[s] forth children". Here in the New Testament is the exact spiritual opposite of verse Isaiah 23:4 along with the fruit of the children who "rise up out of the sea":

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.

But here we are being told that Tyre will be destroyed and will no longer produce any children. The report of her destruction is likened to the report of Egypt's destruction. Our old man is destroyed as Christ is being birthed within us. When the Lord delivered Israel out of Egypt He destroyed Egypt in the process. Yet it still took the death of the firstborn of Egypt to bring Egypt to her knees, and even then this symbol of our old man still wanted to enslave and destroy us:

Exo 10:7  And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

Exo 12:29  And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
Exo 12:30  And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

At this point, Pharaoh and his people were now moved by great fear to cast Israel out of Egypt and to pay them to leave:

Exo 12:33  And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.
Exo 12:34  And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
Exo 12:35  And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:
Exo 12:36  And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

But as a testimony to our stubborn, rebellious nature, Pharaoh could not leave well enough alone, and he still thought he could somehow overpower the Lord and again enslave and destroy us. Pharaoh is our old man, and his predestined doom was very near:

Exo 14:8  And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
Exo 14:9  But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.

Exo 14:27  And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
Exo 14:28  And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
Exo 14:29  But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
Exo 14:30  Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.

The parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea; all of this was reported to the nations in the land of Canaan and their hearts melted.

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.

What does all of this mean to the kingdom of our old man within us? Here is what it means to Tyre and all her daughters:

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.

Conversely Christ within us can rest and rejoice in His strength and in the comfort of His Words. "If God [is] for us who can be against us?"

This is the positive side of Isaiah 23:5-6:

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
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.

That is our study for today. Next week we will see that the outcome of the war in our heavens against the kingdom of our old man has already been determined and written down for our comfort and  our admonition.

Isa 23:6  Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
Isa 23:7  Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Isa 23:8  Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?
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.
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.
Isa 23:12  And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 13 Discussion

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Isa 3:6-10 They Declare Their Sin As Sodom,  They Hide It Not

Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
Isa 3:9  The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
Isa 3:10  Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

Throughout these studies we will be reminding you that Isaiah, as much as any Old Testament prophet, affirms the total sovereignty of God to the extent that the holy spirit inspired Isaiah to reveal that even our sins are the work of His hand and His foreknowledge, and even our sins and errors were written in God's book of our life before we were born, while we are in our mother's womb, having done neither good nor evil.

Isaiah knew what King David had been shown about the extent of the work of the hand of God in all things. This is what King David reveals to us:

Psa 139:15  My frame was not hidden from thee, When I was made in secret, And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 
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.(ASV)

Isaiah was also familiar with what King Solomon had added to His father's revelation:

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.

So Isaiah had no reservations penning these words when he was inspired by the holy spirit to do so:

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

What all of this reveals for those who understand it is that everything being done is being worked by our God "to do whatsoever [His] hand and [His] foreknowledge determined before to be done" (Act 4:26-28), "after the counsel of His own will" (Eph 1:18).

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

God is "working all things after the counsel of His own will" in the life of every man who has or who will ever live. Mankind, we are told by Christ, must live by every word which has proceeded out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4). Therefore we must live these words from last week's study, as His judgment against the kingdom of our proud, rebellious, old man:

Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

Mankind feels the need to cover up and deny what God is in the process of doing to the sons of men, but God is not the least bit shy about taking credit for the work He is doing to the sons of men (Psa 107:8, 15, 21, and 31). Our God clearly states all of his works in no uncertain terms with no fear at all of what men think of Him for "doing all things after the counsel of His own will" and doing all things only in line with what His hand and His counsel "determined before to be done" (Pro 16:4; Isa 45:7, Isa 63:17, Act 4:26-28).

His advice to each of us, as well as the rulers of the kingdoms of the world, is:

Psa 2:10  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Psa 2:11  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 
Psa 2:12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

The reason we are instructed to "Kiss the Son", is that we do not just naturally do so. What we naturally do is rebel against and hate the Son and attempt to steal His inheritance:

Mat 21:38  But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.

"His inheritance" is in the hearts and minds of His saints:

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,

We "seize... His inheritance" when we rebel against His words and His doctrine, and when we refuse to be of the same mind with Christ and His Father.

As we all know, however, there is no honor among thieves, and God causes our own wicked ways to correct us as individuals and as nations:

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.

That "evil thing and bitter" will begin within our own homes and our own families. God is not mocked, we will reap what we sow (Gal 6:7-8). Verse 5 from last week's study tells us how we will reap what we have sown:

Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

Do you think that verse refers to someone you know, but not to you? These prophecies are all fulfilled both inwardly and outwardly in every life in every generation.  Here are a couple of repetitions of this principle of God's judgment being administered "every one by his neighbor":

Hag 2:22  And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. 

Zec 11:9  Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

When God's judgments begin to do their work in our lives, we just never consider repentance toward God as a first option. Rather, we look to the flesh and seek a carnal hero, who will always disappoint us:

Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:

When Israel's sins and rebellion against their own God were met by the judgments of God and they sought an ally against the nation or nations God sent to administer His justice for their sins, Israel, as a type of each of us, always sought help from Egypt and from the nations around her instead of trusting in their own God. Israel is also a type of our nation wherever we live in this world. All nations always seek to this world for help before later being forced to cry out to the Creator for His mercy and His supernatural deliverance.

Trusting in the flesh is what we just naturally do first. These are the words of an Assyrian captain to God's people in Jerusalem, but they proved to be true then just as they are today:

Isa 36:6  Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt [our own flesh, and our own strength]; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

Later this prophecy was fulfilled in Israel under the prophet Jeremiah after Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Judah. We of ourselves just cannot trust in God's salvation and deliverance. The Biblical account of Israel, as a type of our natural tendency to trust our own strength and our own wisdom, will serve to demonstrate how this next verse is fulfilled in our lives:

Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.

"In that day" is the day in which we are being judged, and we are being shown just how little our faith is in Christ and His ways. We are offered rulership, but we cannot accept that blessing simply because we are first commanded to learn to trust in Christ, and we simply don't have the faith to do so. We have "neither bread nor clothing".

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

The history of ancient Israel is the story of our experience, and it is our experience that at the first part of our walk we just do not have the faith to "trust in the Lord" more than we "trust in [our] own understanding" and our own strength. That is the very reason Proverbs 3:5 appears in scripture.  The story of ancient Israel's history is in God's word for our instruction at this time.

One part of that history which demonstrates how we always depend upon our own strength and our own wisdom over the Word of God is the story of God's prophet Jeremiah at the time of Judah's Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah is a type and shadow of God's elect who are always placed in the position of representing Christ and His Father in a world that has no use for Christ or His Father. That is where we all sit at that moment.

At our own appointed time we do not want to "be an healer" because we know we are not yet qualified to heal anyone, and we certainly do not want to "let this ruin to be under [our] hand". The story of ancient Israel is our own story. The story of Jeremiah is a story of how the Lord supernaturally protects his elect even as he destroys the kingdom of our Babylonian old man within each of us:

Jer 40:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon.
Jer 40:2  And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.
Jer 40:3  Now the LORD hath brought it, and done according as he hath said: because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.
Jer 40:4  And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go.
Jer 40:5  Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.
Jer 40:6  Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.
Jer 40:7  Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;
Jer 40:8  Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
Jer 40:9  And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

The kingdom of our old man has been plundered. It is clear that we have not been pleasing our God, our heavenly Father. We are broken, but we are still defiant and proud because we have not yet been crushed to powder by our own wickedness. "All the captains of the forces which were in the fields" have escaped being carried away into Babylon, and they are very proud of that fact. Jerusalem may have fallen, but these men within us are not the least subdued by God's judgment upon Israel and Judah. This, too, is our own old man.

Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

We actually demonstrate by our own actions that we are these "captains of the forces which were in the fields". We actually think we can get by with sticking our finger in "the eyes of [God's] glory" and get by without being punished for our presumptuous, rebellious ways. This takes place within us, and it is taking place outwardly as we continue to demand our constitutional right to take pride in our nakedness and in our perversions of every imaginable sort. It will continue only for a short time simply because God is not mocked, and we do reap what we sow (Gal 6:7-8).

These "captains of the forces which were in the fields", as the proud men they are, cannot live in peace with each other, and one of them with ten men wanted to slay the man who Nebuchadnezzar had made king to represent him with God's rebellious people.

Jer 40:13  Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,
Jer 40:14  And said unto him, Dost thou certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.
Jer 40:15  Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: wherefore should he slay thee, that all the Jews which are gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?
Jer 40:16  But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.

The name 'Babel' means confusion, after the confusion of the tongues of mankind at the tower of Babel. It aptly describes the confusion with which we live in rebellion to our God. Even our "captains of the forces which were in the field" are in constant conflict with each other:

Jer 41:1  Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.
Jer 41:2  Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.
Jer 41:3  Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war.

These murderers are "of the seed royal... princes of the king". These, as Judas was, typify God's rejected elect. These are "the first man Adam... the figure of Him that was to come" (Rom 5:14), and they cannot accept the punishment placed upon them for their rebellion against their God and Creator, even as we cannot.

Ishmael and the ten princes with him carried all the people who had been with King Gedaliah away with them to take them to the Ammonites.

Jer 41:10  Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.

But Johanan and the other captains of the forces which were in the field heard what Ishmael had done, and went and rescued the people Ishmael had captured.

Jer 41:11  But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,
Jer 41:12  Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.
Jer 41:13  Now it came to pass, that when all the people which were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad.
Jer 41:14  So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah.
Jer 41:15  But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
Jer 41:16  Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:
Jer 41:17  And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
Jer 41:18  Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.

Johanan and all the captains of forces that were with him are not all that different than Ishmael as it turns out. And this brings us back to the first verses in today's study:

Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.

Johanan was offered the peace and stability that comes with being obedient to God, and he refused to be obedient because he feared the Babylonians more than God. Johanan and all the captains of the forces with him, and all the people he had rescued from Ishmael, now come to Jeremiah seeking to know what the Lord would have them to do now that the man whom Nebuchadnezzar had made king has been killed by Ishmael. This is what happened after the people came to Jeremiah, the Lord's true prophet, the prophet who had prophesied that Judah would be carried away into Babylon against incredible circumstances which threatened his life. They had enough respect to consult Him, but they could not abide in the Lord's words coming to them through Jeremiah the Lord's proven prophet:

Jer 42:1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
Jer 42:2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) 
Jer 42:3 That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do. 
Jer 42:4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.

These "captains of the forces" are the force and power of the flesh of our rebellious old man over us. This is what we tell our Lord as we are totally unaware of how incapable we are of keeping our own words to Him:

Jer 42:5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
Jer 42:6  Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.
Jer 42:7  And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.
Jer 42:8  Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
Jer 42:9  And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;
Jer 42:10  If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.
Jer 42:11  Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
Jer 42:12  And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
Jer 42:13  But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
Jer 42:14  Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
Jer 42:15  And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
Jer 42:16  Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
Jer 42:17  So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
Jer 42:18  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.
Jer 42:19  The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.
Jer 42:20  For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.
Jer 42:21  And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.
Jer 42:22  Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.

We are not even aware that we are coming to God with our minds already made up. We have no intention of relying on Him for our safety, but we hope He will tell us to depend upon our own strength and upon our own wisdom. The scriptural term for this state of mind is "idols of the heart":

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

That is exactly what happened when these people came to Jeremiah, the Lord's true prophet, the prophet who had prophesied that Judah would be carried away into Babylon against incredible circumstances which threatened his life. They had enough respect to consult Him, but they could not abide his words. They had "come to the prophet" to "enquire of [God]", but they came with their minds already made up, and they were quick to tell Jeremiah what they thought of what the Lord had told them by the words of His prophet:

Jer 43:1  And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words,
Jer 43:2  Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there: 
Jer 43:3  But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.
Jer 43:4  So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.
Jer 43:5  But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;
Jer 43:6  Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.
Jer 43:7  So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.

These are great prominent men whose pride will not let them submit to the Lord's chastening as servants of the king of Babylon. They think they have escaped having to go away into Babylon, and they are proud of that fact. We do well to acknowledge that our time in Babylon is an essential part of God's judgment upon the pride of the kingdom of our old man. But they, as types of us, are proud, and consequently they/we cannot bring themselves/ourselves to be obedient to the words of God. These men are each of us, and we are all predestined to go away into Babylon after we come to the Lord. It has proceeded out of the mouth of God, and we will live by every word. All we need to do is acknowledge that we must all serve Babylon, but the scriptures reveal that our old man just cannot accept such total humiliation. Our old man's boldness in his rebellion is the worst just before his destruction. That destruction is prophesied, and it is sure to come at the appointed time. The longer we refuse to submit to our judgment, the more severe that judgment becomes.

Jeremiah was forced to go into Egypt with Johanan and the captains of the forces, but even in Egypt Jeremiah was faithful to His Lord, and he prophesied of the severity of God's judgment upon His people as a type of us for seeking to Egypt and this world for her strength and her safety:

Jer 43:8  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
Jer 43:9  Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
Jer 43:10  And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.
Jer 43:11  And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.
Jer 43:12  And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.
Jer 43:13  He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.

But we cannot  hear the Lord's words, and our pride is now out in the open, and we no longer make any pretense of seeking to please our Lord:

Isa 3:9  The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

True to our nature, this is what we say when told of the Lord's promised judgments:

Jer 44:15  Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 44:16  As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
Jer 44:17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
Jer 44:18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 
Jer 44:19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
Jer 44:20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,
Jer 44:21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind? 
Jer 44:22 So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. 
Jer 44:23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.
Jer 44:24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:
Jer 44:25 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows. [You will continue to keep the days, months, times and years which make you fit in with the people around you]
Jer 44:26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.
Jer 44:27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.
Jer 44:28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs. 
Jer 44:29 And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: 
Jer 44:30 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

These are all the judgments that must come upon the kingdom of our old man. Pray that he does all His wonderful work of bringing us to our wits' end, and judging us all in this age because:

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.

Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

If we are given to be judged first in this age, then we will hear these words:

Isa 3:10  Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

This is what we are told of those who are given to be "the righteous", and this is the promised "fruit of their doings":

Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

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.

The Prophecy of Isaiah

Our next series of studies will be the books of two of the so-called ‘major prophets’. We will first ask the Lord to open up to us these words He gave to the prophet Isaiah. If we are granted to finish that book, then we will make the same petition concerning the book of Jeremiah. Both of these prophets have much to say about Christ and His Christ and their kingdom, but they are also full of the judgments which are prophesied to be poured out upon our old man and his kingdom. Both are spiritual words which have never passed away, so both have words which are, were and will be relevant to every generation.

All scripture is prophecy in type and shadow

It may at first sound ridiculous to some to say that all scriptures is prophecy, but if all scripture is to be considered the Word of God, then scripture also expresses the mind of Christ, who is the Word (Joh 1:1). Christ tells us His Words are spirit (Joh 6:63), and then we are told this:

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

It is no one less than Christ Himself who also tells us about who it is that has the testimony of Jesus:

Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

What part of the scriptures testify of Christ? Again Christ Himself answers our question:

Luk 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

“Beginning at Moses… all the scriptures… concern Him…”

In the first five books of the Bible we have allusions to Christ as the firstfruits, as the seed of the woman and as the seed of Abraham.

Gen 1:1 In the beginning [Hebrew: reshiyth – firstfruit, in Christ – Rom 11:36 and Col 1:16-17) God created the heaven and the earth.

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.

Gen 12:7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

There are also many allusions to and types of the kingdom of God. For those who can see it, the physical nation of Israel is just a type and shadow of the true kingdom of God.

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

All of this is to be found in the first five books of the Bible, and it is worth noting that God called Abraham “a prophet”:

Gen 20:7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

It is not adding to the Word of God to call Noah a prophet who prophesied for 120 years of an impending flood, and before Noah Enoch is also called a prophet:

Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Jud 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

So when we speak of the prophets, we are not excluding those prophets who prophesied before the judges and the kings. Nevertheless, Christ Himself used the phrase “the prophets” in referring to a certain part of the writings of the Old Testament which was written after the Torah and after the judges and after the Psalms:

Luk 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

Luke 24:44 demonstrates just how Christ-centric are all the scriptures. The law of Moses is really all about the “good things to come” through Christ.

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

The prophets and the Psalms are also all about Christ. But what is referred to as “the prophets” is spoken of as a part of the scriptures which is separate from the law of Moses, separate from the psalms or the books of the judges, the books of Samuel and the books of the kings and the chronicles of the kings. The prophets are the last section of the books of the Old Testament.

Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Beyond the Torah, the name given the first five books of the Bible, we have Joshua, Judges and Ruth, which bring us up to the times of the kings of Israel and Judah. Every judge of Israel was a savior, a deliverer and a type of Christ.

Neh 9:26 Nevertheless they [Israel under the judges] were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
Neh 9:27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

As “saviors” even the judges prophesy of Christ. But the prophets are given a commission which is more explicit and more far reaching than anything given to any of the judges.

Christian scholars have divided the prophets of the Old Testament into two sections of scripture called the ‘major prophets’ and the minor prophets. In this series of studies we will first examine the first two major prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Note what is said of both of these two prophets:

Isa 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
Isa 49:2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;
Isa 49:3 And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
Isa 49:4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
Isa 49:5 And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

Those who have no understanding of the principles of “the dream is one” (Gen 41:25) or “the sum of thy word is truth” (Psa 119:165) or line upon line and precept upon precept (Isa 28:9-13), and who cling to the idea that since the phrase “Thou are my servant, O Israel” is found here believe that therefore these verses have no relevance to Isaiah, himself. Here is what Henry’s Commentary has to say about Isa 49:3 and the surrounding verses:

The great author and publisher of the redemption produces his authority from heaven for the work he had undertaken. 1. God had appointed him and set him apart for it: The Lord has called me from the womb to this office and made mention of my name, nominated me to be the Saviour. By an angel he called him Jesus – a Saviour, who should save his people from their sins, Mat 1:21. Nay, from the womb of the divine counsels, before all worlds, he was called to this service, and help was laid upon him; and he came at the call, for he said, Lo, I come, with an eye to what was written of him in the volume of the book. This was said of some of the prophets, as types of him, Jer 1:5. Paul was separated to the apostleship from his mother’s womb, Gal 1:15.

I read Henry, Gill and Barnes, and they all apply the words to Christ, saying it was Christ who was called from the womb. It was Christ who lamented that He had labored in vain, and it is Christ whose mouth is a sharp sword. They all allude to what the angel told Joseph concerning the child Joseph’s espoused wife, Mary, would bring forth:

Mat 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Indeed Isa 49:1-5 includes Christ, but those who know the True Christ are made aware that He is but the head of His body, and that every word, except the words “head of the body”, refers both to Christ and to His body. Even many of the functions of the head of the body of Christ are to be found within the spiritual function of His body. Was Christ known to God before His birth? So was Isaiah (Isa 49:1), and so are every one of His elect (2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2). Does our head have eyes that see? So do we as His body. Does our head have ears that hear? So does His body (Mat 13:1-15). Are the Words of Christ a fiery sword in His mouth? They are also a sword in Isaiah’s mouth (Isa 49:2), and they are fire in our mouths:

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 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

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.

Henry actually noticed:

This was said of some of the prophets, as types of him, Jer 1:5. Paul was separated to the apostleship from his mother’s womb, Gal 1:15.

“Some of the prophets?” Let this be a lesson for all of us. The great commentators and their commentaries may not see it, but the Truth is that what applies to Israel also always applies to Christ. What applies to Christ also always applies to His body. “The dream is one” (Gen 41:25), “as He is so are we in this world” (1Jo 4:17), and we fill up in our bodies what is lacking of His afflictions (Col 1:24). What this means, as it relates to this study, is that what applies to Jeremiah also applies to Isaiah and to all of the prophets and to you and me.

This brings us to the verses in Jeremiah which demonstrate what we are told these two prophets had in common, and what they were both called to accomplish, namely that both were speaking as the fiery sword in our Lord’s mouth:

Isa 49:2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;

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.

Both were known by God before either were born:

Isa 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Jeremiah 1:5 includes two things Jeremiah had in common with Isaiah. Both prophets were sent to the nations and not just to Israel. It is to be found in the very next verse of Isa 49:

Isa 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

No one before Christ will be in that blessed and holy first resurrection, but the inspired words of Christ from their mouths will still be “My salvation unto the end of the earth”.

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

1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

It was during the times of the kings that God began sending those we now call “the prophets” to speak to His people, and it is here in the prophets that for the first time we begin, in rather explicit words, to be introduced to the concept of a kingdom that will extend beyond just the physical descendants of Abraham and out to the Gentiles. It is here in the prophets that we are given to know that God’s own people are party to and the leaders of those who are predestined to crucify their own Savior.

Isa 50:5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
Isa 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

Isa 52:11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
Isa 52:12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.
Isa 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
Isa 52:14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

Finally, it is also here in the prophets that we first hear of the concept of a consummation of the ages. Peter is quoting Isaiah when he makes us to know that we should always think of ourselves as those who are living in the last days.

2Pe 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2Pe 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
2Pe 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

It is Isaiah who Peter had read and was led to remind us:

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.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Jeremiah was also sent to tell us that God would bring the nations to an end before He would give life to all:

Jer 46:28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

Conclusion

This is just the introduction to these two prophets. No doubt we will be studying these prophets for many months to come, if the Lord gives us the time to do so. Lord willing, we will get started in Isaiah one next week, and we will learn in that first chapter who is the great harlot of Revelation 17 and 18. It will be just the beginning of seeing how the scriptures interpret the scriptures line upon line and precept upon precept, which principle is given us in the 28th chapter of this prophet Isaiah.